The three (3) main religions in the ‘Holy City’, otherwise known as Ile Ife are Islam, Christianity and the Traditional religion (Ifa). However, the traditional religion seems to supersede all other religions in the town with practitioners of the other denominations revering the religion of their ancestors. Furthermore, several leaders in these other religious denominations hold chieftaincy titles affiliated with the Ifa religion.
Moreover, there are various similarities between Ifa and more conventional religions such as the acknowledgement of a Supreme God (in Ifa, the God is called Oludumare) who surpasses lesser gods like Sango, Obatala, Osun, Olokun and Oya. Practitioners living in diaspora have even merged Ifa with various other religions - an example is the Santeria church which was established during the slave trade era in Cuba and is believed to be a combination of the Catholic faith and Ifa religion by African slaves who were being forced to convert to Christianity by their Spanish masters but did not want to let go of their traditional believes, hence merged it with the new religion to keep it alive.
Another similarity between the Ifa religion and Christianity is the fact that in Ile Ife, the main worship day for Ifa practitioners is Sunday. The traditional religion is known not to discriminate other religions but instead, adapts their teachings and embraces their followers. This is probably why this religion has survived the conversion attempts of missionaries, colonialism and slave trade.
Ironically, the Ooni of Ife previously declared himself a Christian, Muslim and Traditionalist on public media. In his words; “I am not a Christian alone, I can be called a Muslim too. I practice all the religions very well. I go to the mosque to pray, I attend church services... I am a traditionalist as well. I have been able to see the light that there’s nothing demonic about our ancient religion".
If the Ooni of Ife is a practitioner of various religions, surely his marriage to a Christian evangelist and self-proclaimed prophetess is not as bizarre as is being portrayed is it?
Additionally, prophecy is not restricted to religion, rather it is a spiritual gift that can be bestowed on anyone regardless of their background. Why then should the Queen’s supernatural gift be a hurdle, rather than a stepping stone?
According to media publications, the second wife of the Ooni who separated from him last year was selected through a supernatural procedure where she was handpicked by the Ile Ife’s divine Oracle. Due to confirmed past practices, it is plausible to assume the same procedure was employed in selecting the new bride. In a kingdom as culturally and strictly regulated as the Ile Ife, an unfit Queen can simply not be accepted by spiritual diviners, whose opinions are paramount in the decision making of the Ooni.
What we have here is history in the making, a merging of believes. With the Ooni of Ife coming from a Christian and Muslim background and the Queen being revered as a prophetess with a Christian background, the Ife Kingdom by this union just became extremely powerful (spiritually) in the eyes of devotees of the throne.
Remember; ' you give power to what you believe in'.
Rather than be judgmental, we should be in awe of the non-discriminatory leaps being taken by royal traditionalists and the barriers being broken to show unity amongst religions.
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