19 Watchers of political events and affairs respecting Nigeria may have been struck by the hollow polemics of an unending and difficult-to-comprehend body of ‘fundamental’ principles. Most times shrouded in myth and obfuscation, the players regale the sensibilities of their audience with their upturned understanding or explanation of generic usage of words, ideas or concepts as if their comprehension – no matter how facile – does not matter.
Even as answers to fundamental questions ought to serve as the basis for a community’s collective metaphysical position, the basic assumptions for arriving at them should render themselves intelligible to the general populace at its level of comprehension or approbation. The understanding of the ever-widening or socially-determined Social Principles must not be the exclusive preserve of some esoteric conclave by whatever name called either as politicians or as judges sitting over matters in the courtrooms.
There is a sense in which their offerings or pronouncements are ‘beyond’ or ‘higher’ than the generic or popular understanding of the specific theories or exercises underpinning avowed social principles or policies. It needs to be observed that much contemporary thinking is not primarily concerned with thoughts or language.
The goal of politicians and judges in this social relations interplay should be to locate the fundamental kinds of things embedded in the mischief which a new principle or policy is positioned to eliminate – i.e. to disentangle the web of befuddling intricacies blurring the achievements of a clear vision.
They are to rely heavily on ideas and beliefs assumed to exist within the communal experience and not to manufacture ‘rational’ conjectures thereby arriving at inordinate conclusions as if working to a preordained or pre-set answer. The above scenario will appear to be the public view of most of the judgments of the Election Petition Tribunals hearing petitions arising from complaints respecting the 2023 general elections all across the country.
Kangun Kangun Kangun is the epigrammatic rendition in robust diction and graphic clarity of the odyssey of an inordinately ambitious mystery man who is in a mindless search of stupendous wealth, unsurpassed fame and untold social and political preferment. He is rabid, unscrupulous, brutal, excessive, impudent and generally lacking in principles in the pursuit of his vaulting ambition.
In seeking to know what the future holds for him, Kangun (the shortened form of his name), consulted the All-Knowing Ifa oracle through its avatar, Orunmila. The popular characterisation of Orunmila as the Leader of a religious cult which established a school in which various themes and subjects including religion, science, morality, ethics, mathematics, the social sciences were taught fits into our modern day conceptualisation of pedagogy.
The Orunmila school is noted for the Ifa divination system as a process of knowing God’s will on any subject matter. It must be understood however that the Ifa divination orthodoxy is not a process of speaking directly to God, like many of our latter-day men of God grandstandingly parade before us today.
The Ifa process is that of choosing relevant verses from a copious expanse of oral texts stored in recitations or in the fertile minds of the priests. Orunmila’s technique is one in which predictions are arrived at through the ample use of mathematical laws of probability. A certain mischievous misunderstanding of the Ifa oracle system is that its activities are limited only to divination.
The unyielding pursuit of secular knowledge including science, mathematics and philosophy has been a cognate part of the Orunmila school of thought. To Orunmila and the Ifa oracle had trooped all who were desirous of knowing the mind of Olodumare – the Supreme Being – concerning their livelihood, their trajectory, their place in life, their trade, etc. It is still the practice today though in some attenuated form.
Kangun, the protagonist in this our synoptic survey sought the mind of Olodumare concerning his nature and projected exploits.
Regarding human destiny, Orunmila said to Kangun:
“Every human being sent by the Omnipotent to the earth must go before Orisa-nla to choose the blessing he desires but with the condition that he cannot choose more than one blessing. Whatever a man’s preference – be it wealth, wives, progeny, any form of prosperity – the choice is free and unlimited except by the protocol of one kind of blessing to one man, no more… Our heavenly choice determines our earthly life; a wrong choice above results in suffering below.”
Otura-Meji
On avarice or lust for money which Orunmila identified in Kangun’s cosmogony, he said to him: Serious issues are oftentimes treated with levity. One good example is the general belief that money is the only thing worthy of pursuit in the world. This view is both right and wrong. Money can exalt a person but it can also bring its owner down. Wealth does not prevent us from becoming blind, mad, lame, invalid and so on. All forms of disability can affect a rich person. Knowledge and wisdom are the only things worthy of respect. People should update their knowledge, readjust their ways of thinking and acquire wisdom; they should cultivate good character so that the world can be peaceful”.
Obara-Iwori
On the limit of human knowledge or dexterity, Orunmila warned Kangun:
“I am grunting because I want to find out if any of my colleagues who believe they know the beginning and end of matters can make good this claim. My discussion with Ogun, Sango and others clearly showed that they did not know the beginning and end of all things. When they turned to me and said ‘Baba we now accept you are the only one who knows the end of everything’. I retorted, ‘I myself do not know all things.’
Eji-Ogbe
On someone who possesses half-baked Education but masquerades as a genius, Orunmila counselled:
“Young people must be given education. They must desist from spending their early years laying the foundation of a foolish life. Whenever confused about the right course of action, they should consult the wisdom of the ancients. Some young people believe that cutting corners and deceiving and robbing others as a way to wealth or relevance is all that matters.
Oturupon-Owonrin
On character development, Orunmila pointedly told Kangun:
“Raise it up, pull it down, twist it as you may, the essence does not change. What matters most is Iwa (good character – virtue). You may be wealthy, have many children and build several houses, all come to nought if you lack good character. A life without moral rectitude is nothing.”
Oyeku Meji
On the penchant for wilful cheating or wrongdoing, Orunmila posited
“Wilful wrongdoing is never justifiable. People will condemn an evil doer who rather than show remorse boasts and parades himself as valiant.”
Okanran Irosun
At the end of the consultation exercise, Kangun whose full meaning of his name projects the inescapable ending of any project enterprise, emerged bewildered by what Orunmila had revealed to him. Sensing that Kangun did not grasp the full essence of Ifa’s message to him, Orunmila concluded:
“Honest people in this world are few. The wicked ones are in their thousands. The day of reckoning is at hand. Hence there is no need for despair…Now in all my problems and travails, I will always consult with my inner self. ‘My inner self, you are my only reliable consultant.’
Oyeku Meji
Finally, Orunmila explained the spiritual significance of Kangun’s name, noting that Kangun’s name exemplifies the nature of man’s endless struggles and their disastrous ending each time. Everything must come to an end. It is in the nature of things for them to end disastrously or assume a pyrrhic stature or status as they are achieved at too great a cost or detriment even as their worthwhileness is ruefully interrogated as an accomplishment or victory.
Source: The Guardian
