He opens up on his opinion about what he called the "foreign religion" and how they have begun to now embrace traditional worship:
Hear him:
Despite that many are being converted to these foreign religions, we still have some people who are embracing Ifa here in Nigeria and even abroad. This is because the knowledge of Ifa is spreading wide. Before, very many people didn’t know what Ifa was all about. Those who brought these foreign religions tried hard to rubbish Ifa and they painted it black to make our people accept their religions. Many people are afraid of traditional religion and they were not proud to associate with African Traditional Religion.
But now some of those who attend churches and mosques are now embracing African Traditional Religion. More people are now being initiated in this religion. Lots of Europeans and Americans are coming to be initiated into Ifa worship. Some people came from United Kingdom recently to be initiated into it. This is what early missionaries rubbished to have their religions spread to us but I am happy that their offsprings are now coming to embrace it.
Chief Elebuibon also defends the fact that a lot of people equate Ifa with evil. He stated that this misconception was as a result of Nigerians being brainwashed by the missionaries:
They brought civilisation and started calling Babalawo witchdoctor and painted them black to scare away people from them. But now, nobody calls Babalawo a witch doctor anymore. Babalawo is an Ifa priest, just like you have priests in churches and Muslim clerics in mosques
He also made it known that Christians and Muslims have also converted to the traditional worship when their prayers are not answered:
Some who had one problem or another which could not be solved in the church or in the mosque get automatically converted when they find cure in the traditional way. They do refer some to us from churches and mosques. Some of them whose cases have no solution even with orthodox medicine or through prayers in church or mosque are advised to come back to their roots. When those come and find solutions, it is not difficult to convert them. There are prophets who tell their members to go back to their families and appease the gods their ancestors worshipped. They come back, a lot of aladura (white garment church ) have been doing that. A lot of Muslim clerics have been doing that also. Some of those Muslim clerics use Koran to deceive their followers while they practise traditional religion in secret. They know a lot of herbs and other things we do. That is the way it is.
The traditional priest also revealed that he will never consider converting to Islam or Christianity.
I have a deep understanding of the Bible and Quran and I also have a good understanding of Ifa but I cannot renounce Ifa. Christians and Muslims scare people with hell fire but I want you to listen to my CD on who will go to hell fire. They say that you will go to hell fire if you are not a Christian or a Muslim, but I am not afraid of hell fire because I am not a wicked person. I know what you can do that will take you to hell fire and I don’t do such things. What will now pursue me to be converted to Christianity or Islam? There is no problem that Ifa cannot solve. A lot of Christians, even pastors and Imams come to consult Ifa and use Ifa to solve their problems. But because we believe in fidelity, it is forbidden for me to start mentioning their names. It is confidential just like medical doctors don’t disclose the ailments of their patients to just anybody. Pastors and imams come to me and I prepare a lot of things for them. I use my Ifa knowledge to solve their problems. So, how am I supposed to go to them? Just this afternoon, a leader of a church came here wearing a native dress, you can’t know that he is a pastor but I know.
Do you agree with him? What is your opinion concerning Africa Traditional Religion? Share your views in the comments section below.
-Punch
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