SAN­DRA L BLOOD

“Con­grat­u­la­tions to the Trinidad and To­ba­go mem­bers who have been el­e­vat­ed from base mem­ber to Olóye (chief), and from Olóye to Así­pa (di­rec­tor),” were the words of Niger­ian Òso­gun Ààro Àg­báyé, Oba Ìsórò Oládàpo Oláfíràn­sé, fol­low­ing a re­cent cer­e­mo­ny in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

El­e­vat­ed to Así­pa was Ilé-Ifè Olóye Ogun­bowale Lester Os­una, who has served as a chief since 2005. Those con­ferred as chiefs were Àróní Ògún (Ki­no McPhee)—the on­ly To­bag­on­ian—Bàlájé Ògún (Michael Coop­er), Ìyálóde Ògún (Dr Ein­tou Pearl Springer, who be­came a chief in 2024 but was for­mal­ly con­ferred at the cer­e­mo­ny), Ìyála­jé Ògún (Oni­ka At­inu­mo), and Òtún Ìyálóde Ògún (Claudette Am­i­na Lei­th).

Fol­low­ing tra­di­tion­al baths, oaths, rit­u­als and the feed­ing of the di­vin­i­ty Ògún, the devo­tees were pre­sent­ed to the pub­lic dur­ing the el­e­va­tion cer­e­mo­ny at the Ile Isokan head­quar­ters in San Juan, on be­half of the Ifa-Orisa Coun­cil of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Those con­ferred raised their cer­e­mo­ni­al swords, Adas, in salute to their new ti­tles.

“On be­half of the Ifa-Orisa Coun­cil of T&T, may you all con­tin­ue to walk in pur­pose and ab­solute align­ment,” the new­ly el­e­vat­ed Así­pa told the chiefs.

He added, “Ògún is one of the most pow­er­ful Òrìsà in the Ifa-Orisa tra­di­tion, and each ini­ti­ate has now been in­stalled as a se­nior in the lin­eage. The Òso­gun Ààro Àg­báyé holds an im­por­tant spir­i­tu­al and tra­di­tion­al role in re­la­tion to the Ooni of Ilé-Ife, the para­mount ruler of the Yoru­ba peo­ple and spir­i­tu­al head of Yoruba­land.”

The ti­tle Òso­gun Ààro Àg­báyé—trans­lat­ed as Glob­al Chief War­rior or Supreme War Gen­er­al—sig­ni­fies high-rank­ing mil­i­tary and spir­i­tu­al au­thor­i­ty with­in Yoru­ba tra­di­tion­al sys­tems, par­tic­u­lar­ly un­der the lead­er­ship of the Ooni of Ife. The role car­ries cer­e­mo­ni­al, cul­tur­al and spir­i­tu­al sig­nif­i­cance, sym­bol­is­ing courage, loy­al­ty and guardian­ship.

An Así­pa Ògún is re­spon­si­ble for or­gan­is­ing, di­rect­ing and strength­en­ing the work of Ògún, the Òrìsà of iron, war, courage, tech­nol­o­gy, tools, trans­for­ma­tion and the clear­ing of paths.

At Ile Isokan, the Òso­gun Ààro Àg­báyé al­so fa­cil­i­tat­ed a work­shop ti­tled Pro­to­col, Prayers, Prac­tice, co­or­di­nat­ed by Ìse ti Yèyé Oló­gun wàá se and di­rect­ed by Ìyála­jé Ògún. The ses­sion at­tract­ed a wide cross-sec­tion of par­tic­i­pants.

At­ten­dees in­clud­ed Yèyé Àlà Òbàtálá (Hazel), Ìyálóde Oló­mi Ifásadé (Ayoka Kir­ton), Àsí­pa Ilé Ife, Bàbálájé Ògún, Òtún Ìyálóde Ògún, Ìyála­jé Ògún, and pres­i­dent of the Na­tion­al Coun­cil of Orisa El­ders of T&T, Neal Rawl­ins.

The work­shop ex­plored prop­er pro­to­cols in spir­i­tu­al work and tra­di­tion, the pow­er and struc­ture of prayer for align­ment and man­i­fes­ta­tion, and the prac­ti­cal ap­pli­ca­tion of spir­i­tu­al knowl­edge in dai­ly life.

Ear­li­er, a scaled-down an­ces­tral ven­er­a­tion cer­e­mo­ny was held at Ile Isokan. Among the high­lights was the in­au­gur­al pub­lic per­for­mance of the tem­ple’s steel­band, Orisa Pan Egbe.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, Bàlájé Ògún (Michael Coop­er) was recog­nised for his com­mu­ni­ty con­tri­bu­tions with a spe­cial award from the Laven­tille Suc­cess Vil­lage Re­union Foun­da­tion.