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Agbala festival in Iraye-Remo. Ogun State.

Agbala festival in Iraye-Remo. Ogun State.

HRH Alaiyeluwa Oba (Engr.)
Samuel Olatunji Kalejaiye,
Sugbodo Sugbada II,
Nloku of Iraye-Remo

December 14 – 28, 2023

“Memories of the December celebration”

Dr Lucyna Żbikowska
Ambassadors of King Oba Eng. Olatunji Samuel Kalejaiye from Iraye-Remo in the Ogun Nigeria State.

On Saturday 29 December 2018, in the palace of Ob. Eng. Samuel Olatunji Kalejaiye Sugbodo Sugbada II Oba Nloku Iraye, Remo Ogun State, there was the ceremony for granting the rank of the foreign affairs ambassador to Emanuel Kalejaiye and his wife Maria Magdalena Kalejaiye held.
In the confirmation document we can read that:
“Oloye Asoju Oba Iraye Remo and Yeye Asoju Oba the Ogun Nigeria State [are hereby granting] the role of the Ambassador of Foreign Affairs of King Ob Eng. to Olatunji Samuel Kalejaiye from Iraye-Remo in of Ogun Nigeria State.”

The solemn ceremony proved the momentousness and prestige of the event. Since it referred to the distant and respected tradition which in currently changing times has a special meaning for history, culture and language preservation as well as making any effort to establish relationships with all the world’s nations. Moreover, according to the notion of the “ambassador”, it shall not only talk about taking the position, but also about the obligation to be a spokesman, an advocate and a defender of important matters,

The central figure of this event, Emanuel Kalejaiye, shall speak for himself[1]:

“I have become the Ambassador of the Foreign Affairs of King Olatunji Samuel Kalejaiye in Iraye Iremo, of Ogun State.  I have found fulfilment. I do not define it as a sense of happiness as it would mean that peace and prosperity prevail in this world. I do not know if I ever see it. The office of the ambassador is an obligation and specific propulsion, motor which drives me to act and involve in human affairs that are hopeless sometimes. This action reminds me life of our Lord Jesus who shall be a guiding light.”

  In order to understand the significance of the tradition we believe in, even though we live outside our country, our legendary Oduduwa shall be referred to. He is the progenitor of independent royal dynasties. He is remembered as a brave and valiant warrior and, what is the most important, a leader and father of the Yoruba (Joruba) nation. He was forced to migrate and went a long way to reach the South- Western Nigeria where he conquered 13 feuding indigenous communities and then united them in one Ile-Ife State. Around the 12th century, his son Nloku, Fagbile
came to the Iraye lands as a crowned sovereign from the Remo districts in Ile-Ife, Akaribo, Elepe Alara and Elmuren. The former state had a strong city-state as well as theocratic and monarchical systems. The oldest state Ile-Ife vaunted that was a very important religious centre, whereas Oyo was a political centre. It was the 13th century when there was the highest level of economic and cultural development.
Unfortunately in the 18th century breakdown happened due to feuds between Egba, Ijebu, Ijesza, Ife and Oyo duchies and then a war with the Fulani people which weakened the state and resulted in conquering by England. This very adverse period was tragic for African people. Formally colonialism accepted by the European states participating in the Berlin Conference of 1883–85 (England, France, Belgium, Portugal and Germany) was not finished until liberation of Africa in the second half of the 20th century, but it is worth mentioning that it began much earlier.

As world-famous journalist Ryszard Kapuściński writes:

“The African slave trade which lasted for over three hundred years was the most disgraceful and brutal phase of this conquest. Three hundred years of manhunts, round-ups, pursuits and ambushes which were very often organised with support of African and Arabic accomplices, that is white people. Millions of young Africans were deported – in terrible conditions, crammed into hatches – cross the Atlantic Ocean to develop power and wealth of the new world by the sweat of their brows.  (…) This era remains in memories and consciousness of Africans” ages of contempt, humiliation and suffering (…)[2]

One of victims of this disgraceful practice of colonialists was Ajayi Crowther who ended up in the hands of slave traders together with his family and even whole Osogun town with its population of 3,000 residents. Different situations caused that he played a significant role not only in the history of Nigeria.

Samuel Ajayi Crowther was called the “Primate of all Nigeria”[3] and was born as Ajayi in Osogun, Egba ludu Joruba State (western Nigeria). He was only 13 when together with his mother and sister was caught by Muslim slave traders and was sold few times before he found himself in the possession of human traffickers. His father did not survive the tragedy. In April 1822 a Portuguese ship with slaves was intercepted by the British naval squadron controlling compliance with the prohibition on the slavery on the coast of Lagos. The liberated Africans were taken to Freetown
in Sierra Leone. Then Ajayi’s new life began. During the stay in Freetown he went to school thanks to support of the Anglican Church Missionary Society. He was studying diligently and showed his extraordinary language skills. Having been supervised by his teacher, he made impressive progress not only in the intellectual field. After years, he wrote:

“My heart opened to Our Lord. I was accepted in the visible Church of Christ on the Earth. (…) I am not a slave anymore but a son.” On 11 December 1825 he was baptised by Reverend Johan Raben. He took a name of Samuel Crowther. At the age of 20 his knowledge of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Arabic languages was at a very high level and thanks to that he could study theology, dogmatics and exegesis successfully. In the near future, this in turn allowed him to undertake a difficult task related to the translation of the Holy Bible into various African dialects. Hence the Bible was translated into Joruba (language) by a native speaker for the first time. According to Samual Crowther, it caused that faith reached people in a specific region faster, therefore they could experience and understand it better. The Bishop subordinated his entire life to this belief with confidence that his effort would result in agreement between people.

His life achievements prove that he made heroic attempts to remodel contemporary consciousness through discussions with sovereigns, judges and clergymen. Undoubtedly he was the precursor of the very early Christian-Muslim dialogue in Africa and for Africa. The indomitable “Primate of all Nigeria” shall reveal the source of his spiritual power to future generations:

“After many years of experiences I have found that the Holy Bible as the Ghost’s sword have to lead its own war following the Holy Spirit”.

In this context, the words of Emanuel Kalejaiye expressed after receiving the dignity of the ambassador of foreign affairs shall not be a surprise.

The world is changing under the influence of new forms of civilization, imposes a new system of values that are not always beneficial for a human being, that is why conscious and responsible Nigerians try to remain faithful to the historical tradition, tradition of custom ceremonies and the idea of Samuel Crowther – the first and the most famous African Christian of the 19th century. This former slave and after many years the bishop of the Anglican Church, who discovered the Gospel on the African continent without renouncing its culture, language or risking anybody’s life, rooted the strong and unambiguous formulation:

“I am not a slave anymore but a son!”

Today we would like to repeat after him that:

Wherever the descendants of the exiled or the sold at the fair under colonists’ judgment live, whether in Latin America, Cuba, Brasil or more or less known places in the world – they will always be sons of this world and this world’s citizens. As the Bishop said, they travelled “a long way from captivity to freedom in Christ” and that is why, in the face of their heritage and the faith of their mission, they bear huge obligations!

The mission of contemporary ambassadors has a much wider scope. This is their and their families’ responsibility to build cultural and scientific bridges in Europe and the world. Thus so many students benefit from university scientific and cultural exchange. In the field of medical services there is also more and more opportunities for mutual consultation, experience and support. Not to mention other areas of economic life.

The World War II had a significant influence on changes in the mentality and opinions about the eternal relationship between “white and black” men. It started the end of the races and skin color differences process. The “white” man who was unquestionable master and ruler of the world so far, almost sent by God to rule and despise the “Black” men, turned out to be a victim of his own “Whites”. Frightening facts cannot be hidden since “Blacks” fight in different formations on almost all fronts of the cruel war and they see how “Whites” beat and kick other “Whites” around. They see how London, the capital of colonialism, is being bombarded, France is defeated, and closer and closer to the east of Europe they encounter the “Whites” looking like human skeletons, stripe-attired men, reaching out their hands to bread crust. Nigerian Augustine Agboola Brown[4] – “jazzman, Ali”,[5] fought in the battalion “Iwo-Ostoja” under the command of major Jerzy Antoszewicz in the Warsaw Uprising as a volunteer using the alias “Ali”, where he experienced the Gehenna equally with the “Whites”. It was a shock! The war unmasked the race of “masters”! As a consequence and as already-mentioned Ryszard Kapuściński writes in his reportages:

“All WW II veterans who later returned from Europe to Africa will be soon met in the ranks of various movements and parties fighting for the independence of their countries. (…)They have different orientations, they have different goals.”[6]

In the occupation poem – “Podróż” [“Journey”] written in the devastated Warsaw of 1942, Czesław Miłosz is wondering rightly about the mystery of fate and events in which people and their works die. However, paradoxically man suddenly discovers something that did not see nor  understand before:

(…)That the storm, though it kills some, may be a lesson for others

How to find the right and proper measures,

How to open human life with ideas

What living means, what dying means.

[1] Emanuel Kalejaiye who was born in Nigeria, decided to stay in Poland after studies at the Medical Academy in Warsaw and he has lived there for 37 years. In Włocławek he works as a doctor without giving up on engaging in social and cultural affairs of the city. In 2018 he was a candidate for the office of the President of the City of Włocławek.

[2] Kapuściński R. Heban, ed. Warsaw, pp. 30-31
[3] Samuel Ajayi Crowther (1807 – 1891) – He prepared the Yoruba grammar and the translation of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer into Yoruba. In 1864 he was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church and in the same year he obtained a doctoral degree at the University of Oxford
[4] The correct spelling of the first and last name

[5] See: Osiński Z. ” Powstaniec z Nigerii ” [in:] ” Afryka w Warszawie “, ed. Paweł Śledziński and Mamadon Diovfa, publ. Eko-Pres,
Fundacja dla Afryki, Warsaw 2010 pp. 97-100; http://warszwa.naszemiasto.pl/artykul/patriota-z-nigerii-jazzman-ali-w-powstaniu-warszwskim,3464775,ar; https://polskatimes.pl/czarnoskory-strzelec-ali-takze-walczyl-w-powstaniu-warszawskim-niezwykla-historia-augusta-agboli ; Insurgent biographies of the Warsaw Uprising Museum
[6] Ibid., p. 32

December 29, 2023

Anniversary of honoring Magdalena Maria Kalejaiye and Emanuel Kalejaiye as Ambassadors of His Majesty, HRM, Oba N’loku Iraye-Remo, Ogun State, Engineer S. O. Kalejaiye.

Address

Plac Defilad

00-110 Warszawa

Phone number

+48 739 547 122

E-mail

contact.nidopoland@gmail.com