The Epic of Attah Ameh Oboni the Great by Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy

The Epic of Attah Ameh Oboni; The Great

*Note: Attah Ameh Oboni remains; perhaps; the greatest king of the Igala people because of his magical prowess. Legend has it that the power of this king lies on the tip of his tongue which has so much efficacy so that whatever he decrees become so. How he came by such a magical power no one knows and no one may be able to tell till the end of time. They say he could look at a flowering green tree and command it to go dry and it would do so immediately, he had once poured sand over a river and commanded that a bridge appear and so it happened. Attah Ameh Oboni had enormous metaphysical powers and many of his followers became afraid of him. As the story goes, he was reported to the then colonial master who wanted to usurp him but could not as Ameh Oboni was not also ready to reliquish his authority to the colonial masters. In the wisdom of the people, no man however great should aspire to be greater than the society that created it, but Attah Oboni was clearly one man who was greater than his society. When Attah Ameh Oboni perceived conspirary amongst his chiefs and the colonial administration, he committed sucide by hanging himself on his roof rather than be humiliated by the white administration.

The poem here tells of Attah Ameh Oboni's experience at a meeting organised at Kaduna which was translated from Danlami Ayufa's song (Ejeh Bailo). In the process of the translation, I was fascinated by the structural pattern of the poem which was in media rex and at the same time acknowledges a muse (Attah Aliyu Obaje) before delving into the poem proper. This style is similar to the Western mode of epic poetry and I am left wondering what the connection could be? Well, as they say again, the taste of the soup is in its savouring, enjoy!

It is I, Danlami Ayufa, who wishes to speak of Ameh Oboni
Attah, the fearful oracle.
I said I wish to speak of Ameh Oboni.

But, before I speak of Ameh Oboni
Permit me to acknowledge
Gabaidu, Alhaji Aliyu son of Obaje
I said you should let me hail
Gbabaidu Alhaji Aliyu son of Obaje
The King who today sits
On the throne of the Igala kingdom
Is no other than Alhaji Aliyu son of Obaje
The animal which arrives at the river before others
Does not drink muddy water
That is Alhaji Aliyu, son of Obaje,
One who sits and and towers above all others
That is Alhaji Aliyu son of Obaje.

Ayufa has arrived with a tale, listen!
You see that man called Ameh Oboni,
When he was the king of the Igala kingdom
Gabaidu Ameh Oboni strengthened himself
With metaphysical powers;
Attah Ameh Oboni whose words are potent ones
He is the tree which does not produce flowers
But bears myriads fruits.

People, listen to this tale
Is it not the man that keeps a yam roasting
Who prepares himself for countless visit to the kitchen?
The voice of the oracle remains a mystery
To the uninitiated
A goat is often killed by its favourite leaves
One should never use a man's foot to measure
The size of another man's shoe
Why, if it is not too small
Then you must expect it to be oversized.
A smoked fish can only be locked by a stick its size
The fish dissipates if locked with a stick larger than it.

I, Danlami Ayufa, my poem is the ripe apple in the forest
It patiently await plucking
It is the inexhaustible water of the ocean.

My people!
Remain mute and listen to my tale
Gabaidu, Attah Ameh Oboni once
Attended a meeting at Kaduna.
Do you know who called this meeting?
It was none other than the great Emir of the Hausa Kingdom
So he called all the great kings for an august meeting
Several great kings attended this meeting
And Attah Ameh Oboni was one of those in attendance.

When Attah Oboni arrived at Kaduna;
All the great kings were already gathered and seated
Before Ameh Oboni walked into the meeting;
He walked to the seat reserved for him and sat.
He it was who first raised his hand and stood up
While raising his hand he spake thus:
'Your Majesty, King of the Hausa people,
We greet you!
All great kings here present,
We greet you all!
Please, we have to hurry with the agendums
For our people in the Igala kingdom await our return.'

Next came the voice of the Hausa king.
'Your majesty, king of the Igala kingdom
You are welcome!
Behold thee all great kings seated here?
As we stand before thee and all others,
All great kings present here have
Saluted us as a king amongst kings.
We want thee to also acknowledge our superiority,
Then only can we proceed with the agendums.'

Ameh Oboni answered the king of the Hausa people thus:
'Your majesty, king among all Hausa people
Kindly tell us how else you wish to be saluted?'

The king of the Hausa people shot up
On his face a paroxysm of anger
He looked at Ameh Oboni and spake thus:
'Ameh Oboni, if thou says thine knowest not how
To salute the king of the Hausa people
Then, we shall tell you:
Just remove thine crown and bow before us.'

'He he he!' Attah Gabaidu laughed hysterically
He looked at his chauffeur (Amanabo) and spake to him thus:
'Amanabo, our chauffeur' said he, 'did thou hearest what
The king of the Hausa people just vomitted?
We want thee to rise, and reply him.'

On that day,
Amanabo rose up and addressed the king of the Hausa people.
'Your majesty, the king of the Hausa people
I greet you!
All great kings present here today
I greet you all!
You all see the crown on the head of Ameh Oboni
I should like to say I would be too shy to see you remove the crown
I would also be too afraid to see you remove it from where it sits
On the head of the great Ameh Oboni,
But if you all think you can remove this crown
I dare you come close and do so.'

Ameh Oboni, in a fit of rage, flew up.
'Your majesty king among the Hausa people
We greet you!' He said.
'All great kings present here today
We greet you all!
Do you all see the crown atop our head?
We shall make you know it has three names:
Firstly, what we carry atop our head is but a basket of trouble.
Secondly, the distinguished feather
Of a parrot (which commands reverence) and that remains unequalled
Is the crown atop our skull
Thirdly, what we carry on our head is a white dove
Which never births a coloured chick!
Do you still want us to remove it today?

All the great kings present answered affirmatively
But the king of the Benin people stood up
And to Ameh Oboni he spake thus:
'Your majesty, king among the Igala people
We greet you!
If removing thine crown would have dire consequences
Then let it remain atop thine head whilst we proceed
With the agendums of the meeting
So we can return to our various kingdoms on time.'

The infuriated king of the Hausa people shouted:
'Never!
If Ameh Oboni refuses to remove his crown
Then our soldiers would force it off his head!'

Ameh Oboni calmly stood up and spake thus:
'Your majesty, king among the Hausa people
We greet you!
All great kings seated here today
We greet you all!
We suppose you all are listening to this scintillating tale?
This crown atop our head, do you all wish that we remove it?'

They all chorused 'Yes, we want it off your head!'

Ameh Oboni continued thus:
'Listen, you who is king of the Benin Kingdom
We wish to be quick with this business so all others
Can return to their various kingdoms on time.
Kindly wait outside while we remove our crown.'

Quickly ran outside the king of the Benin kingdom
Then, Ameh Oboni held his crown firmly.
Suddenly, he removed the crown off his head!
As the crown went off came potent magic,
From the mouths of all the great kings present came horrible howls
Men and women present were crying in pain
All was in disarray as they cried out in pain
Those with crowns flung it off!
Those with turbans pulled them away!
Those with princely robe threw them away!
Meanwhile, a torrent of
Potent magic flowed from Ameh Oboni's body.

The king of the Hausa kingdom while in a feat of fervent prayers
Ran outside towards the barracks.
To the soldiers he said:
'Quickly, go tell Ameh Oboni
That tales of his wicked deeds have long filtered into our ears
Today's act from him proves all those allegation against him
To be totally correct!
The king of Igala people must not be allowed
To escape this soil to his kingdom!'

The Hausa king thundered and deployed more soldiers
Who arrested Ameh Oboni and handcuffed him
But Attah shook his hands and the handcuffs slipped off his wrists
Falling noisly to the ground with a clang.

The king of Hausa people looked at Ameh Oboni derisively
Then, he addressed him thus:
'Your majesty king of the Igala people
We greet you!
Today, your time on earth is up
Look up to the sky and look at the ground below,
Today is the day we shall have you executed!
But we have three imprecations for you before your execution
These imprecations shall also be binding on your people too.
'See, no matter where the Igala people are gathered
If they number eight that have gathered to discuss a secret
Six people would always let the cat out of the bag.
The people of Igala,' continued the king of the Hausa people,
'By the grace of God almighty
There shall never be love and unity amongst them all
The Igala people will always back bite each others
They would never know the meaning of
Leave and let's live.'
The king of the Hausa people swore upon the Igala thus.

Whoever is running and thinks he has no one following
Is only taking a walk.
Most certainly, Ameh Oboni is not the man to let his enemies
Have the last word.

Ameh Oboni answered him thus:
'Your majesty king of the Hausa people
These curses you have placed upon us
May God never let it come to pass upon my people.'

Definitely, it is those who frolic with the Hausa king
That his maledictions would work upon.
The populace of the Igala kingdom would not allow
An insult to their king go unreciprocated.

Hence, Ameh Oboni retorted with immediate effect and alacrity:
'Your majesty king of the Hausa people
If you curse us (despite that we are already on a death sentence)
And we refuse to utter words in reply
Then have we betrayed the pride of the Igala people.
Foremostly, I have four spells for you
And these four spells that I shall here cast on you,
Even if we are released and left to go in peace
We still remain the ruler of the Igala kingdom
And carry along our potent authority.
Even if you arrest and lock us up
We still remain the fearful oracle
Whose pronouncements remain efficacious
We are the poison whose remedy remains unknown
We are the parrot feather that is never like that of the kite.

'Listen, for here comes the four spells we shall cast upon you:
Know now that even if the Hausa man remains
As handsome as the peacock;
Because you have insulted Ameh Oboni of the Igala kingdom;
Thine people shall suffer from the disease of leprosy
Blindness shall become a decorative ornament on them
Ululation henceforth becomes affiliated with them
Lastly, never shall they stop chewing colanuts.'

You see people, immediately Attah cast his spells;
A black horse fell with a loud thud!
Right there and then,
The Hausa people were inflicted with leprosy,
Their hands and legs began to diminish,
And all those present at the meeting became seriously ill.

Everyone began calling for Attah Ameh Oboni's head
Attah became invisible and walked out majestically
While they all searched in vain for him.
They resulted to magical incantations to weaken
The potency of Attah's spells
And were able to arrest him again
Next, they imprisoned him.

Well, people, as soon as Ameh Oboni was imprisoned
Ameh Oboni walked to the prison entrance and knocked quietly
The prisons guards came and answered him
Followed by the king of the Hausa kingdom
To them Ameh Oboni spake thus:
Your majesty king among the Hausa people
We greet you!
Soldiers, we know our days on earth are exhausted already
But please, permit a man who is to die soon
To say his last words to his chauffeur.'

Amanabo (Attah's chauffeur) was ordered to come
I speak of the same Amanabo who is a son of Ejule soil.

You see people, immediately Amanabo arrived there
He addressed Ameh Oboni thus:
'Attah Ameh Oboni whose words are laced with potency
The tree that does not flower yet bears myriad fruits
Attah, I was told you asked to see me
And here I am, my Lord, answering your call.'

Attah Ameh Oboni spake to him. He said:
'Amanabo, Look not at us pitifully
Amanabo, we command you not to stare at our eyes
If you adhere to the words we shall here spurt out
All things shall be well with us all
But should you refuse to adhere to them
Then shall there be trouble lying in our path.
Amanabo be quick and get our car
And drive back to Dekina.
Listen, as you drive home
You shall reach a place where the wind shall blow roughly.
Do not look back or turn your head for anything.
But when the wind becomes calm
Then only can you turn to look back.
Amanabo, leave no room for doubts
You must follow my words and do as I have ordered you to.'

Amanabo crisscossed his hands on his head and exclaimed in tears:
'Attah! It was you and I who visited Kaduna together
How then is it that only I must return home?
What should I tell the Igala people if I return without you?
How shall I tell the story and where do I start from or end it?
Attah please, I can not return home alone
Whatever takes you must also take me.'

Attah looked at Amanabo and laughed 'he he he!'
His response to Amanabo was thus:
'Amanabo, what you see is but the rough skin of the pangolin
Know you not that its meat is a delicacy?
Please, get our car and drive down to Dekina
There is hope only if you adhere to our orders
We perceive trouble only if you disobey them.'

Amanabo walked down to where Attah's car was parked
He kept crying and murmuring to himself
Amanabo drove the car out of Kaduna
He drove till he got to a corner at Jos
And that was where the wind began blowing roughly
Amanabo remembered Attah's words and refused looking back
He kept driving till he arrived at Makurdi,
At the road very close to Makurdi's prison
And that was where the wind began blowing softly
Here did Amanabo turn his head to look back
And when Amanabo looked back
Lo and behold, there was Attah Ameh Oboni
Sitting majestically behind him!
Is that not why they call him
Attah Ameh Oboni whose words are never wasted?!
Ameh Oboni remains the tree that does not flower
Yet bears myriad fruits.

People, do I still have your ears?
You see that man known as Ameh Oboni
He is the one who cast a spell on the Tiv people
And that is why they do not go on holy pilgrimage to Mecca till date.

I ask again people, do I still have your ears?
You see that man called Ameh Oboni
While on a return journey back home from Kaduna
He drove past Otukpo in Benue State
People do you know what spell he cast on Otukpo?

Ameh Oboni said:
'People of Otukpo!
Ameh Oboni, the lion of the Igala people, leaves your town today
Till the day we die, we shall never return to this land of yours
See, Otukpo may become the most beautiful town for all we care
But the roads will forever be muddy
Your houses will never be of durable structures.'

Attah Ameh Oboni spake thus and went past Otukpo
Then he arrived next at Ankpa Ejilogwu
People, do you know what spells he cast on the people of Ejilogwu?

To the people of Ankpa Ejilogwu Ameh Oboni spake thus:
'People of Ankpa Ejilogwu
Ameh Oboni vacates your town now
Till the day we exit this earth, never shall we step on your soil again
You see, in the whole of Igala kingdom...
Foremostly, let me say that we have four spells for you
But I shall only say three of it here;
You see, in the nearest future of the Igala people and kingdom
The greatest Islamic scholars shall emerge from the Ankpa axis
Most knowledgeable people shall be from Ankpa
Nevertheless, potholes shall forever be an anathema upon your roads.'

Thus spake Ameh Oboni after which he left Ankpa
The next place he arrived at was Anyigba
Know ye what spell Ameh Oboni cast on them?

To the people of Anyigba, Ameh Oboni said:
'Oh our people of Anyigba!
Ameh Oboni your king is about to die
Were we to remain alive, we should tell you to thread without fear
But since we shall die soon, we fear that you shall be cheated by others.

'Although you are but a subordinate town
But let Anyigba be more glorified than its headquarters
Because those at the headquarters have disgraced us
I say those at the headquarters have disgraced us.'

Oh Gabaidu, what a pity!
Oh Gabaidu, what a pity!

This calls our tale to an end,
We shall return with a newer tale
Once the earth completes a revolution
I say once the earth completes its revolution
Ayufa will return to you with a newer tale.

We are the Young 'Leven Brothers
Whose strength is far beyond that of our adversaries
The Young' Leven Brothers of Ankpa!

Translated from the Igala version of Danlami Ayufa's song "Ejeh Bailo" (produced by Ibro Jackson, Anyigba and The Young 'Leven Brothers of Ankpa) by UBAJI ISIAKA ABUBAKAR EAZY