Chapter Seventeen

 

Yomi came to visit Babatunde in the palace the minute he came back from his honeymoon. He came alone and he had a worried look on his face. He told Babatunde that he had some upsetting news. He had received a newspaper publication that mentioned a petition being sent to the inspector general of police about a missing girl and the comments that a body had been found near the domain of Oba Adeolu.

Babatunde listened closely to Yomi. He had a frown on his face as he listened. When Yomi had finished speaking, he sighed and looked straight ahead. Yomi asked if there was more to the newspaper story.

Babatunde shrugged and replied that he was just as mystified as him because he had been wondering what was going on too. He explained to Yomi about the indigo people suggesting that he had reason to think that something fishy was afoot.

Two days before he had received a call from the Governor asking him point blank if he knew anything about the indigo people. Babatunde replied that he had no idea what the Governor was getting at because he was not an associate of a cult and by all indications the indigo people are supposed to be nasty ritualists.

He had learned some more about the credentials of the indigo people from his chief adviser and he knew that while they had no spiritual content, they wielded a fear over their victims. He remembered he had called a meeting of his chiefs and that was how he learned that the indigo people were a secret cult. Their members were drawn from every strata of society and they were a nuisance in any community they showed an interest in.

He explained to Yomi what he had learned and wondered if his friend could add anything to that for him. Yomi was puzzled and said it was the first time he heard of such a thing. He was very shocked when he learnt that some judges were also suspected of being part of such a cult.

“That is really crazy, Kabiyesi, how do they intend to dispense justice if a member was brought before them?” Yomi said in disgust.

“I saw one of my chiefs with the beads and I invited him if he would prefer those beads to the natural ones we gave him. In my position as the Kabiyesi, I understand I am expected to accept all types and manner of people who make up my community. The question that I find worrying is what I do if a member walks up to me and gives me the beads as a patron of the indigo society.”

Yomi shook his head unable to answer and absent-mindedly accepted the palm wine that a maid brought to him, then he looked into the calabash and frowned. At the bottom of the calabash bowl was a coiled reptile, very tiny but nestled and seeming to be living. Yomi was trembling with shock and horror as he stared at it for a few seconds. He kept wiping his lips nervously. He showed the calabash to Babatunde, who raised eyebrows as he bellowed for guards. The chief guard rushed in, startled. Babatunde asked for the maid who had just served the drink and he was told nobody had served the drink as they were still washing the calabash.

Babatunde asked the chief guard to fetch Babamogba promptly. He still held the calabash as Yomi stared at him wondering what was going to happen next. Babatunde held the calabash in his left hand and used the right hand that had the Numen insignia to cover it. He slowly walked towards Yomi keeping his gaze on a point above the head of Yomi, as he muttered some words to himself, then he removed his right hand and gazed into the calabash. There was a frown on his face as he observed the calabash intently.

Babatunde asked Yomi where his car was parked, and Yomi said he had parked close to the private quarters of the Kabiyesi, actually next to the Kabiyesi’s private car. Babatunde nodded and invited Yomi to come closer. Yomi was nervous but followed the invitation and Babatunde showed him the calabash. Yomi was stunned to see that instead of the coiled reptile that had stunned him, he could see through the cream liquid of the palm wine, his car that was parked outside. He was stunned.

Babatunde smiled at his friend and said Yomi may have to use a different car to get home that day if he wanted to make it home in his present skin.

“The lady came to warn us that something is coiled in your car and you need to inspect the car now or get a mechanic to have a look at it. Your car is presently dangerous to your health. Very timely warning for you, my friend.”

“Who was the maid?”

Babatunde stated that knowing who the maid was would not serve any purpose but to heed the warning of the calabash. There was a timid knock on the door, and a girl stood framed on the doorway, the palm wine she carried spilling from her badly frightened hands. She was too awed to speak and was crying.

Babatunde gave her a calm smile and told her that there had been a mistake, he told her she could return to the serving point as they already had something to drink. The frightened girl fled.

Yomi was contemplative. “Somebody came to warn me—was my car tampered with?”

“Just heed the warning, this is a very old town, and we don’t claim to be descendants of the popular Oduduwa, but we call ourselves children of the morning sun. The laws are different for us here. Hence we don’t want any prince here to be harmed either. Am I making sense? I want to know those indigo people and send them on their way. They can’t be worse than the wolf-men.”

Yomi thanked Babatunde and he said he would get a taxi to take him home. He said Josephine might be worried if he did not start making plans to start heading for home. Babatunde asked him to give himself a few more minutes while he sent for the mechanic to have a look at his car.

Five minutes later, the mechanic that Babatunde sent for arrived and he was asked to check Yomi’s car. He came back later holding a cable that had been neatly cut, and said the transmission fluid had also been drained out. Yomi was alarmed, asking how that could have happened as he checked the car before traveling, but the mechanic said the connecting rubber that held the fluid was damaged and the car was thus leaking fuel. Babatunde asked the mechanic how long repairs would take. The mechanic said in another hour or so. Yomi groaned but Babatunde sent for his own private driver and asked Yomi to make use of that car until the next day when his own car would be sent to him.

Yomi thanked Babatunde and promised to set a quiet investigation into motion about the members of the indigo people.

Babatunde returned to the palace after he had waved Yomi off, a little thoughtful. He sat down for a few seconds wondering who wanted to harm Yomi.

He heard a quiet cough and looked up from his seat; Sasa was looking at him pensively too.

 “What is the matter?” Babatunde asked.

“Your Governor has gone to the Indigo people to make medicine that will make him invincible in the next elections,” Sasa replied, sounding very sad.

“Lord have mercy on us, but why will he do that?”

“That is easily answered—your people have changed the sign posts, you know. Politics as I heard some of you say in your books is the art of putting yourself forward to serve the people, I think.”

Babatunde sighed. “We are not doing that here, and it is the politics of rice and oil. You would not believe what happens here. We seek the people’s mandate in order to mortgage their dreams for another four years.”

“Hmmm…when he wanted to be Governor he went to the helpers and asked for permission to serve. The law is, when you ask you receive, but he did not read the small print of his request nor to whom he applied to. Now he is anxious to undo seeds he planted but he has to return to where he planted the seeds and take out the seeds himself.”

“That has nothing to do with me.”

“When you ask, you get answers. You asked to know the head of the Indigo people, I just gave you answer,” Sasa replied.

He was gone as Babatunde sighed heavily.

Someone knocked softly on the door and he granted permission, then smiled as his mother quickly walked in and held him. He was not supposed to see her openly so he had a private entrance made for her known only by him and the princess. He closed the public entrance as he asked after his mother’s welfare, giving her a critical once over look.

She was still the same, humble, quietly serving woman. He suddenly stretched out his hand as he did the time he was within the wasteland and called her name softly. His gaze went misty as he learned about their paths and he knew she was his sister in a different incarnation. It made sense to him now, that he always felt protective towards her. Not in the manner of a son to a mother but as a brother to a sister. Her name came to him, she was Wenyon then

They chatted for a few minutes as he asked after her welfare. The knowledge he had about her made him feel more protective. He told her quietly that he was going to be a father soon. His mother knelt down and thanked the gods for such a blessing on her and asked if she could in one way or another help to make the necessary herbal drinks that would help maintain the pregnancy.

Babatunde suggested that his mother should wait until Ife felt comfortable with her pregnancy to share it openly. His mother agreed and asked if it was okay to share the information with his dad. But Babatunde said the time was not yet right.

~~~

 

That evening as Ife was coming in to town from the city, she felt an urge to pay her mother-in-law a visit. One look at the happy face of her mother-in-law and she laughed and teased that she was aware of the supposed secret. Her mother-in-law stared at her, awed by her instant knowledge.

“You are Wenyon, remember, the medicine woman from the border town? I will start taking your herbs when it is time. Don’t worry, your son will not know I am aware. Are you happy for me?”

Her mother-in-law asked if that was in doubt and asked after Ife’s trips. They chatted for a while and Ife handed over the things she had brought from the city for her adopted mum.

On her way back to the palace she saw the crusaders setting up their chairs. It meant there was going to be a crusade that night and she smiled. After the formal coronation of the Kabiyesi, they had come over to the palace evangelizing that he should give his life over to Christ. She remembered that Babatunde had simply watched all the events as it unfolded and excused herself. From well-known facts, the evangelists did not know how to approach her.

Soon, stories started circulating that she needed to be a Christian in order to help fight the witches and wizards. She remembered that one particular prophet had become a nuisance in his persistence and boasted that he would convert her to his faith.

Convert me to his church more likely if he can get away with it,” she told Tinu, as they sat and ate mango fruit that were in season.

“But what would be wrong if you converted to a Christian?” Tinu asked.

“What am I now?” Ife asked.

Tinu refused to answer.

“You don’t really know who I am?”

“We all think you are the Numen for us here.”

Ife was interested and asked Tinu to share what she had learned, but Tinu was suddenly shy and said she just understood it but would not know how to explain what she simply sensed.

That gave Ife food for thought and she wanted to find out. The idea that there was an explanation for her kind of species became very important to her. I might just be an ordinary female after all, and rather than feel this constant pressure within me all the time.

Her visit home that time had been so crowded with other things that she had not remembered to seek out Mae or Adura. However she had learned something really vital. The Grace of the Almighty had never left any race un-catered for. She learned that there was a big difference between religion and conviction. Ife felt that the missionaries should have left the African alone with his faith, and he would have evolved into what Edumare intended him to be. She had refused to accept that the African was a natural savage as her friend in medical school had insisted.

She used to have long discussions with Lloyd then, he would attempt to tease her about religion and ask her which of the several churches she subscribed to.

“If it is the truth it would have no splitting, when human interference has tainted the teachings it has split. The Truth is one whole and it is in Creation as a whole. The versions we have of it are versions of our differing egos and definitions.”

“Good for you my friend, it would take something else to change such clarity. Make sure you keep it that way.”

Ife didn’t know why she was thinking about that conversation this evening and assumed that the sight of the Christian crusaders must have brought it on.

In the palace proper she alighted and walked towards her apartment. That was when she became aware of the crowd near to the reception room. They looked agitated and she walked up to them. She noticed some of the chiefs were walking into the reception room while most of the civilians were dressed in the all-white garb of the prayer warriors faction of the cherubim and seraphim, simply referred to everywhere as the aladuras. The image of her mum came to mind immediately and she wondered what hysteria they were raising now.

She was not a member of the traditional council of chiefs so she veered back to the private quarters knowing any of the women in the palace will update her.

She didn’t have to wait for too long as one of the women helpers was still agitated and voluntarily shared the cause of the commotion outside. She told Ife that prophet Dele Fikun had seen a vision that witches held meetings in the big baobab tree in front of the palace and so was going to cut it down. In fact he had gone there with his church members and in the frenzy had attempted to axe the big ancient tree. However at the first stroke of the axe at the base of the tree, there had been a loud cry from one of the chiefs and he had started reciting incantations. The incantations had sent the church members into a frenzied reading of bible passages with some of them sprinkling holy water. As crowds gathered, more chiefs turned up and a youth had physically bundled the stupid prophet out of the way dragging him to the palace and the chiefs had followed, just as angry and determined to stop what they called sacrilege.

Ife tried not to laugh while the woman recounted the details and thanked her, requesting if she could have agidi for supper. The woman stared at her saying she was willing to pound the yam as usual but Ife explained that she felt that pounded yam will be too heavy for her that night.

Later when Babatunde was able to retire to the apartment, there was anger written over his face. Ife understood why. That tree was older than the town itself and had served various purposes for the people.

“You would think they would at least come over and share their vision with you,” Ife murmured in a soft voice, as she massaged her ankle.

Babatunde sighed and dropped his horsetail on the chair beside her, watching her massage.

“Is there something wrong with your ankle?”

Ife explained that she stood too long with the First Lady and thus she had cramps in her ankles. He lifted her foot and rubbed it gently himself as he gave her a smile, his anger dissipating.

He shared with her the small drama about Yomi, the calabash of palm wine and the prayer warriors. Ife laughed and said Babatunde should be prepared for the next batch of religious bigotry to come from the Muslim community.

Babatunde grimaced and shook his head tiredly that at least that lot have the decency not to tell him they were seeing visions. Generally the Muslim folks were a peaceful lot.

Babatunde had told the crusading prophet that he would be arrested next time he tried destroying the heritage of the town. He was so deadly soft in contrast to the bluster of the prophet that the followers gradually calmed down and disappeared. Babatunde asked the prophet to bring him one witch who would state that they held meetings in the tree, and what the meeting was about. He told him bluntly that he was not in the mood to accept anyone who had hysteria about the religion of others. As the crowd watched, Babatunde faced them and announced that the Nigerian constitution has given every person the freedom of religion. He invited anyone who had been in anyway harmed by the traditional religion of the town to come forward and state his grievances or otherwise he would appreciate a peaceful co-existence of all religious groups. He contended that the chiefs had a right and responsibility to defend their own conviction too.

When the crowd dispersed, Babatunde invited the prophet into a smaller room and bluntly told him he was a rabble-rouser and he was not going to accept the antics of the prophet making trouble under the pretext of seeing visions. He shocked the prophet when he mentioned that he was aware of the seven pregnant women in his church at different stages of pregnancy while he was still living openly with a woman who came to the prophet for spiritual healing. The prophet was shocked and he apologized to Babatunde.

“Next time you fancy seeing visions why don’t you try positive ones that will benefit the town. Creating morbid imaginings within the people is keeping your followers in bondage and reaping from their ignorance.”

The prophet gave his Kabiyesi a keen look and prostrated flat asking for forgiveness. Babatunde was tired of the antics of religious bigots each claiming to holding the key to paradise. Each year there would be one more scandal or the other. The traditional worshippers tended to hold the practitioners of the imported faith in some contempt as these ‘leaders’ invariably came to them asking for one medicine or the other to bring seekers to their various places of worship. Babatunde knew there were some genuine ones but the larger lot were for the most part charlatans.

Ife smiled at him as he finished his story and wished him the strength to deal with an even hand all the mixed pot of humanity he had to deal with. He returned her smile and said he didn’t have much fear of doing well because she was there with him.

They had dinner and were thinking of retiring when they heard a soft knock and a guard came to say that Prince Adewunmi has come to see the Kabiyesi. Babatunde frowned but Ife put a gentle hand on his arm and he nodded that he would see the prince in the anteroom.

Prince Adewunmi rose respectfully as Babatunde walked in. He was no longer the arrogant Adewunmi of old and Babatunde felt he should really give him the chance to regain his inner sense of confidence.

“Kabiyesi, I am sorry to impose my presence like this. I was prepared to wait for another day if this was not going to be comfortable for you.”

Babatunde looked at him for some brief seconds then a friendly smile came across his features as he gestured for Prince Adewunmi to be served a drink.

While that was being done he chatted amiably with the prince about the state of the town and wondered what could be done to attract tourists into there. Prince Adewunmi laughed and suggested that the baobab tree could be one of the tourist attractions of the town as it was estimated to be over seven hundred years old. That gave Babatunde an idea and he asked if Adewunmi could get his facts together.

When the drinks had been served and the room was now deemed private, Adewunmi suddenly prostrated in front of Babatunde. This obviously shocked Babatunde who told him to stand up immediately and forbade him from ever doing that again.

"You are a prince no matter what has been said and you must portray yourself as that,” Babatunde told him. “I think I know why you want to see me, but say it with your own lips.”

“I want the blessing of Numen on my quest to be the next Governor of the state, Kabiyesi,” Adewunmi announced quietly. Babatunde was surprised because he was not expecting that—his blessing as Kabiyesi maybe ‘yes’ but to ask for ‘ASHE’ from Numen was something else.

Adewunmi said, “As a freeborn son of the town, I am regarded as a prince as you have told us countless times. I would like to apply for her blessing with your permission.”

Babatunde felt compassion rise within him as he recognized the need. “You know what you have to do; will you be willing to do it? You are asking for the guardian of the town to bless a venture that you will have to swear will be on behalf of the town. You are asking to be sent on a mission by the town that will commit the town to voting for you alone. Can you in all truth ask that of the town? Numen is not political and her answer may disappoint you.”

Adewunmi smiled. “I know the consequences of all that, Kabiyesi. I only ask for the formal blessing of Numen.”

Babatunde saw the bid, the trap and the cunning, but he still wanted to help and said nothing for a while. He studied Adewunmi, then a smile came into his eyes. “Every human being has the right and responsibility to reach for a luminous goal. Very well, you will present yourself to the grove at dawn tomorrow. Yeye will tell you how long you may have to remain at the grove. There will be no calls to the outside in whatever form whatsoever. If Numen recognizes your petition, you will be informed at the grove. In the meantime, I will inform Babamogba of your request and he will see you this night. Are you ready?”

Adewunmi blinked, but nodded an enthusiastic yes.

Babatunde spoke in a soft voice, “We are children of the morning sun and have been here for a long time; in our growth we gradually learned of Numen. In the Yoruba understanding, Numen is seen as ‘ASHE’, authority of the will of Olodumare.

“ASHE is the life force or energy that flows through the chakras. It is neutral and can be used for good or bad. It is contained in everything including the elements and natural things so anyone who has understood how to use ASHE can be good or bad. Generally it is symbolized by six cowries and seven seashells. If you receive the symbol of Numen, you are bound by the laws and though your choices are free—you cannot escape the consequence of flouting the laws and it is visited on you and your children for generations. Are you prepared for this?”

Adewunmi grew silent, and Babatunde saw his confusion.

“You need to know this, that is why I decided to stress what you are about to ask for. It is a step I did not dare to take nor ask for, in respect of myself but for the whole town. A single person has never asked before, but the possibility is always there and the opportunity as well.”

Adewunmi further hesitated and thunder crashed very close to both of them and they both saw the flash of lightning illuminate the room—suddenly a string of white cowrie appeared in front of Adewunmi.

Babatunde was still speaking softly as he asked him to pick up the cowrie string as that would be indication to Babamogba that very night of a supplicant.

Adewunmi sighed and sat back in his chair with a very defeated look on his face. Babatunde was sympathetic and he explained, “Obeying the will of Edumare is not as simple as we all think, my friend. We have our individual egos to contend with. Numen, which in reality is a Latin word for divinity, is in our understanding the divine presence of the representative of the authority of Edumare. By that very definition of the word Olodumare, we mean the being that carries the justice and owns the justice. Princess Numen symbolizes it for us in the way we learn to seek the will of Edumare. Will you really want to involve Olodumare in the politics of mortal man who is yet to understand the meaning of love let alone a concept of justice?”

Adewunmi gave a very heavy sigh. “I guess I needed to hear and learn this, Kabiyesi. May I however ask for your blessing?”

“And my vote as well,” Babatunde assured him.

By the time Adewunmi looked around the cowrie string had disappeared. Adewunmi looked relieved and Babatunde laughed.

“Saved by the bell,” Adewunmi murmured.

“You have shown bravery and honesty, maybe that will work well for you in politics. We need honest men, Prince. I will be counting on you.”

Kabiyesi rose and Adewunmi took that as a signal that the meeting was at an end. He gave the one fist salute and Babatunde grasped the fist firmly.