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International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)Volume 4 Issue 6, September-October 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470An Assessment of the Importance ofIfa Divination as Part of Igala CultureAyegba Abdullahi AdojohThe General Igala Ambassador of Attah Igala, Founder of United Igala Kingdom, and the National Coordinator ofThe “Discovery and Reunification of Indigenous Igala People Across Nigeria and Beyond” Project of Attah Igala,Education and Research Unit, United Igala Kingdom, Attah Igala Palace, and Attah Idakwo Ameh Oboni Instituteof History and Culture, Idah, Kogi State, NigeriaHow to cite this paper: Ayegba AbdullahiAdojoh "An Assessment of the Importanceof Ifa Divination as Part of Igala Culture"PublishedinInternational Journalof Trend in ScientificResearchandDevelopment (ijtsrd),ISSN:2456-6470,Volume-4 w.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd33592.pdfABSTRACTThis research work is aimed at studying the importance of Ifa divinationamong the Igala people. It was discovered that Ifa has various roles in oursociety such as; acting as a medium of communication between humans andthe ancestors, studying of future happenings, finding out the causes of certainstrange happenings in the society, revelations of the past, present and thefuture, and so on. It was also analysed that Igala has Ifa Ebutu; which involvesthe use of sand, Ifa Anwa; which involves the use of anwa tree fruit shells orpieces of calabash, Ifa Obi; which involves the use of four-lobes kola nut, IfaEyoko which involves the use of cowries, Ifa Egigo which involves the use ofmirror and Ifa omi which involves the use of water. Ifa Ebutu is the commondenominator of all Ifas as it can be used to interpret other types of Ifa likeAnwa, Eyoko and Obi. It was concluded that Ifa till date played significant rolesin the lives of Igala traditional believers in various ways. It was recommendedthat further works be done on Ifa anwa especially on the names of the sixteenelements (Odu Ifa), their meanings and their interpretations since the analysiswas done on Ifa Ebutu in this work.Copyright 2020 by author(s) andInternational Journal of Trend in ScientificResearch and Development Journal. Thisis an Open Access article distributedunder the terms oftheCreativeCommons AttributionLicense(CCBY4.0)KEYWORDS: Divination, Edjo goddess, Egypt, Ichekpa, Ifa Ebutu, IgalaCorresponding Email AddressEmail: s.org/licenses/by/4.0)1. INTRODUCTIONIgala is an ancient ethnic group of Nigeria and in abouttwelve countries outside Nigeria such as Kenya, Brazil, Cuba,Togo, Sierra Leone, Haiti, United Kingdom, etc thoughsometimes wrongly identified as Yoruba due to similaritiesin the two languages as well as the wrong history of the pastwhich some Historians like Samuel Ajayi Crowther recordedthat Igala ethnic group originated from Yoruba. This error isalso promoted in some online dictionaries such as Merriamwebster.com which defines Igala as “a Yoruba-speakingpeople of the Niger at its confluence with the Benue inNigeria”. Meanwhile, Igala and Yoruba are separate people orethnic groups. In fact, Igala as a name of a tribe originatedfrom Ancient Egypt and existed even before the unificationof Lower and Upper Egypt around 3100 BC as confirmed byPetrie Flinders and other Egyptologists. The Name, Igala alsoremained even during their migration to the Benue valley(Taraba state) as confirmed by Palmer (1936), and it is thesame name, Igala, that they are known with today. ButYoruba as a name of a tribe or group came into existencesaround 19th century during the agreement between the Oyopeople and some Hausa group, before then, southwest hadvarious groups such as Benin, Itsekiri, Igala, Nupe, OmoOduduwa, Aku, Egun, Ijebu, Anago/Igala, freed people fromSierra Leone after the abolition of slave trade, and others(Ayegba, et al., 2020). In Nigeria, Igala is an indigenous tribein about twenty nine states and the Federal Capital Territory.@ IJTSRD Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33592 Although some of them speak variants or different dialects ofIgala language while some no longer speak Igala language,they are all connected with the same Igala culture andtraditions irrespective of the locations across Nigeria. Theyalso hold yearly general meeting with Attah Igala in hispalace titled Igala National Congress in whichrepresentatives mostly traditional rulers and elders ofvarious indigenous Igala communities within and outsideKogi state converge on Attah Igala’s palace in Idah, Kogi stateto interact, and discuss on various issues on development,unity and progress of Igala people and territories acrossNigeria and beyond. Igala originated from ancient Egypt, andthey were reported by various ancient Egyptologists andarcheologist to have ruled ancient Egypt from around 2130BC – 2040 BC as the tenth Dynasty Pharaohs (Ayegba, 2020).2. What is IfaAn Ifa is a device used for communicating with the spirits byhumans. It is a device for determining secret things orfinding out about something. It is a form of divination.Divination is the act of seeking after knowledge of future orhidden things by inadequate means that is usuallysupplemented by some power which is represented allthrough history as coming from the gods (Alamu, et al.,2013). Ifa is also defined as the act or practice ofcommunication between humans and the ancestors, godsVolume – 4 Issue – 6 September-October 2020Page 1052

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470and goddesses. The ancestors, gods or goddesses do notcommunicate with their reincarnate (adawa in Igalalanguage or their rebirth), relatives or humans physically orface-to-face except through Ifa, dreams, signs and wonders.Some of these signs are in the form of forbidden or unusualthings such as seeing of pouched rat (Akoto) in the day time,“crying” of night birds like Owls and bats, crowing of hen (anadult female chicken), endless barking of dogs, regular nightsmewing of cats, sudden cracking of burial tomb, crying offairies or bush babies (Ichekpa) around the house in thenight, being harmed or killed in the dreams, falling into a pitin the dream, etc. All these signs or wonders are bad omen orindications that there will be a tragedy or serious problemssoon, though some of them can be averted when thesolutions are known earlier. But how would one know theexact interpretation of “crowing of female adult chicken orcrying of bush babies (fairies) let alone knowing thesolutions. That was what brought about Ifa among Igalapeople. The act of performing Ifa or Ifa divination is knownas Ifa-ebo, and the priest of Ifa who performs the Ifadivination is called Abifa (Abo-ifa, meaning one who predictsfrom Ifa) or Ebifa (Ene ki a bifa, the one who predicts fromIfa). Ifa, a message on how to tackle the challengessurrounding nations and individual life (Ogunleye, 2019) canbe applied to provide some solutions to problems. Ifa directsthe consultant into proper direction (Olusegun, et al., 2010),the message which will then be delivered to the concernedperson or persons.3. MethodologyThis work adopts historical and analytical approaches inorder to discuss the role of Ifa among the Igala people inaddition to the types of Ifa practiced by them.3.1.Origin of world creation: The Perspectives ofAncient Egyptians and IgalaAccording to Egyptian perspective, the world or universewas originally of water and darkness. The great God, Amunor Ra, the god of sun, felt lonely and said it was time to createthe world using his magic power. He commanded a hill torise in the middle of the water. On it, he created Shu, the godof air and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. While Racontinued to create or command other creatures to be in theworld, Shu and Tefnut created Nut (sky goddess) and Geb(earth god), and these two (Nut and Geb) gave birth to Osiris(god of justice, agriculture and rebirth), Isis (goddess of love,Magic), Set (god of Chaos and war) and Horus (god of war,hunting, sky or distant vision). These gods and goddessbeginning with Osiris ruled and guarded the world includingteaching the humans in the area of agriculture andcivilization until they died and pharaoh took over as therepresentatives of the gods. The god and goddesses alsoguarded him to rule as they were all around him in spiritespecially through dreams.According to Igala perspective, the supreme God was aloneand decided to create the world which was just covered withocean. He then commanded a hill to appear in the middle ofthe ocean, and then created air for life and moisture or waterfor life too. He then created the earth god (Ojo-ane) and skygoddess (Ojo-ale/Ate). The Ojo-ane is still being worshippedor celebrated yearly by Attah Igala till date. The shrine islocated at Ofiji along Opuata-Angwa Ayegba road. These Ojoane and Ojo-ate later gave birth to the gods and goddessessuch as Iye (Mother goddess), Ukpakachi (god/goddess of@ IJTSRD Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33592 marriage, love, lucks), Ichekpa (god/goddess of magic,healings, wonders), Oko/Ata (Male/head deities forprotection, rulership, war).The supreme God thencreated/commanded all living things to be in pairs (male andfemale) and other things needed in the world by man. Thesegods and goddesses ruled the world, and after their death orchanging to spirits, humans (Ata) took over as therepresentative of the gods and goddesses, and being guidedby the spirits of these gods and goddess who he wouldcommunicate with always hence the wearing of earrings byancient Pharaohs and Attah Igala. That is why many AttahIgala including Attah Idakwo Ameh Oboni II at one point orthe other have said that they are the representative of Godon earth.Earth god (Ojo-ane) picture3.2. Origin of IfaThe world was first ruled or guarded by various spirits (godsand goddesses) in form of humans then as they were createdby God almighty to guard and guide the male and female hehad created as well as how to make use of the resourcesavailable for their betterment. These gods and goddessesalso had various roles ranging from security, fertility,agriculture, good health, magic, wonders, death, love,reproduction, etc. At a point, these gods and goddesses diedand became spirit. Humans could no longer communicatewith them physically but they worshipped them in theirtemples or shrines. They had various priests through whomothers like the Attah or head of Igala talked to the gods andgoddesses. When the head or Attah in particular and otherpeople he was ruling started having problems and seeingdifferent signs and wonders which were very strange tothem, he had to go to the temple of the gods and goddessesof signs and wonders and complained to them through thepriest in charge of the gods and goddesses. That was how thegods and goddesses started making the priest to understandsome things through vision and in a dream and startedinterpreting some signs to the humans or Attah as well as thepossible solutions given by the spirits. That was the origin ofhumans seeing vision and interpreting them.But, even with this, there was no way humans cancommunicate immediately or instantly with the gods andgoddesses to find out about something. The leader againwent to the temple of the gods and goddesses in charge ofsigns and wonders (including magic) to appeal to them forthe medium between them for instant or immediatecommunication to enable him (Attah) find instant causes ofproblems as well as their solutions to allow him rulepeacefully. That was when the gods and goddesses ofwonders, signs and magic possessed their priest and he wasgiven the description, methods, and interpretations as wellas instant enquiry capacity from the gods and goddesses byhumans. He started practicing what he was shown likedreams by writing of those things on the ground and rocks.He could write them on rocks using ink/liquid from wood oron the ground or sand accordingly and say their names andtheir meanings correctly. This was the origin of Ifa amongIgala. The process of drawing or writing the elements orthings given to the priest on the sand or rock was were thename Ifa originated from. “Fa” means to write it and “Ifa”means “he writes it” though another school of thoughtrevealed that “I” was later added to the “Fa” to make it Ifa asIgala are fond of adding letter “I” to words not having anyvowel at the beginning. In other words, the interpretation isVolume – 4 Issue – 6 September-October 2020Page 1053

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470done from what was written on the ground or sand. The godsand goddesses of wonder, signs and magic in Igala is Ichekpa(bush babies or fairies). They were the ones that gave whohumans Ifa to use in communicating with the spirits or thosewho cannot be seen physically. Till date, they (bush babies)still give people they like different powers or gifts such ascuring herbs, rain making, intelligent in school, good luck,continuous prospering in business, etc. An Ichekpa is humanlike form living in the bush or forest though smaller in size.They are spirits, hence cannot be seen except the powerfulhunters and those they feel like showing themselves to but ina snappy or sudden way. It is worthy of note here that Ifa isthe first form of writing in Igala or by Igala people. Theperson who practices or understands how to make andinterprets Ifa is called Ifa priest.Relationship between the head of Ifa in ancientEgyptian and Igala Kingdom KingThe king of the ancient Egypt was known as Pharaoh whilethat of Igala is Attah. Both of them have many similarities.While Pharaoh means “The Great house”, Attah (Ata) as anancient Egyptian word means “The Great one or father orelder”. Both Attah Igala and ancient Egyptian Pharaohs wearearrings.Ifa Ebutu: It is the Ifa divination done on sand. The sandused for this Ifa is not just ordinary sand but sand gottenfrom stream, river then dried or from junctions where threeroads or seven roads meet. The sand are occasionally givenwine by pouring small quantity of wine on the ground infront of the Ifa sand either during divination or beforedivination. The collection of the sand from the stream was toallow the water spirits accompany it for brighterinterpretation and clear message delivery. The junction isalso believed to be the meeting point of different spirits;hence, collecting the sand from such location makes the Ifasand powerful, “speaks” very well and makes itsinterpretation easy with the aid of the accompanied spiritsfrom the road. The dry sand is put on animal skin or matduring divination. The processes of the Ifa Ebutu divinationwill be explained later.3.3.Ifa (Wadjet, Edjo and Ejo) or Divination: Divination is thepractice of determining the hidden things or cause of events.It is also the practice of communicating with the gods ordeities. Ink was mainly used in Ancient Egypt to draw thedivination elements on objects for interpretation. It waslearnt that writing them on sand makes it easier to erasethan ink on object. That was how sand oracle called Ifa Ebutuin Igala commenced in ancient Egypt where Igala originatedfrom. The name Ifa was from the Igala word “Fa” whichmeans draw, and as usual, Igala would always add “I” to thebeginning of most words starting with consonants. That washow “I” was added to Fa making it Ifa till date. Ifa was usedby Pharaohs to communicate with the gods and goddesses.Attah Igala uses Ifa to communicate with the ancestors aswell as the gods and goddesses too. The goddess of Ifa inancient Egypt was called Wadjet in Roman language andEdjo in ancient Egypt while that of Igala is Ichekpa in Igalalanguage. The title of the person in charge of Attah Igala’s Ifais called Ohioga Attah. Further interactions with Ifa spirits(gods/goddess) led to the revelation other Ifas such as colanuts, mirror, water, calabash, in Igala land today. Thegoddess of Ifa in ancient Egypt is called Wadjet in Romanlanguage and Edjo in ancient Egypt, Ejo in Igala and snake inEnglish. In ancient Egypt, there was also a priest in charge ofEdjo or divination.In both cases- Igala and ancient Egypt, their believes wasthat the humans interact with or communicate withancestors, gods and goddesses through the Ifa spirit and theancestors, gods and goddesses that were said to be humansbefore they died then take their problems to God almightyand bring the solutions to them through the Ifa too.4. Types of IfaThere are about six different types of Ifa in Igala but theycommon one is the one written or done on sand. It is calledIfa Ebu (Ifa done on the sand or sand Ifa). The Ifa Ebutu is acommon denominator to other Ifas as it can be used tointerpret them. Some types of Igala Ifas are Ifa Ebutu, IfaAnwa, Ifa Eyoko (Cowries), Ifa Obi, Ifa Egigo,and Ifa omi.@ IJTSRD Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33592 Ifa Anwa: This type of Ifa is made up of array or row of smallpieces of calabash connected together with a rope. It wasoriginally made from the fruit of a particular tree whichresembles Iroko called Anwa in Igala language. The dry fruitopens into two like groundnut shelf but it is as big as thepalm of an adult. It is also very heavy, hence the adoption oflighter replacement, the calabash. They are four rows andone row is made up of four pieces of calabash. Theinterpretation is based on how each of the pieces opens orcloses in the four rows. The incantation or voice message ismade into the Okwute by the person seeking for informationfrom it. The Okwute is a small but strong bone of animal. It isused just like the modern day microphone in which it istalked into. After talking into the Okwute, the Okwute is thenused to touch some of the rows and columns calabash pieceswhich are the Ifa anwa. After that, the Ifa will be cast ortossed in a way that they will form lines as they were but theopening and closing is determined by the spirit in order todeliver the message which the Ifa priest or Abifa willinterpret.Ifa Eyoko: This type of Ifa divination is performed usingcowries. The cowries are mostly four in number. They arecarried in the hand and incantations made into them, thengently thrown or cast down on an animal skin or mat. Eyokois the Igala name for cowry. Cowry were used as money inthose days, hence the name, Eyo-Oko, meaning pieces ofmoney (Oko in Igala language is money in English).Ifa Obi: This type of Ifa divination is performed using fourlobes or cotyledons of broken kola nuts. The Kola nut usedfor this Ifa is the one with four divisions or cotyledons whenbroken. It is popularly called Obi Igala, meaning IgalaKolanut. It is also called Obi Ibo-egwu (Ibegwu), meaning thekola nut of the ancestors. In Yoruba, this type of Ifa is calledObi divination. The Ifa Obi is done by Ifa priest just the samemethod as the Ifa Eyoko. Obi is an Igala word for Kola nut.Ifa Egigo: This type of Ifa divination is performed by lookinginto a mirror by an Ifa Egigo priest. Egigo is the Igala namefor mirror, hence the name, Ifa Egigo.Ifa omi: This type of Ifa divination is made by looking intowater in a small container such as calabash or its likes by anIfa omi priest. Omi is an Igala word for water.But irrespective of the type of Ifa, they major methods oflearning them or becoming a priest of Ifa is throughVolume – 4 Issue – 6 September-October 2020Page 1054

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470apprenticeship, gift by the sprits or inheritance. The learningof Ifa through apprenticeship is the process in which onegoes to stay with an Ifa priest for a period of time betweenone and three years. The learning of Ifa through the gift bythe spirits is when a man or woman is thought the Ifadivination by the spirits of the goddesses or gods with her orthe gods or goddess which the person is an incarnate. Theperson will become an Ifa priest suddenly without receivingany training or knowledge of Ifa from any human. The Ifapriest through inheritance is the one in which one inheritsthe knowledge from his or her parents or relatives. Thisperson must have stayed with the Ifa priest as he or shepractices it for some times (years). When such a person dies,the son or daughter can continue the Ifa while the late Ifapriest will continue to “open” his or her eyes to see andinterpret the Ifa better and better until he or she becomesvery perfect.5. Elements of Ifa Ebutu and how Ifa Ebutu divinationis doneThere are sixteen elements of Igala Ifa Ebutu. Theseelements have different names some of which are strangelanguage of the spirit, but they all have their variousmeanings. The names of the elements of Ifa is referred to asOdu Ifa in Igala. The sixteen elements of Ifa Ebutu accordingto their number or rank and their meanings are 1.Anikocheje (god), 2. Olaika (Male), 3. Etemetedali (At the topor movement) 4. Ayibiyala (goddess or water goddess, ormother) 5. Ateliki (Child), 6. Okwubaja (To see or visible), 7.Alehumola (Female), 8. Alumukwu (Death, Blood), 9.Inachaja (Joy, laughter), 10. Achika (Father) 11. Atamahi(Grave, four legged object e.g. goat, car), 12.Onuchudali/Omuchudali (Witch or Wizard, light skinnedperson), 13. Otuba (Sadness) 14. Inikiladi (talk, quarrel,enmity), 15. Okwubadala (lies, deceit) 16. Ajema (Gathering,multitude, many).The names of the elements f the Ifa Ebutu1. Anikocheje 2. Olaika 3. Etemetedali 4. Ayibiyala5. Ateliki 6. Okwubaja 7. Alehumola 8. Alumukwu9. Inachaja 10. Achika 11. Atamahi 12. Onuchudali13. Otuba 14. Inikiladi 15. Okwubadala 16. Ajema Ayegba A. A, Education and Research Unit, United IgalaKingdom, Idah, Kogi state, Sept, 2020.@ IJTSRD Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33592 Ifa ObiIfa EyokoIfa AnwaThe Shrine of Era-anedeity at Ofiji, Idah, KogistateIn addition, these elements can also be interpreted indifferent ways when they change their locations. Forinstance, when Ajema which is at number sixteen appears atnumber thirteen, it becomes money instead of multitude ormany people. When Olaika which is at number two changesto number seven, if the Ifa is about a lady on whether todetermine if she has “known a man” or not, having Olaika atnumber seven indicates that she has already known a manand no longer a virgin. When Alumukwu at number eightappears at number ten, a male elder is likely to die soon, etc.But unlike Ifa Anwa in which the incantation is said or doneinto the Okwute before using it to touch the Ifa, the case ofIfa Ebutu involves one making incantation into the palm ofthe right hand and then using the palm to partly clean or rubthe four or more Ifa elements written on the sand. The Ifapriest then makes four dash- dash lines with all havingdifferent lengths. These are done four times to get a new fourelements which will be the major elements of Ifa in thatperformance, and these four elements are used to make thecomplete sixteen elements, that is; having twelve more astheir derivatives known as the children in Igala context.These sixteen elements will be interpreted by the Ifa priestbased on their appearance as coordinated by the Ifa spiritbased on the message of the gods, goddesses or theancestors.6. Uses or importance of Ifa among the IgalaSome uses or importance of Ifa are as follows:A. To investigate the causes of things:When one is sick and he or she has taken some medicationsand the sickness still persists for two or more days, he or shewould ask for the reason. In some cases, it might be as aresult of the sin of the person. Some men do what isforbidden in their clan just because they are no longer in thevillage. Some wives also do what is forbidden because theyor their husband no longer have hands in Igala tradition.They are not always lucky as some would be brought back tothe village with terrible sicknesses and their people in thevillage had to start investigating through Ifa divination, andwhen the causes of the sickness are known, they do what issaid or revealed by the Ifa priest, and the person lives againthough some die if he or she refused to speak the truth untilthe sickness becomes very terrible, investigations revealed.Aside this, when strange things like regular barking of dogs,crowing of adult female chicken (hen), crowing of adultVolume – 4 Issue – 6 September-October 2020Page 1055

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470chicken (cock) when it is not yet 12 am midnight or above,crying of bush babies (fairies) around homes, “crying” of owlor bat, having of terrible dreams, etc around homes, the headof the house would investigate the reasons behind them. TheIfa will tell what was responsible for such forbidden andstrange happenings. Furthermore, some Igala used tosacrifice cock to their ancestors yearly, and when this isdone, they will cut the bottom of the cock to see theappearance of the “testicles” which are supposed to be white.So, when the colour is black in part or whole, it means theancestor have rejected the sacrifice or something is about tohappen which they want the person who gave them thesacrifice to be aware of. In Igala, it will be said, Imukpabie,meaning it has spoilt. This will be investigated on why theancestors rejected the food. It is like your father rejectingyour food in real life, and you have to ask him why, isn’t it?So, the ancestors would be asked on the reason for therejection and this can only be done through Ifa. Afterknowing the reason, they would now be given anothersacrifice and the “testicles” will be white when there is nofurther problem.B. To seek solutions to problems:In those days, wars were common. Tribal leaders consult thegods and goddesses through the Ifa for the way to win thewar. When rain is not falling or bad sickness is coming closerto the communities around, the leader would seek the face ofthe ancestors on what to do. That was how many ancientKings did and ruled their people safely or undefeated inwars.C. To examine the future:Till date, some people investigate traditionally before theyjoin any elective race. In the olden days, people don’t marryanyhow. They assess the future of the marriage. This is donebefore they approach the family of the lady for her hand inmarriage. Some people in those days consult the gods or theancestors before travelling.D. To communicate with the gods and goddesses or theancestors:Sometimes, people have bad dreams, or dreaming and beseeing a relative who was already dead, maybe the father.Sometimes, not all he told the person in the dream that he orshe would remember in the morning or when the personwakes up. Sometimes, it could be in the form of warning. Ofcourse, no way to tell your late dad that you forgot some ofthe things he told you in the dreams or that you were notclear or asking for more clarifications. The only way tocommunicate with him is through the Ifa. He would surelysend the message to you through the Ifa, and will bedelivered to you by the Ifa Priest. You have the opportunityof asking your late father again and again through the Ifa.That was how our people communicated with Ibegwu(ancestors) in those days, and still happening among thebelievers till date.E. To seek for information from the ancestors:In those days, and still till date according to myinvestigations, when one is fighting for an important positionlike trying to be the traditional ruler of their community orclan, they consult their ancestors (father, grandfather,) onwhat he or she should do to be the one that would becrowned the ruler or to be favoured. They also consult the@ IJTSRD Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33592 ancestors regularly on how to rule the community withpeace, and ensuring development.F.For general guardians, peace and progress in Igalaland:At a particular time, some communities may be experiencingsome strange happenings such as social vices, sudden deathshere and there, death of youths, different tragedies in thecommunity, the community head or elders of the communitywould go out individually or in group to consult the gods andgoddesses of the land as well as the ancestors on how to stopall such problems and ensuring a lasting peace among them.G. For the revelation of the past, present and future:Ifa reveals what has happened in the past. Sometimes, itmight be coincidence. The person consulting the Ifa may beasking for another thing but additional information willcome up. It is common to hear of some people been told ofthe things they did in the past or did for them in the pastmaybe a covenant made by their late father on them but notyet redeemed, and how it is affecting them presently andwhat that will do to them in the nearest future if thecovenant or pledge to such god or goddess is not redeemed.Ifa can reveal what is about to happen to someone soon,either good or bad. Ifa can reveal to one that he or she isabout to get married even when no such sign is there. Ifa canreveal to someone that someone very close to him or her isabout to die even if there is no sick person closer to him orher at that period. From my investigations, they would allhappen except further investigations are carried out and thesolutions or remedies were followed accordingly.H. To reveal secret happenings or things:There is nothing on earth that can be hidden from Ifa. This isbecause there is nothing that can be hidden from the god orspirit in charge of Ifa. It is only Ifa that can reveal any secretthing done by anyone in the society, at home or anywherewhen enquired of.7. ConclusionThis work has studied the major types of Ifa of Igala peoplesuch as Ifa Ebutu which involves the use of sand, Ifa Anwawhich involves Anwa fruit or pieces of calabash, Ifa Obiwhich involves a four-lobes kola nut, Ifa Eyoko whichinvolves the use of cowries, Ifa Egigo which involves the useof mirror and Ifa Omi which involves the use of water. It alsostudied the origin of Ifa as well as the uses or

solutions. That was what brought about Ifa among Igala people. The act of performing Ifa or Ifa divination is known as Ifa-ebo, and the priest of Ifa who performs the Ifa divination is called Abifa (Abo-ifa, meaning one who predicts from Ifa) or Ebifa (Ene ki a bifa, the one who predicts from Ifa).

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Le genou de Lucy. Odile Jacob. 1999. Coppens Y. Pré-textes. L’homme préhistorique en morceaux. Eds Odile Jacob. 2011. Costentin J., Delaveau P. Café, thé, chocolat, les bons effets sur le cerveau et pour le corps. Editions Odile Jacob. 2010. Crawford M., Marsh D. The driving force : food in human evolution and the future.

Le genou de Lucy. Odile Jacob. 1999. Coppens Y. Pré-textes. L’homme préhistorique en morceaux. Eds Odile Jacob. 2011. Costentin J., Delaveau P. Café, thé, chocolat, les bons effets sur le cerveau et pour le corps. Editions Odile Jacob. 2010. 3 Crawford M., Marsh D. The driving force : food in human evolution and the future.