Lagos crossroads where residents wake up to sacrifices

Ayoola OLASUPO writes about the concerns of residents in urban centres who regularly behold open sacrifices at strategic places

Incantations uttered in hushed tunes accompanied with varied local songs at odd hours were no longer strange to the residents of Vono Street in Mushin, Lagos State. They have realised the acts signified the dumping of fresh sacrifices at a known crossroad in the street.

Stephen Oluwashanu is one of the dwellers concerned about the regular dumping of sacrifices in the area. When he relocated from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, sometime ago, to start driving a commercial bus, he didn’t know that the street located opposite Challenge bus stop in the Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State, is notorious for dumping of open sacrifices. The sacrifice bearers usually strategically placed the sacrifices to the irritation of the residents and passers-by.

Oluwashanu told our correspondent that the sacrifices were often garnished with assorted foods and dumped in the area at midnight.

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He said, “What I know is that early in the morning we always see sacrifices. They bearers bring different pots of sacrifices every other day. We do not know the effects on whoever sees the sacrifices.’’

He further explained that he often felt disturbed beholding sacrifices most mornings. He stated, “When I’m driving around 6am, as early as that time, one will see pots of sacrifices mixed with several food items. I don’t know what the sacrifices are meant for really. But I do see them as a bad omen. We pray not to be unfortunate in our lives.’’

The father of four added that goosebumps usually seized his body after sighting the sacrifices. “What I have noticed is that anytime I see the sacrifices, I do have goosebumps. It’s a kind of feeling I cannot explain. I always try now to make sure that I am not the first person to go out every morning.”

Oluwashanu wondered how the sacrifice bearers always often have the temerity to dump the items at those areas without being challenged.

“There was a time they asked them to stop putting them by the roadside so they constructed a small place for them. Despite that they are still putting them at the T-junction at Challenge bus stop. We always attempt to chase them away from here too but the people collecting money from them prevented us from doing so,” he stated.

Our correspondent further visited Mushin, Itire and Isolo in Lagos State, and Agbado-Oja in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State where sacrifices often adorn crossroads.

Import of sacrifices 

Online sources describe a sacrifice as a religious rite in which an object is offered in divinity to establish, maintain, or restore a right relationship of a human being to the sacred order. It is a phenomenon found in the earliest form of worship in all parts of the world. It is known as an act of surrendering a possession as an offering to a deity. Sacrifices are prepared with different kinds of items ranging from food and non-food materials. Traditionalists regularly prescribed the items for their preparation and presentation. Most of them are packaged in clay pots and calabashes.

In Yoruba culture, a sacrifice is simply referred to as ‘ebo,’ the offering of something to a particular deity or cult in communion with them or to seek favours. It is however a common belief that sacrifices have both the positive and negative effects. Residents and passers-by in an area where the practice is common are always surprised or irritated beholding them.

Fear mounts over open sacrifices

Another resident In Vono Street, Ahmed Muhammed, said the fear of seeing fresh sacrifices carefully placed along the street at midnight, fuelled his decision to always stay indoors until sunrise, noting that he was often unhappy sighting them.

He said, “I see the sacrifices at a T-junction in the area. I’m not always happy when I see them. I don’t pass the place in the morning because I am sure they would have put fresh ones there. If I see a sacrifice in the morning in that place, I do return home and immediately go to pray.’’

He added that apart from the unattractive and scary nature of the items, the foul odour from the items when rotten was offensive to the environment.

“People in the areas should not allow the sacrifice bearers to put those things there. It is not good for the eye and the odour that comes out when rotten is not pleasant at all. What I know is that it’s been 20 years since the activity has been going on in the area,” he added.

Also, a T-junction around Pako along Lawanson market in Itire, Surulere, Lagos, is popular for varied sacrifices. Our correspondent gathered that the sacrifices are usually placed beside a transformer located by the roadside.

A businessman, Ifeanyi Chimereze, stated that sacrifices dumped at the area ranged from food items such as raw head of a goat, boiled eggs to corn meal with palm oil among others.

He noted that sometimes in some other areas sacrifices were dumped in strategic places in the night, midnight or early in the morning, adding that sacrifice bearers operated in Pako at any time of the day even in broad-daylight.

He said, “They drop different kinds of things like goat-heads, boiled eggs, bean cakes, corn meal with palm oil, calabash filled with food among others at the spot. The odour too is not good for our health because when it starts smelling we cannot withstand it. They bring sacrifices to this area regularly. Maybe it is because of the T-junction here. I can only pass there when it is fresh because when the items become rotten I cannot withstand the odour.”

Chimereze stated further that most of the time the bearers remained unperturbed and faced the T-junction to offer prayers silently, adding that he was always scared anytime he sighted the sacrifices.

The businessman said he would always pray against the negativities attached to the sacrifices especially when he was not sure if he was the first person to have seen them.

“Well people doing it may see it the other way round but for me it is not good for sight. They drop different kinds of things such as goat-heads, boiled eggs, bean cakes, corn meal with palm oil, calabash filled with food among others on the spot. They use to bring the sacrifice in broad daylight and they will face the four corners of the earth praying on their knees. Mostly they come early in the morning or late at night. People do not disturb them because they believe it is their own religion and in the Nigerian law there is freedom of worship. I see that they place the sacrifices at T-Junctions. When I meet them on my way to my shop I use to pray because I believe whatever the sacrifices are meant for does not concern me,” he stated.

On his part, a resident of Agbado-Oja in the Ifo Local Government Area, Ogun State, Jamiu Owodeyi, said he heard that the first person to behold sacrifices usually face the consequences of whatever they were meant for. He claimed that before anyone could see the sacrifices at dawn, some powers would have fed on them.

He added that he always prayed whenever he saw them, noting that it was a troubling experience starting the day by seeing such items early in the morning.

Owodeyi said, “I don’t believe the first person to see a sacrifice will be affected negatively. I am of the opinion that when they dump those items at T-Junction, some spiritual powers would have fed on them before daybreak.’’

Another dweller in the area, John Agbabiaka, stated that it was frustrating that nobody had been arrested in connection with the eyesore that sacrifices had become in urban centres.

He said, “What annoys me more is when I see a sacrifice in the morning. I always feel bad. Something will seem wrong within me. Most times, I return home because my fear for that day will be that something bad will happen to me. We have heard different cases of people that attracted troubles into their lives after seeing a sacrifice. In the past, we know that forefathers took sacrifices to thick forests at midnight or at dawn. But nowadays, many people in urban centres carry sacrifices almost every day and place them at T-Junctions in open places. Nobody has confronted those bearing the sacrifices and we keep living with the situation. They dumped sacrifices at the location at midnight because they did not want everyone to see them.”

Also lamenting, a tricycle rider, Idris Olubanjo, complained that commercial drivers were at risk of seeing sacrifices because, according to him, they leave their homes early to start work. He added that many of them had encountered many sacrifices while on the road, saying there was nothing they could do but to ignore and drive on looking for passengers.

Olubanjo said, “We leave our homes early to scout for passengers. We often come across many things on the road while driving. I know that passengers also see many of those things as they leave their homes early to get buses to their destinations. But at times, drivers see a lot of things which passengers may not be conscious of. I am not saying that drivers of private vehicles don’t see some of these things. But we behold many of this because of stopovers and meandering of corners to beat traffic. Sacrifice is not a new thing to us because we always see it by the roadside.”

Besides, a mini bus driver at Agbado-Oja, Idris Yusuf, urged the government to look into tackling the irritating aspect of littering places with sacrifices.

He noted that the sacrifices would later become rotten without the bearers finding means to clean the places. He stated, “I can only say that sacrifices are real and government urge religious and community leaders to seek ways to end indiscriminate dumping of sacrifices at markets and other open places,’’

Similarly, different sacrifices are placed on the pavement around the roundabout at Joke Ayo, AIT Road around, Lagos State. Calabashes, black clay pots and plastic plates contained various food items and dead birds were left on the spot. Some of the black pots have been broken due to their long stay at the spot. Residents and passers-by in the area often wake up daily to find fresh sacrifices in the area.

Open placement of sacrifices is also in some states such as Delta, Edo among others. Our correspondent observed that sacrifices were no stranger to T-Junctions n the Asaba metropolis in Delta State such as Nnebisi road by Grand Hotel junction,

Umuagwu Junction, Okwe Junction and Cable Point Junction.

Traditionalists, culture enthusiasts weigh in

Commenting on the issue, a popular Ifa priest based in Osogbo, Osun State, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon, told our correspondent that sacrifices were often performed as propitiation and remedy to humans’ problems. He said it was a form of appeasement channelled towards the unseen spirits against every negative thing disturbing mankind.

Elebuibon said, The “I have done a lot on what is called sacrifice. Ebo is propitiation; a remedy to solve the problems of mankind. In Yoruba cosmogony, Olodumare mandated that we should make sacrifices on whatever we want to do because of unseen spirits disturbing existence. The places these sacrifices are taken to are T-junctions, walkways, backyards, tree base, etc. There are different spirits living in those places and after making divination, one will be told the materials to use and where the sacrifice should be taken to. People make sacrifices for different things from barrenness, safe delivery, job to healing from sickness, etc. People should pray or throw a stone at the sacrifice any time they see one so that the dangers in it will not affect them.”

According to him, sacrifices are ordained by the creator for sustenance of positivity in the lives of humans.

He added, “According to how God created the world, some are called belligerent (they are the warriors against man), the other ones are malevolent that save humans from dangers. Belligerent are sickness, failure, and death, ill luck among others. The sacrifices are prepared against the forces. Sacrifices mean a remedy to the problems. In Yorubaland, it is not a sin to make sacrifices. It is the duty of human beings to ensure that dangers do not superimpose positivity.’’

Also, Otunba Asa of Ido Kingdom, Osun State, Mufu Onifade, said that people placed sacrifices at crossroads and other strategic locations because those places were said to be the abode of the popular Yoruba deity called ‘esu.’

He further said that after placing sacrifices at the identified spots, esu would intercede on behalf of the bearer for whatever reason such person might have prepared the sacrifices for.

He said, “It is not only the traditionalists that do it. Christian and Islamic clerics do it too. They are the ones that see things in the spiritual realm and when people have problems they work up to them for a better life. Some will say when sacrifices are carried to crossroads it will affect the people. That is not true.”

“The crossroad is the home of ‘esu’ and that is why they call him ‘esu onile orita.’  The esu we are talking about is different from Satan. It is a messenger and a deity on its own. For acceptance of prayers, people have to take the sacrifices to a crossroad because that is the abode of esu. After it has been taken there in the middle of the night, what people now see in the day has become useless because the ingredients esu would require for intercession would have been taken already.”

Onifade stated that what people see around were mere physical items which did not necessarily have further implications on either residents or passers-by. The items, he added, were ‘physical remnants’ whose spiritual component had already been extracted by the esu deity for the purpose it was meant for.

He added, “What they see are the physical remnants. Esu would have taken the spiritual component of the thing to wherever it needs to get to.’’

‘He further stated that habitual placing of sacrifices by roadsides, crossroads and others were environmental misuse of those places, saying that mounting of barriers at various crossroads would deter sacrifice bearers of using open spaces. He also advised the government to secure those places used for dumping of sacrifices.

He added, “One cannot stop it because it has always been part of our belief system. I don’t see anything wrong in it. The only thing I detest in it is placing them at modern centres and crossroads. This is happening because the government has not protected those places. People will continue to do this as long as crossroads, roundabouts are left open. If those places are rounded with barriers nobody will be able to make use of them and people will not be complaining about environmental misuse of those places. Any crossroad that is not protected will always be useful to sacrifice bearers.”

In his comment, a culture advocate, Mr Akinola Akintoye, explained to our correspondent that every culture recognises the importance of sacrifices and appeasement, adding that sacrifice bearing itself was as old as human existence.

He said that the importance of bearing such sacrifices was essentially with varied reasons which might either be personal or communal.

According to him, an individual may be instructed to offer sacrifices to ward off a particular sickness or to attain some level of achievement in his work.

He said, “Every culture on earth recognises it but the mode of sacrifice and appeasement may be different from one tribe to another. There is no tribe in the world that is not making one sacrifice or the other. In Yoruba culture, if one wants to make it or break even in life, one has to make sacrifices no matter the religion because the belief is that whatever happens to a man is caused by the devil.

 “People always do that against dangers. There are various reasons and types of sacrifices. Some are for treatment of a sick person, to ward off barrenness or elevation in an individual’s work and others. The materials to be used for such sacrifices would depend on the nature of what the person is seeking. Almost everybody believes that the person who was the first person to see a sacrifice would be negatively affected but that is not true. Many people would have died if that was the case. It’s different from a situation when the bearer is particularly instructed to do certain things.”

Also speaking, a culture enthusiast, Rashidat Ahmed, said that there was nothing wrong in displaying sacrifices in residential areas. She noted that the tradition of sacrifice offering should be preserved especially in Yorubaland, adding that there were no negative consequences on the people, rather people should be encouraged to partake in the activity.

She stated, “We all know that in Yorubaland our forefathers were mostly traditionalists and they have different things they did. Although foreign religions are taking over everything, people always benefit from the practice when they are devoted to it. Offering sacrifice does not have any negative consequences on the people and our people should be encouraged to do it.’’

Govt reacts

Contacted for his reaction, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, decried open placement of sacrifices by some people in the state. He said the act was a disfigurement of those places, adding that placing sacrifices by the roadsides, crossroads, among others would adversely affect the sensibility of passers-by.

He said, “Honestly, I haven’t seen them and you have found them in open places. Disfiguring such places is bad, especially putting them on public roads. Disturbing people from moving or assaulting their sensibility is a bad thing to do. People should not do that kind of a thing.”

The commissioner stated that the state government frowned at such, noting that legal actions would be taken against anybody found carrying out such an act in the state. He added, “Like I said, I have not observed it myself. The state government is against anything that is obscene and indecent and if anybody is found doing that, he or she will be taken to court.’’