Eegun Ogun - Specialized Research AI at MIT

Eegun Ogun
War Masquerades in Ibadan in the Era of Modernization

Bolaji Campbell

all photos by the author

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When I arrived at the home of Chief Oje-

tunde Akinleye Asoleke at about 8:50
am on June 19, 2007, on the third day of
the Egungun festival in Ibadan, South-
western Nigeria, I was informed that the
leader of the masquerade group, Olori
Alagbaa1 had a very pressing emergency. Forty-five minutes before
Alapansanpa (Fig. 1) was billed to appear in public, Chief Asoleke
had just received a call from the Divisional Police Officer in charge
of Mapo and its environs that unless the contractual papers of
authorization allowing Alapansanpa to parade around the ancient
city were signed, the masquerade would not be allowed to come
out. Consequently, I rode on the back of an okada (a motorbike
taxi), in company of Chief Asoleke, for about a mile to the ances-
tral home of Alapansanpa in the Kobomoje-Oranyan quarters
of the old city. Close to two hundred of the teeming supporters
of Alapansanpa, together with a huge contingent of policemen,
armed to the teeth, were already anxiously awaiting the appear-
ance of the masquerade, oblivious to the power tussle unfolding at
the commencement of this spectacular event.

It was an intensely edgy, utterly nerve-wracking festive atmo-
sphere pervaded with a lot of anxieties. While many people were
hanging together in small and large groups on the major street
leading into the area, others were engaged in heated arguments
and discussion about the expected appearance of their favorite
masquerade. There was a lot of hand shaking and back slapping,
together with heavy consumption of alcohol, which was invari-
ably accompanied by very loud conversations layered with a curi-
ous admixture of the pungent smell of marijuana and tobacco
smoke in the air. Tucked somewhere beyond the main building,
in between some dilapidated structures, was a very plain, nonde-
script building serving as the haven (igbale) for the famous war-

rior masquerade. There was blood, palm oil, alcoholic beverages,
and water sprinkled all over the floor (Fig. 2) at the portal of the
building where the masked performer was soon to emerge for its
highly anticipated procession around the city. A few feet away,
a similar propitiation of oil, blood, liquor, and water annointed
an elevated mound upon which the masquerader was to stand
while simultaneously invoking the spiritual powers of Esu Laalu,
the divinity of the crossroads and messenger of the gods, and
Ogun, the deity of war and creativity and patron of hunters, war-
riors, and all users of iron implements. The invocation equally
involves a recitation of the praise poetry (oriki) and acknowl-
edgement of the long line of departed ancestors of this highly
venerated warrior lineage in Ibadan.

Alapansanpa is one of the highly revered and dreaded mas-
querades in the city of Ibadan. During the Yoruba civil wars
(1793–1893), Alapansanpa and many other senior masquerades,
including Oloolu, Abidielege, Agbo Ogede, Atipako (Fig. 3), and
Obadimeji (Fig. 4), collectively accompanied Ibadan warriors
on their military campaigns, particularly against the Ijebus and
the Egbas to the south and their bitterest enemies, the Ijesas and
the Ekitis, as well as the Fulani Jihadists stationed at Ilorin to the
north (see Johnson 2006). Indeed, Ibadan was initially settled
as a military outpost and frontier community from around the
1820s by various warlords fleeing the social crisis arising from
the disintegration and dismemberment of Oyo Katunga, the last
of the great Yoruba kingdoms. And it was from this location that
these warlords began to unleash a reign of terror on other Yor-
uba communities for the express purpose of slave raiding and
the control of the trade routes to the coast (Johnson 2006).

Back to our visit; on reaching the ancestral compound of
Ogundeji, the Alagbaa instantly made straight for a crowded
room in the igbale to meet the masked performer, who would

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1 Egungun Ogundeji, a.k.a Alapansanpa, June 19,
2007, Ibadan, Nigeria.

soon be transformed into an otherworldly entity. Surrounded by
several attendants in states approaching semi-consciousness or
in a trancelike position, a man was lying on the floor. After some
heated exchanges between the attendants and the Alagbaa, the
masked performer finally appended his signature to the contro-
versial documents, and we immediately left the scene.

Unlike the other masquerade groups that had previously vis-
ited the home of the Alagbaa to sign the contractual papers of
authorization in readiness for their public appearance and pro-
cession, members of the Alapansanpa group had not done that.
This complex interchange mirrors in remarkable manner the
dynamics of power between several contending forces in mod-
ern Yoruba society. In one breath, it appears that a progressive,
peace-loving, and educated leader of the masquerade group,
whose father was a member of the Nigeria Police, had deliber-
ately created this bureaucratic bottleneck as a means of curtail-

ing the activities of some recalcitrant supporters of the Egungun
cult. Some of the overzealous supporters of the warrior mas-
querades often hijack their public appearances as an opportu-
nity to rehash old animosities by unleashing a reign of terror
on defenseless and vulnerable members of the public, espe-
cially people with divergent or contrary political opinion from
theirs. Others merely seize the opportunity to pick the pockets of
unsuspecting or careless onlookers at the spectacular events. On
this day, the council of masked performers, in collaboration with
the police, had reached an agreement to imprison, for a period of
six months, any erring member of their group who contravened
the laws. Nobody in the entourage of the masquerade could
brandish any weapons, including cudgels, knives, cutlasses, and
guns. Additionally, any member of the public who sought to
restrict the activities or disrobe a masked performer would simi-
larly be sent to prison. In a remarkable twist of irony, the same
apparatus of the state previously derided and ridiculed by the
Egungun cult is now enthusiastically embraced while curtailing
excessive use of brute force wielded by the leaders of some of the
Egungun groups. The agreement went a long way in restraining
the entourage, although ultimately a few errant members were
arrested and subsequently thrown in jail. The present arrange-

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2 Sprinkle of blood at the portal of the building,
June 20, 2007, Ibadan, Nigeria.

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ment demonstrates ways in which collaboration between agents
of the State, represented by the police, and the old, typified by
the Egungun cult, fosters peaceful coexistence and cooperation
in modern Yoruba society.

My goal in this essay is, first, to demonstrate ways in which
masquerading is used as a weapon of social control through mili-
tary aggression and conventional warfare. In spite of its hallowed
connection to ancestral veneration, Egungun masquerading was
an important cultural phenomenon purposefully deployed by
the Oyo-Yoruba for the prosecution of the wars of the nineteenth
century. Secondly, I intend to critically examine the costumes of
the masked performers and argue that those costumes constitute
explicit sources of spiritual powers specifically devised as mili-
tary armors for the physical and psychological protection of their
users. In this way, I hope to add to the growing body of literature
on a tiny but neglected aspect of Yoruba visual culture, hitherto
unexamined in the annals of Yoruba social and cultural history.

The MysTery of AgAn
By reenacting some of these rituals, particularly during the
public procession and performances of Egungun, we are instantly
reminded of the myth of origin at the staging of the first masquer-
ade performance, when Agan, the embodiment of the material
remains of the deceased ancestor, was mysteriously brought back
from the bush into the human community for remembrance and
celebrations. Despite some of the changes precipitated in recent
times by radical, overzealous strains of Islamic fundamentalists
and the equally passionate brands of fervent Christian Evangelism
within Yoruba social and religious landscape, there is a continuous
and sustained interest in the annual rituals of Egungun celebra-
tions in many Yoruba communities.

Conceptualized as a mysterious cloth used in retrieving the
relics of the famed monkey Ero,2 as contained in Odu Owonrin
Isanyin in the Ifa divination corpus as well as in Oriki Igbori,3
Agan is usually symbolized as a piece of cloth, often placed on

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the sacred altar of Egungun, or simply as part of the panoply of
materials attached to the mobile sculpture—a tradition which
continues in several Yoruba communities today. These relics
are not just considered sacred but are indeed terrifying. Conse-
quently, they cannot be casually encountered, apprehended, or
disentangled, hence the divination poetry:

Do-not-confront-my-gaze
No one beholds the face of Orombo
On the day Agan emerges at midday
A mysterious tornado will rage toppling trees upon trees
And palm trees will continue to fall upon one another
Dense forests will be set ablaze even to their very roots
And the savannah fields will burn down completely
Ifa divination was made for Mafojukanmi, Do-not-confront-my-gaze,
Also known as Agan.4

Based on the divination text cited above, it is quite clear that
there was mayhem at the appearance and public procession of
the first masquerade performance, to the extent that trees were

falling upon trees and there was a tornado as part of the con-
stellation of mysterious climatic events in the environment.
Therefore, the warrior masquerades’ intention of creating an
atmosphere of fear and trepidation is very much consistent with
the tradition of Egungun festival and celebrations. If the legend
recounted in this divination text is not sufficient, let us examine
a more recent popular song chanted by the followers and admir-
ers of Alapansanpa:

Alapansanpa ‘o dele Olubadan, Ibadan o f ’araro …
There is no respite in Ibadan, if Alapansanpa refuses to visit Olubadan
(the ruler) …

This is clearly one example of the numerous provocative songs
that followers of the masquerade sang as they paraded round the
ancient city walls. The significant import of the song lies in the
belief that, if the masquerade in reality refuses to pay homage
to the reigning monarch, the ruler might not live to see another
festival event. Therefore, all masquerades (both the serious

3 Egungun Atipako, June 20, 2007, Ibadan, Nigeria.

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and the less serious) made it a point of duty to visit the ances-
tral homes of all the major functionaries of the king, including
the High Chiefs, as well as other prominent citizens of Ibadan.
While doing this, they simultaneously paid respects to their
leader, the Olori Alagbaa, and his retinue, usually present at the
homes of these traditional chiefs whenever the maskers made
their rounds. They also visit the homes of prominent political
leaders and public functionaries, including the State Governor,
Chief Christopher Alao-Akala (2006–2011) who, during the last
festival, sent his deputy Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja, an indigene of
the city, to receive them at the gate to the State House (Fig. 5). In
this way, both the sacred and secular sources of power are openly
acknowledged, while Egungun, as the earthly messengers of the
departed, offered prayers for health, long life, and prosperity.
Each individual so honored also reciprocated with money, cloth,
liquor and other valuable gifts.

In order to come to a better understanding of the role and
significant position of Egungun in Yoruba social institutions, it
might be necessary to take a cursory glance at the rich reper-
toire of extant literature on the cultural phenomenon, written by
both indigenous and foreign scholars. Early European explorers,
including Hugh Clapperton (1829) and two brothers who were

46 | african arts spring 2015 vol. 48, no. 1

4 Egungun Obadimeji, June 19, 2007, Ibadan, Nigeria.

members of his expedition, John and Richard Lander (1830; see
also Hallet 1965), visited Old Oyo at the zenith of its power and
provided intriguing eye witness accounts of masquerade per-
formances staged in their honor. A.B. Ellis (1894) soon followed
with a more insightful commentary of the continuity of mas-
querade performances by recently liberated enslaved Yoruba war
captives residing in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Samuel Johnson,
one of the earliest Oyo-Yoruba Christian converts and an indig-
enous scholar of Yoruba history and culture, provided a more
detailed taxonomy of the origin, role, and significance of Egun-
gun in his authoritative text of 1921, The History of the Yorubas
(Johnson 2006). Written from a biased Christian perspective,
Johnson’s commentaries were slightly disparaging, hardly ever
disguising his disdain for the cultural tradition. Nonetheless, his
account is full of insightful information on the origin and some
of the social practices connected to the fascinating tradition. In
his attempt to trace the origin of Egungun to the Nupe, Johnson
succeeded in refuting S.F. Nadel’s (1942) claim, while validating
the oral evidence of a Yoruba origin for gugu among the Gbe-

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degi, a Yoruba immigrant community among the Nupe (Johnson
2006). Pierre Verger’s (1954) exposition of Egungun amongst the
Fon of the Republic of Benin and within the Afro-Brazilian com-
munities of Bahia in Brazil demonstrates the remarkable ways
in which the cultural tradition continues to survive way beyond
its West African homeland, particularly into the Western Hemi-
sphere as an enduring symbol of its diasporic transformation.
In like manner, Juan and Deoscoredes Dos Santos (1981) ampli-
fied Verger’s pioneering work in Brazil. Other notable schol-
ars who have also written extensively on several aspects of the
cultural traditions, while enriching our knowledge include Ulli
Beier (1956), Oludare Olajubu and J.R.O. Ojo (1977), Joel Adedeji
(1972), Henry Drewal (1978, 1979, 2011) and Margaret Drewal
(1992; see also Drewal and Drewal 1978), John Nunley (1981),
Norma Wolff (1982), Marilynn Houlberg (1978), Cornelius Ade-
pegba (1984, 1990), S.O. Babayemi (1980), P.S.O. Aremu (1991),
R.O. Rom Kalilu (1991, 1993), Tirimisiyu Oladimeji (1992), and
Abdul Rasheed Na’Allah (1996), among others.

5 Visit to the Government State House to meet
the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja, June
21, 2007, Ibadan, Nigeria.

ClAssifiCATions, CosTuMes, And objeCTs
Let us begin by examining Egungun classifications. There
are several categories and types of Egungun and these include:
warrior masquerades (Eegun Ogun)—the focus of this essay,
whose most prominent examples from Ibadan are Atipako,
Alapansanpa (a.k.a. Eegun Ogundeji), Oloolu, Iponriku, Abidi
Elege, and Obadimeji; hunters’ masquerade (Eegun Ode or
Layewu); ritual masters/medical types (Eegun Alagbo/Eegun
Eletutu); trickster masquerade—Tombolo (Eegun Onidan);
and entertainer/dance masquerades (Eegun Onijo or Alarinjo).
These categorizations are not necessarily based on any hierar-
chical structure of the Egungun; rather, they are informed more
by a random selection of some of the Egungun ensembles that
I encountered in the course of my research activities in Ibadan
between June 2007 and June 2010. Not necessarily in any partic-
ular order of seniority, my selection was based more on the type,
form, color, and significant import of the maskers. What follows
is a list of the warrior masquerade costume I hope to analyze.

Generally, Egungun costumes are an embodiment and
visual articulation of power. Each group strives to demon-
strate, through its performance and display, the beauty, power,
and prestige of their families, because the costumes are in and
of themselves expressive of capabilities and potentials to make

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things happen. In that respect, Egungun costumes are a fasci-
nating assemblage and blending together of disparate objects,
including cloth and empowering substances carefully and delib-
erately selected for the express purpose of creating an embodi-
ment of condensed and articulated sources of power. Typically,
the costumes of the otherworldly performer are festooned with
a wide-ranging assortment of objects, including animal bones;
herbal and medicinal concoctions encased in leather, cloth,
or gourd; animal horns and hides; cowrie shells and feathers;
wooden and metal figurines; and objects or attachments like
bells and earthenware, among other magical substances.

Egungun costumes are also multisensorial. To encounter one is
to experience a powerful kinetic sculpture that is alive and throb-
bing with the supernatural life force and power of the departed
ancestor. Oozing with fetid layers and an admixture of sweat,
blood, liquor, and empowering substances, the costume cannot be
discussed in its totality without dwelling a little on the overwhelm-
ing smell that assails the nostrils during any close encounter. And
there is yet another intangible dimension that cannot be visually
apprehended, and this resides at the level of the supernatural. Vir-
tually all the costumes are activated by the power of the spoken
word, bringing them to life and turning them into an embodiment
of power through which the spirits make manifest their powers
while appearing in the realm of the living.

Of the ritualized objects on the power objects, we have bones,
both human and animal; horns (iwoo); rattles (seere); gourds
(ado); amulets (tiira) encased in leather or cloth; metal and
wooden sculptures, such as figurines and masks (ere); thrones
and stools of the gods (apoti/oota/apere); gongs and bells (agogo/
aja); dance wands (ose); whips (atori); wooden clubs (apola igi or
kumoo); daggers (obe); cutlasses (ada); axes (aake); Dane guns5
(ibon); as well as the costume carriers (aru eku/areku).

AlApAnsAnpA, A.k.A. eegun ogundeji
Now, let us proceed by examining specific costumes, begin-
ning with Alapansanpa. Despite the fame, notoriety, and legend-
ary antics that the name of this important masquerade evokes
in the minds of its admirers, friends, and foes alike in Ibadan,
Alapansanpa’s costume appears somewhat pedestrian and seem-
ingly nonthreatening. The masquerade’s costume is clearly
devoid of any imposing or awe-inspiring wooden superstruc-
ture. Covered from head to toe in cloth, the costume is primarily
made up of an intriguing array of choice, exotic fabrics ranging
from machine-spun imported velvet to the highly coveted hand-
woven aso ofi.

The choice of velvet (aran; mosaaji) as a highly celebrated and
exotic product goes back several generations, to the founding of
Ibadan, particularly during the garrison era when Iba Oluyole
reigned supreme in the cosmopolitan city. Legend has it that Iba
Oluyole banned his subjects’ use of the fabric by placing an exclu-
sive monopoly on its purchase and use. His initial excuse was that
the fabric was an expensive imported commodity. But later he lib-
eralized its use by granting some of his High Chiefs limited access,
allowing them to use it only for caps (fila). It is against this back-
ground that one can better appreciate the way in which the fab-
ric continues to be used and celebrated in contemporary Yoruba
society not merely as a status symbol but also as an index of luxury

48 | african arts spring 2015 vol. 48, no. 1

truly fitting for the worship of the departed ancestors and their
earthly representative, the Yoruba ruler (oba).

The headpiece in the costume of Alapansanpa (Fig. 1) is at best
a huge, conical hat. Made almost entirely of cloth, with three
triangular flaps positioned in front and on its edges, the head-
dress is not particularly arresting. Below the flaps, netted fab-
ric in crocheted bands of black and white covers the face of this
otherworldly visitor. Over the netting are a few attachments of
power objects like cowrie shells, miniature gourds, and a few
leather encased amulets. And at the back of the head, maroon
velvet with vertical bands of black prominently covers the entire
length of the head down to the nape. The rest of the costume
is constructed of very bold red and black floral-patterned vel-
vet, some made in the typical striplike fashion to echo the bus-
tle of the gathering of head ties (oja), clearly a testament to the
first costume created by Eesa Ogbin ara Ogbojo in collabora-
tion with Erubami Abimbowo.6 Further down and around the
chest region, we have two inverted conical objects, embellished
in orange, yellow, white, and green beads. The beads are carefully
arranged in a continuous repetition of the dominant triangles.
The hands of the masquerade are completely covered in white
gloves, with a five-prong leather whip held in his right hand.
Underneath the velvet cape is a huge belted band of a wide-rang-
ing assortment of oja in handwoven aso ofi fabrics on the masked
performer’s waist. And some of the ofi fabrics are in striking col-
ors of orange, crimson red, royal blue, florescent green, and the
highly regarded light tan known locally as sanyan. Below this is a
trouser or pant in black and white aso ofi. The costume is finally
complete with a pair of black canvas shoes.

Alapansanpa is hardly ever without some drama whenever it
makes its yearly appearance in the city of Ibadan. It was widely
reported in the local newspapers in June 2009 that a woman
had sued the masquerade, alleging that she had lost some of her
personal property, including a stethoscope, a cell phone, and
the sum of 8,650 naira (approximately US$54), as well as suf-
fered severe damage to her automobile, by either Alapansanpa
or hoodlums who followed the masquerade around during its
outing. The otherworldly visitor was allegedly arraigned and
subsequently granted bail by the Chief Magistrate’s court on
a three-count charge of assault, stealing, and willful damage
to property. The entire fiasco was treated as a huge travesty,
greatly derided and ridiculed, because no reasonable person
could evidently prosecute such a faceless, ubiquitous entity in
a court of law.

ATipAko
Towering to a height of about 8 feet, Egungun Atipako (Fig.
3), another warrior masquerade, has a set of densely figured
sculptures displayed at the summit of the ensemble. Here, three
generic busts in wood are placed on a circular tray. The most dis-
tinctive is the one to the viewer’s right, with clearly articulated
features, while the other two are indistinct and blurry, barely
showing the head with very prominent eyes and mouth and not
much else. That the distinctive features of the human face are
blurry on the sculpture is a testament to the fact that the objects
have repeatedly been the focus of religious worship in the form
of ritual offerings and spiritual cleansing rendered to the spirit of

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Line drawing of Oloolu by Tirimisiyu Oladimeji.

the departed. These figures are securely held in place by strings
attaching them to a red burlaplike fabric on the display tray. Sur-
rounding the fabric on the edge of the tray is a single-tier string
of cowrie shells. Below this is a netted fabric through which the
masked performer can see.

Strings of cowries are suspended in equidistant positions
from the top of the netting, dangling in four rolls on the rect-
angular facial netting. Like the netting, the cowrie shells have
accumulated a thinly translucent, dark brown veneer of ritual
offerings over the years. As the masker moves, the cowrie shells
sway along with him from side to side in a rhythmic flow, echo-
ing the dance of the otherworldly performer. Additional power
ornaments include six leather pouches that are further encased
in two horizontal rows of amuletic cowrie shell decorations. In
between the long string of cowries, two small gourds with cow-
ries on them are suspended. One tiny gourd with cowrie shells is
also placed on the two sides of the netting. The ubiquitous power
comb (ooya), including an animal skull, possibly that of a mon-
key (Atari Alakedun), festooned with cowrie shells dangles in
the middle of this visually enervating arrangement.

Finally, the entire mobile altar on the head of the masquer-
ade is covered with a predominantly red handwoven aso ofi fab-
ric, which is meant to protect and conceal the sculptures from
prying eyes. As if to break the monotony of the aso ofi fabrics’
maroon color, blue and gold lines are deliberately interspersed in
the patterned design. There is also a layer of crimson red aso ofi
covering the masquerade’s head. A further element in the fabric
is the overwhelming presence of carefully arranged golden lines
in the composition. This creates immediately recognizable visual
attention and delight. The same material is used in a tightly
woven band around the waist or midsection of the masquerade
ensemble. In the masked performer’s right hand, there is a bell
or rattle made with three folded sheets of metal within which
are suspended three long rods that make jingling sounds when
the otherworldly performer shakes them. Below all of these is
another visually captivating arrangement in the costume’s lower
tunic: a very bright orange, handwoven aso ofi, interspersed with
silver, yellow, and green lines. Further below are boots made in
yellow, brown, and golden aso ofi.

Because Atipako is arguably the most senior Egungun in
Ibadan, it has the additional prestige of not only foretelling the
future but also performing the annual ritual of sacrificing a dog at
the palace of the Olubadan, the ruler. Here the ritual is expected

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to be accomplished with a deftly delivered stroke using only a tiny
ritualized broomstick. If the dog does not die after one stroke, this
might portend a grievous consequence not only for the peace and
prosperity of the city, but also for the ruler, who might not survive
to see another festival event. If, for some inexplicable reason, the
masquerade refuses to visit the home of the Olubadan, it is prover-
bially believed that the ruler would not survive the year.

Besides the ritual sacrifice of a dog, another important high-
light of the visit of Atipako to the palace of Olubadan is the
prayer annually recited for the continuous peace and progress
of the cosmopolitan city. Atipako greets the Olubadan and his
chiefs chanting the following prayers:

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obAdiMeji
Immediately noticeable on the costume of Egungun Obad-
imeji (Fig. 4) is its overabundant use of brightly colored sequins
in silver, gold, and blue on its red cape—a predilection which
underscores one of the many accolades of its patron and leader
asoleke (“one who is adorned in beads”). Underneath the cape is
yet another costume that fits tightly on the body of the masked
performer, predominantly white with the addition of blue pat-
terned designs in sequins. On top of these is a curious arrange-
ment of brightly colored machine-spun fabrics cluttered together
as sashes (oja) on the waist of the otherworldly performer. At the
summit of the cape is a brightly colored helmet mask in red and
black—red for the skin tones and black for the hair. The super-
structure is neither particularly robust nor inspiring in its delin-
eation of forms. The facial features are not particularly refined.
What is instantly noticeable is the lineage markings inscribed
on the face of the sculpture, in addition to the herringbone-
patterned arrangement of hair, both augmented with darkened
color in their crevices. Further compromising the aesthetic
integrity of the work is the almost grotesque manner in which
the carver delineated the form and, in particular, the positioning
of the eyes and ears. The ears were created as convex arches set
far at the back of the head, while the eyes are two concentric cir-
cles of white randomly positioned on top of the forehead. Clearly
this is, at best, the work of a less-skillful carver.

Given the position of the Alagbaa in the hierarchy of the Egun-
gun cult in Ibadan, one could partly understand why there was a
need for the masker to be arrayed in brightly colored, somewhat
trendy fabric, even if modestly cheap—a tendency to demon-
strate a penchant and affinity for modernization, panache, cool-
ness, and style.

oloolu
Oloolu’s costume (Fig. 6), like those worn by other attendants
in the entourage of most Egungun (Figs. 7–8), has an intriguing
array of empowering substances, including metal, leather, cow-
ries, animal bones, and human skull, that transform them into
armor. Additionally, these packets of oogun can be harmful, even
lethal to non-initiates, and downright detrimental to the overall
wellbeing and fertility of women. Certain elements of the cos-
tume are indeed condensed sites of power; merely touching or
brushing against them could render one impotent. Further, the
charms (awure) encased in the amuletic packets serve as con-
tainers for magical substances and power objects that are capa-
ble of inducing financial success, among many other potentials.
Given such condensed articulation of powers, women in partic-
ular are confined to their domestic spaces and markets remained
closed within the cosmopolitan city at the public appearance of
Oloolu. Only men can go about their normal activities without
fear of molestation and reprisals.

AyelAbolA
The quintessential troubadour-magician, dancer, and per-
former, Ayelabola (Fig. 9) is the epitome and live wire of enter-
tainment during the annual festival in honor of the ancestors.
There are about six performers in the entire ensemble, and each
of them is extremely athletic and skillful in somersaulting and

7 Attendant of Egungun Ogundeji, Alapansanpa,
June, 19, 2007, Ibadan, Nigeria.

The worries of old are gone
Only peace remains
My Lord, the ruler of Ibadan
All eyes look up to thee
For the welfare of Ibadan
And all her son and daughters
I salute the chief of the army
I salute the Iyalode, head of the women’s group
I salute the chief of farmers
I salute the chief of the weaver’s guild.7

Continuing, the otherworldly performer chants:

My Lord, the ruler of Ibadan,
May the spirit of Kudeti River shower favors on you;
May the spirit of Gege River always prosper you;
And may the spirit of the mighty oceans also look upon you with favor.
My lord, we demand that they should kill it; and they killed it;
We asked: “what is it you kill?”
They said, “Tis the Bush Rat”
That knows how to escape all dangers;
So may you escape Death.
May Misfortune come not near,
May Disease never weary you.
And may Famine never you know.
My lord, the ruler of Ibadan,
May Good Fortune always smile on you (Morgan 1985:35–36).8

50 | african arts spring 2015 vol. 48, no. 1

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lant car—by breaking their windscreens. Adebusuyi also alleged that
the masquerade and his accomplices stole one Nokia handset (mobile
phone) valued at N10, 000, property of one Mr. Oladipupo Awokoya.
The masquerade later pleaded not guilty to the charges. Mrs. Ajadi
granted him bail for N100,000 with two sureties and adjourned the
case till July 24 for mention.9

The story concluded with a report from the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN), stating that the masquerader was later sent to
the Agodi Prisons, as it could not meet bail. This is an absur-
dity of immense proportions. Imagine a most revered symbol
of the ancestors being trampled in dirt. An otherworld entity
completely derobed and demystified. It was a similar incident
of derobing a masked performer in the market square that led
to the sacking of the first settlement of Ibadan during the era of
Lagelu.10 That history appears to be completely lost on the pres-
ent crop of criminals intent on perpetrating this sacrilege against
the sacred tenets of Yoruba beliefs and cultural traditions.

Two years after the Alapansanpa imbroglio, another illustri-
ous masquerade in Ibadan, Oloolu, was equally subjected to the
same kind of indignity in the hands of fanatical Muslim youths.11

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8 Egungun attendant with powerful cos-
tume, June 18, 2007, Ibadan, Nigeria.

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acrobatic displays. Their costumes are quite unlike the others
discussed here. Although some of them are constructed with
indigenous aso ofi, others are made of very light, industrially
manufactured fabrics in bright primary colors of red, blue, and
yellow, as well as white and black. All their costumes fit snugly
to the body. In addition, the costumes lack wooden superstruc-
tures or amuletic attachments. Although the costume covers the
performer’s identity from head to toe, it merely has some kind
of very thin netting for ventilation and for the performer to see
through. What is particularly revealing here is that the netting
separating the viewer from the masker does not in any way com-
pletely obscure the identity of the otherworldly performer. One
can almost instantly recognize the person behind the costume.
Perhaps this intriguing dimension, which facilitates almost an
instant recognition of the subject behind the mask, was meant
to create a certain degree of ambiguity, believability, friendship,
amusement, and social interaction in a celebration that seem-
ingly alienates some members of society while performing in
honor of the ancestors. The color arrangements are not orga-
nized in any particular orientation. The color palette consists
of yellow, red, blue, and black. The different colored fabrics are
arranged vertically in a seemingly haphazard manner without
regard to any grand aesthetic principle other than a proclivity for
the polyrhythmic. It appears that the overarching desire here was
to create something strikingly recognizable for the performers,
although one also notices that the fabrics have been deliberately
cut in a vertical orientation, apparently in conformity with the
striplike pattern of aso ofi. On the other hand, a few of the mask-
ers wearing costumes made with aso ofi fabrics appear in a pal-
ette of subtle red with very thin horizontal lines of gray.

ConClusions
In an almost absurdist drama of incredible proportions, Ala-
pansanpa, one of the most ambivalent masquerades in Ibadan,
is revered on one level as the symbol of its most illustrious and
checkered history as the home of the great warriors of the nine-
teenth century but, perhaps more potently, is the greatly despised
image of hooliganism, disorderliness, and strife that its followers
are quick to exploit for terrorizing people with divergent politi-
cal persuasions as well as for monetary exploitation and material
gains. That same masquerade was recently subjected to ridicule
and ignominy following an altercation during one of its public
procession around the ancient city on June 17, 2009. I quote the
newspaper report:

A popular Ibadan masquerade, Alapansanpa, yesterday appeared
before an Ibadan Chief Magistrate’s Court on a three count-charge of
assault, stealing and willful damage to property.

The Police Prosecutor, Sgt. Ade Adebusuyi, alleged that the mas-
querade and others now at large, committed the crime on June 16
at Kosodo-Eleta area of Ibadan during the ongoing masquerade
festival. Adebusuyi told Chief Magistrate Olubunmi Ajadi that the
masquerade assaulted one Mrs. Opeyemi Olosun by hitting her
with an iron bar and caused her bodily harm. The prosecutor also
alleged that the masquerade stole from her a stethoscope valued at
N12,000, her handset (mobile phone), valued at N4,500 and N8,650
cash. He added that the masquerade also damaged three vehicles—
a Mitsubishi Lancer car, a Nissan Sunny car and a Mitsubishi Gal-

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vol. 48, no. 1 spring 2015 african arts | 51

They had been waiting for an opportunity to challenge the mas-
querade’s power and authority, with particular regard to the cur-
few usually imposed on women at its public appearance and
procession around the city. Whenever Oloolu appeared in pub-
lic, women were often restricted to their domestic spaces. They
could not move around or engage in any commercial or social
activity outside of their immediate domestic spaces. But pande-
monium ensued in July 2012, when Oloolu attempted to pay tra-
ditional homage to a very prominent indigene and patron in the
Popo Yemoja neighborhood in the course of its public proces-
sion. An eight-day public prayer event (fidau) being organized
in honor of a recently deceased Muslim cleric in the area was
turned into an excuse to challenge Oloolu’s power and author-
ity. Rather than restrict women to their domestic quarters, orga-
nizers of the event attempted to bribe the masquerade and its
handlers to make a detour instead of visiting their neighbor-
hood. The intransigence of the masquerade and his entourage

9 Egungun Ayelabola, June 18, 2007, Ibadan, Nigeria.

resulted in a bloody fracas, where both the masquerader and
its lead were viciously attacked and wounded, sustaining life-
threatening injuries. The result was some two days of mayhem in
the old city leading to impassioned, vicious fights, looting, and
wanton destruction of life and property. Armed policemen were
called in to maintain some order. A few of the more recalcitrant
individuals, including the masked performer, were arrested and
summarily arraigned before the court of law for breach of peace
and hooliganism. The head of the masquerade group, Chief
Alagbaa, Ojetunde Akinleye Asoleke, subsequently launched a
formal protest while appealing to the traditional ruler, His Royal
Majesty Oba Samuel Odulana Odugbade of Ibadanland, to inter-
cede in the disgraceful imbroglio.

But how can one honestly make sense of the fear and anxi-
ety often associated with the appearance of these warrior mas-
querades in modern Yoruba society? How does one explain the
continuous and sustained interest in the intriguing spectacle
of Egungun, particularly in an era of intense modernization
and globalization? And how best can we evaluate the atten-
dant conflict which arises at the staging of the yearly festivals?
The answers may reside at a cursory level in the contemporary
retelling and reconstruction of the historical past. Because quite

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frankly, Egungun pageantry is performed, among many other
reasons, to demonstrate how the spiritual powers of the departed
are harnessed for the continuous revitalization of human society.
In addition to rekindling the bond of kinship between members
of the same family, Egungun celebration is used to reinscribe
individual identity within the lineage of a common ancestor and
to reenact certain aspects of the history of the Yoruba wars of the
nineteenth century. Additionally, the festivals are used to pro-

mote the spirit of cooperation while fostering the concepts of
tolerance, peace, and unity in a fragile but complicated religious
landscape such as Nigeria, with far-reaching resonance even in
the African Diaspora.

Bolaji Campbell is associate professor and Head of the Department of
History of Art and Visual Culture at the Rhode Island School of Design.
bcampbel@risd.edu

Notes

This study is based in part on the fieldwork conducted
in Ibadan in June 2007, 2009 and 2010. I wish to acknowl-
edge the generous support of both the Humanities Fund
Committee and the Professional Development Fund Com-
mittee of the Rhode Island School of Design. I gratefully
acknowledge the support and cooperation of my principal
informant, Chief Ojetunde Akinleye Asoleke, the Alag-
baa of Ibadanland, for his wealth of knowledge and the
invaluable information he readily shared with me during
the course of the research. I also express my gratitude to
Professor Rowland Abiodun for his perceptive comments
and critique of the initial draft of this essay.

1 Alagbaa is the title of the head of the masquer-

ade group.

Ero is the sacred name of the monkey thought

to have raped the woman on the farm, a possible pejora-
tive term or identity of the Nupe foreigner who might
have committed the crime. For more on this myth, see
Oriki Igbori in Babayemi 1980.

For an elaborate text of Oriki Igbori, see Babay-

3
emi 1980.

4 Ma f ’oju an mi

Enikan ko gbodo f ’oju kan Orombo
Nijo Agan ba jade osan
Igi a ma wo lu igi, ope a ma wolu ope.
Igbo a ma jona tagbatagba
Odan a si jona teruwa teruwa
A d’ifa fun Mafojukanmi
Tii je Agan (Babayemi 1980; my translation).
“Dane guns” were prototypes of the long bar-

reled, Danish-manufactured guns brought to the West
African market in the nineteenth century—examples
of some of the weapons used during the Yoruba wars of
that era.

6 The sash (oja) represents the signification of the
bond of collaboration between Eesa Ogbin ara Ogbojo
and Erubami Abimbowo, Alaafin Abiodun’s mother in
the construction of the first Egungun costume.

Ogbo ti tan;

Alafia lo ku
Oluwa mi, Oba ‘Badan
Gbogbo oju ni nwo o
Fun ire ‘Badan
Ati okunrin, t’obinrin

Mo ki Balogun ‘Badan
Mo ki ‘Yalode ‘Badan
Mo ki Bale Agbe
Mo ki Bale Ahunso
8 Oluwa mi Oba ‘Badan
Kudeti yi o gbe o o
Gege-lose yi o gbe o o
Araba meteta okun ni yi o gbe o o
A ni ki a pa a, a pa a,
A ni eran kini?
Nwon ni eran Okete ni.
Iku rekete, iku lo,
Ofo rekete, ofo lo,
Arun rekete, arun lo,

Iyan rekete, iyan lo.
Oluwa mi, Oba ‘Badan
Gbogbo ire ni yi o ma se gege re.

9 Aloy Emeka, “Ibadan: Masquerade in Court for

Theft.” Nairaland Forum, June 20, 2009; http://www.
nairaland.com/286891/popular-masqurade-charged-
theft#4066113

10 Lagelu was the legendary founder of the first
settlement known as Edan Odan which later became
known as Ibadan. He was originally an indigene of Ife
and a warrior-hunter who emerged as the leader of the
first set of inhabitants that settled in Ibadan, before the
settlement was subsequently destroyed arising from an
altercation following the public de-robbing of an Egun-
gun masquerade in the market square.

Idowu Adelusi and Tunde Ogunesan, “Ibadan
Masquerade, Oloolu Attacked, Custodian Killed.” Nige-
rian Tribune, July 5, 2012; see also John Thomas Didymus,
“Nigeria: Police Arrest Oloolu Masquerade, Spirit of the
Ancestors,” Nigerian Tribune, July 10, 2012; “Oloolu Mas-
querade: When the Spirit of the Dead Unleashed Terror
on the Living,” Nigeria Tribune, July 8, 2012.

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Wolff, Norma H. 1982. “Egungun Costuming in Abeo-
kuta.” African Arts 15 (3):66–70, 91.

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