The endorsement by the Oyo State government of the Ifa divination choice of Prince Abimbola Owoade as the Alaafin of Oyo is undoubtedly an official confirmation of the continuing relevance of an old-time practice in the present tense. Even as Ifa is a documentation of Yoruba thought and philosophy, it is conveyed in poetry, prose, chant, litany and song. A compendium of aphorisms, proverbs and mythologies, Ifa is the major source of information on the life and views of Orunmila – the avatar of Yoruba thought system and of religious divination.
It is difficult to identify discrepancies in the details of the life and thought of Orunmila as the authors of the canon of the oral literature on him have been identified as his associates or ardent students who knew him in person. From the beginning, the tradition was established for the mandatory committal to memory by the student, of a substantial number of the more than 4000 major Ifa texts as precondition for becoming a professional. The more adept a professional is in memorising a large corpus of the Ifa text, the more competent he is deemed.
Fidelity to Ifa text is sacrosanct. It is refreshing to note that Ifa is not just about divination as is popularly conjectured. A foremost contemporary Ifa priest or Babalawo says “Ifa deals with all subjects .
.. history, geography, religion, music, philosophy .
..There is certainly no limit to the subject matter which Ese-Ifa may deal with” (Wande Abimbola, 1976).
Emanuel corroborates .
