Now you know that God is not your Tribesman
Here I attempt a postmodernist narration of the events surrounding the Ile Ife and Modakeke crisis in late 20th century in cadence with the fever pitch reaction at that time to what may now be the prevailing framework in philosophy. It may be difficult to accept the triumph of language — adjectives, verbs, nouns, pronouns and the less heralded parts of speech elevated to fundamental existential particles in a universe where rationalism is dead [1]. This informal reduction of postmodernist philosophy is perhaps, sacrilege even to the novice philosopher and much more severe to the seasoned practitioner. Well, what can I say — everyone should aspire to be their own philosopher; moreover, postmodernism values subjectivism. Language is important and in unexpected ways sometimes. This story on tribalism will demonstrate one of the ways in which language could be decisive in our personal survival. Another point in favor of postmodernism is a phrase from Foucault’s “History of Madness” that states that “there is madness in all claims by reason to have found objective truth” and an acceptance of this stance, at that time, may portray modern philosophy as having drowned some of its essential elements. I digress.
Tribalism, the horror!
Imagine a battlefield where the only weapons employed are machetes and axes. No guns. It will be hard to recruit soldiers for such a mission I imagine. Hard to fight a man coming at you with a machete even when you are armed with one yourself except you are a Norse warrior in medieval times. Even for the skilled fighter, it’s hard to settle on a strategy, is it offense or defense. The received wisdom is to defend until you can gauge your opponent’s strength and skill. What does that entail? Well, it depends on the combat style of your opponent or the number of opponents you have to face. In some cases, you may dance around, prancing aggressively with a semi-raised machete without closing the distance. Smart, but many re-enactments of tribal wars in Yoruba dramas prefer the charge, a crazed rush, accompanied with hellish screams that robs your opponent of his reason leaving him with only his reflexes to match the aggression. Death if it happens in this case, is usually quicker than being slowly outmaneuvered and cutdown to an overwhelming pool of blood. Beyond skill, warring tribes often employ primal psychological tactics, like — goat blood, yes, there is a famous tale about an instance in the struggle when Modakeke warriors showed up at a popular market in Ile Ife covered in goat blood. The terror, the horror of the sight caused such a stir in the market that it rattled the opposing tribal warriors who had anticipated the attack. Some of the warriors abandoned their positions and ran, it was a slaughter. Rumor has it that even the Ifa priest that the Ile Ife warriors were supposed to derive supernatural boost from peed himself. There is an old Modakeke aphorism that loosely translates to “the buttocks hold no sword”, which I believe also doubles as a military philosophy. Even the water attendant, a middle-aged man that served the decrepit hotel that I stayed in with my mother during one of our visits to the local university had cut down a few fleeing Ile Ife warriors, at least, so he claims. I had always believed the Modakekes to be the more diabolical party until I witnessed firsthand the violence dealt by both tribal parties.
Don’t get on the bus!
Yoruba mythology documents the brave and brutal acts associated with ascension to ancient Yoruba aristocracy and many of those tales suggest the regional dominion of the regal warriors of Ile Ife and her people relative to every other local tribe. The continued occupation of lands by the Ile Ife people, seized during the triumphant yesteryears from the subjugated local tribes is the principal cause of the modern conflict. The control of the regional mineral and natural resources is consolidated in the modern political institution of the Osun State government and leaves nothing to dispute between these two warring tribes except land ownership. Of course there are other aspects of the dispute, for example, the tribe of the elected local regional officials. Particularly because the democratic machine in the local government is ineffective at the very least and most likely corrupt. The popular belief among the locals is that whoever pays the most bribe wins the electoral race. This notion escalates the tension during election season.
I was on a trip to visit the university at Ile Ife with my mother when our bus was stopped. Someone had come up with the idea for a highway traffic stop for tribal differentiation using language. The discriminator was the phonology of the local Yoruba dialect in the two regions when pronouncing certain words.
“Get off the bus …”
We filed out of the commercial bus that served the Akure — Ibadan route, I was headed to the University at Ile Ife to discuss my admission prospects with the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, a known relative of my mother.
“Pronounce these words …”
The men barking out these orders were dressed in trifling clothes not in dansiki and abeti-aja like the famed Yoruba warriors. I initially thought they were highway robbers and when I realized that this was a tribal confrontation, I didn’t know which side they were. Regrettably, the man in front of my mother was trying to reset his position in the line. He wanted to be further back and he tried to do this subtly by stumbling, falling and placing himself a few spots behind me. Well, it wasn’t unnoticed by these highway warlords, one of them approached and said
“Pronounce these words …”
He was the first man to die that day. His murderer who had covered himself and the now sobbing travelers in blood spatter, yelled what I have translated to “Now you know that God is not your tribesman” as he walked back to the front of the line.
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REFERENCES:
[1] Postmodernism, Language & Meaning: https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl_258/lecture%20notes/postmodernism%20language.htm
