When the apartheid system in South Africa was at its worst, General Olusegun Obasanjo, then leader of the Eminent Persons Group, EPG, got so frustrated that he threatened that Africans would invoke their juju powers to deal with the then leader of apartheid South Africa, Pieter Botha and his cohorts. What happened afterwards was not known. His threat was a mere empty talk!
If all these claims of Juju power are real, how come the British easily defeated the Benin kingdom in 1897, inflicting on them a brutal massacre despite the famed Benin witches and wizards? How come the British, without any Juju easily defeated all the Yoruba warlords famous for their various charms and juju powers?
Many of you have watched the video of a young man lamenting the killing of husbands by some women. Getting ready for adultery when he is married, he promised to fortify himself with Okigbe, a charm said to make the human body resistant to sharp objects like knives) ayeta, charms to make the body resistant to bullets, etc. So many people believe these charms exist. Rubbish! All these remind me of my 1996 encounter with Prof. Olikoye Ransom-Kuti, Babangida’s minister for health, a top Nigerian paediatrician and immediate elder brother of the ace Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo –Kuti, both of them now late.
I was at his house in Lekki Lagos to have an interview with him on traditional medicine and his pet project, the primary health care system.
Prof, eminently educated, never believed in all the talks about juju and charm. He said as children, they were raised in a Christian family, worshipped Jesus, attended Church every Sunday. So, he was surprised how his younger brother, Fela got mixed-up with and believed so much in charms and juju.
Talking about Fela and his devotion to juju, Prof narrated two incidences, one involving him and Fela directly, an encounter that could have claimed Fela’s life. Prof. gave the narrative…
‘There was this day I would have shot Fela to death. He just came back from Ghana. His Babalawo, (juju priest) had invited him there for juju fortifications. The man promised to make him a real man in his battles against the Nigerian army and police, with whom Fela was always having running battles. On his return, he came to my house with the charm the Babalawo gave him on his neck, telling me that the Baba said that once this charm is on his neck, no bullet can penetrate his body. And Fela believed it!
“He came with a loaded gun and said I should shoot him and see that the bullet would not penetrate his body. Of course, I am wiser than that. I won’t kill my brother. I told him to let us test it on a goat before testing it on him. He agreed. We stepped out, put the charm on a goat and fired the gun. The goat fell down and died! Fela shouted, “Laila! So, na so I for die!” That was how Fela abandoned the Ghanaian Babalawo whom he so much believed in.
“At another time, another Babalawo gave him another charm to be used with water, and the water must always be at the doorpost. Fela would not stop having battles with the police and the army. He would abuse them, call them Yello fever, zombie, all sorts and the uniformed men would invade his house to beat him and his wives.
“The Babalawo told him that immediately he sights the police coming to his house, he should pour the water on them and whoever is touched by a drop of the water would immediately become a pygmy. And Fela believed it!
“Not long after, Fela had a clash with the police and they went to his house. Fela was upstairs. Immediately he saw the police downstairs, he began to pour water on them, expecting them to turn to pygmies of Congo. Nothing happened. Rather, the police went wild, rushed upstairs and beat the hell out of Fela… he nearly died. Thank God for Beko who revived and treated him!”
Prof said that he would not know how Fela got mixed-up with the Juju thing. “I am a Christian. I go to church, the Anglican Cathedral Church in Marina Lagos. I don’t do Juju and I don’t believe in it. Sisi Dolu, our eldest sister does not. Beko does not. Even Wole Soyinka (their cousin) does not. Only Fela. But then, that is his choice. It’s a free world.”
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