By Abiodun Fanoro

Scholars and historians alike, in one accord, have acknowledged ifa, as the greatest multi-cultural institution of the Yoruba. It is affirmed as an encyclopaedia of a sort, encapsulating the entire ways of life of the Yoruba, including their unique advancement in arts and science. However, it still remains a subject of controversy even among the Yoruba originators. The controversy is not about existential question, originality or efficacy, the acid test it has passed for centuries, the controversy centres on religious imputation.

Ifa, over the years, has remained a victim of liberate cultural conflict or collision in conscious campaign by western religious irridentists to blacklist or take it out of existence, closing their eyes to its efficacious capacity even more than some modern day scientific tools. Without travelling very in search of the commonest but pervasive evidence vindicating the uniqueness, exceptionality and primacy of Ifa as a foremost Yoruba multi-cultural institution, is how the Yorubas from pre-written history have consciously indulged in given Ifa-based names to their children in conscious efforts to prove that the institution is indisputably first among equals.

No wonder such names like Ifabiyi, Fayemi, Fayoose, Fanoro, Fasina, Falana, Falayi, Fasuyi, Fagbemi, Abifarin and thousands of Yoruba names carrying Ifa prefixs or surfixs.
Far and above the use of Ifa in nomenclatures, Ifa has ascended the educational ladder with its branches being researched on by scholars even at the highest pinnacle of academics.

One of the latest entrants in the academic voyage of research on Ifa is Prof. Bifatife Oluyemi Adeseye, Dean Faculty of Arts, Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), who recently presented FUOYE’s 22nd Inaugural Lecture, titled, ‘Ifa In The Drama Of Life: Ancient Wisdom For The Digital Age’, where he dug deeply into the history of the evolution of Ifa, its chacteristics/features/branche in all aspects of Yoruba life, its feats among the people, its permeation of today’s modern ways of life, its modus operandi among several perspectives he xrayed the subject matter.

Bifatife while opening his presentation affirmed the misconception tragedy of Ifa and went ahead to make reference to some scholars who had pointed out in the past the misgiving Ifa is unwittingly reduced to.

In his efforts to prove that the misconception were unfounded and baseless, Bifatife cited a research finding by another scholar, Prof Sophie Oluwole.

“To fully articulate the concept of Ifá, I will align with Prof. Sophie Oluwole (2014) as she has enumerated some of the common misconceptions about the system. Oluwole argued that Ifá is not a religion, but that it contains religion, philosophy, science, and more. It follows, therefore, that Ifá is a comprehensive system that encompasses various aspects of life”. He also corrected the veil attempt to undermine the prominent place of Ifa by scholars who laboured to link it to Arabic geomancy due to the similarities it shares with the geomancy where both record their notation ftom right to left and concluded that “Archeological findings have proved that Ifá predates Arabic influences, and is deeply rooted in Yoruba culture.”

The lecturer further advanced his argument about the originality and uniqueness of Ifa as against misconceptions of western culture apologists and other individuals, when he unveiled to the august gathering the world-view nature of Ifa and the fullness of its exclusive content, not found in any other cultural concept.

The academic fortfied his argument in stout defence of the unassailable integrity of Ifa with more references to the summation by some reputed scholars. “It should be emphasised that Ifá is a logically-based spirituality that deals with the mind and the universe, not magic or superstition. If taken as a faculty in an academic institution, Ifá would project courses in the following areas of specialization: Divination, sacred arts, medicine, poetry, religion and philosophy.

Ifá medicine, commonly called Traditional or alternative therapy, sub-divides into several areas of specialisation far ahead of the numbers found in most orthodox colleges of medicine (Adeseye 2012)… Ifá stores for posterity, the entire fabric of a people’s life. Ifá is therefore a culture; a world-view of the Yoruba in the Diaspora. (Odeyemi 1997, Adeseye 2017).

Bifatife is not alone in this ‘lust’ and defence of its sanctity as way back in 1999 Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka had faulted the apparent relegation of Ifa to the background in world affairs despite its efficacy. In the words of the inaugural lecturer, “Wole Soyinka (1999) invites all and sundry to acknowledge Ifá as the fountain of knowledge; a system that encapsulates the totality of the way of life of the Yoruba, that is also applicable to any race…Ifá as an encyclopedia that is relevant not only to the Yoruba race but also to the global community.”

The erudite scholar who drew resonating ovation from the gathering peopled by academics, traditional and spiritual fathers, friends, family members as well sundry public officers while defending the topic of the discourse, when he brilliantly distinguished between westernisation and modernisation and fautlessly asserted that opponents of Africa’s contributions to world modernity or civilisation were consciously undermined and undervalued through the subjective use of westernisation as the exclusive lens to view modernisation/civilisation, therefore the lecture stood as one of such strategic measures to correct and redress the imbalance and the misgivings. He further asserted that every culture is important and must be collectively inclusive when aggregating the global culture, a situation that has not been allowed to flourish especially by apostles of superiority of western cultures over and above others. Apart from righting the misgivings, the scholar held that the past which African culture and tradition represent is very germane to creating the present and in moving forward. A cultural prophet he is, he foresees that, “The new process is expected to purify and bring forth the new man, the new African, one who must operate under a new sense of realism, not as a puppet.”