“Henceforth, I submit and present the title ‘Ogiame’ to God, the
creator, who made the sea and rules over all. Therefore, no Olu or person may
bear the title or name that now belongs to God. I nullify all tokens of
libation poured on the land and seas or sprinkled into the air in Iwere land. I
frustrate all sacrifices of wine, blood, food, water, kola nuts and other items
offered in Iwere land. In conformity with the new covenant, through the blood
of Jesus, I release the royal bloodline, the chiefs of the Iwere kingdom, the
Iwere people and land, waters and atmosphere of Iwere kingdom from all ties to
other spiritual covenants and agreements.”
With the foregoing royal
proclamation, the Olu of Warri, Atuwase II, recently decreed a stop to some
ancient customs of the Warri Kingdom after publicly renouncing the traditional
name ‘Ogiame’. The Olu also vowed to replace all the rituals and practices that
do not conform with his new faith in Jesus Christ. But the royal father did not
have the last word on the matter as he met a stiff challenge from a
cross-section of Itsekiri people who called for his dethronement. By the third
day of what was almost becoming a violent protest, several youths and women had
erected canopies and were cooking in front of the palace gate.
However, following the intervention of the Delta State governor,
Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, himself an Itsekiri man, the traditional ruler (who
happens to be a staunch member of the Foursquare Gospel Church), had to annul
his own decree for peace to reign. And with the crisis resolved, a thanksgiving
service was held last Sunday with the crème-de-la-crème of the Itsekiri nation,
including Governor Uduaghan (who came with his deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN),
Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Victor Ochei, and a large number of
senior government officials) in attendance.
While it is noteworthy that Governor Uduaghan and other prominent
Itsekiri sons and daughters were able to rally to put out the fire that could
have had far-reaching consequences on the peace in Warri Kingdom, a most
pertinent question remains as to whether indeed the Olu could unilaterally
reject the title ‘Ogiame’ which represents the ancient identity, custom,
heritage and symbol of the people over whom he presides. This question is worth
interrogating in view of the fact that what the royal father sought to jettison
without due process were established values and deep-rooted beliefs of his
people which have persisted over generations – traditions over which he was
appointed to serve as custodian.
I find the Warri Kingdom crisis fascinating because it speaks to
the tension between Pentecostal Christianity and tradition, especially in our
country and Richard Niebuhr’s highly revealing book, “Christ and Culture”,
perhaps opens some window of understanding. To demonstrate how Christians have
attempted to deal with the challenge of their faith against the background of
old beliefs and customs, Niebuhr identifies five approaches which he listed as:
Christ against Culture; The Christ of Culture; Christ above Culture; Christ and
Culture in Paradox and Christ the Transformer of Culture.
Unfortunately, the Pentecostalism that has been embraced in
Nigeria today fits into the paradigm of “Christ against Culture”, a notion
which rejects all the traditional African mores as archaic, backward and evil.
The presupposition is that those traditions belong to some sinister gods that
need to be dropped for us to prosper materially and spiritually. For that
reason, many Nigerian Christians have had to change their names based on the
theology that those names were dedicated to some ancestral spirits whose yokes
would have to be broken for them to be free from poverty, disease and curse.
While expressions of faith differ from one denomination to another, the
preponderance of opinion among pastors is that our traditional heritages
(sometimes including priceless artifacts, dating back to centuries) are
hindrances to our faith and callings as believers hence we have to do away with
them. It is within that context that we can situate the spiritual edict which
got the Olu of Warri into trouble.
Now, I must make something clear: I am also a Pentecostal
Christian – even with all my failings and imperfections – and I understand that
one cannot serve the true God and still be worshipping idols. But I have
problem with a faith that is expressed in symbolisms and even superstitions.
For instance, I have listened to several songs and messages that the economic
and political problems which plague our nation today can be traced to our
hosting of FESTAC in 1977 during which, as the tale goes, several countries
came to dump their Satanic gods on our land. Not only do I believe there was
nothing wrong in our hosting FESTAC, I see no correlation between it and our
inability as a nation to harness our enormous potentials for the advancement of
our society.
The Warri incident is instructive because there is a
constitutional dimension to it which in itself can be considered within the
context of the Christian faith. The Olu, for instance, already has a Church
within the palace and it is not on record that his people quarrel with that; so
the attempt to change the tradition under which he came to power is not only
wrong but indeed self-serving. Like all positions of authority, there are
sacred rules that bind the leader to the community and that explains why in
other climes, Kings have been known to abdicate their thrones whenever there
are irreconsiliable conflicts between personal convictions (which sometimes
include the love of certain women) and the traditional order.
In the particular case of Warri, the matter is even simple. If the
Olu can demonstrate the true essence of his faith and his subjects could see
the evidence in his deeds, perhaps he could gradually reform some of the
traditions without the public drama that almost ended in hubris. The problem I
see, however, is that such public profession of political Christianity has
become the vogue. I have read of a minister who holds a strategic portfolio
under the current administration who also doubles as the General Overseer of a
Church he founded. Even if we choose to ignore the several issues begging for
clarification in such God-Mammon portfolio, the question must be asked as to
whether his faith is reflected in his stewardship as a public official.
But before we digress, what many fail to understand is that in
order to develop our country and uplift our people, we need to burnish our
cultural identity while adopting the instruments and methods of scientific
civilisation. However, a fuller exploration of the issues will take us to the
place of symbols in belief systems; the essential privacy of religion and
indeed the tricky point of how all these intersect to sustain public order and
social peace. To that extent, the peaceful resolution of the clash between the
Olu of Warri’s private Christian belief and the imperatives of his public
cultural symbolism as a traditional monarch speaks volumes to the rest of us.
Religion as an aspect of culture thrives on symbols and rituals.
Pentecostalism, of course, rejects the rites of the traditional Christian
churches as it is founded on the redemption work of Christ on the Cross of
Calvary. But I remain unconvinced that salvation is also a function of cultural
suicide. For me, there is nothing that should preclude a traditional ruler from
being a disciple of Christ as well as an authentic symbol of the culture of his
people. This is the crux of a debate that is waiting to be inaugurated.
•This piece by Adeniyi (shown in photo) originally
appeared in his column “The Verdict” in today’s edition of ThisDay. He can be
reached via olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com
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