" If you want to find the secret of the universe think in terms of energy, frequency and vibrations."
                 - Nikola Tesla

 *Introduction: The Three Theses* 

One of the things that man has learned, if he ever learns, is that the only real things in the universe are invisible to the human eye. Whatever is visible to the human eye, whatever has a physical existence is temporary and has a life span or duration. The real things cannot be seen with the physical eyes. 
  For example the forces that sustain the earth cannot be seen with the physical eyes but they are there and we see their effects. No one can see electricity, not even Michael Faraday could see it, with physical eyes. None can see the forces of gravity or magnetism with ordinary eyes, but we see their effects.
  These are the really enduring things on earth but they are invisible to the naked eye, the ordinary eye. 
 This brings me to my first thesis: *That you can't see a thing does not mean it does not exist.* 
It is one reason I prefaced this essay with a quote from Tesla and the importance of three things: energy, frequency and vibrations. There is no dichotomy between Science and Arts, because "all truths are parallel." (Cerullo, 1988)

Two, the really great truths even in the realm of Science have come to us outside of confined regimented intellectual spaces, as one should have expected or supposed. Albert Einstein first received the idea of the Theory of Relativity - the most profound and revolutionary scientific idea of the 20th century - while he was stranded in a tram station; and not while he was in his study at the University or inside a laboratory performing experiment or even in the University environment.
 Isaac Newton encountered his "eureka" moment that led him to the great discovery of the Laws of Motion while on a walk in his orchard and not inside his study or inside the university. It is the reason he said: "If I ever made any valuable discovery it has been due more to patient attention than to any other talent."
  These are scientists, scholars, university people; yet the great discoveries that made their names famous and their lives worthwhile were not discovered in the University environment but outside. They were trained minds so it was not difficult for them to see or recognize the ideas when they occurred to them.
  This brings me to the second thesis: *Your eye can see only what it is trained to see.* Many things could be taking place at the same time but only those whose eyes are trained will see, others will merely see the scenery. The poet Elizabeth Browning (1806 -1861) captures it well: 

"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees take off his shoes,
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries."        

Thirdly, and I come to my last idea. Nothing in life is innocent. Every action, idea, movement, step, thought, sensation, scenario, etc., has an equal and opposite reaction or consequence. Even the seemingly innocent and simple acts carry the most lasting and significant consequences. A signature is a simple thing but wrongly affixed by a leader could lead a whole nation to war or slavery.
  "In the beginning was the word," but in the beginning too were spiritual forces, space, energy fields, forces, frequency, vibrations etc ( See Moses Idowu 2013; Femi Osofisan, David Icke...) When a portal is raised by forces within space to forces outside the realm through necessary divinatory procedures, invocation, song, ritual language and speech, rythmic dancing,- spiritual phenomena take place. At such time an altar is created and legal transactions occur that are binding.  I come to my third and final thesis: " *Nothing is innocent, every word, actions, ideas, thought, speech, invocations, etc., have consequences if not now then in future."* 

It is naive and extremely so to think that higher esoteric forces could be invoked in a ritual ceremony and think that this has no consequences. And that this is just mere play.

Having laid this foundation I now go into the substance of the narrative and the very issue that has provoked this essay.

 *The Video of Initiation of Students* 

On the 11th December this year I saw a very revealing video on a social media platform about what was advertised as the *46th Initiation Ceremony of the Theatre Arts students of the University of Ibadan.* I wish I had been warned so I won't have opened it or even seen it. But having seen it I must now exercise my freedom of speech by making a comment, as a parent, friend of the university, scholar, writer, patriot, leader of many leaders among others. What I write here is an appeal and also a critique; and I enjoin those concerned to think about them. I am not an "interloper" as a member of that university community referred to me when he first read my objection. A university in Nigeria, especially a Federal University is a public trust, built with public money and maintained with tax payer's fund. I am interested, and rightly so, in any transaction that goes on between staff and students within the university. It is an error of a grievous kind to think that once someone has left the system he cannot and must not make a comment about the  operations of any section of the university. 
  Now to the video.
   In the video we see male and female students filing out in procession carrying fire in a cauldron or what looks like a torch that athletes carry symbolising the commencement of a game. The males were half clad, remaining only their trousers while the females had a simple dress on skimpy skirt - all white like the Orisha devotees or worshipers. Their hairstyles are also revealing: the male are shaven leaving only a little round or portion of the hair on their heads like Hare Krishna devotees, the females had a funny hairstyle with locks on their heads like Samson or daughters of Yemoja. These file out in a choreographed form into a prepared stage and broke into ecstatic rhythmic dancing in response to  native drums accompanied with gongs. (Because of time I can't comment about the drums now)
 This was in an atmosphere of blue colour lighting that changes intermittently like a chameleon and rose and fell like the mercury of a thermometer. As this was in motion songs were being rendered in praise of Ifa and in solicitation of Ifa's blessings. Ifa is the Yoruba Oracular deity and according to Ulli Beier and Pierre Verger, the most consistent and widespread theme in Yoruba Traditional Religion. There was also what looks like spirit possession that we usually see in Traditional initiation ceremony.
  At last and the most shocking of it all and the most offensive to me and my sense of being, three persons stepped forward, most likely elders in the traditional occult attire of saki, so common with the native Ogboni Fraternity to bless the "initiated" students. Made up of two men and a woman they pronounced "blessings" on them to succeed in their career in the name of Ifa. 
  Sincerely, I could accept everything in the video as children playing or toying with metaphysics except the last act: the offer of prayer for blessing in the name of Ifa to an entire students of a federal university - and a premier university to boot - as if they are all devotees of the traditional religion or as if they must be such to study Theatre Arts. That offends my sense of secularity and religious freedom.

 *Questions and Posers*

After watching the video certain questions came to my mind naturally. I have never been aware that such a thing takes place in our universities.  Having seen the video with all that transpired
 here are some of my questions:

1. The video is titled INITIATION OF THEATRE ARTS STUDENTS. So why are they been initiated and what are they been initiated into? Yes, I am aware that every organisation or group has a special way for receiving new members into their group without any attachment of suspicion. But not in a ritual ceremony where spiritual forces are invoked, and the entire accoutrements of traditional ritual. The video shows all the elements in a traditional initiation rites as we see in various cultures like the Yoruba, Dogon, Limba, Bantus...
 So there is need for the question, Initiation into what? In African religious cosmologies, initiation rites are serious things and involve definite and specific processes to bring the initiate into contact and alignment with metaphysical forces.
  They are not just innocent acts, they are definite spiritual transactions. Do these students know what they are getting into?
I am reliably told that at University of Calabar it is even more serious than this and the occult manifestations are so explicit that students are affected thereafter.
  And all these to gain an education? Is this also part of learning and tradition in Theatre Arts scholarship?

2. Is this Initiation part of the program or voluntary? Can a student or would- be initiate asked to be excused from its ritual proceedings due to what s/he perceives as its traditional occultic accretions - on any ground? And will there be any consequences for that? 
  I asked the Head of Department of Theatre Arts this question but he did not answer it or should I say I wasn't comfortable with his answers.

3. The Theatre Arts Department of University of Ibadan was founded in 1962 and began admitting students since 1963 - exactly 60 years ago. But the Initiation shown in the video states 46th Initiation Anniversary. This shows that this Initiation Rites was not part of the program from the beginning but was inserted midstream. Why? And for what?
Nigerians have been in charge of the department since the 1960's and they didn't conceive this Rite, was the department or its training any less in quality then? Now that this Initiation with its concomitant ritual forms and heathenish accretions have been added, are students better today?
  If this Initiation was crucial for pedagogy why wasn't it there at the beginning and why does it take 15 long years to begin?
  This is addressed directly to University of Ibadan since it was its own video that I saw although the questions and this essay applies to all universities that offer courses in Theatre Arts and where students are required to undergo this initiation ceremony at the commencement.

4. As a corollary of (3) above, if this year's Initiation is 46th then it means the first was in 1978 - just a year after FESTAC 77. This is revealing indeed. Now the puzzle is coming to light.
  It means the Initiation of Students in Theatre Arts Departments of Ibadan in particular and Nigerian Universities (?) in general came in the wake of FESTAC and the massive occult revival that was unleashed on this nation by that occultic jamboree program and as a direct byproduct and inspiration.
  Does this mean that no one thought of initiation of students in our universities until after FESTAC and immediately a year after? This is revealing. Is this a coincidence? If so, why so?

5. The dominant figure and hero, the reigning deity and worshipful majesty of the Initiation Rites is Ifa, the Yoruba oracular deity, which resonates perfectly with Yoruba or African Traditional Religion.
Should a Department of a university built with public fund and maintained with tax- payer's money be seen to be promoting a religion,  any religion for that matter - especially when majority of those tax payers do not subscribe to Ifa religion?

6. Arising from (5) above, in a secularized worldview or a multi- religious setting is it necessary for a university to adopt a program of Initiation that tends to favour one religion and displease others or an Initiation Rites that clearly offends the religious,aesthetic and spiritual sensibilities of other peoples of Faith?
   You are scholars, so I ask you to ponder this question. Dont insult me, just address the issues raised.

7. A section of the Initiation Rites appears occultic to the seeing eyes; and manifestly so. ( Remember my thesis: only trained eyes can see) In the video a man and a woman who are elderly with emblem of Ifa and the regalia and accoutrements usually won by occultists and evidently not students (?) step forward to pronounce "blessings" on the initiated students. Can anyone deny this who has seen the video? Can anyone also claim that this is innocent? Why should a student have to go through this occult phenomena for the sake of training and in the course of learning?

8. The costume and demeanor of the students involved are another thing-  the males shaving the hair of their heads, partly naked, chanting Ifa engaged in rythmic dance with females attired in white like Osun devotees, a boy going or feigning trance or spirit possession - these are the emblems of a real occultic Initiation process. Can anyone object to this based on facts and actual realities?

9. In some other universities I have heard that the Initiation process takes on the toga of occultic, demonic and the explicit demonstration of occultism is not veiled. I have been told of what goes on at University of Calabar during this same Initiation Rites by Theatre Arts students that some of them go into real possession resulting in terrifying consequences for some of the students after the program. So under what item do we categorize this: learning, education, culture, tradition or simply occultism? 

In concluding this section I submit that occult is very subtle and it is what ordinary eyes can't see. Only eyes trained to see will see, others will merely see the children dancing, as our thesis says. And as our first thesis also states: the fact you can't see a thing does not mean it does not exist.

 *Delusions and Misconception* 

Many people seem to suffer from delusions about their beliefs on certain things. These delusions are based on misconceptions due to lack of deeper understanding of spiritual things.
  Here are a few that have been revealed through this video:

* That Art is innocent. It is not. Art incorporates ideology, power, biases,  prophecy, etc

* That invocation of spiritual forces or entities have no consequences.

* That African spiritualities, metaphysics can be invoked without consequences either immediately or in future.

* Earth's energy are deployed through gates or portals by specific processes and patterns. Through a ritual dance, performance, invocation of spiritual forces, a pattern is created and power must follow the patterns.

* Words and particularly songs uttered in a ritual ceremony are the building blocks for erection of strongholds and altars that hold life as prisoner in future.

* Rythmic ritual dance are cultic and through it a message can be communicated which can harm the uninitiated. Remember the daughter of Herodias only danced but through her dance a message was communicated to Herod which led to murder, the beheading of an innocent man, John the Baptist. 

In summary nothing is without consequences. Every action attracts a reaction; if not in the immediate then in future.

 *Realities, Actions and Consequences*

I come to my third and final thesis: that nothing is really innocent, every action, movement, steps, sensation, action, gestures, voice, song, dance etc., have spiritual significance; and therefore no action without consequences.
 Some say that it is just a play, mere drama and has nothing attached to it. I consider it naive to say that any ceremony in which spiritual entities, deities are invoked through fire, chants, song, prayer, rythmic dance nay the whole ensemble of traditional religious system as "innocent."
Where these elements exist and these forms take place in a ritual context whether as traditional African festival  "organized around certain deities or spirits... incorporating diverse forms such as singing, chanting, drama, drumming, masking, miming, costuming, puppetry with episodes of theatrical enactments ranging.from the sacred and secretive to the secular and public" ( see Olaniyan 2004) or simply as festival theatre - as the video purports to assume - it can't simply be innocent or neutral.
  The connection between spoken words whether as invocation, songs or performative utterances and Ase ( vital force) among various African groups like the Yoruba of Nigeria, Bantus of South Africa, Limba of Sierra Leone, Dinka of South Sudan or Dogon of Central Mali have been examined and documented. ( See M.O. Idowu, 2013). Likewise Halgren in his study of the concept of Ase or vital force has noted that words spoken in a ritual context are the true words of authority. ( Halgren 2000: 22)

Professor Wole Soyinka in an interview with Guardian newspaper.spoke of an experience he had in Oyo with some of his students. They had visited the Alaafin palace and one of the palace women versed in esoteric mysteries was summoned to make a chant - possibly to Sango, one of the deified ancestors of the Yoruba. The woman began in the open space and before long the sky was black, then thunderings and lightning. The Alaafin ran inside his palace, Soyinka and his students ran into the bus and sped off. He did not wait to confront the phenomenon with his big grammar and dense vocabulary.
   I have stated all these to show one major fact: metaphysical factors are real whether our universities accept them or not and that even a mere act of invocation to deities, simple as they may seem, cannot be innocent. 
   Two, I want to bring my reader to the link between power and patterns. A spiritual pattern is created through rites involving song, dance, drums, invocation etc. And spiritual power follows patterns. This is true in metaphysics and all adepts know this. And science confirms this as well. It is what Nikola Tesla was trying to say about *energy, frequency* and *vibrations.* In place of energy you can substitute spiritual power, frequency for patterns and vibrations for consequences because all truths are parallel. True Science does not oppose true religion, it affirms it. 
  In the Jewish Bible we hear God instructing the prophet Moses to make the ark and the Tabernacle "according to the patterns shown to him on the Mount."
  This is revealing. Why would God be interested in patterns? Because for the same power to follow the equipment that Moses was about to make it must accord to the original pattern as much as possible. That is the power of patterns.
  To think that a ceremony in which a ritual pattern, - as was shown in the video - was enacted is innocent is to be greatly naive.

In 1977 Nigeria hosted what it calls Festival of Arts and Culture ( FESTAC) in which all manner of deities and deified ancestors were glorified and transmogrified into active entities - the same deities that could not save their own people and children from Anarchy, Civil War and transatlantic slavery. Paganism in all its deformities and heathenism in all its ugliness were glorified and celebrated. This is not to say that everything about that event was banal, there were Colloquial, conferences with sound public lectures, presentation by leading scholars about the way forward for Africa. But the real import and outcome in the popular imagination was that we can return to our deities, rituals, ancestor worship, traditional rites.
   Deities and costumes and occult paraphernalia which the fathers had rejected because they were too dangerous, the children brought out again in the name of Cultural Renewal and Revival. Thus began the descent of Nigeria and her matchless drive to occult revival from which it has not been weaned till today.
   In 1977 a dollar exchanged for 60 kobo; today the same dollar is going for N1,200. In 1977 a professor earned more than a Permanent Secretary of Government, now a professor and a clerk or cleaner in Central Bank are pairing up. [ It is just consequence and recompense and payback for the role the academy played in bringing that setback on Nigeria] Today Nigeria is the capital of global poverty and out- of - school children. And all these the results of Cultural Renewal and Revival?
  In 1977 no woman no matter how bold she is can come out publicly and say she is a witch. Today, they carry their Initiation emblems publicly for all to see and they now have an association. It is instructive that the very idea of initiation of Theatre Arts'Students began a year after FESTAC and in the aftermath of the massive occultism it unleashed on the Nigerian space.
 That is how low Nigeria has fallen. As George Santayana has said, " Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."
   Here is my point. The FESTAC was billed to be a cultural renaissance and renewal. It was planned for whole 10 years since 1966. But see the outcome and the consequences that it brought. 
  This is why we say that nothing is innocent, every action, every idea has consequences both in the immediate and remote future.
In 1950's some students, seven of them, in this same university of Ibadan gathered together in a symbol of friendship, chivalry and fraternity which became the origin of a pioneer Fraternity - the forerunner of all the fraternities and cultism on our campuses today. An action may look innocent and even noble and chivalrous at the beginning but only He Who sees the hearts knows what the end will be and what the consequences it will bring. A tree is only known by its fruits but fruits come at the end not at the beginning.

 *My Conversation with the HOD* 

I made effort to speak with the Head of Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan. Dr Bashiru Akande is a complete gentleman and I like him. Very respectful and gentle in his response to some of my queries, he ennobles the great intellectual tradition for which UI is well known - unlike some others who are already abusing me for expressing opinion.
   However, I wasn't comfortable with some of his answers. He sees the whole thing as innocent, as mere induction ceremony that every organization conducts for new members. He said even when he too joined the university in 1990 as a student he had to undergo the same ritual.
  Why, was there no Initiation in the 1963 when the department started except in 1978? He sees this as innovation and new ideas coming to play.
   Has he heard anything like FESTAC? Does it not sound strange to him that this whole idea of initiation began a year after FESTAC?
   He was shocked himself at this. He had never thought about it and the coincidence or relationship if any. He still believes that it was just mere coincidence.
   I made it clear to him however that since I can't express all my thoughts in brief conversation to be fair for his time as they were doing examination, I will put my thoughts in writing and will send a copy to him possibly before releasing it to the general public. 
  I thanked him for his time.

 *Conclusion* 

I have tried to show through this essay that the Initiation of Students of Theatre Arts in Nigerian universities takes on the bizarre, the comic and even the extra numinous dimensions. Although it is only that of University of Ibadan I have seen I have been told by my followers and disciples across Nigeria that the UI version is even mild compared to others. I actually posted the video and asked for their comments.
   Apart from the fact that it offends the religious sensibilities of many people it incorporates certain ritual forms and elements that tend to embrace the occult dimensions. This is my view and only my own. Occult elements are often so subtle and they are what ordinary eyes can't see. 
  There is one other thing that is offensive in this video and the Initiation ceremony: the elevation of Ifa and Osun as reigning deities. So the question is this: how has Ifa or Osun contributed to the development of Theatre Arts in Nigeria or even in the English world? And what were their contributions? This is where we see a truncation of history. 
  Let me say this, that the development of Theatre Arts in Nigeria was greatly enabled by the Church and Christianity, not Ifa or Yoruba Traditional Religion. Equally the development of English dramatic arts in Britain and even of the English stage was greatly enabled and developed largely by votaries of the Church and Christianity. Don't take my word for it, read the scholars. See J.A. Adedeji, "The Church and the Emergence of the Nigerian Theatre: 1866-1914" *Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria,* Vol.VI, No.1 December 1971.pp.25-46. He also wrote the sequel to the paper covering the period between 1914-1945 and showing the contributions of the Church to the development of Theatre in Nigeria. It is a common knowledge that Herbet Ogunde who is regarded as the father or doyen of Nigerian Theatre started his career from the church - the Church of the Lord, Aladura. See Ebun Clark, "Ogunde Theatre: The Rise of Contemporary Professional Theatre in Nigeria 1946-72" Nigerian Magazine, 1974 No.114 pp 3-14. With these views agreed other scholars.
  If the Church played so crucial roles to the origin and development of Nigerian Theatre doesn't it look like a miscarriage of justice and loss of purpose to use the very occasion of an induction or initiation ceremony of new students to glorify or exalt Ifa and the Traditional Religion that has nothing to contribute in the formative stages and pioneering development of the Theatre? Where does Ifa comes in? What has the wisdom of Solomon got to do with Methuselah's old age? Why must Ifa reap where he did not sow?
   The explicit demonstration of occultism or what looks like it offends some of us. The invocation of ritual, songs, traditional religious elements are not necessary for the teaching and learning of Theatre Arts students.
  It is not part of education or learning or even real drama. 
It takes nothing from the history and pays no tribute to the origin and contributors to the Theatre Arts as we know it. It draws mainly from African Traditional festival which contributes nothing to the origin and development of Theatre Arts as we know it and has nothing to recommend or say about the Church which made a lot of contributions to the development of English Theatre and Drama traditions and even the development of Theatre in Nigeria.
  I will be glad if any scholar wants to contest these facts and is willing to meet me in a debate.
   I urge our Theatre Arts Departments to review this initiation ceremony or in the main make it voluntary for students. I urge our universities to address this issue in a timely manner. 
   This is my first step and if I do not see any meaningful response or change then I will take steps to write the Authorities for action.
In the unlikely event that nothing is done to all these then steps will be taken either through popular actions or by direct recourse to legality.
  Several objections have been made to my preliminary comments on this subject by scholars. In other for this essay not to be bulky I cannot address these now, in the second part of this essay I will address the objections of scholars. We can have a debate on this issue and Nigeria will be better for it.
  Please stop telling me to face those who are ruining Nigeria and leave the university alone. The people who are ruining Nigeria today, many of them passed through the university and if you have really embedded them with a culture of honour they won't be ruining Nigeria today. The man who took dollar bribe on camera was your alumnus; the fellow who became a megaphone for the worst regime, the sadist who shut down the universities for 8 months was an alumnus of Great Ife. So we should face the university too because the crisis of Nigeria began with the crisis in the university.
  In my next release I will answer your objections in full. 
   Let the debate begin.

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 *NOTES/ REFERENCES* 

* *Isaac Newton* (1643-1727) English polymath - mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist and theologian, who was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and father of classical mechanics.

* *Nikola Tesla* (1856-1943), American inventor, electrical/ mechanical engineer, known for design of modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

* *Albert Einstein* (1879-1955) German born of Jewish parentage, Nobelist, theoritical physicist, author of the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.
[ Source: Wikipedia cited Dec, 2023]

 *Papers* 

 *On the Power of Spoken words, song in ritual context see:* 

* Moses Oludele Idowu, "Words of Power, Power of Words: The Spoken Word as a Medium of Vital Force in African Cosmology" in Greg Mbajiorgu et al (eds) *50 Years of Solo Performing Art in Nigerian Theatre (1966-2016)* , Ibadan: Kraft Books, 2018: pp 3-21

* Tejumola Olaniyan, "Festival Ritual and Drama in Africa" in Abiola Irele (eds) *The Cambridge History of Africa and Caribbean Literature, Cambridge* : Cambridge University Press. Vol.1. pp. 35-48

* Ronald Halgren, *The Vital Force: A Study of Ase in the Traditional and Neo- Traditional Culture of the Yoruba People* , Lund: Novapress, 1995.

 *On the contribution of the Church to Nigerian Theatre* 

*See Professor J.A. Adedeji in two volumes in the Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria already cited.

* Professor Ebun Clark on Herbert Ogunde Theatre in Nigerian Magazine in two vols. 1974 and 1975 quoted in the paper.

And several others

On the contribution of the Church to English Theatre see any standard text on the History of English Dramatic Arts or Literature

 *Concluded* 

©️ Moses Oludele Idowu
     December 16, 2023
    All Rights Reserved