Stones that ‘become’ kings

                                CAN YOU COUNT?

Are  you a good mathematician or a good Accountant who can count and get an accurate answer to figures? .If you are sure of yourself then don’t be disappointed when  you fail this simple arithmetic. If you are very sure of yourself then come to Ijero- Ekiti to make effort and count the number of these stones in the above brick fence,

  Outside  His Royal Majesty Oba Joseph Adebayo Adewole  the Alajero of Ijero’s  palace is a sacred place where hundreds of   stones are  neatly kept in a circle  and guarded by concrete  wall with sharp and pointed  irons to protect the stones.

Looking at these stones one may be curious to ask  over 1001 questions , ”what importance  are these  stones?.Are they precious stones?. What are these stones doing here?.Why are they  here and for how long have they been here? . What could have been the reason for  ”dumping” them  here?. Are they gold?”

                                       SACRED STONES

 In Ijero -Ekiti this place has become a sacred place thus it has become a Tourist  attraction Center . It is  sacred . It is  kept neat always .Speaking with the   monarch , the Alajero of Ijero  who doubles as the traditional ruler and head of the community , he said ‘‘ each stone represents a king that had passed away and that is how it has been from time immemorial”, he continued  ,” nobody can count the number of the stones and while counting the number of these  stones you get confused , and that   is mysterious’‘  .

He continued ”If you start  counting the stones one, two, three you would miss it and will never be able to finish counting them as you would get confused”.

He continued   ”if you go back  and start  counting again you will get confused no matter how smart or brilliant you are. No man in this town knows the number of the stones deposited here”, he said beating his chest but quickly added ”It is only the Oloris   (wives of the Monarch) and the monarch himself  that know  the number ”.

He explained further as he emphasized on  the ”holiness” of the place , he said ”the place is a sacred place and one must not go into the place, or throw things or rubbish into the place, whoever does that would see its repercussion. No one ever tries  it”, he said with all seriousness.

           A  STONE REPRESENTS A DEAD MONARCH

Still on the stones , the king said  ”the sacred place where we keep these stones started long time ago when our forefathers were not educated , so whenever a king dies the community would place a stone there”. So if you want to know how many kings that had passed away you will have to count the number of stones there. Despite our civilization , education and modern world we refused to jettison the idea”.

When  contacted  , Mr. Yewande  Joshua Olukolade who is  a native of the town  with  two Master degrees  confirmed  the story . When reminded that the town is among the few towns in Nigeria who can boast of at least five graduates from each household   but still using the stone age method  to record their monarchs’ deaths   Olukolade  disagreed, he said ” it is true we are educated but we cherish our culture and tradition  our forefathers left behind.We met them doing it and we shall continue irrespective of our education.

However , the monarch who is a lover of tradition and culture said   ”When I pass away too a stone would be placed  there, and that would be my own stone”.

These stones represent the number of the departed Kings in Ijero-Ekiti.