You are a researcher into African ways of life and, at the same time, an ordained priest of the Methodist Church denomination. How do you combine the role of a priest with that of a researcher who is interest in the African traditional way of life?
I am an ordained priest of the Methodist Church and for now, I worship at the Agbeni Methodist Church, Ibadan where I assist as a priest. My work as a priest, in my own view, is supposed to enhance my job as a researcher in African studies. I do not see any discrepancies in what I am doing; rather I see a kind of synthesis and the fact that I am thinking that culture and development are interconnected. I am of the view that a development that does not emanate from a people’s culture cannot be a genuine development. So, thinking in that direction is not actually antithetical to my being a priest. A priest is supposed an agent of development; an agent of progress. But the how of the progress is what I called the wisdom of our forefathers. The question therefore should be, ‘How did our forefathers solved a lot of problems that confronted them?’ ‘Did they just keep quiet and the problems overtook them and destroyed them?’ ‘Didn’t they make some attempts to solve those problems?’ ‘Did the attempts they made worked?’
Those are some of the things I am trying to study and I have realized that quite a lot of problems have been solved by our forefathers; almost all the problems confronting us today have hitherto solved by our forefathers. The British missionaries and the colonialists in particular introduced new ways of solving those problems. In other words, we are creating problems that do not exist and we are trying to get solutions to problems that have been solved.
As a Christian priest who believes in the African way of life, how do you differentiate between culture and religion?
I have always argued, just like quite a number of scholars, that religion is a very alien concept to Africa. That word, religion, does not have any meaning in most African languages, except for some languages that have Arabic connotations or content. For example, Yoruba Language has no place or meaning for the word, religion. If we should go by the overwhelming thinking, we would say that religion is an aspect of culture. But I want to argue that Africa does not have religion, Yoruba in particular. This is because I would say that if you give the real meaning of religion, it means Christianity and Islam. That is the true definition of religion. If you look at the medieval scholarship, it says religion is Christianity. If you also look at the Middle East study, it says religion is Islam.
For how long have you been practicing herbal medicine and what proven track records do you have to back up your claim to have solutions to most of these health issues?
I have been practicing since 1998, that is, almost 20 years ago. My God! I tell you in all honesty that I am the most fortunate person as far as exploration of herbal medicine to give myself good health is concerned. I have a lot of products prepared to attend to most of these medical problems that we are talking about. For example, if you bathe with my soap, you don’t need any analgesic for any pain relief whatsoever. I say this unequivocally: Just take your bath at night and you will sleep like a baby and the next morning, you are just like a bird because the soap will straighten you properly. But if you continuously take analgesic, it will affect your kidney. People should stop taking analgesic except when it is really necessary. Some people do take analgesic as a way of life; some cannot sleep for a night without taking this dangerous analgesic.
I tell you the truth, with herbal medicine, malaria is a foregone conclusion. They have been telling us “Roll-back-malaria” for more than 10 years now. They have pumped millions of naira into the project, but they have been wasting money. For Christ sake, Yoruba man has solved malaria problems years before the colonial people came here.
What are the other health issues you have been able to effectively tackle?
I have tackled malaria, coupled this issue of analgesic. I have effectively tackled the issue of pile, no matter how chronic. In fact, I am treating cancer now, cancer of the breast in particular and effectively well. I don’t want to see cancer as a malignant or an incurable illness. It is curable with consistent treatment and we are making progress. I attack cancer at the formative and second stage. I may reject the third stage because it may be too difficult for me to handle. Treatment at the earliest stage only takes three months, while the second stage takes six months of consistent treatment. The patient has to be serious at the treatment; every day, you take your medication. You put the breast inside a pot and you allow the vapour heat it properly. We wash you the breast with a specially prepared plants. Once you start seeing pus coming out, the cancer is gone. We use indigenous methods in doing this.
I have eye problem but I don’t wear glasses and I will never wear one. I read day and night as a scholar. I treat all forms of eye problems, using traditional eye soap drops. I treat erectile dysfunctioning, even the crazy and chronic ones. I just sold about 30 pieces, else I would have given you some for you to testify to its efficacy. I treat chronic pile. You don’t need to go to the hospital for any operation. The treatment is very simple. But you have to develop a life that you will continue to treat yourself because nobody at any point in time can stop taking medicine. I take herbal medicine on daily basis.
Professor Abalaka, in the early 2000, claimed that he had a permanent cure to HIV/AIDS but he was ridiculed and rejected by the government. Do you think the appropriate authorities would see the need to embrace herbal medicine as an alternative to western medicine?
All that happened was political; they used political energy to get the man off the scene. It was one of those conspiracies of the West to want to eliminate whatever is indigenous and establish whatever is their own. Africa must begin to understand this grand conspiracy. It is a terrible phenomenon. We need the emancipation of our mind, of our intellect and of our thinking pattern. We have been over-colonised. At one point in human history, it will be proper for a human being to begin to think and say, ‘I don’t want to be a slave any more’. Why are we so comfortable being in slavery?
It is not about money; it is about your emotion, your brain and your mental state. You can live in a mud house and you can enjoy your life and, conversely, you can live in a 5-star hotel and you are in trouble; demons will come and disturb you there. We are too conscious of the aesthetics of the West at the expense of the aesthetics that belong to us all and, as a result, we are buying what we did not make. If we begin to subject agunmu malaria to processing and we package it, it is potent.
As a scholar imbued with western education and who is preaching African herbal methodology, where is the point you said your madness comes in?
My madness comes in when I consider the way we have jettisoned what belongs to us and we have accepted what somebody else brought to us. This often puts me in the middle; I will not be normal and sometimes I am eccentric. The whole essence of education is emancipation; education must give you liberation. Education without liberation is worse than illiteracy. It is better to be illiterate than to be educated and still be in shackles. Education is supposed to liberate you from the shackles of colonialism; it is intergenerational transmission of culture. That is the original meaning of education. That is, when you know your background, upbringing, culture and practices, then you are educated. When you know what somebody else practices, it is supposed to help you; it is not that you should jettison your own and take the other wholesome. In fact, that is why Plato says, “Man know thyself, not know somebody else”. In other words, if you want to know something, first know yourself. Africans have refused to know themselves; we know Europe and America too much and that is a big problem in which we have found ourselves now. We are not resting. We are looking for solutions where the problems have been solved.
What is your advice to the government about natural medicine as against the incessant travels abroad to seek medical attention for all forms of sicknesses?
I will advise that government should begin to face this very potent and viable indigenous medical system. They should do something about it; they should complete this process of writing the bill which have reached the second stage and put it into laws so that we can now begin to annex this wisdom of our forefathers to solve the problems of health challenges. If we are really serious about solving problems; if it is not just about people attaining certain positions and prestige, I think it is time for the Nigerian government to begin to invest heavily in indigenous medicine. It is not just for the sake of health alone: there is an enormous advantage in doing so. A lot of what we have here in our immediate environment are needed by Europe, America and Asia. Our medicine is more potent than the Chinese medicine. For crying out loud, Chinese medicine cannot withstand our medicine.
and then