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Some Fulani herders lost 36 cows to a lightning in Ijare, an agrarian community in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State recently. The incident was blamed on alleged desecration of the shrine of an ancient deity in the community by the herders who moved to the area with the hapless animals. HAKEEM GBADAMOSI writes on the development.
A thunderstorm accompanied by a heavy rain which killed 36 cows last Saturday in the sleepy Ijare community in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State has continued to raise questions. Many are still wondering if the incident was a natural occurrence or the wrath of the gods of the land.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Ondo State described the death of the cows as an act of God. The chairman of MACBAN in the state, Bello Garba, said members of the association had visited the area to ascertain the cause of the death of the cows. He stated that the cows belonged to one Ladan who is based in Kwara State but the herders had moved to Ondo State not long ago. According to him, findings showed that the cows were not poisoned as being insinuated in some quarters. He said members of the association in the state would continue to live in peace with the host communities and continually sensitise its members to the need to avoid sacred areas.
Speaking on the development, the Olujare of Ijare, Oba Adegbamigbe Oluwagbemigun, said: “I have never witnessed an incident of this magnitude since I ascended to the throne 22 years ago and I don’t know if such had happened before my emergence. All I know is that Oke-Owa is a sacred place for the people of the community. A thing like that had never happened before, to the best of my knowledge, since I became the traditional ruler of this town. It [Oke-Owa] is not a place that anyone can just walk into. I go there once a year and leave the next morning. The whole community would be on hand to welcome me back.”
The traditional ruler, who explained that the community members had no idea the Fulani herdsmen had moved to the hilltop until the incident happened, said he had an ominous feeling on the day of the incident. “There was rain which was accompanied by four thunderclaps that night. I was in the living room of the palace watching television when the rain started. The thunderclaps were fierce. The last one came with a blinding light and a deafening sound. Everyone was scared. I knew immediately that something had happened. The lightning was too bright. In the early hours of Sunday after the rains, someone who had gone to check his trap rushed to the palace. He was trembled as he reported what he had seen,” Oba Oluwagbemigun said.
He said the community didn’t need to make a special sacrifice to appease the gods. “The antidote is simple: just don’t go there. I am the only one that is permitted to go to the innermost part of the hill. I would stay there till the following morning. There is a place for the chiefs who accompany me to stay. They dare not venture to follow me to the exact point. I am the only one that would climb the place,” he added.
The traditional ruler said he had alerted relevant agencies to prevent an epidemic in the land and said the responses of the agencies had been commendable. Nothing, he said, could be done about the dead cows as they, according to him, cannot be removed from the grove. “You can’t do anything about them. You can’t touch them. I have alerted the Ministry of Health but they too cannot go there to do anything without us. What I will do is to tell my chiefs to follow them to the place. The cows are still there. There is a limit to where people, especially strangers, including journalists, can go. There is a limit to how far they can go on that hill. We do let people know that they cannot go beyond certain points.
He dismissed insinuations that the cows were poisoned as “arrant nonsense,” wondering how it was possible to poison 36 cows at once. “Is it by giving them food or what? This is not true. I see it as arrant nonsense. They don’t know what they are talking about. Oke-Owa is not a place everybody can go. You can climb to the hilltop but there are places you cannot go. If you insist on going, we will warn you and the consequence is better imagined,” the Oba said.
Speaking on possible reprisal from the herdsmen, the traditional ruler said: “The only thing I can tell my people is not to entertain any fear. People have been coming to the palace to express their fears of a reprisal from the Fulani herdsmen but I have been telling them not to panic because Ijare is where Ijare is. We didn’t poison their cows. We didn’t go there with them. All I know is that the place is a sacred place. I know my people are peace-loving people and will not do anything to disturb the peace of the land. They will not take laws into their hands and we have ways of settling issues here, so we will not fear any attacks from any quarters.”
Before the incident, little or nothing was known about Ijare. The incident which occurred at a location on the outskirts of the community known as Oke-Owa has turned Ijare to a tourist attraction. People from far and near have been trooping to the community to see things firsthand.
Ijare, fondly referred to as onile obi because of the natives’ penchant for large cultivation of and trading in kola nuts, is surrounded by four hills located on the outskirts of the rustic town. Each of the hills is said to be attached to a separate deity worshiped by the locals. It is not news in Ondo State that bandits dread the town and as such, cases of robbery are never heard of there.
When the mysterious thunder struck on the night of Saturday, 21st of September, at Ok-Owa, killing the 36 cows, most residents of the community interpreted the disaster as the wrath of the gods, claiming that it was due to the desecration of the shrine by the herders who moved there.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the people of the community had earlier warned the herdsmen, said to be Fulani, against the danger of moving towards the sacred hill. According to a member of the community, only the traditional ruler of the town and some high chiefs are allowed to go to the hill just to perform rituals once in a year during the celebration of the new yam festival. He said the repeated sounds of thunder at the hilltop on that fateful Saturday night caused a suspicion among the residents that the gods were angry and so they were not surprised to learn about the development on Sunday morning.
“Nobody knew that the thunder had wreaked such havoc until a hunter who was on an expedition found the dead cows on the mountain top. He reported to the traditional ruler, the Olujare, Oba Adegbamigbe Oluwagbenigun, who delegated some of his chiefs to report to the police and to also visit the scene of the incident to assess what has happened,” the source said.
During a visit to the hilltop, Saturday Tribune saw the cows as they lay dead at the grove. There were also indications that the herdsmen were trying to settle on the hill as there was a shed still under construction with tubers of yam, pepper and some food items scattered on the ground.
Speaking with journalists, the Sapetu of Ijare, Chief Wemimo Olaniran, described the incident as “wrath of the gods.” He condemned alleged destruction of farmlands in the area by cows, despite repeated warnings against such an act. He said here had been cases of open confrontation but the people had learnt to live with the herders.
Chief Olaniran said the residents noticed the Fulani herdsman moving to the hill about five days earlier and warned them against doing so. “We were there this morning and saw the 36 dead cows apart from the one inside the bush. It has happened and there is nothing we can do. We regard it as an act of God which nobody can query. There have been occasions in the past but not as massive as what we have now. It has happened to some individuals who desecrated the land. We have witnessed thunderbolt attacks whenever any part of Ijare, particularly the sacred places like the grove, is desecrated,” he said.
Asked if the cows would be evacuated from the grove to keep the place clean and holy, he said: “The dead cows will be there forever. It is part of the history of our land and a testimony that such things happen. One traditional ruler was buried there alive and heaven did not fall, let alone cows. Oke-Owa is a sacred hill where the Oba and some of his chiefs visit once a year during the new yam festival to offer sacrifices on behalf of the community. Even the chiefs accompanying the Oba must not go to the inner part of the grove because there is a particular place where only the Oba can enter and spend a night.
“This is a hill that the herdsmen wanted to desecrate with their cows. It is a taboo. When we heard about the incident, we invited the herdsmen and they confirmed that it was thunder that struck the cows. We went to the police station to report the matter and the Divisional Police Officer was contacted before I and other chiefs went there. Those cows will rot there because nobody must touch them otherwise there will be problem.”
A septuagenarian, Mrs Ariyike Fatoki, a farmer, told Saturday Tribune that she hoped that the incident would bring an end to farm destruction in Ijare community. She said many farmers in the town had been left to suffer after their produce were destroyed by the Fulani herdsmen and their cows. She said the residents had appealed to the herdsmen to vacate their lands but they never took them seriously.
“The Fulani herdsmen have started moving out of our town after the death of their cows. Farmers will soon heave sigh of relief here because our major occupation here is farming and you can imagine the level of destruction these cows and their minders have caused us. We have been farming without reaping what we have been sowing. Let them leave us alone,” she added.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Mr Femi Joseph, said the matter was reported at Ijare Police Station. He said the incident was a natural disaster, about which nobody could do anything.
“It was a natural disaster. It is beyond human comprehension. It has happened and there is nothing we can do about it,” Joseph said, noting that the Fulani herders also acknowledged that the incident was not the work of any identifiable person.
“Yoruba has its culture and tradition that cannot be trampled upon. What happened in Ijare is the reality of the Yoruba tradition. It shows that the gods in that area are angry with the herders. The herdsmen were spared in order to teach them that they can’t enter someone’s territory anyhow, destroying farms and desecrating a sacred grove. So, some rites have to be performed to appease Sango and other gods,” the police spokesman added.
Also, 83-year old Mrs. IbisanmiOja-Anogbe, said it was the Oke Owa deity, the most powerful in the land that was at work. According to the elderly woman, “no one is allowed to desecrate the sacred hill, human beings or animals that do that will return alive.”
She said the hilltop is regarded as sacred and that “only the traditional ruler of the town is allowed to go into the innermost part of the grove.” According to her, anyone who desecrates any of the hills, as she claimed the herdsmen had done with their cattle, might not live to tell the story.
She said: “Oke-Owa deity has been our protector from time immemorial in Ijare. If you are not an initiate, you dare not move close to the grove. If anyone dares it, such person will no doubt pay the supreme price.
“In some time past, when it’s time to worship the Oke-Owa, a stranger would be used as a human sacrifice. But later when civilization crept in the human sacrifice was alternated for cows and that is the reason that up till now, rearing of cows is forbidden in Ijare.
“Aside from the Olujare (the Ijare monarch), it is only virgins that can go near the grove where it is located on the uppermost part of the hill. The monarch visits there once in a year and he stays there for a whole day and night. The following day when it is time for him to descend from the mountain, everyone in the village would gather at the foot of the mountain to welcome him back.
“What the herdsmen did is highly sacrilegious. There is a limit to everything in life particularly when you are in a strange territory. Since my youthful days, I have never experienced that type of thunder and lightning that struck that night. It sounded heavily three times accompanied by terribly lightning.” (Nigerian Tribune)
A thunderstorm accompanied by a heavy rain which killed 36 cows last Saturday in the sleepy Ijare community in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State has continued to raise questions. Many are still wondering if the incident was a natural occurrence or the wrath of the gods of the land.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Ondo State described the death of the cows as an act of God. The chairman of MACBAN in the state, Bello Garba, said members of the association had visited the area to ascertain the cause of the death of the cows. He stated that the cows belonged to one Ladan who is based in Kwara State but the herders had moved to Ondo State not long ago. According to him, findings showed that the cows were not poisoned as being insinuated in some quarters. He said members of the association in the state would continue to live in peace with the host communities and continually sensitise its members to the need to avoid sacred areas.
Speaking on the development, the Olujare of Ijare, Oba Adegbamigbe Oluwagbemigun, said: “I have never witnessed an incident of this magnitude since I ascended to the throne 22 years ago and I don’t know if such had happened before my emergence. All I know is that Oke-Owa is a sacred place for the people of the community. A thing like that had never happened before, to the best of my knowledge, since I became the traditional ruler of this town. It [Oke-Owa] is not a place that anyone can just walk into. I go there once a year and leave the next morning. The whole community would be on hand to welcome me back.”
The traditional ruler, who explained that the community members had no idea the Fulani herdsmen had moved to the hilltop until the incident happened, said he had an ominous feeling on the day of the incident. “There was rain which was accompanied by four thunderclaps that night. I was in the living room of the palace watching television when the rain started. The thunderclaps were fierce. The last one came with a blinding light and a deafening sound. Everyone was scared. I knew immediately that something had happened. The lightning was too bright. In the early hours of Sunday after the rains, someone who had gone to check his trap rushed to the palace. He was trembled as he reported what he had seen,” Oba Oluwagbemigun said.
He said the community didn’t need to make a special sacrifice to appease the gods. “The antidote is simple: just don’t go there. I am the only one that is permitted to go to the innermost part of the hill. I would stay there till the following morning. There is a place for the chiefs who accompany me to stay. They dare not venture to follow me to the exact point. I am the only one that would climb the place,” he added.
The traditional ruler said he had alerted relevant agencies to prevent an epidemic in the land and said the responses of the agencies had been commendable. Nothing, he said, could be done about the dead cows as they, according to him, cannot be removed from the grove. “You can’t do anything about them. You can’t touch them. I have alerted the Ministry of Health but they too cannot go there to do anything without us. What I will do is to tell my chiefs to follow them to the place. The cows are still there. There is a limit to where people, especially strangers, including journalists, can go. There is a limit to how far they can go on that hill. We do let people know that they cannot go beyond certain points.
He dismissed insinuations that the cows were poisoned as “arrant nonsense,” wondering how it was possible to poison 36 cows at once. “Is it by giving them food or what? This is not true. I see it as arrant nonsense. They don’t know what they are talking about. Oke-Owa is not a place everybody can go. You can climb to the hilltop but there are places you cannot go. If you insist on going, we will warn you and the consequence is better imagined,” the Oba said.
Speaking on possible reprisal from the herdsmen, the traditional ruler said: “The only thing I can tell my people is not to entertain any fear. People have been coming to the palace to express their fears of a reprisal from the Fulani herdsmen but I have been telling them not to panic because Ijare is where Ijare is. We didn’t poison their cows. We didn’t go there with them. All I know is that the place is a sacred place. I know my people are peace-loving people and will not do anything to disturb the peace of the land. They will not take laws into their hands and we have ways of settling issues here, so we will not fear any attacks from any quarters.”
Before the incident, little or nothing was known about Ijare. The incident which occurred at a location on the outskirts of the community known as Oke-Owa has turned Ijare to a tourist attraction. People from far and near have been trooping to the community to see things firsthand.
Ijare, fondly referred to as onile obi because of the natives’ penchant for large cultivation of and trading in kola nuts, is surrounded by four hills located on the outskirts of the rustic town. Each of the hills is said to be attached to a separate deity worshiped by the locals. It is not news in Ondo State that bandits dread the town and as such, cases of robbery are never heard of there.
When the mysterious thunder struck on the night of Saturday, 21st of September, at Ok-Owa, killing the 36 cows, most residents of the community interpreted the disaster as the wrath of the gods, claiming that it was due to the desecration of the shrine by the herders who moved there.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the people of the community had earlier warned the herdsmen, said to be Fulani, against the danger of moving towards the sacred hill. According to a member of the community, only the traditional ruler of the town and some high chiefs are allowed to go to the hill just to perform rituals once in a year during the celebration of the new yam festival. He said the repeated sounds of thunder at the hilltop on that fateful Saturday night caused a suspicion among the residents that the gods were angry and so they were not surprised to learn about the development on Sunday morning.
“Nobody knew that the thunder had wreaked such havoc until a hunter who was on an expedition found the dead cows on the mountain top. He reported to the traditional ruler, the Olujare, Oba Adegbamigbe Oluwagbenigun, who delegated some of his chiefs to report to the police and to also visit the scene of the incident to assess what has happened,” the source said.
During a visit to the hilltop, Saturday Tribune saw the cows as they lay dead at the grove. There were also indications that the herdsmen were trying to settle on the hill as there was a shed still under construction with tubers of yam, pepper and some food items scattered on the ground.
Speaking with journalists, the Sapetu of Ijare, Chief Wemimo Olaniran, described the incident as “wrath of the gods.” He condemned alleged destruction of farmlands in the area by cows, despite repeated warnings against such an act. He said here had been cases of open confrontation but the people had learnt to live with the herders.
Chief Olaniran said the residents noticed the Fulani herdsman moving to the hill about five days earlier and warned them against doing so. “We were there this morning and saw the 36 dead cows apart from the one inside the bush. It has happened and there is nothing we can do. We regard it as an act of God which nobody can query. There have been occasions in the past but not as massive as what we have now. It has happened to some individuals who desecrated the land. We have witnessed thunderbolt attacks whenever any part of Ijare, particularly the sacred places like the grove, is desecrated,” he said.
Asked if the cows would be evacuated from the grove to keep the place clean and holy, he said: “The dead cows will be there forever. It is part of the history of our land and a testimony that such things happen. One traditional ruler was buried there alive and heaven did not fall, let alone cows. Oke-Owa is a sacred hill where the Oba and some of his chiefs visit once a year during the new yam festival to offer sacrifices on behalf of the community. Even the chiefs accompanying the Oba must not go to the inner part of the grove because there is a particular place where only the Oba can enter and spend a night.
“This is a hill that the herdsmen wanted to desecrate with their cows. It is a taboo. When we heard about the incident, we invited the herdsmen and they confirmed that it was thunder that struck the cows. We went to the police station to report the matter and the Divisional Police Officer was contacted before I and other chiefs went there. Those cows will rot there because nobody must touch them otherwise there will be problem.”
A septuagenarian, Mrs Ariyike Fatoki, a farmer, told Saturday Tribune that she hoped that the incident would bring an end to farm destruction in Ijare community. She said many farmers in the town had been left to suffer after their produce were destroyed by the Fulani herdsmen and their cows. She said the residents had appealed to the herdsmen to vacate their lands but they never took them seriously.
“The Fulani herdsmen have started moving out of our town after the death of their cows. Farmers will soon heave sigh of relief here because our major occupation here is farming and you can imagine the level of destruction these cows and their minders have caused us. We have been farming without reaping what we have been sowing. Let them leave us alone,” she added.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Mr Femi Joseph, said the matter was reported at Ijare Police Station. He said the incident was a natural disaster, about which nobody could do anything.
“It was a natural disaster. It is beyond human comprehension. It has happened and there is nothing we can do about it,” Joseph said, noting that the Fulani herders also acknowledged that the incident was not the work of any identifiable person.
“Yoruba has its culture and tradition that cannot be trampled upon. What happened in Ijare is the reality of the Yoruba tradition. It shows that the gods in that area are angry with the herders. The herdsmen were spared in order to teach them that they can’t enter someone’s territory anyhow, destroying farms and desecrating a sacred grove. So, some rites have to be performed to appease Sango and other gods,” the police spokesman added.
Also, 83-year old Mrs. IbisanmiOja-Anogbe, said it was the Oke Owa deity, the most powerful in the land that was at work. According to the elderly woman, “no one is allowed to desecrate the sacred hill, human beings or animals that do that will return alive.”
She said the hilltop is regarded as sacred and that “only the traditional ruler of the town is allowed to go into the innermost part of the grove.” According to her, anyone who desecrates any of the hills, as she claimed the herdsmen had done with their cattle, might not live to tell the story.
She said: “Oke-Owa deity has been our protector from time immemorial in Ijare. If you are not an initiate, you dare not move close to the grove. If anyone dares it, such person will no doubt pay the supreme price.
“In some time past, when it’s time to worship the Oke-Owa, a stranger would be used as a human sacrifice. But later when civilization crept in the human sacrifice was alternated for cows and that is the reason that up till now, rearing of cows is forbidden in Ijare.
“Aside from the Olujare (the Ijare monarch), it is only virgins that can go near the grove where it is located on the uppermost part of the hill. The monarch visits there once in a year and he stays there for a whole day and night. The following day when it is time for him to descend from the mountain, everyone in the village would gather at the foot of the mountain to welcome him back.
“What the herdsmen did is highly sacrilegious. There is a limit to everything in life particularly when you are in a strange territory. Since my youthful days, I have never experienced that type of thunder and lightning that struck that night. It sounded heavily three times accompanied by terribly lightning.” (Nigerian Tribune)
