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Worship with us @ Mountain of Fire Miracles Ministries, Budapest, Hungary Address: 1081 Bp II János Pál Pápa tér 2 (formerly Köztársaság tér) Direction: From Blaha, take tram 28, 28A, 37, 37A, 62...1 stop. From the traffic light cross to the other side... Or take Metro 4 & get off @ János Pál Pápa tér
Time of worship: Wednesdays @ 18:30 hr Sundays @ 10:30 hr
Tel: +36 203819155 or +36 202016005

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Friday 17 August 2012

NEWS FEATURE


Mystical crocodile which makes wishes come true 

The crocodile. Inset: Chief Raufu Yesufu Delesolu
The 70-year-old crocodile belonging to the Delesolu family of Oje Idi-Ayunre in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, is reported to possess magical powers. Taiwo Olanrewaju, Doyin Adeoye and Omolara Ayinla paid a visit to the Delesolu family home. Their report. 


TO some people, crocodile is a wild animal which should be kept in a zoo for visitors to the zoo to behold while to some other people, it is a killer, or better still, a deadly animal which must not be toyed with. But to the descendants of Delesolu family of Oje Idi-Ayunre, Ibadan, Oyo State, the crocodile is the family's favourite animal and, at least, one of it must be kept close to the family house.
So, for any child of the Delesolu family, the first wild animal he or she recognises and sees at a very close range is the crocodile. Not even modernisation or westernisation has changed the idea of keeping a live crocodile close to the family house as would be noted by any visitor to the family house, the Delesolu Court, at Oje Idi-Ayunre.
According to the head of the family, the Mogaji, Chief Raufu Yesufu Delesolu, who doubles as the Gbonka Olubadan of Ibadanland, their forefathers, Delesolu and Olajinfin, both of same parents, migrated to Ibadan from Ijeru in Ogbomoso and settled at Oja'Ba, beside Chief Oderinlo's family house, the then Balogun of Ibadanland.
"Both of them were warriors who possessed charms but noted that their children were always dying. Thus, they asked Chief Oderinlo to allow them relocate to another place. So, the duo were given a vast stretch of land which Delesolu and Olajinfin cleared and settled on.
"The land was not, however, given free of charge as 11 slaves, 11 horses and a lot of cowries were collected from our forefathers. Some of the highly respected Ibadan chiefs present during the transaction included Chief Oderinlo, Iba Oluyole, Chief Opeagbe, Chief Balogun, Chief Foko and Chief Babalola.
"Also, a lot of brass metal (Oje) were found on the land, because of that and because Delesolu and Olajinfin's grandfather, Olaosebikan, lived in Oje-Ile before it was conquered by Fulani warriors; the new site was named Oje while a market was started there after some sacrifices were made." Mogaji Delesolu stated.
He noted that it was the culture of his forefathers to keep crocodile. "It is purely tradition," he asserted. He said a crocodile was also kept in the family house at Ijeru in Ogbomoso, adding that the first crocodile which was brought to Ibadan died in 1939. The present one, which he said was 70 years old, was bought from Akewukereke at Owo-Baale village, close to Erunmu.
Mogaji Delesolu, who was born in 1943, said the family does not regard "the crocodile as its god, so we do not appease it in any manner." All they did was to give it water and that it was when some white men visited their domain that they were told that the crocodile could eat chicken as well. The crocodile also has the honour of eating the left-over from meat sellers nowadays.
Aside the fact that the family is protected from the outbreak of smallpox as none of the family member suffers an attack whenever there is an outbreak, the crocodile, to the best of his knowledge, and does not have any magical power, even as he regarded as rumour the belief of the people involved in the stories doing the rounds.
He recollected that there was a particular governorship aspirant in Oyo State, whose wife visited the crocodile, bought a live chicken, used it to rub her body from head to toe, praying that her husband would win the election before throwing it to the crocodile. "The husband actually won but the woman did not come back to fulfil her promises to the crocodile," he added.
Also, a nurse had been there sometime to collect part of the water in which the crocodile lives in while some other people, herbalists especially, were said to have gone to the family house to collect the crocodile's excreta and its eggs, which were said to be bigger than the duck's.
The Mogaji also said women in need of children used to come around to collect the crocodile's water to which herbalists prescribed herbs which they purchased from the herb sellers at the Oje market. Hence, the large number of herb sellers in the market. He however claimed that none of the people who came there to solicit for one assistance or the other from the crocodile ever came back to say thank you. All they did was bought it a chicken when they came around for the first time.
Maybe the most popular of the rumours about the crocodile is that it leaves its enclosure and visits any woman in the Delesolu family who puts to bed to greet the mother and child. Describing the rumour as untrue, Mogaji Delesolu said the only times the crocodile left its habitat was when its enclosure had not been cemented and it dug its way out but that it was always caught close to the Ojo'Badan family house and brought back to its enclosure with the aid of a sack.
He also narrated what would probably have put an end to the tradition of keeping crocodile close to the family house. He said some years back, a young male member of the family fell into the crocodile's enclosure but that surprisingly the crocodile did not make any attempt to hurt the boy, who he said is now a pharmacist. He noted that the crocodile has never wounded or attacked anybody till date.
Members of the Delesolu family do not eat crocodile while they accord the crocodile at death, a befitting burial after which another crocodile would be bought and nurtured to adulthood. It must be one crocodile at a time. It is a cycle which is repeated and the onus falls on the family's Mogaji to care for the crocodile.
Mogaji Delesolu noted that about two other families in Ibadan, one at Agbeni, also breed crocodiles.

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Love the article on Gaddafi
We must rise above tribalism & divide & rule of the colonialist who stole & looted our treasure & planted their puppets to lord it over us..they alone can decide on whosoever is performing & the one that is corrupt..but the most corrupt nations are the western countries that plunder the resources of other nations & make them poorer & aid the rulers to steal & keep such ill gotten wealth in their country..yemen,syria etc have killed more than gadhafi but its not A̷̷̴ good investment for the west(this is laughable)because oil is not in these countries..when obasanjo annihilated the odi people in rivers state, they looked away because its in their favour & interest..one day! Samosa Iyoha

Hello from
Johannesburg
I was amazed to find a website for Africans in Hungary.
Looks like you have quite a community there. Here in SA we have some three million Zimbabweans living in exile and not much sign of going home ... but in Hungary??? Hope to meet you on one of my trips to Europe; was in Steirmark Austria near the Hungarian border earlier this month. Every good wish for 2011. Geoff in Jo'burg

I'm impressed by
ANH work but...
Interesting interview...
I think from what have been said, the Nigerian embassy here seem to be more concern about its nationals than we are for ourselves. Our complete disregard for the laws of Hungary isn't going to help Nigeria's image or going to promote what the Embassy is trying to showcase. So if the journalists could zoom-in more focus on Nigerians living, working and studying here in Hungary than scrutinizing the embassy and its every move, i think it would be of tremendous help to the embassy serving its nationals better and create more awareness about where we live . Taking the issues of illicit drugs and forged documents as typical examples.. there are so many cases of Nigerians been involved. But i am yet to read of it in e.news. So i think if only you and your journalists could write more about it and follow up on the stories i think it will make our nationals more aware of what to expect. I wouldn't say i am not impressed with your work but you need to be more of a two way street rather than a one way street . Keep up the good work... Sylvia

My comment to the interview with his excellency Mr. Adedotun Adenrele Adepoju CDA a.i--

He is an intelligent man. He spoke well on the issues! Thanks to Mr Hakeem Babalola for the interview it contains some expedient information.. B.Ayo Adams click to read editor's mail
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