Gospel Singer, Tope Alabi Told To Do DNA Test

Renowned gospel musician, Tope Alabi, has been told to conduct an ancestry Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid (DNA) to confirm her origin.

OsunDailyNG understands that the admonition is coming after Alabi was heard in one of her recent music infusing a Yoruba traditionalists’ common greeting parlance, ‘Aboru aboye’ into the supposed worship song.

During a recent interaction with journalists, an Ifa-priest, Oluwo Jogbodo Orunmila, said it became important for the award-winning singer to carry out the DNA test to ascertain her root.

Alabi and her backup singers were quoted to have referred to themselves as ‘ebo’ in the viral music video. The word ‘Ebo’ literally means sacrifice.

Tope Alabi and her singers, however, emphasized in the piece that they are ‘Aboru Aboye’ meaning that they have been accepted as sacrifices by God.

Reacting, Orunmila, who is the chief priest of Iledi Imule Agba in Oyan, Odo Otin North Local Council Development Authority in Osun State, said during a media chat on Monday that Alabi has always been enmeshed in the usage of traditionalists’ lexicons.

He recalled that Alabi’s use of ‘Eledumare’ and several other appraisals usually meant for Orunmila (god of wisdom) and Yoruba deities.

The Ibadan-based priest said, “All these phrases showed that Tope Alabi needs ancestry DNA to confirm that she belongs to the Ifa tradition. Those words are forcing their way out, she only needs the right teachers to get fully on track.

“Ifa is ancestry. When a lineage known to be Ifa practitioners stop its practice, there will be a day when one of the family members will illustrate the doctrines of Ifa, knowingly or unknowingly.”

He maintained that whoever has come out to tag Alabi as an idol worshipper is just fuelling public opinion and is particularly not knowledgeable enough to know that Ifa only identifies those who want to be identified because it embraces secrecy.

“Identifying with Ifa is discretionary. One can either let the public know or not. Ifa does not stop you from identifying with other religions even when you are under its supervision,” Orunmila reportedly said.

Speaking on whether the phrase is a usual lexicon that anybody could use, Orunmila said, “It is not. It is certainly used by the Ifa initiates.

“The Ifa worshippers (Babalawo and Iyanifa) are the ones that use that to greet one another because it was a legacy passed by Orunmila. In fact, ‘Aboru Aboye’ is often accompanied by ‘ni Ile Ifa’, meaning ‘May everything including sacrifices, be accepted in this Ifa household.’”

He spoke further on how the phrase became a common greeting among the Ifa initiates, saying that Odu Ifa Ogunda’ meji’ in Ifa corpus birthed the stories of three women; Aboru, Aboye, and Abosise who rendered special help to Orunmila were told.

“It was said that in a bid for Orunmila to consult Olodumare, these three women were like guardians that must be appeased to help Ile-Ife be peaceful.

“Orunmila made sacrifices to appease these women, and he had an easy passage to see Olodumare to help relieve the land of plague. Just for their power and kindness, Orunmila decided to honour them, asserting that anyone who wants to see Iyanifa or Babalawo must first pay homage to Aboru, Aboye and Abosise,” Orunmila said.