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High Chief Jimoh Aliu (MFR) aka Aworo with the GDA |
legend in Nigeria. He is one of the last soldiers of the olden day’s theatre
industry in Nigeria. He started acting in 1956 when Nigeria was yet to discover
what is today described as Nollywood.
The Oke-Imesi, Ekiti State (South West Nigeria) born actor is today a Cultural
Ambassador in Yoruba Land after 60 years on stage as writer, director, producer
and actor. An old soldier in the Nigerian Army, Chief Aliu is an encyclopedia of arts. Aworo who is famous for his several TV series of the 80s and 90s
e.g. Arelu, Yanponyanrin and Fopomoyo
is one celebrity that is a reporter’s delight any day any time.; always full of
wits, drama, oriki, native intelligence, wisdom and strength that cannot be
compared with anything.
this sixth episode of his historic encounter with your Africa’s Number 1
Celebrity Encounter blog, Asabeafrika
inside a Lagos 3 Star Hotel suite, Chief
Jimoh Aliu, 82 who was on his way to America for a special movie project
spoke about the mystery behind calling of incantations in Yoruba movies which
has led many to untold mystery of life and profound poverty and even death in
most cases. You will find his revelation quite interesting. Enjoy the excerpts.
Sir, we discovered that some actors
who chant incantations (ofo) in movies always grow to become wretched in life with
nothing to show for their success. What do you think is responsible for this?
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Chief Jimoh Aliu to Asabeafrika…’Actors must know how to apply knowledge when making incantations’ |
is a good question you asked. That is where some people got their destinies
dented for life. That is where some people ran into generational curses and
missed their luck. That is where some people’s cloths became red (Aso Pipon).
That is where some people became wretched and couldn’t afford three square
meals again. Those incantations have their root in various points of creation
but if we tell people, they will not agree or they will say our mouth smells.
They will say ‘oh, this is where we are
going to make success and you cannot tell us how to do it’. You don’t have
the code to unlock the Seven Book of Moses, yet you go and buy, brought to
your house and start to read it. How do you intend to escape madness?
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Chief Jimoh Aliu to Asabeafrika….’If you bring 7 Books of Moses Home and you read without having the code, you will surely run mad’ |
You will
surely run mad. Our actors will go into hard incantation (Asisan) and be throwing it to each other; you will be hitting the
ground, calling the names of deities you don’t know their origin. Something
happened in my Egbeda house couple of
years back, some theater practitioners came for a rehearsal in my house and
they were mimicking Esu, Sango and Ogun. They started rehearsing and calling those deities and I said
to my wife ‘something will happen this evening o’. I said ‘that Esu they are calling, if I don’t
quickly stop it, it could be terrible
for them’. People said ‘Baba, you
have come again, which Esu are you
afraid of? Is it not a play they are rehearsing?’; I said ‘No wahala’.
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Chief Jimoh Aliu to Asabeafrika…’Some People recited Esu in my house during rehearsal and Esu appeared to them’ |
Excuse me sir, by the time
they rehearsed for three hours, they started calling me from down stairs to
come and help them, the situation had become so tensed that they began to fight
and beat each other. It is that spirit they called that has appeared to
manifest among them. They never knew the implication will be worse because they
were hitting the ground and hitting their head, hitting their legs against the
ground. It is that incantation that many people called without having the code
and they ran into crisis. Some of them will even go to the extent of carrying amulets, charms and other items on their necks when visiting the market
place. Is that how our forefathers put charms and amulets around their necks
into the market in their life time? wont the market scatter with all sort of
calamities befalling the market?. And if they decorate a stage, maybe it is Sango, maybe Ifa or Orunmila or Olokun or Obatala or Igunukun
(deities), the symbol of everyone is different. In my younger days when I used
to make incantations (Ofo & Ayajo), when I get somewhere I will withdraw
some lines (mimicked it. Watch video on Asabe Afrika TV—on YouTube).
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Oba Asa, High Chief Jimoh Aliu aka Aworo |
I will say
‘Lagbaja o! Lagbaja o!! Lagbaja o!!! when he says ‘Ohoo’, and I will say ‘Ipe
orun ni koo ma je, maje taiye mo’ and I lost three children within three
days. When that happened to me as personal experience and I am not a kid, I took
it as my own experience. You must learn to remove some certain lines from the
incantation you are presenting, don’t let it be full. You say ‘oh, this thing we are saying is for drama
sake not for real o’ we are not calling you for real. It is not all
incantation that you put something in your mouth to call. It is like someone
reciting Psalm, if we have Holy Bible here right now, I would have
made an incantation for you now and tell you to go and cross check it in the
Bible. There are some places in the Holy Bible that even those who are pastors
will never touch.
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Chief Jimoh Aliu to Asabeafrika…’I love make research on esoteric things and find their correlation with the Bible & Quran |
They will not even go to those portion but people like us
love to make researches. If I go to Mecca,
I don’t stay under the tent because I have gone there to learn lesson and all
my three wives have visited Mecca so
that my Mecca will be completed. Some
people will even sell their wives’ Mecca
slot to make money. At least, people I have been able to sponsor to Mecca are
going to 20. I could have taken their money and spend it but that can destroy
my heavenly grace (Alikiamah). So,
all these things that people are doing wrongly in terms of incantation, they
should seek for knowledge to escape from the wrath. There is one Quranic incantation (Sausau) if they want to use it to pray
for you, they must buy at least a fowl or any blooded animal.
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Chief Jimoh Aliu to Asabeafrika…’There are some spiritual incantation that demand blooded animal’ |
If they finish
doing the prayer for you if they are not careful, for an entire three months
they might be financially broke. Oh! May God bless the spirit of late Pa Ogunde, he was an enigma. He will say
‘Jimoh, oya write it this way in the
script before handing it over to
them’, there is incantation for wealth (Ofo Awure), there is incantation
for wisdom (Ofo Isoye) and many other incantations. But you must be intelligent
enough to use them for their various purposes or else it could portend mystery
for the user.
you see in Ogunde’s film, I am the one that decorates them. From Props to stage crafts, I did everything.
You can ask from any of Ogunde’s
children. All those bizarre stages on Ogunde’s
stage I did everything. Apart from Ofo,
we also have different kinds of Ayajo
that I teach younger artistes and that is why I was successful because I served
Pa Ogunde religiously, with truth and
honesty and I served his wives with truth and honesty. I thank God for the
experience. (Register to watch video interview of
Chief Jimoh Aliu on Asabe Afrika TV on Youtube by typing GbengaDanAsabe and
subscribe)