MAGIC AND SCIENCE IN YORUBALAND: TOWARD AFRICA'S TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN THE SERVICE OF HUMANITY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ade P. Dopamu

Editors

Olu Obafemi

O.B. Oloyede

R.W. Omotoye

F.A. Oladele

Sylvia O. Malomo

R.A. OlaoyeMAGIC AND SCIENCE IN YORUBALAND: TOWARD AFRICA'S TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTPius O. abiojeIntroduction

This age has been described as a scientific one, which implies That whatever has no empirical explanation is dismissed as superstition or unreal. Very often, magic is called a mysterious or metaphysical power, meaning that it has no scientific basis Magic is also called an art. Whatever the arguments may be, it is obvious that magic is rarely called science, and African science and technology are still subject to being defined.

In the understanding of this paper, science has produced many magical feats, in the sense that not many persons can explain how certain scientific products engender their effects. Magic, as what elicits wonder and amazement, has thus been very much part of what constitutes science and technology. Elaboration of this point lies ahead.

The purpose of study is to challenge African scientists to discover whatever scientific principles obtain in what is called African magic, toward producing amenities there from. Many ancient Africans had discovered medicinal properties of many plants, in herbs, roots and barks, with which many diseases are cured. Such discoveries are impossible without a scientific insight. In this light, the scientific discoveries of ancient Africa in areas other than medicine, should be uncovered and appropriated. If, as it is said, science developed from magic, contemporary African scientists should endeavour to demonstrate through research, how that obtains in African context. Africa should expose her scientific heritage beyond the medicinal phenomena, and proffer definitive ways by which people can access African scientific feats in such areas as making and preventing rainfall, and in long distance communication devices.The word science derives from the Latin scientia, which means knowledge or knowing. In contemporary usage, scholars speak of the "natural sciences" (which include physics, chemistry and biology). They also refer to sociology, psychology, and anthropology as human or social sciences.1 Beyond that, the scientific method is applied to such studies as history, theology and politics (hence political science). As Richard Tarnas observes, "from the Renaissance onward, modem culture evolved and left behind the ancient and medieval world views as primitive, superstitious, childish, unscientific, and oppressive." Tarnas notes further that:Verifiable facts and theories tested and discussed among equals replaced dogmatic revelation hierarchically imposed by an institutional Church. The search for truth was now conducted on a basis of international cooperation, in a spirit of disciplined curiosity, with a willingness, even eagerness, to transcend previous limits of knowledge. Science offers a new possibility of epistemological certainly and objective agreement, with new powers of experimental prediction, technical invention, and control of nature."What is called Scientific Revolution is usually dated to the Seventeenth Century, though the picture cannot be complete, without mentioning Nicholas Copernicus (1473 - 1543). He was the first person known to have suggested that it was not the sun but the earth that was rotating (round the sun). Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630) carried the theory further when he discovered that the orbits of the planets were ellipses. Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642) confirmed the Copernican theory through the telescope he built in 1609. He suggested that plannetary bodies were made of the same substance as the earth. The Roman Catholic Church forced him to recant his position, because it contradicted the existing philosophical and theological understanding of the issue.3 Hut if Galileo were wrong, there would be no astronauts today. Because Galileo has been proven right by later scientists, the humiliation he experienced in the hand of the Catholic Church partly explains why the Western world decided to separate the Church from the State, so that the Church's authority can be limited to the Church, and a scientific study of the world can flower, unhindered, by those with dogmatic mandate. In the words of Tarnas:The West saw the emergence of a newly self-conscious and autonomous human being - curious about the world, confident in his own judgments, skeptical of orthodoxies, rebellious against authority, responsible for his ojvn beliefs and actions, enamored of the classical past, but even more committed to a greater future . . . assured of his intellectual capacity to comprehend and control nature. This emergence of the modern mind, rooted in the rebellion against the medieval Church, took the three distinct and dialectic-ally related forms of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. These collectively ended the cultural hegemony of the Catholic Church in Europe. Science suddenly stood forth as mankind's liberation empirical, rational, appealing to common sense and to concrete reality that every person could touch and weigh for himself.4Essentially, science is about controlling nature through learning of the laws that govern the operation of natural elements. The scientific method, basically, relies on observation and experiment. Having gathered the observations, the scientist draws out a theory from them, by a process of induction. The theory becomes recognised as a scientific law if it is supported by further experiments.It has been discovered that a scientist is occasionally assisted by an artistic inspiration to make sense of his observations. Tim Hawthorne, a Professor of biochemistry, notes how some scientists were assisted even by some dreams, and how Charles Darwin developed his idea of the "survival of the fittest" from a book by an Anglican clergyman, Thomas Maltus, who suggested that populations always grow faster than the food and money for their support, leading to a struggle for survival.' Thus, science and art do mingle after all, different aspects of the same life.In another respect, science is also said to have a magical nature. Indeed, in popular opinion, many of the so-called products of science have their magical sides, to the extent that overwhelming majority of users cannot explain how the effects are caused or achieved, for instance. how does the fax machine transmit a paper message by delivering another paper? One can say that there will he a photographic input in the package, but neither photography itself nor the transmission mystery are open to the person sending the fax or just any photographer for that matter. Along the fax machine, one can group the e-mail computer electronic transmission, and the amount of materials available on the internet.At any rate, the magical nature of science, as evident in the products, is expressed beyond conjecture and street opinion. On academic note, it is stated that:Magic has tended to transform itself to become science. Thus, alchemy, which had many magical elements, became transformed into scientific chemistry, and astrology was replaced by astronomy."One would like to examine further, the magical aspect of science, as experienced in some scientific products. The Yoruba would say that if a person wants to know about the reality of magic, she/he should start by scratching a match. The matter may appear simple, but, there is hardly any doubt that overwhelming majority of the public that obtain light by scratching a match do not know the secret behind it. Thus, though hardly anything sells better than matches in Nigeria, it is rare to find it produced by Nigerians. What is produced in the country are the sticks, while the magical or the mysterious element is imported. M. A. Bamgbose quotes Sean P. Kealy as noting that "in the real world, most people have neither an adequate grasp of science, its limits, and its method.'"This study reveals the fact that many scientific secrets are as esoteric (i.e. hidden) to many scientists as magical secrets. Thus, for instance, the actual elements that are packed into the GSM (Global System of Mobile Communications) sim card that activates the handset, and the recharge card numbers that update the functions of the handset are unknown to ordinary scientists and technicians, but only to those to whom the secret is revealed. The actual elemental power of the cards is said to remain a top secret that is available only to a privileged core or family members. Part of one's discovery is that investment in the GSM business does not imply knowing the secret of the cards, since all that is required is having enough funds to purchase machines, materials, and hiring of relevant technicians. Many engineers are involved, for instance, in the production and bottling of the Guiness drink in Nigeria, but the actual Guinness stuff is said to be imported from Dublin in Ireland. The secret is known only to the privileged members of the Gumess family.In the course of this study, one came to the realisation that what said about the magical nature of the GSM cards applies to many other things, including land and cellular phones, the radio and television, photography, video and audio productions, fax machines, the e-mail and internet transmissions. There is also the electric wire, the secret of which remains esoteric. One discovered that when people speak of Nigerian wire, it should not be forgotten that the essential elements of the product are imported, and the local manufactures only put them together as directed by those who possess what makes the wire to be what it is. I he-patent must be granted before any company can engage in electric wire production. Even then, the essential material is supplied by the privileged family that is the custodian of the essential stuff.Probably the most 'amazing discovery of this study is that the electron from which electricity is said to generate remains mysterious except to a privileged family. Electricity is a household name in many countries of the world, but its real essence remains obscure from scientists other than members of the family that discovered the magic, so to say. In the words of Tim Hawthorne:Some experiments show that the electron is a tiny negatively-charged particle, others, equally reliable, that it is energy in the form of waves. Niels Bohr is supposed a to have said that he believed in particles on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but waves on Tuesdays. Thursdays and Saturdays. The electron's behaviour can be expressed in the mathematical equations of wave mechanics but we can no longer picture it. Light also has this dual nature, behaving in some experiments as waves and in others as a stream of photons, discrete packets of energy.8Thus, the electron remains somewhat intractable to general scientists whereas it cannot be expected to be so elusive to the family that markets it for electric light, in transmitters and generators. Different forms of battery testify to the mystery of the electric light. Whereas many technicians can assemble batteries, the essence of the element remains unfathomable to them, since their task involves merely knowing what to buy from the market and then assemble them appropriately. In most cases, the conductor of the electric light is what is called electric wire, which has its own mystery, with particular reference to radio, television, phone, fax and other forms of amazement. Is-haq Akintola quotes Benny Haerlim and Dong Parr as staling that:I heir are no clear answers to many of the "big-picture" scientific questions asked by the public, in many cases because we lack the knowledge, but in others because arbitration between different answers is beyond scientific competence.9Another important point mentioned by P. Ade Dopamu, is the fact that "very few people, especially the educated, can be credited with the rare spirit of openness".10 It is rare, for instance, to find a scientist who will disclose the essential secret of a discovery that has the prospect of making him or her a millionaire. And that may well be the basic source of scientific secrecy, beside the fact that one may need a scientific insight to understand scientific mysteries.Magic and Science among the YorubaThe Western world has introduced remote control, through which a person can open and close from a distance, such entities as car, garage and house doors, as well as appliances, such as the television. An interviewee observed that what used to be called African magic is now better called African remote control. He did not need to explain what he meant, since remote control operates magically. It also stands to reason that if the Western form of remote control is called a scientific product, that of Africa should not be derogatorily referred to as magic, as if every inexplicable phenomenon in the African worldview is an occultic product. P. Ade Dopamu quotes an interlocutor as saying that "the undecoded African science is what is called magic."11

Of course, Africa is almost always a peculiar land. There are persons who still believe that African ancestors did not know God. Traditional Africans were likewise not supposed to have neither science nor philosophy, in the opinion of certain scholars. With specific u-lm-iii to the concept of African Philosophy, Uzodinma Nwala observes that:Those who defend the authenticity of traditional African Philosophy and try to systematise it are called ethno-philosophers. On the other hand, the refuters who somewhat dogmatically espouse the authenticity of Western type analytic philosophy, are called universalists. The principles of Western analytic philosophy are said to be universal principles. Thus a motive is ascribed to the exponents of African philosophy for which they are called names and the philosophy they espouse called 'philosophy in a debased sense'.12If that is the situation with philosophy, which has to do with reasoning. wisdom and systematic discourse of issues in human life, what is one to expect in respect of science which tends to relate to fewer talented human beings? Whatever misunderstandings might have existed, right reasoning and right observations have asserted that Africans have always known God before the advent of Christianity and Islam, since they have no other Creator than the Supreme Being, and there are many philosophers among traditional and modem Africans, even though literacy might have caught up with them much later than in some other lands. Similarly, African science is a datum, even when efforts must be made to decode it, must be put to use in order to develop African technology for human advancement.

It is pertinent to state that, to know the African idea about God. one-must go beyond seeing traditional Africans worshipping spirits in natural forces. One must listen to African proverbs, adages, maxims, poems and songs. Similarly, to know how magic constitutes African science, one-must proceed beyond occultic magic to scientific magic. Here, the Yoruba example is apposite. In respect of what one can call occultic magic, P. Ade Dopamu notes that:The Yoruba believe that they are able to use and control powers in the supernatural world in as much as they know the primordial secret names of the spiritual agents. 'Unimportant thing is for an operator to know the names and how to use them. In most cases, sorcerers and witches know the secret names and use them to do evil. However very few people are believed to have knowledge of the occult names.13The point is well made, notwithstanding the fact that this category of magic may not qualify as science, since science deals with discovery of natural laws, out of which technology develops. What one can call scientific magic in Africa refers to what (traditional) Africans who have scientific insight discovered from their study of natural elements. One should mention that some scholars have come close to questioning the source of-occultic magic. Oliver A. Onwubiko quotes one E. Amadi as noting that:Charms are believed to bring to realization, the power of the spirits and ancestors. Yet it is believed that through the use of charms, obnoxious and implacable spirits and ancestors are controlled, driven away, or blindfolded, such that their evil machinations and punishments of the living are minimized or averted.14One would suggest that miracle may be what is involved whenever a person invokes spiritual or supernatural forces positively, for intervention. When in the Gospel account, the Lord, Jesus Christ is portrayed as working a miracle through making a paste from dust with his spittle (John 9:6-7), the implication is that divine action can take any form.For the purpose of this paper, a number of traditional priests were interviewed in Yorubaland. They all held that there is a distinction between magical power, and the power of the divinities. -They explained that a divinity does not need a magic to function. What prompted the question was the case of a man who refused to get initiated into the Ifa system. It happened that the man who was in his fifties, was always urinating into his trousers whenever he was inside the Church on Sunday, and the occurrence would not stop until the man presented himself for initiation into the Ifa system. One then began to wonder whether magic was responsible for the man's disgraceful experience, or Ifa oracle was behind it. The question was put to traditional experts in different parts of Yorubaland (Oyo, Ijebu, Egba, Ife, Ondo and Ekiti) and the answer was the same, as if the interviewees had held a meeting on how to respond. They all insisted that a distinction exists between magic and miracle in Yoruba worldview. It does not seem that traditional Africans see their divinities as needing magic or charm to operate effectively, tmmanual Bolaji Idowu also discovered among the Yoruba that:Most divinities do not regard magic in the sense of fetish favourably. One of the praise titles of Sopona, the divinity whose scourge is smallpox, is 'One who causes medicine or magic designed for wicked ends to be thrown away. Thus is true of the Dahomean counterpart, Sagbata. Tano. the arch-divinity in Ashanti, hates magic.. .M.J. Field observes that in rural Ghana, strictly consistent priests do not look favourably on magic and the possession of suman. To use or even possess a bad suman is a major sin, punishable by deity with death. Good suman is not encouraged but tolerated.15One came to the realisation that metaphysical magic is a universal phenomenon, however. Its existence and reality are felt and experienced not just in Africa and Asia, but worldwide. A Westerner. Jacob Needleman notes that:True metaphysics works: true philosophy works: true mystery works. True magic works through the phenomenon of resonance. One must know the exact words to say and one must say them in exactly the right place and the right time: and then forces may be called down from heaven.16At the same time, where scientific magic is involved, the effective force has to subsist in natural elements as set by the Creator. In Yoruba perspective, those who are versed in magic are usually persons who are very close to nature, particularly in the forest and jungle. Writing from (he perspective of the Yoruba. P. Ade Dopamu observes that:Magic and medicine are based on scientific discovery. Theories abound to show the preoccupation of the ancient people and their encounter with nature. Science began with the study of nature - observation of weather, seasons, the behaviour of animals, plants and other animate objects; what food to eat, what plant was poisonous, which animal was dangerous and which was friendly, winch plant was medicinal and which had occult properties .... These observations might have developed into investigations about how to use nature to human advantage. They arose out of human needs, and they were developed upon through further investigation, experimentation, invention and utilization: through scientific enquiry and procedure.17Dopamu's study is based on magic and medicine, and he succinctly explains that no one without scientific insight and instinct can discover the medicinal use of plants and animals, or which plants and animals are poisonous. This study is set to contribute to the discourse on scientific magic. One has tried to illustrate the fact that many scientific products function magically, and so, Africa may need to re-examine many of the phenomena that are referred to as magic, in case there are those of them that are scientific in nature, and can help to boost African technological development.

Scientific Magic and African Technology in Yoruba WorldviewIn the 1960s when I was a boy, a man from another town in Yorubaland brought Osanyin to our village, Iwereile. He spent a couple of weeks, entertaining the indigenes with his Osanyin, and indirectly attracting persons who needed divination. To the best of my memory, the Osanyin appeared like a statue gaily dressed, but only God and the man knew what was inside the object he put down as a decorated doll. The amazing thing about the object was that when people spoke to it, it was responding with a guttural voice. Thus, when in the year 2003 I bought a GSM handset, and saw how it was functioning and sounding upon the insertion of the sim card, my mind soon went back to the Osanyin I experienced in the 60s. I then thought that may be Africans should revisit some of their so-called magic and inquire systematically whether many magical devices are scientific in nature or not. It is difficult to see the difference between a sim card that activates a handset and a magical package. Once the sim card is inserted into a handset, it begins to respond to certain questions, and can be used for long distance communication. An ordinary card does not have that power. Hence the idea of scientific magic comes to mind.At this juncture, one should recall the scholarly opinion and explanation that science developed from magic. That is the situation in Western perception, and in the view of African scholars, such as P. Ade Dopamu, as earlier discussed. In this section, one would present some African magical phenomena that have some correspondence to what is called Western science, or those that appear to derive their power from natural laws. Interested African scientists may then step-in to give fuller explanation, if only they can obtain necessary funds to do good researches and experiments. Daniel A. Offiong quotes "Chief (Dr.) J. O. Lambo, National President of the Nigerian Association of Medical Herbalists" as affirming not only that "charms can heal", but also that:All creatures have dual virtues, that is, positive and negative. In traditional medicine with a lot of elements of magic and sorcery, ,one must have fair knowledge of the virtues of all creatures as well as fair understanding of the elements - fire,' water and earth .... If the tongue of a dog is used in an occult way, no dog can bark at the person. There is a stone in the left side head of a bush toad, and this has a wonderful virtue that can be used for a very good purpose.18What Lambo meant, as noted by Offiong, is that African ancestors understood many laws of nature.19 One would think that the awareness should inform an African attempt to distinguish and separate scientific magic from occultic magic, rather than branding all under the nomenclature of the occult. One should note that African traditional magicians (or scientists) are as good as their Western counterparts in jealously guarding their secrets. They can go to any length to safeguard the secret of their discoveries. For instance, they may create an unnecessary ritual to mystify the actual nature of their magical or scientific discovery. Hence, to decode many of African magics, a lot may need to be expended in terms of funds, patience, wisdom, perseverance and courting the friendship of appropriate African men and women elders. But, surely, several African scholars, including Bolaji Idowu, agree with the assertion that "observations of nature and the discovery of causal links are at the root of many magical (and medicinal) procedures". " Mown also attests to the fact that African magicians and scientists alike can disguise their secrets. He notes that:

Medicine is more often than not prescribed with the instruction that it must be used at stated times, compulsorily mulct certain conditions, accompanied with certain prescribed gestures (which may he repetitive), and with incantations. And from (lie point of view of the patient, it is often difficult to know whether it is the actual medicine 01 the accompanying ceremonies, or both together, that effect a cure.21One has tried to explain (above) that the guarding secrets are not unknown in other parts of the world, particularly in the Western hemisphere, where a person may pay a lot of money to obtain a patent or a copy right. But, in what areas can a scientist direct his or her attention, in search of African scientific magic, as different from African occultic magic? Of course, the main task is investigation, and where necessary, experimentation. Below are some hints.When I was with some hunters in a hamlet, it happened one day that they needed to speak with one of their colleagues in a distant location of about ten or more kilometres. One of them went into his bag of magic and brought out a horn. He blew into it. and the person responded at the other end. They communicated until the matter was resolved. A similar thing is demonstrated in Saworoide, a Yoruba play by Prof. Akinwumi Ishola. In that play, a drummer took a feather, cleaned his ear with it, and attached it to his talking drum. He then used the drum to call his son whom he has not seen for several years. The son heard the sound of the drum, but his wife who was serving him food at that time did not hear it. Much more amazing was that the man traced his father by following the direction of the sound of the drum that remained in his mind. Can some modern African scientists follow these leads to know what natural laws are applied, and what further developments are possible therefrom?Along the line of the examples given above, Ola Rotimi, in his Yoruba-based play, Kurunmi, also showed that traditional Africans have a way of communicating with people who are in distant, and sometimes unknown locations. That was what happened when Ogunmola, a leader of the Ibadan warriors, called Kurunmi (the leader of Ijaye warriors) to come to the war front and count his losses. These occurrences in the plays (i.e. Saworoide and Kurunmi) remind me of my experience in the hamlet with traditional hunters. The telephone in its various forms thatare said to be the product of science, sends me wondering whether raditional Africans have not discovered the natural laws that can make humans communicate to one another beyond the normal hearing distance. But only committed African scientists are in a better position in inquire, where there is the will, resources and. possibly, encouragement.Device for rain-making and preventing rain from falling is another magic which may be purely scientific in Yoruba worldview. Hut, this researcher is not in the position to conclude. Scholars with scientific insight may Have to look into it, and see if Africa can offer a technological device for making and preventing rain at will. That seems to bother on meteorology.There are two forms of magic that are reminiscent of camera and television in Yoruba worldview. It is believed that an enemy can prepare a concoction, and call out a targeted person to appear out of the concoction. The enemy will then club the person. It is believed that once that happens the person would die wherever s/he may be. The other magic is also somewhat obnoxious. It concerns the belief that a lover can prepare a magic to make a targeted lady see him whenever she looks into any mirror. Bolaji Idowu relates the matter thus:A love-magic practised among the Yoruba of Nigeria is a simple one. The ingredients are compounded with the woman in mind; when it is ready, the preparation is stuck on the face of a looking-class, an incantation with the name of the woman being pronounced during the operation. The belief is that any time the woman looks at a mirror, she would invariably see the man's face, she . would see the man's face also in her dreams and maybe in trances. Gradually, her resistance would be weakened through this constant mirror-presence of the man and she would eventually consent to the suit.22The attraction here, of course, is the issue of "mirror-presence", and that of making a person to appear in the water of a concoction. Both mirror and water do show human reflection. And, even though the two magics are obnoxious, the attraction is the secret of making persons appeal in a way that reminds one of the television screen. One is also considering the possibility of taking what may be beneficial in a culture and jettisoning what is obviously inimical to human advancement. Can anyone really deny that many things appear magical about the appearance of persons and hearing of voices on the television screen? Issf that is part of scientific discovery, it would appear intellectually sound to call it scientific magic at least in respect of the general public.

Essentially, this study represents a call on African indigenous scientists to investigate some of the phenomena that are referred to as magic in African culture. Are some, or many, or none of them based on natural laws, such that they can be manufactured and marketed as amenities? The government and non-governmental organisations would need to support such researches and experiments that may be required. But interested individual scientists can also endeavour to make a breakthrough that can throw them into limelight, or afford them a marketable discovery.

ConclusionThis study has tried to see the possibility of developing African technology based on African form of scientific magic. Several scholars are quoted as noting that many traditional Africans have acquired much knowledge of laws of natural elements. But the secrecy that normally surrounds scientific discoveries must be overcome. The first step is for modern African scientists to eschew prejudice, and not regard every magic in African culture as occultic, at least not until they might have done their investigations and experiments. The major recommendation of this study is that government, non-governmental organisations, and private initiatives should commit themselves to salvaging African heritage in the area of science and technology. One would refuse to believe that traditional Africa has nothing at all in the area of scientific magic, which modern Africa can build upon for African technological advancement.A major plank of this study is that scientific devices, such as the remote control which magically opens and closes doors, television and other forms of electronic, challenge Africans to produce similar devices by looking inward. The GSM sim card that activates the handset also demonstrates what is here referred to as scientific magic. The same is said for the telephone and television, generally speaking. This study demands a positive response from modern African scientists. Are there African forms of scientific magic, or Africa has nothing but occultic magic? Modem African scientists are advised to endeavour to penetrate the rituals that many traditional Africans use to disguise their scientific magic, toward the production of marketable devices.Notes and References

1Charles O.Helfling, "Science and Religion", in Glazier. M and Monika K. Hellvig. eds.. The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia (Minnesota The Liturgical Press, 1994), p. 79If.2R. Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View (New York: Harmony Books, 1991), p. 282.3Cfr. Smith, Jean Reader and Lacy Baldwin Smith, eds.. Essentials of World History (New York: Barren's Educational Series, inc.. 1980), p. 84f. 4R.Tamas. 1991. p. 282.5Hawthorne, T., Windows on Science and Faith (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press. 1989), p. 15f.6N. Smart. The Religious Experience of Mankind (Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co Ltd., 1981), p. 757 M. A. Bamgbose, "God and Creation: Christian Perspective", being a paper presented at the 251'1 Annual Conference of the Nigerian Association for the Study of Religions, held at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, 27"' - 30lh Sept., 2004, p. 5.8T. Hawthorne, 1986, p. 17.9I. Akintola, "Creation: Science or Allah", being a paper presented at the 25th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Association for the Study of Religions, held at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Nigeria, 27lh - 30th September, 2004 p. 9.10P. Ade Dopamu, "Scientific Basis of African Magic and Medicine I he Yoruba Experience", in Dopamu, P. Ade, S. O. Oycwole, K A Akanmidu, et al. African Culture, Modern Science and Religions Thought (Ilorin: African Centre for Religions and the Sciences (ACRS). University of Ilorin, 2003), p. 454.

11 P. Ade Dopamu, 2003. p. 459.12T. Uzodinma Nwala, "Summary of the Debate Concerning the Existence. Nature and Scope of African Philosophy (1970 90)". in Nwala, T.U. Critical Review of the Great Debate on African Philosophy (1970-1990) (Nsukka: William Amo Centre for African Philosophy, University of Nigeria. Nsukka. 1992), p. 4. 13P. Ade Dopamu, Esu: The Invisible Foe of Man: A Comparative Study of Satan in Christianity, Islam and Yoruba Religion (Ijebu-Ode: Shebiotimo Publications, 2000), p. 27. 14Oliver A. Onwubiko, Christian Mission and Culture in Africa Thought, Religion and Culture. (Enugu: SNAAP Press Ltd., 1991), p.62.15I . Hokiji Idowu. African Traditional Religion: A Definition (London: SCM Press. 1978), p. 196f.16Jacob Needleman. Lost Christianity (New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc.. 1980). p. 91.17P. Ade Dopamu. 2003, p. 460.18Daniel A. Offiong. Witchcraft. Sorcery. Magic and Social Order Among the Ibibio of Nigeria (Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishing Co. Ltd., 1991), pp. 49 - 51. 19Daniel A.Offiong, 1991. p. 51.20L. Bolaji Idowu. 1978. p. 201. 21L. Bolaji Idowu. 1978. p. 202. 22L. Bolaji Idowu, 1978, p. 194.