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What To Know About Oloolu: The Father Of All Masquerades In Yoruba Land

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Recalling the history and importance of one of the greatest masquerades in Ibadan and Yorubaland as a whole, the head of Aje family in Ode Aje, Ibadan, where the Oloolu masquerade originated, Chief Oyerinde, disclosed that their great forefather, Ayo̩rinde Aje, who was a warrior along with Ogunmo̩la, Ajayi Ogbori-e̩fo̩n, Ibikunle, O̩de̩rinde, O̩de̩rinlo̩ went on a war expedition in O̩gbagi in Akoko local government in Ondo State and Oloolu was a great war masquerade in that town and was so powerful such that no one could confront him during the war…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

”Nobody could defeat Oloolu during that war but it was our father, Ayo̩rinde Aje that fought him and removed his regalia and costumes, before he was brought to Ibadan as a slave.

His eyes caught the Egungun’s outfit that attracted him. But as he moved towards the shrine where the outfit was kept, the war captive warned Aje Ayo̩rinde not to go near it because it could put his life in jeopardy.

Hence the name Oloolu, that is, O-LU-NKAN, meaning ‘you will put your life in peril. Ayo̩rinde took the advice but ordered his captive to take the outfit along with him back to Ibadan. He also ordered the wife of the captive to accompany her husband to Ibadan. The woman refused. In his annoyance, Ayo̩rinde beheaded her and ordered the captured husband to carry the woman’s head along to Ibadan in addition to the Oloolu outfit.

That woman’s head is what is permanently placed on the masquerade. It is the original one. It is because of the head that every woman is barred from setting eyes on the Oloolu. Any woman who sees the real Oloolu – not his pictures – will surely die. It is also true that the first person the Ololu sees on his first day in an annual Egungun festival will die. The Olubadan usually warns the populace to take precautions.

During an ancient time in Ibadan, there was famine, ill-health and crisis in the land and all the elders and chiefs were looking for a way out, that was how Ayo̩rinde Aje suggested that Oloolu should carry the rituals to appease the gods, immediately he carried the rituals, there was rain and everything got back to normal in Ibadan.

Oloolu helped Ibadan to be what it is today. Since then anybody that is the head of the Aje family becomes the custodian of Oloolu masquerade.

No other Egungun must be seen on the streets whenever the Oloolu is out. That Egungun will certainly perish. During the reign of Olubadan Dada, and Egungun called Ipo̩nri-Iku tried it, I was then a small boy, quoted Chief Oyerinde. “Ipo̩nri-Iku came out on the same day the Oloolu was out. He challenged the Oloolu to do his worst.

Oloolu then dropped a special cowry on the ground and challenged Ipo̩nri-Iku to pick it up. Ipo̩nri-Iku bent down to pick the cowry. He could not. His backbone was broken instantly. Ipo̩nri-Iku could no longer stand up.

His followers had to carry him home. Ipo̩nri-Iku died on the same day. Since that day, no other Egungun has dared to challenge the Oloolu”. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

According to Chief Oyerinde, ”any area in Ibadan where the people try to fight the Oloolu anytime he is out, such areas will continue to experience bloodshed, and that is what is happening in Opopo Yeo̩sa area till date, because they tried to beat Oloolu there sometimes ago.

Oloolu is so great that he gives the barren children, he provides for the needy, he prospers business among other good things he can give an individual who is ready to serve him”

The Oloolu masquerade is an individual masquerade. It has its unique attire which looks like an elongated pyramid made from different pieces of clothes and a net.

The most bizarre piece of the Oloolu masquerade is that it has the skull of a woman as its crown. As the Oloolu dances round the city in its strange rhythm with a female skull dangling on its head, the bearer proudly displays the human bone while accompanying the dreaded cult figure.

The bearer of Oloolu must not wear shoes nor carry any kind of load on his head. Also, he must not go to bed with any of his wives 30 days before coming out.

In fact, a few days before the festival opens, all females must vacate his compound and return after the Oloolu festival is over. Besides, he must not carry a child on his shoulders with his feet slung round his neck.‎

Of all the Egunguns worshipped in Ibadan and probably in all of Yorubaland, none is as dreaded as the Egungun Oloolu (Oloolu Masquerade).

This cult figure is believed to have immense supernatural powers and one of these is the ability to mysteriously kill the first person, man or woman who sets his or her eyes on the Oloolu (in his weird costume which is usually kept inside its own special shrine

 

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Scientists issue dire warning after making frightening discovery in the Atlantic Ocean: ‘Sudden, wide-reaching impacts’ –

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Scientists from Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the UK are warning us about some serious problems happening in the ocean because of how fast our planet is heating up. They studied a major ocean current called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC for short.

This current acts like a giant conveyor belt, moving warm and cold water around the Atlantic Ocean. It helps keep the climate balanced, especially in the Northern parts of the world like North America and Europe.

What the scientists found is worrying. There’s another ocean current up in the Arctic called the Beaufort Gyre. Normally, this gyre spins around and stores a lot of freshwater that comes from melting sea ice and rivers. But because the planet is getting hotter, this gyre is changing…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

The warmer air and less sea ice are making it weaker. If the Beaufort Gyre stops working the way it’s supposed to, all that freshwater it’s been holding could suddenly pour into the North Atlantic Ocean.

That might not sound like a big deal, but it could actually mess up the AMOC. This ocean system depends on a mix of salty and cold water to keep moving. If too much freshwater gets into it, the balance could be thrown off. If the AMOC slows down a lot or even collapses, it could cause serious and possibly permanent changes in our weather.

For example, sea levels could rise quickly along the East Coast of the U.S. There could be more intense storms. Rainy seasons and dry seasons in places like the Amazon might switch around.

Some places could get much colder while others get warmer. It could be like a shift back toward ice age conditions in some parts of the world. These are what scientists call “tipping points”moments when change happens so fast and so big that we can’t easily go back. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

The scary part is that even under moderate levels of pollution—like a “middle of the road” scenario where we don’t make big changes—this future still looks likely. Most models show that the Beaufort Gyre will shrink and stop holding freshwater as the Earth keeps warming.

There is one small bright spot. Another study found that the AMOC hasn’t really slowed down in the last 60 years. That’s a good sign, and it means the system might be stronger than some people thought.

But most scientists still believe that if we keep sending a lot of heat-trapping gases into the air from things like coal, oil, and gas, the AMOC will eventually get weaker and collapse. It’s not a question of if, but when.

The only way to prevent this is to seriously cut back on the pollution we’re putting into the air. That means switching from dirty energy, like fossil fuels, to clean energy like wind and solar. People can help at home too.

Things like using electric stoves instead of gas ones, adding solar panels to rooftops, and upgrading heating systems to more efficient ones like heat pumps can lower energy use and reduce pollution.

Even small changes matter. The more we do now, the better chance we have of protecting the ocean, the climate, and life as we know it.

 

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Dad Going To Jail After Seeing What His Daughter Was Doing In Her Bedroom

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A concerned father woke with a feeling that he should check on his daughter in her bedroom down the hall. It was after 3 a.m. when he walked into her room, and he didn’t expect to happen on the scene that he found. Now, the dad is sitting in prison.

When Ben Batterham put his little girl to bed on Saturday night, he didn’t think he would wake to a nightmare just hours later. Suddenly alert at 3:30 in the morning, he walked to his daughter’s bedroom.

When he cracked open her door, he saw that she was in her bed, but to his absolute horror, a massive man was standing over his daughter, as she lay helpless and terrified beneath his towering wrath…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

According to Yahoo News, the 33-year-old Australian father didn’t ask questions. His protective parental instinct instantly took over, and he grabbed the 34-year-old intruder, identified as Ricky Slater, with his bare hands, beating him to a bloody pulp.

Batterham dragged the pervert out of his daughter’s room in a headlock and into the street to detain him until police arrived. Once cops got there, Slater’s neck was snapped in half and he was unconscious.

The intruder was transported to the hospital where he died the following morning, after being removed from life support. Despite getting what he deserved when he entered a child’s bedroom with bad intentions, Batterham is paying a dear price for protecting his daughter.

The courageous father was initially charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, but that has since been upgraded to murder since Slater’s death. The intruder’s family is coming to their degenerate son’s defense, blaming Slater’s bad actions on Batterham, claiming he was a good guy and loving father, who didn’t deserve to die.

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Slater’s mother, Beryl Dickson

Seeking justice for her now three fatherless grandchildren, Slater’s mother, Beryl Dickson, is pushing the court to not be kind on Batterham. “They’ve lost their father, their beautiful father that they haven’t seen for years because he was in jail, which has nothing to do with this case,” Dickson told ABC News. “Just to think those little kids are going to grow up without a dad now.”

Perhaps this mother should have stopped making excuses for her son’s horrible decisions years before it got to this point. If she had, he could have been a father to his children. It’s not the victim’s fault the criminal was killed in committing a crime, that’s a risk he faced when he chose to creep on a little girl, and it’s the father’s right to protect her.

Considering Slater’s pedophile tendencies, his kids are probably better off without him. By Dickson’s own admission, her son’s children didn’t even know their father since he’s always chosen crime over them. Now, because of him, a little girl won’t get to know her dad either, since he’s in prison for protecting her.

Not everyone sees it the same as Slater’s family and the law that’s earned him a criminal charge. A petition has been started to free Batterham from murder charges, since he was just doing what any good parent would have. Someone wasn’t going to make it out of that bedroom unharmed, and this dad didn’t allow that to be his daughter.

Only in a place like Australia, that abhors gun rights and bans people from owning them, would a victim be made the criminal for acting on his human right to protection.

Slater’s family shouldn’t be given a soap box to stand on and profess their sob story about their son either. His children are also victims because of their own father, and their grandmother is partly to blame, not Batterham.

 

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Mom ‘Threw Up’ After Learning Nanny Birthed Her 11-Year-Old Son’s Baby

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When a Florida mom hired a nanny to help care for her son, she never thought the decision would make her a grandma. After realizing the nanny had given birth to her 11-year-old’s baby, the distraught mother says she “threw up.” Five years later, the young father decided to speak out.

Chris McBride was only 11 years old when his family’s live-in nanny changed the Florida boy’s life forever. Marissa Mowry, then 22, was hired by Chris’s mom Nadean Campbell to care for the child in their Hillsborough County home. Instead, the Port Richey woman sexually assaulted the 11-year-old boy and even gave birth to his baby.

Mowry was recommended by Nadean’s sister-in-law, who had also employed her. Mowry moved in with the family, and Nadean came to think of her as a daughter. But, behind closed doors, Mowry was grooming young Chris. “It was a game called ‘are you nervous,’ and the object of that game was she’d place her hands somewhere on my body and I’d say if I was nervous or not and things escalated from there,” a 17-year-old Chris told Inside Edition…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

The Abuse:After the sexual abuse began, Chris said it continued to happen almost every night. It didn’t stop until he was 14 years old, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “She said that she loved me.

She said that she wanted to date, but she couldn’t let anyone know because it was obviously wrong,” Chris explained. “You have to lie or else I’m gonna have to go away,” he said Mowry told him. Then came the news that she was pregnant. “I was a little bit freaked because I was confused,” Chris recalled.

Mowry gave birth to a baby boy named Bentley as she continued to live with the family, telling Chris’s mother that another man — her boyfriend — was her child’s father. Chris eventually surmised the courage to tell his mother the truth, and Nadean notified the authorities.

A DNA test confirmed that Chris was Bentley’s father. “When the results came back, I went and threw up,” Nadean admitted, saying she felt like a failure. “How did I let this woman manipulate me and my family in such a way that she could do this and I was blind to it?”

Mowry’s Arrest & Conviction:Nearly three years after giving birth to the boy’s child, Marissa Mowry was arrested outside the Busch Gardens theme park, where she was working as a food attendant, according to NY Post.

She was charged with multiple counts of sexual battery and faced life in prison. Initially, she told detectives Chris McBride had forced himself on her. But, in a phone call with the boy, which investigators recorded, she admitted that wasn’t true. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

With the evidence stacked against her, Marissa Mowry took a plea deal. At 28 years old, five years after giving birth to Chris’s baby, she was sentenced. A 17-year-old Chris sat in a courtroom to watch as she was handed 20 years in prison for what she did to him, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Upon her release, she will have to complete 10 years of probation and will need to register as a sex offender, meaning she will spend the rest of her life adhering to a series of strict conditions.

Mowry — Victim vs. Predator:According to court records, Marissa Mowry now has three children. In court, her public defender pointed to the former nanny’s troubled past, which included an abusive childhood, absent parents, being homeless, and only receiving her high school diploma while in jail, but Nadean Campbell said it was no excuse for the damage she caused, changing the course of Chris McBride’s entire life.

Chris’s mom says Mowry is a predator who manipulated her family and stole Chris’s innocence. “We’re talking about a child that was 11,” Nadean said. “Not even a teenager. Eleven.” Nadean is now urging other parents to be vigilant, to start digging when something doesn’t seem right, and not to assume that women won’t victimize children, particularly those entrusted with protecting them. “We don’t think about females being predators, usually,” Nadean explained. “I didn’t — and it cost me.” And, it cost Chris too — but it wasn’t all bad.

Chris McBride’s Life As A 17-Year-Old Dad With A 5-Year-Old Son:Nadean remembers the child her son once was and her memories of a boy in a kiddie pool, riding dirt bikes, and playing with Lego blocks. Chris is now a teenager raising a 5-year-old son.

He takes Bentley to school every morning, then goes to school himself. Rather than hanging out with friends, he plays with his son in their backyard when he gets home. “Who wants to date a 17-year-old who has a 5-year-old?” Nadean asked, pointing out one of many obstacles Chris faces. “It has not ruined his life, but it’s changed his life.”

Although being a father has put limits on what Chris can do, he’s trying to be the best dad he can be. The 17-year-old father has the support of his mother, and 5-year-old Bently says he as “the best daddy!” Nadean agrees, saying, Chis “has turned into one of the most amazing dads you’ll ever meet.”

Chris admits it’s not easy being a teen dad and missing out on his own childhood, but he’s determined to turn something so negative into something positive by being there for and enjoying his son. Regardless of his circumstances, he’s a success story.

 

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