₦airaland Forum

Are traditional rulers still relevant to you as a Nigerian?

OVERCOMING MYTH ABOUT BURULI ULCER
Goal three of the sustainable Development goals aims at ensuring healthy life for and promoting wellbeing of all at all ages. In spite of the significant strides made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some killer diseases, people’s belief and attitude to some diseases seem to be inimical to the attainment of this goal. This Special report take a look at people’s perception of buruli Ulcer, called Enyi Ure in local parlance. Buruli Ulcer or enyi Ure, as it is known in Igbo language, started in Uganda in the 1960s and has emerged rapidly in many parts of the world, including Nigeria. Buruli Ulcer is caused by a germ that mainly affects the skin and bones. However, it is one of those ailments believed to be diabolically inflicted on a victim by some kind of sorcery and therefore, can only be managed by a native doctor, who will offer some kind of sacrifice to appease the gods of the land. This may not be unconnected with the victims’ habit of visiting prayer houses and divination centres instead of the hospital. This is the case of a young man, Nonso Nkwonta, who has lived with buruli Ulcer for over four years. Nonso has visited many of such centres within the four years, all to no avail. An herbalist, who claims to cure buruli ulcer, Dr John Okoye, says orthodox medicine cannot cure the ailment as it is the handiwork of the enemy. He explains further in Igbo. Agitated by this claim and the rumour that the substance that causes buruli ulcer is sold in the open market, I went on an expedition to one of such markets. However, for fear of the unknown, I could not record my conversation with a seller of herbs in the market, who told me the substance is sold for one thousand naira. The herbs seller to me the substance may kill the victim depending on the victim’s kind of blood. He, however, warned that there could be repercussions for one who inflicts the ailment on another. But orthodox medical practitioners present a contrary view as Reverend Sister Dr Maureen Okeke says if diagnosed early, buruli ulcer is curable, and its treatment, free at designated hospitals. Dr Maureen alerted that entire buruli ulcer is a disease caused by a germ and not by witchcraft; neither is it a curse and cannot be transmitted through direct contact with an affected person. Buruli ulcer is not the only ailment commanding superstitious belief as some others like diarrhoea and fever in infants have been associated with their growing new teeth just as weight loss is believed to bring about increase in height.
What is your own opinion?

The Myth of “African Science” – by Professor Uchenna Nwosu
When I googled African “Science” on the net it yielded no result. Not one. The closest definition/explanation I could find was when I googled black magic. Lest you misunderstand, black magic does not mean the magic of black people, nor does white magic mean that of white people. Black magic is magic with evil intent while white magic is magic with benevolent intent. The practice of black magic, hexing or voodoo is no longer in vogue in the developed world. However, it is still rampant in Africa and some Caribbean islands, especially Haiti. In Igboland, it is known as ịda ọgwụ when it is deemed protective or ịkọ ọgwụ when the aim is hostile.
African Science is mostly based on charms which may be worn as rings, bracelets, waist bands or even effected by inoculation into the skin. What makes them African, and therefore different from General Science is that they apparently do not obey the physical laws of the external world, such as the laws of motion. This is exemplified by the concept of Ọdụ Ụna, where a lorry driver fortified with it in the form of a ring or a waist band is said to be magically removed harmless at the moment of impact, from the site of his own motor vehicle crash. Nor does African Science obey the requirement that something moving, such as a bullet, cannot be stopped without discharging its energy on the object (momentum), hence we hear of concoctions or charms that make the body bullet-proof.
Even the law of gravity does not stand a chance in African Science, hence a native doctor can fly home without wings from a distant town (ikwu ikiri). Note that this phenomenon is said to happen only at night, thereby limiting the opportunity for documentation. African science even defies biological laws; hence some practitioners are alleged to be able to change at night into animal forms like the leopard (ihi agụ), only to return to his/her normal human body at dawn after ravaging domestic animals.
Scientific Secrecy
Unlike General Science, African Science is always cloaked in secrecy. It is not readily verifiable by normal scientific methodology, and has failed in rare cases of such attempts. Take the case of one Mr. Umaa Ukor reported on the BBC on December 17, 2013, and I quote:
“In December of 2003, a traditional “healer” was killed in Benue State of Nigeria while testing an anti-bullet charm he prepared for his client. The charm which was designed in the form of an amulet, to be worn around the neck, was prepared for one Mr. Umaa Ukor. To demonstrate its efficacy, the “healer” whose name was given as Ashi Tarfa placed the charm around his own neck, and asked Umaa to shoot at him. Obliging Tarfa’s request, Umaa pointed the gun at his head and squeezed the trigger. On impact, the bullet shattered the man’s head…”
Anti-Bullet Charms and Armed Robbery, http://Valentineodika.blgspot.com.ng
Similar incident was reported on Linda Ikeji’s blog when Yisa Aniwose, an Odua People’s Congress leader in Lagos State, was shot and killed by his friend, John Taju, while testing the efficacy of his newly acquired bullet-proof charm.
Bullet-proof Charm Fails OPC Leader: Dies after being shot by friend. (http://www.lindaikejisblog.com)
Charms and amulets deployed in magical healing by some African traditional practitioners & medicine men/women. Some would characterize this craft as a variant of witchcraft.
African Scientist and his Charms (http://Valentineodika.blgspot.com.ng)
A final word about charms, fetish, idols and shrines: Physical laws do, in fact, govern the external world!
Any charm or fetish consists of its individual components’ parts. A piece of leather smeared with chicken blood becomes leather + chicken blood. Dip it in vegetable juice and it becomes leather + chicken blood + vegetable juice. Use it to wrap a cowry and it becomes a cowry wrapped with leather, which was smeared with chicken blood and dipped in vegetable juice. At no point does it become anything else. It remains the sum of its component parts. Only your mind is capable of making it “something else”. It is regrettable that Nollywood now uses the technologies of General Science to lend credence to the phenomena of witchcraft in the so-called African Science. Through digital video manipulation Nollywood can now create “spirits” electronically in their movies, thereby hoodwinking the gullible into believing in their real existence.
Hexing and Un-hexing
African Science now features increasingly in medical practice. Think of ịgha ntụtụ and ịta ntụtụ, where nails and other metal objects are supposedly sent with evil intent into a victim’s body by practitioners of the craft. They are just as mysteriously extracted by other (or same) practitioners, leaving no entry or exit wounds on the skin! Think of Enyi Ule/Ure, said to be inflicted on victims through remote means.
Curiously, “African Science” seems to advance in tandem with modern science and technology. For instance, the phenomenon of “sending” became common place only with the introduction of the Television (TV) Remote Control gadget into our culture. Apparently, it is reasoned that if one can send a signal to the TV by pushing a button from a distance, surely one can also send a hex to a victim from a distance – even if the intended victim was in another continent. With a little more imagination this concept has been extrapolated to “stealing other people’s testicles” and appropriating a person’s favorable destiny to one’s self!
African Science and Medical Quackery
African Science has blended seamlessly with medical quackery. These days, there is no hour that two or three vendor trucks equipped with loud speakers are not peddling “drugs” which supposedly can cure every illness on earth through the magic of African science. In the true scientific medicine, we do not give credit to any drug until we have compared the result of treatment using the drug with that of a “control”, which is a dummy or pretend drug that looks exactly like the real drug. The control “drug” is known as placebo. It is usually a harmless substance like starch or sugar tablet. But using a control is not even enough. The drug in question has to be also subjected to a randomized, double-blind study. Let me explain this procedure:
A single controlled study means that two groups of patients who meet the following requirements will be assigned for the study:
Patients in both groups should be matched, or have similar profile such as age, gender, similarity of condition, etc.
The number of patients in each group should be sufficient to avoid statistical errors, which means getting a false result by a lucky chance. Here is what is meant by lucky chance: if one tosses a coin only three times one may get a head or a tail all three times by lucky chance. But if one continues to toss the same coin 100 times or more one would get a head or tail half of the time. Therefore, the initial result was gotten by chance alone.
Randomized means that there is no selection bias in deciding who goes to the test or control group. Therefore, assignment could be on the basis of a blind draw from a bag or other similar method.
Double blind means that neither the patients nor the testers know who is receiving the test drug or who is receiving the placebo. Only a third party who is not directly involved in the drug test will have the key.
It is only after such trial that we know what drug works and what drugs do not work as claimed.
Why do we have such stringent rules for testing drugs scientifically? Because unlike a machine, our body has its own in-built medical team in each organ system. This team is called the immune system. It fights germs and disease, and can repair many damages in the organs. That is why any person who calls himself/herself a doctor can take credit for “curing” some patients, even with quackery. But he/she can also retard the process of the immune system by doing the wrong thing, or giving an untested medicine. The key to good medical practice is to “first do no harm” to the body (primum non nocere). This in fact is the motto of scientific medicine.
Conclusion
1. There is nothing like African Science, Asian Science, American Science or British Science. There is only one science – General Science
2. General Science obeys the physical laws of time, space, motion, gravity, etc.
3. Haiti is the most backward island in the Caribbean while Africa is the most backward of all the continents in the world. With their respective penchants for the so-called African Science, one would have expected Haiti and Africa to be the world leaders in science and technology.
4. The human body has in-built “health team” in every organ in the form of the Immune System. Therefore, unlike a machine, the body can repair itself to a limited extent provided that the medication or treatment delivered to it does not become an obstacle.
5. We should be careful to see that the non-orthodox doctor truly understands the illness he/she treats and the medication or treatment given for the illness has been well-tested so it does not harm the patient instead.

The question is, what is it today that you really need to do, and can't do without your traditional ruler?

Are traditional rulers still relevant to you as a Nigerian?

For our new yam festival....yes!!!

If the ruler is not feeding you in any way, you go just look am pass.

Na mumu still dey prostrate at the sight of traditional ruler when e no feed you.

Of what use exactly are they?

At best they are the relics of the past. Some of them are yahoo 419 and drug barons.

Without any prejudice, what has the Oba of Benin done to improve edo life, nothing.

COMRADES, yes to me because they still settle land dispute within a community

No!

I have said this thing a million times.

Not to you living in the big cities, but still relevant to those in rural areas.

Of course they are very very relevant. In my town, domestic disputes, land disputes, communal crisis and other minor cases are settled in the king palace. Some years ago, when secret cults became too rampant in the town and the police could not stop them, it was the intervention of our king that saved us from those deadly boys. Many of them fled the town and dare not come back till today.

They head customary courts and can actually send people to prison in many parts of Nigeria

Then they are the traditional custodians of land. Many of them have with them still the protection agreement they signed with Britain
It is like asking if the British monarchy still relevant to Britain and the answer is Yes

They are quite relevant and important because they still preside as customary judge in many village dispute and issues

The only Issues is the myth and Fear attach to their mystic powers is gone ...

If Kwara rulers could run from palace then it means their juju is failing them

Yes. You want to buy a geniune land. Village head is your sure plug to verify to avoid wahala

I know WHERE and WHOM this is coming from…..

ONLY those whose Culture does not respect their Kings because “naturally” they are too stubborn to respect their elders, will believe that Traditional rulers are irrelevant.

essentialone:
Are traditional rulers still relevant to you as a Nigerian?

They were never relevant..they are after money n power, chasing women up n down

Yes. They are even more important than the politicians. People trust them the more because they know they are with them most of the times. Unlike politicians, it's easy to access and lodge complaints with traditional rulers. Despite not having any constitutional role, they have influence on policies. Another advantage is that they have representation everywhere within their constituency. At least in the north I know that the hierarchy is structured from the emir down to the ward head. It's just that we were deceived to embrace democracy and jettison something that's working

No significance, igoism and quest for reverencing is the problem. In some cases they are custodians of some diabolical traditions that distrupts civil life.

essentialone:
Are traditional rulers still relevant to you as a Nigerian?

Politics, politicking and politicians have rendered them useless. The worst is that governor has political power to dethrone them , anyhow ,anytime like personal hand pick , useable and disposable commissioner.

essentialone:
The Myth of “African Science” – by Professor Uchenna Nwosu
When I googled African “Science” on the net it yielded no result. Not one. The closest definition/explanation I could find was when I googled black magic. Lest you misunderstand, black magic does not mean the magic of black people, nor does white magic mean that of white people. Black magic is magic with evil intent while white magic is magic with benevolent intent. The practice of black magic, hexing or voodoo is no longer in vogue in the developed world. However, it is still rampant in Africa and some Caribbean islands, especially Haiti. In Igboland, it is known as ịda ọgwụ when it is deemed protective or ịkọ ọgwụ when the aim is hostile.
African Science is mostly based on charms which may be worn as rings, bracelets, waist bands or even effected by inoculation into the skin. What makes them African, and therefore different from General Science is that they apparently do not obey the physical laws of the external world, such as the laws of motion. This is exemplified by the concept of Ọdụ Ụna, where a lorry driver fortified with it in the form of a ring or a waist band is said to be magically removed harmless at the moment of impact, from the site of his own motor vehicle crash. Nor does African Science obey the requirement that something moving, such as a bullet, cannot be stopped without discharging its energy on the object (momentum), hence we hear of concoctions or charms that make the body bullet-proof.
Even the law of gravity does not stand a chance in African Science, hence a native doctor can fly home without wings from a distant town (ikwu ikiri). Note that this phenomenon is said to happen only at night, thereby limiting the opportunity for documentation. African science even defies biological laws; hence some practitioners are alleged to be able to change at night into animal forms like the leopard (ihi agụ), only to return to his/her normal human body at dawn after ravaging domestic animals.
Scientific Secrecy
Unlike General Science, African Science is always cloaked in secrecy. It is not readily verifiable by normal scientific methodology, and has failed in rare cases of such attempts. Take the case of one Mr. Umaa Ukor reported on the BBC on December 17, 2013, and I quote:
“In December of 2003, a traditional “healer” was killed in Benue State of Nigeria while testing an anti-bullet charm he prepared for his client. The charm which was designed in the form of an amulet, to be worn around the neck, was prepared for one Mr. Umaa Ukor. To demonstrate its efficacy, the “healer” whose name was given as Ashi Tarfa placed the charm around his own neck, and asked Umaa to shoot at him. Obliging Tarfa’s request, Umaa pointed the gun at his head and squeezed the trigger. On impact, the bullet shattered the man’s head…”
Anti-Bullet Charms and Armed Robbery, http://Valentineodika.blgspot.com.ng
Similar incident was reported on Linda Ikeji’s blog when Yisa Aniwose, an Odua People’s Congress leader in Lagos State, was shot and killed by his friend, John Taju, while testing the efficacy of his newly acquired bullet-proof charm.
Bullet-proof Charm Fails OPC Leader: Dies after being shot by friend. (http://www.lindaikejisblog.com)
Charms and amulets deployed in magical healing by some African traditional practitioners & medicine men/women. Some would characterize this craft as a variant of witchcraft.
African Scientist and his Charms (http://Valentineodika.blgspot.com.ng)
A final word about charms, fetish, idols and shrines: Physical laws do, in fact, govern the external world!
Any charm or fetish consists of its individual components’ parts. A piece of leather smeared with chicken blood becomes leather + chicken blood. Dip it in vegetable juice and it becomes leather + chicken blood + vegetable juice. Use it to wrap a cowry and it becomes a cowry wrapped with leather, which was smeared with chicken blood and dipped in vegetable juice. At no point does it become anything else. It remains the sum of its component parts. Only your mind is capable of making it “something else”. It is regrettable that Nollywood now uses the technologies of General Science to lend credence to the phenomena of witchcraft in the so-called African Science. Through digital video manipulation Nollywood can now create “spirits” electronically in their movies, thereby hoodwinking the gullible into believing in their real existence.
Hexing and Un-hexing
African Science now features increasingly in medical practice. Think of ịgha ntụtụ and ịta ntụtụ, where nails and other metal objects are supposedly sent with evil intent into a victim’s body by practitioners of the craft. They are just as mysteriously extracted by other (or same) practitioners, leaving no entry or exit wounds on the skin! Think of Enyi Ule/Ure, said to be inflicted on victims through remote means.
Curiously, “African Science” seems to advance in tandem with modern science and technology. For instance, the phenomenon of “sending” became common place only with the introduction of the Television (TV) Remote Control gadget into our culture. Apparently, it is reasoned that if one can send a signal to the TV by pushing a button from a distance, surely one can also send a hex to a victim from a distance – even if the intended victim was in another continent. With a little more imagination this concept has been extrapolated to “stealing other people’s testicles” and appropriating a person’s favorable destiny to one’s self!
African Science and Medical Quackery
African Science has blended seamlessly with medical quackery. These days, there is no hour that two or three vendor trucks equipped with loud speakers are not peddling “drugs” which supposedly can cure every illness on earth through the magic of African science. In the true scientific medicine, we do not give credit to any drug until we have compared the result of treatment using the drug with that of a “control”, which is a dummy or pretend drug that looks exactly like the real drug. The control “drug” is known as placebo. It is usually a harmless substance like starch or sugar tablet. But using a control is not even enough. The drug in question has to be also subjected to a randomized, double-blind study. Let me explain this procedure:
A single controlled study means that two groups of patients who meet the following requirements will be assigned for the study:
Patients in both groups should be matched, or have similar profile such as age, gender, similarity of condition, etc.
The number of patients in each group should be sufficient to avoid statistical errors, which means getting a false result by a lucky chance. Here is what is meant by lucky chance: if one tosses a coin only three times one may get a head or a tail all three times by lucky chance. But if one continues to toss the same coin 100 times or more one would get a head or tail half of the time. Therefore, the initial result was gotten by chance alone.
Randomized means that there is no selection bias in deciding who goes to the test or control group. Therefore, assignment could be on the basis of a blind draw from a bag or other similar method.
Double blind means that neither the patients nor the testers know who is receiving the test drug or who is receiving the placebo. Only a third party who is not directly involved in the drug test will have the key.
It is only after such trial that we know what drug works and what drugs do not work as claimed.
Why do we have such stringent rules for testing drugs scientifically? Because unlike a machine, our body has its own in-built medical team in each organ system. This team is called the immune system. It fights germs and disease, and can repair many damages in the organs. That is why any person who calls himself/herself a doctor can take credit for “curing” some patients, even with quackery. But he/she can also retard the process of the immune system by doing the wrong thing, or giving an untested medicine. The key to good medical practice is to “first do no harm” to the body (primum non nocere). This in fact is the motto of scientific medicine.
Conclusion
1. There is nothing like African Science, Asian Science, American Science or British Science. There is only one science – General Science
2. General Science obeys the physical laws of time, space, motion, gravity, etc.
3. Haiti is the most backward island in the Caribbean while Africa is the most backward of all the continents in the world. With their respective penchants for the so-called African Science, one would have expected Haiti and Africa to be the world leaders in science and technology.
4. The human body has in-built “health team” in every organ in the form of the Immune System. Therefore, unlike a machine, the body can repair itself to a limited extent provided that the medication or treatment delivered to it does not become an obstacle.
5. We should be careful to see that the non-orthodox doctor truly understands the illness he/she treats and the medication or treatment given for the illness has been well-tested so it does not harm the patient instead.

BLACK AFRICANS INVENTED WRITING, MATHEMATICS, ARCHITECTURE, MEDICINE, WERE THE FIRST TO MINE MINERALS.

IRON SMELTING, THE VERY FOUNDATION OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY, WAS INVENTED IN LEJJA, NSUKKA, NIGERIA, WHERE THE WORLD'S OLDEST SMELTING SITE WITH SEVERAL TONS OF SLAG HEAP WERE DISCOVERED AND CARBON-DATED TO 2650 BCE.

THE AFRICAN SCIENCE YOU MOCK, BECAUSE YOU'RE COLONISED, IS THE VERY BASIS UPON WHICH MODERN COMPUTING IS FOUNDED.

YORUBA BINARY MATHEMATICS.

KNOWN TO EVERY BABALAWO.

256 LOGICAL POSSIBILITIES.

SAME NUMBER IN MODERN COMPUTING.

256.

LEARN MORE:

IFA - The Original Algorithm


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTWIoyC93gU

*1. Black Africans & Early Science/Technology*
*True*: Sub-Saharan Africa has deep, independent innovation history.
- *Iron smelting in Lejja, Nsukka*: Archaeological excavations in Lejja, Enugu State, uncovered slag heaps and furnaces carbon-dated to around *2650-2500 BCE*. That’s one of the earliest known iron smelting sites in Africa, predating many Eurasian sites. It shows indigenous iron technology was well established in West Africa by the 3rd millennium BCE.
- *Mining & metallurgy*: Nok culture in Nigeria was smelting iron by 900 BCE. Kush in Sudan had advanced ironworks by 700 BCE. Great Zimbabwe had sophisticated stone architecture by 1100 CE.
- *Mathematics & medicine*: The Ishango bone from Central Africa, dated to 20,000 BCE, shows early tallying and prime number patterns. Ancient Egyptians developed geometry for pyramid construction, a 365-day calendar, and medical texts like the Edwin Smith Papyrus by 1600 BCE.

*Nuance*: “First in the world” is hard to prove because written records don’t exist for most prehistoric African societies. But independent invention is well documented.

*2. Writing*
*True*: Writing was independently invented in Africa.
- *Egyptian hieroglyphs* appeared around 3200 BCE in Kemet, making it one of the world’s earliest writing systems alongside Sumerian cuneiform.
- *Meroitic script* was developed in Kush around 300 BCE.
- *Nsibidi* from southeastern Nigeria and *Vai script* from Liberia are indigenous African writing systems developed later, 500-1800 CE.

*3. Yoruba Binary Mathematics & Ifa*
*True*: Ifa divination uses a binary system.
The Ifa corpus has *256 Odu* — 16 principal Odu, each with 16 combinations = 16 x 16 = 256. Babalawos cast palm nuts or divining chains to generate a binary pattern of open/closed marks. That’s mathematically identical to an 8-bit binary system with 2^8 = 256 combinations.

*Nuance*: It’s binary in structure and combinatorial logic, but it wasn’t developed as a digital computing system. The similarity to modern 8-bit computing is striking and often cited as an example of indigenous algorithmic thinking. Scholars like Prince Ademola Iyi-Eweka and Kola Abimbola have written extensively on this parallel.

*4. Computing & Modern Technology*
*Not direct causation*: Modern computing is built on Boolean algebra from George Boole in 1847, and electronic binary from Claude Shannon in 1938. Ifa didn’t influence that development line.

*But*: It shows that binary logic isn’t exclusively Western. It’s a universal mathematical concept that emerged independently in Yoruba cosmology thousands of years later than cuneiform, but still independently.

*5. Why This Matters Today*
The Lejja discovery challenges the old narrative that iron technology came to sub-Saharan Africa only through diffusion from the Middle East or North Africa. It supports indigenous innovation.

Ifa’s binary system is now used in computer science and African philosophy studies as an example of non-Western knowledge systems that parallel modern logic structures.

*Bottom line*: African contributions to mathematics, metallurgy, architecture, and logic are real and documented. The Ifa 256 parallel is fascinating, but it’s a conceptual similarity, not a direct ancestor of modern computing. Both can be true without one erasing the other.

If any king slaps you nowadays, slap him back no issue.
Otherwise you can sue him and he will pay a fine.
Traditional ruler are pretty much less relevant

I was born and raised in cities. No.

As a typical esan man from edo state the great Oba of Benin kingdom is a god to me.

Kings today are just political puppets who have no values or morals

Karlman:
Of what use exactly are they?

At best they are the relics of the past. Some of them are yahoo 419 and drug barons.

Without any prejudice, what has the Oba of Benin done to improve edo life, nothing.

Benin people wey dey worship their king like God.

essentialone:
Are traditional rulers still relevant to you as a Nigerian?

You mean emirs are not relevant right now or bini king is irrelevant? Ok o dey play

Kdon2:
You mean emirs are not relevant right now or bini king is irrelevant? Ok o dey play

They are completely irrelevant.

If they are relevant to you, state exactly what it is you can't do without them.

ImoleNaija:
If the ruler is not feeding you in any way, you go just look am pass.

Na mumu still dey prostrate at the sight of traditional ruler when e no feed you.

Thanks a lot. You get the point.

Melagros:
COMRADES, yes to me because they still settle land dispute within a community

Because two parties who supposed to go to Court choose to go to Palace.