|
Omoluabi and the destruction of an
ancient Yoruba curse!
By Ladi Thompson
Psalm 11:3: If the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do?
I received a simple instruction from God to execute a
spiritual assignment. It was an assignment that was casually given in a brief
vision concerning an entire nation. It has been my experience that divine
instructions in a way, make perfect sense until you get into the flesh. Just
like a Word of knowledge will sometimes be spoken as you flow in the spirit but
the same Word would never be released from your lips if you stopped to
logically consider the information coming from your lips. Just imagine that God
has given you a Word that affects in excess of thirty million people to address
the foundation of their identity. Especially if the revelation runs contrary to
what they have carried with pride for about 200 years, how would you set about
the task? Well the instructions of Scripture tells us to write down the vision
in a simple language so that the persons that God Himself has chosen will
contact it and run with it in Gods timing.
Hab. 2:2-4 And the LORD answered me, and said,
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth
it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak,
and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will
not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upr46ht in him: but the
just shall live by his faith.
My assignment was a simple one, to spiritually eject
the name "Yoruba" from the destiny of my people and re-establish
"Omoluabi" as their covenant name given by Almighty God. At a glance
it may seem odd to those without spiritual understanding especially to those
who are wise in their own eyes. Yet the name Yoruba is a foreign device that
has ensnared a whole nation away from their God given destiny. It came as a
shock to me also when I was led by the Spirit to discover that Yoruba is not a
Yoruba word. By this I mean that the name we have held for upwards of two
hundred years was given to us by others in the 18th century. When unravelled it
is a derogatory word (meaning a worthless person) and became affixed because
the Europeans absorbed it phonetically altered it and made it stick. For
centuries our people regarded themselves as "Olukomi" and this was
documented by the early foreigners that came among us. This literarily means my
bosom friend and describes the way our ancestors addressed one another yet it
was discarded completely when the demonic device tagged 'Yoruba' made its
entry. It was the ancient Oyo empire that came under the sword of Islam that
was being cursed as Yar'ba since it is easier to fight and kill an enemy you
have identified by a derogatory name. White men entered the affray to subdue
the sword of terror (Imale) only to borrow their language thus addressing Olukumi
as Yarooba. Because the name arrived in the
heady, confused and turbulent years of our history it sneaked in with minimum
resistance. Even before the full import and meaning of Yarooba is unfolded it
is useful to consider the power of a name.
Mark 3:16 And Simon he surnamed Peter
Jesus Christ came by and renamed the unstable Simon
(reed) as Peter (rock) the stable and steady. Knowing that Jesus was not a
frivolous person we appreciate that the name contains and connects the destiny.
The agency that names you can influence and control your destiny. Every hunter
names his dog in order to control him, a dog that refuses to respond to the
name given by the hunter is of no use to him! If you can name it you can tame
it. Unlike the Europeans who name themselves without much inspiration the
African has always appreciated what the Bible reveals. Stone, Goat Brown and
Spits may be names acceptable to the white man but the soul of the African was
better tuned to the spirit.
Proverb 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that
love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
In the case of Omo Oduduwa it is most shocking that a
people who know the power of the
tongue would allow outsiders to restrict our destiny within a name of dubious
inspiration. It was a slap to our cultural legacy nurtured on understanding to
have unfriendly forces name ones child talk less of ones self. Unfortunately
the deed is done and the years that the name was given coincide with the period
of senseless wars and aimless meander. Historians record the fratricidal wars
that began in 1793 and lasted until 1893, the spiritual man can understand the
curse behind that era. It is on record that the eyes of our forefathers opened
temporarily in 1826 to the threat posed by the cunning jihad forces who by then had conquered
Ilorin and declared an endless war on our nation. The Ibadans, Oyos and many
other subdivisions tried their best to unite against a lost cause but never
succeeded for want of spiritual understanding. Like a leash around the neck of
a dog the spiritual name Yoruba was prepared in the darkness of hostile hearts
whose arcane propensities has never been in doubt. When a name soaked in
failure is permitted to stick it wil1 take the cry of Jabez to attract a way
out. None of us can ever forget the desperate cry of Hubert Ogunde's Yoruba
Ronu as he tried to rationalize the depths of shame to which we had sunk by the
nineteen sixties. What Ogunde did not know till he went to his grave was that
the root of the problem was present in his question! It is impossible for a
real Yoruba to think deeply as his identity denied him the ability by curse.
Eccl. 10:15 The Labour of the foolish wearieth
every one of them, because he
knoweth not how to go to the city.
Nigeria's asset Professor Ade Ajayi, a luminary in
the field of history easily confirmed the historical root of "Yoruba"
and further explained that it was the Yar'ba Hausa-Fulani coinage for Old Oyo
Empire. The other parts of our lands, Egbas, Ekitis and others initially
resisted being addressed as Yarooba but were worn down by the European
insistence. This was how the curse expanded to cover all our people and the
effects spread through our lands. In 185 Clapperton recorded the peace progress
and prosperity observed throughout our kingdoms but the curse was already at
work. A few years later the same man lamented the disorder and decay that had
set in. For those who still have doubts it is good to know that the first
dictionary of our language was published in 1843 as compiled by Ajayi Crowther.
An altered and enlarged edition came in 185o then in 19ll Rev. E. J Sowande
edited an English-Yoruba dictionary. Leafing through the Oxford University
Press Dictionary of the Yoruba language which was first printed in 1913 and
reprinted severally through the years it is almost amusing to see the word
Yoruba (Yooba) interpreted as a noun for prevarication or falsehood! Anyway you
approach this issue it's a loss or loss situation. The spiritual import has
proven deadly for more than two centuries but the light has shone again.
Believe it or not when Christianity was re-introduced to our people in 1842/43
great progress followed especially in the era of Obafemi Awolowo the son of an
ardent Christian David Sopolu Awlowo. Looking at the economic legacy that his
generation amassed it is insanity to imagine that poverty and shame has
returned upon our land today but we need to learn that nothing economic will
last when the spiritual foundations have been removed. The ancient curse
"Yoruba" made nonsense of their sweat and labours.
Again we have heard some wil1 resist the change from
Yoruba - the name of shame and bondage to Omoluabi our name by covenant but we
cannot permit people with the spirit of Ahab to deter our resolve. It was Ahab
that preferred that a curse which was loosed upon his head be transferred unto
his children. Such persons we refer to as Agba Akan, elders whose backs were
bent under the yoke of oppressions and who wilfully transfer the evil yoke unto
their own children by force. Come what may Omoluabi will triumph and our star
will shine again. God has spoken and we have no option but to arise to a great
destiny. As it is written “Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath
no prey? And a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing"?
It shall surely be well.
Rev. Thompson wrote in from Victoria Island, Lagos
|
