Soka is fast becoming a notorious community in Ibadan, though its ill fame owes largely to its unique location on Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the gory occurrence said to be stoked by some unseen hands. EMMANUEL ADENIYI, who was there, writes that the myth that some preternatural forces are behind the untoward happenings in the community may not hold any water.
“GOD will bring down His hands on those who are afflicted, set the captives free and restore every lost destiny,” reads a worn-out poster pasted conspicuously on the wall of a filling station from which the community derived its name.
The poster was pasted to announce a 3-day-old vigil held at a church (names withheld) at Soka.
Though the filling station has changed name, Soka - which was the first name of the service station - has since, like “a badge of flesh”, stuck.
“Welcome to Soka, the land of peace,” greeted an okada rider who conveyed this reporter to the residence of one of the community leaders in the community. His attitude and answers to questions put to him belied the negative perception and Soka’s strange happenings.
However, the untoward events and their persistence at Soka seem to have earned the community its second tag - the home of oddities.
When road accidents do not happen on Ogunpa (Soka) Bridge, which is a few kilometers to the old Ibadan-Lagos tollgate, somebody elsewhere is hatching plans to snuff life out of another or a tussle over land ownership is brewing.
It will be recalled that a cobbler, Mr Kazeem Bamidele, was recently caught with human parts in the community after killing an okada rider along Ire-Akari estate.
The latest road accident on the notorious Ogunpa (Soka) Bridge claimed three. It was at the same point where accidents always occur on the bridge that the wife of the late strong man of Ibadan politics, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, died a few years ago. The tyre of a vehicle conveying former President Olusegun Obasanjo similarly got damaged on the bridge at the same point when he visited Ibadan a few years ago.
When Sunday Tribune visited the community, especially the bridge, two small ports were seen at the base of the bridge, with one of them containing a fried bird.
Though slightly overlooking a white garment church, a resident of the community, Mrs Bukola Awoyale, said all manner of sacrifices were always placed at various positions on the bridge.
“The presence of the church does not deter them from coming. There are days you come here and meet all sorts of ebo (sacrifices). You will see some on the bank of Ogunpa River; some are also placed along the bridge. Why people who indulge in this is what I don’t understand.
“Some religious groups have come to the bridge several times to offer prayers over incessant accidents on the expressway. I also learnt that some traditional worshippers came here at a time to appease the water goddess. Why they came, I can’t tell, but then that is what we see here. We are used to it,” the petty trader disclosed.
While speaking with Sunday Tribune, the Baale Faruku, Idimangoro and its environs, Chief Isiaka Bello Boluko, said there was nothing evil about Soka, noting that the high presence of non-indigenes among them was an indication that the community was good.
“Nobody worships any strange gods here. There is nothing like making sacrifices and appeasing the gods because of what people said were happening here. When you have a large community, such cannot be overruled.
“Soka is a good community. As you can see, there are many people here; when there are many people living in a community, all sorts of persons with different characters will be seen there. Being a large community, people with different attitude, background and religions are here. Some have properties here; some are tenants, but we all live together peacefully,” Chief Bello added.
He explained that the incessant accidents that happen on Ogunpa (Soka) Bridge might not be ordinary, saying Muslims in the community recently went to the bridge to offer prayers, so as to put an end to carnages on the expressway.
According to the overall President of the community, Chief Gafari Alabi Abidoye, the problem confronting the community is far from being spiritual, but rather man-made.
“How does one explain the openings on the Ogunpa (Soka) bridge? That openings have claimed so many lives. We have written so many letters to the authorities concerned, yet nothing has been done about it. In fact, I have lost count of lives that the openings have claimed. We record nothing less than 100 deaths every year on that expressway, especially at that spot where vehicles always have accidents.
“We gave government a suggestion to put bumps on the road, just like what they did at Ikire. It will go a long way to reduce carnage on the road. If the road is bumped from Academy/Methodist to Soka, accidents will stop. It is not the devil that drinks blood at Soka, it is due to our inability to put in place necessary things that will not allow bloodletting to happen.
“The problem is not in any way spiritual. I don’t believe in sacrificing to the gods, and it is not true that the indigenes of this community were making certain sacrifices before. It is not true. We have security problems as well. Recently, a woman selling frozen foods was robbed of about N10 million at a spot in the community, because the road is bad. Some guys will just come out of the bush and rob passers-by on the road.
“This community has over 80 zones with over 10,000 buildings, the possibility that hoodlums live here cannot be totally foreclosed. All we know is that the community is trying its best to arrest the ugly trend. If the police parade Soka from time-to-time, it will also help in improving security of lives and property here.
“The government should help us. No ghost is killing anybody here, the crimes committed or incessant accidents on the expressway are not as a result of any rites or sacrifices not performed by the people of the community.
“What we need is government attention. We have gone to meet with the authorities of Oluyole Local Government Area and the state government, yet nothing has been done to help the community.
“Our roads are bad, there is no electricity, we have security problems. A community that is as big as ours is not insulated from criminal activities when these basic facilities are not put in place.
A resident of the community, Mr Phillip Adigun, told Sunday Tribune that it was not out of place to say that some unseen powers were behind the happenings in the community.
“As a Christian, I don’t believe that things just happen. A lot of things take place around us that we have no power over.
“Though it is difficult to say exactly that some powers elsewhere are behind the horrid happenings at Soka, it is also stupid to rule out the possibile involvement of some supernatural powers in view of chains of accidents, killings, robberies, and many saddening things taking place here.”
An elderly man, Pa Ajeleti Busari, said that the community leaders should come together and consult the gods, saying it would be wrong of them to say that the original inhabitants of the community were not idol worshippers.
“All of us have idol worshipping background. How can anyone now claim that certain practices by one’s forbears cannot affect or shape the present happenings? The truth is that some people once lived here. They were idol worshippers as far as I know. We need to find out what they were doing then, we should equally find out whether there is a god or goddess or an idol that needs to be appeased or not.
“We will appear like a fool if we close our eyes to these realities. They are facts, and I know of towns and communities that were having what Soka is currently battling with, yet came out of them when certain findings and consultations were made. This is what I feel we should do.
“I have been staying with my son here for close to six years now, with what I have heard or seen, I know well that certain truths need be exhumed about the land. I’m not fetish, I’m a devout Muslim, but when some unexplainable things keep happening, we need to find out what is responsible for them,” he noted.
Another resident of the community, who claimed to be among those who arrested the killer cobbler, but prefers to remain anonymous, dismissed the insinuation that Oloya (family of water goddess) were the original owner of Soka, adding that civilisation had since wiped off “those fetish claims” of land cleasing.
“Whatever anybody says here does not matter. The land belongs to God and its fullness thereof. What they want us to do is to make sacrifices to non-existent gods. I will never be a part of that. If we tighten security and make our roads safe, these terrible happenings will be prevented,” the man declared.
Irrespective of the views, the 3-day-old vigil stunt is instructive, Soka - a community of many communities - needs God’s hands to expose evil doers and criminals holing up there.
“Whatever anybody says here does not matter. The land belongs to God and its fullness thereof. What they want us to do is to make sacrifices to non-existent gods. I will never be a part of that. If we tighten security and make our roads safe, these terrible happenings will be prevented,” the man declared.
Irrespective of the views, the 3-day-old vigil stunt is instructive, Soka - a community of many communities - needs God’s hands to expose evil doers and criminals holing up there.
With files from Nigerian Tribune
