I vividly remember Chief Ebenezer Obey’s song of the seventies, ‘Ohun ti o da o da’. In English, it means, ‘There is no other name to call a bad thing but bad’.
It is no longer news that a section of the official residence of the Oba of Lagos, Iga Idunganran, was engulfed in a fire accident on Tuesday.
However, I was disappointed by most people’s reactions to the incident. The Yoruba will say, ‘Ta ba nja, bi ka ku ko’; that is, it is not a Yoruba tradition to wish death or any other serious calamity for one’s foe. However, some comments were like, ‘ It serves him right, ‘ ‘ Power of karma, ‘ ‘ It is the Ooni’s work, ‘ It is the power of Ifa.
By the way, although I’ve not met the Ooni, his aura is not that of someone who will want to retaliate. In any case, even if he wanted to, the Yoruba say, ‘Afi fila p’erin, ojo kan ni n mo.’ That means a person who can cause havoc in times of danger. to the community will only enjoy people’s respect for a short period. Subsequently, people will be dodging him. I see the Ooni as someone too smart to reduce himself to the bottomless pit of vindictiveness.
I would have expected people to empathise with the Oba and his family. We do need this, if for nothing, at least for the universal brotherhood of man.
When we are gladdened because someone we don’t like is going through a difficulty, I don’t think it adds to our worth as human beings. Rather, it makes us worse off than even the meanest of beasts.
As for people who reason the same way. with me, we sympathise with Kabiyesi. We also believe in the saying, ‘Ile Oba to jo, ewa lo bu si.’
May such never happen again.
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