By Rotimi Ojomoyela

MASQUERADES in Yorubaland and some other tribes in Nigeria are highly revered owing to the fact that they are regarded as the spirit of the ancestors on an intercessory mission to their kindreds here on earth. This singular feature make people to stand in their awe, and celebrate their appearance.

Impunity of masquerades

•St Andrew’s anglican Church, Oke-Ila where worshippers were attacked and stripped of valuables by the masquerades

However their activities in recent times, especially last Friday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State Capital is anything but intercessory, a clear departure from the dictate of the tradition.

Masquerades and their followers were going round the town armed with dangerous weapons, unleashing mayhem on people,   demanding money from traders, shop owners, commercial and private drivers flogging those who refused to give them money.

Motorists and motorcyclists who declined their request had their vehicles and bikes vandalized and their passengers attacked. They looted goods in the main market and neighbourhood markets collected illegal tolls from motorists and commercial motorcyclists.

Attack on Church

Their siege to Ado-Ekiti did not exclude place of worship, as the masqueraders allegedly   invaded Saint Andrew’s Anglican Church, Oke Ila   in the capital city smashing the head of a worshipper with a broken bottle in the process. The Vicar of the Church, Reverend Zacchaeus Ibitoye, who described the invasion as sacrilegious and barbaric, warned that Ado Ekiti should not be turned into a safe haven for criminals where people would be living in fear.

Reactions

The Odogun of Ado Ekiti, Chief   Obayemi Aladetoyinbo, who is the custodian of the masquerade called ‘Paragogo’ whose adherents shook the entire Ado Ekiti, ascribed the incident to either robbery or cultists’ attack, whom he alleged were rampant in the area.

Aladetoyinbo said the incident occurred at 5 am a day preceding his festival and that it would be wrong to have fingered his people as being behind the   nefarious act. The Chief added that he had reported to the police several times about the activities of cultists in Oke Ila area, who normally engage in day and night robbery   and wondered why nothing has been done to abate the situation.

Ban on masqurade festival

This incident, must have accounted for why Governor Ayodele Fayose and the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, placed outright ban on masquerade festival  on Monday coupled with how people were being dehumanized in town.

The governor and the monarch had, in separate adverts, aired on the radio version of the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State, ordered the police to arrest whoever defies the directive, maintaining that peaceful co-existence among Ekiti indigenes is paramount to them.

Relating his experience to Vanguard in Ado Ekiti yesterday, Reverend Ibitoye said they were in the church on the said day when one of their members, who was returning home after prayers was chased back into the church premises by cudgel-wielding masquerades and smashed his head with a broken bottle.

The cleric said they immediately rushed the victim to the hospital for medical care after losing so much blood due to the severity of the wound.

Lamenting the ordeal, Ibitoye said: “This is sacrilegious and barbaric. We want the indigenes of Ado Ekiti to know that the town is home for everybody and not for the natives alone. We have reported the issue to the police and I think the boy, who committed the offence has been arrested.

“We have also reported the case to the Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Bishop Christopher Omotunde, the   Ewi –in-Council and the Odogun of Ado Ekiti in particular, who they said was in charge of the masquerades and they all condemned the action. Our church leaders had met and we will meet to take a definite position on the matter before proceeding to Ewi’s palace where the suspect will be tried traditionally before other things shall follow.

“That was the first time we will be witnessing such attack and we wondered why a church that is supposed to be a place of refuge could be subjected to attacks by masquerades”, he said.

Aladetoyinbo, who is the traditional prime minister of Ado Ekiti, said “I have taken time to report the activities of the cultists during a meeting of Ado Ekiti Security Advisory Committee, comprising the chiefs and the security chiefs about the activities of these cultists who have taken over Oke Ila area.

“At times, they shoot into the air sporadically in the daylight and this is becoming so bad and I think they were responsible for the attack and this is condemnable. “We invited the governor of our state, Mr Ayodele Fayose to our festival and I don’t think we could invite the governor and at the same time be fomenting trouble”, he said.

Police arrest culprits

Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Alberto Adeyemi, said some suspects, who were alleged to be involved in the harassment and looting have been arrested and are currently cooling their heels in their custody.