Me and the Bishop of Akure - The Rt. Revd. Michael IpinmoyeMonday was my last full day in Akure and there were many errands to be done. After breakfast I went to the local cyber café for an hour where I managed to post my blog but had limited success with email and Facebook. Tolu picked me up from there and took me to his office where he left me for an hour to talk to his neighbour – the wonderfully named Godman – who is a photographer and computer technician. He is a Muslim convert and it was a very interesting conversation – especially as I got him to tell me about Juju (African voodoo) which it seems EVERYONE believes in even if they say they do not!
Tolu had been to change money and when he got back we went off to visit FUTA (Federal University of Technology Akure). We went to meet our neighbour Saka who teaches in the department of Environmental Technology and who has just been given a visa to come and take a PhD in Glasgow. It was a brief and odd visit – shortage of time meant that I was spared a guided tour of lecture halls and offices for which I was very grateful. I was asked to pray for a group of Saka’s students – again, something that would never happen at home with a group of people one had only just met!
We came back to town to visit the Oba’s palace. The Oba himself was away but we were given a tour by half a dozen or so retainers: it is an extensive compound with a number of formal courtyards in the style that we have seen elsewhere (notably on the top of the mountain in Idanre). There is quite a ramshackle feel to the whole place though it has been declared a national monument and is certainly a few hundred years old. We went from there to the National Museum next door where we were ushered in to meet the director. I was beginning to get slightly irritated by this point – yet another pointless meeting distracting us from the real business of the day – PLEASE CAN WE SEE THE GALLERIES! It turned out that there are no galleries and the main responsibility of the museum is to oversee the Oba’s palace which we had just visited. We left soon after and spent half an hour or so shopping for cloth and shirts. We then went to Tolu’s cousin’s beer parlour to say goodbye to him and enjoy a glass of guiness; and then finally to Bishopscourt to say goodbye to the Bishop and his wife and to collect an envelope that I am to deliver to their son in Sheffield.
We got home about 7 and had supper before a big photo session with all the family and the neighbours to mark my last night. It was great fun but I am going to miss everyone.
On Tuesday we were due to leave by 9 and finally left about 10. We went straight to the Bishop’s office for a second farewell: and after tea, a blessing and a photograph in front of the GAFCON statement we took our leave and then called at Tolu’s office. It was about 12 by the time we left town and we had to divert to Ile Oluji where we had spent the middle weekend. A large ceremonial gathering was underway at the Oba’s palace and Fagbamiye was anxious for us to see it. I am thrilled that he had insisted on this detour. It enabled us to see the traditional courtyard in use and at the end of the ceremony the Oba made me a chief! I had to go and get changed into something more traditional and kneel and swear an oath of allegiance. I then had to dance to the talking drum holding the horse’s tail emblem that is the traditional sign of all chiefs, whilst people came up and thrust lots of naira into my hand (all of small denominations). It is a great honour and it was great fun: hopefully I will have some good photos of the event. One of the high chiefs gave a very appreciative speech for me and I responded. What an experience! It was one of the highs of the whole visit and was to be followed by one of the lows – the journey to Ibadan.
As we left Ile-Oluji it started to rain - a really serious tropical storm for which Tolu's car is just not prepared – and it rained for the rest of the day. It really slowed us down getting to Ife which was the next stop on our programme - a rather damp affair in the weather. As we left there about 5 Tolu's door started to smoke - some electrical fault. That took another hour to sort out so that we were leaving town at 6pm - just half an hour of daylight left. I should have thought and should have said something but Tolu was determined to get to Ibadan where we were due to stay with his friend Frank who we had met on the first day.
I won't go into the details now but what followed was the worst three hours of the whole visit driving at night on terrible roads in pouring rain, from time to time being confronted by juggernauts careering down the wrong side of a dual carriageway -our side. It took us three hours to get to Ibadan - a total of 85 km - and when we got there everyone had gone to bed. We had not eaten since breakfast and we went to bed with only our bottles of water. Today – Wednesday – we are spending the day in Ibadan where I am trying to recover my equilibrium!
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