Ijakumo: The Dark Side of Ifá

The movie Ijakumo: The Born Again Stripper takes us on a plot twist through the dark side of the Ifá tradition. While there are many moving parts in this film, the gist of it confronts how faith and religion can be used for both good and evil. And that ultimately involves all belief systems, including Ifá, as people can use aspects of this tradition for nefarious purposes.

Of course, the Ifá tradition is designed to promote and perpetuate peace, harmony, and balance. However, the same mechanisms employed to manifest these ideals can be used for evil and harm. As such, this movie sheds light on both aspects of the tradition. I personally appreciate this component because many modern-day Nigerian movies often bash traditional African religions. 

However, I am not completely sure if the movie was meant to dispel or uphold the Ifá religion – or Christianity, for that matter. To be honest, many of the elements didn’t fit quite well together, as there were a few disjointed narratives going on all at once. Even more, some of them were never truly explored or concluded in the typical Nigerian cinema style. 

Either way, the film was compelling enough for me to discuss here. It offers a unique perspective on the Ifá tradition that I rarely focus on. Thus, analyzing this movie gives me the perfect chance to do so. So, let’s dig in.

The Born Again Stripper

The title of the movie definitely gives off Christian vibes. I personally thought it was a score about redemption and restoration based on the loving grace of Jesus. This is one reason it took me so long to watch it. However, one day, out of sheer boredom, I gave in. And I was glad I did because it featured many aspects of the Ifá religion.

Instead of being about a born-again stripper, as the title suggests, the movie was actually about revenge and reconciliation. You see, the plot features a young woman who is unable to bear children because her previous lover caused her to abort their unborn child without her knowledge or consent. This event occurred after her father, an Ifá priest, informed her that she would only be able to have one child.

The young lady was raised by her father, a well-respected Babalawo. He practiced the Ifá tradition and helped many people in the community. During the priest’s latter years, his daughter was courting a local young man. Sadly, the young man was unable to secure a job. But through his financial trials, he reconciled to become a preacher.

Redemption and Destruction

One day, the young lady and her boyfriend saved an Igbo stranger from being robbed by local bandits. The robbers actually retreated because they knew how powerful the young woman’s father was. They had previously had a run-in with him. Even so, her boyfriend was given the credit and reward for saving the stranger. 

As a gesture of gratitude, the Igbo stranger, who was a chief, offered to help her boyfriend get a job. However, the young man was talentless and without experience. Likewise, he was unwilling to take the organ-harvesting job that the Igbo chief first offered him. Instead, he told the man he could preach. He felt passionate about pursuing this route after he saw a street preacher collecting money from locals outside one day.

However, he wanted her dad to give him a charm to help him draw large crowds to him. After testing him, her dad refused to give him the requested charm because he saw that the young man was not ready for such power. He knew that her boyfriend was not destined to work in the ministry. Instead, the young man just wanted to make money. 

The Dark Side of Ifá

In a further attempt to help her boyfriend, the young lady secretly employs the help of her dad’s friend to get the charm. The movie doesn’t explicitly speak on this point. Instead, it implies that her father’s friend did not adhere to the traditional protocol. He performed the work, though he knew it could have devastating results. 

Again, this is assumed based on her father telling the boyfriend that he wasn’t ready for such power. Even more, the father warned his daughter not to have anything to do with this situation. He let her know that if she did, she would suffer in the end. But she disobeyed him.

This aspect of the movie shows how Ifá spiritual medicine can be used for the wrong purposes. It’s like anything else in life. You can use spiritual knowledge for beneficial or destructive purposes. In this case, the Babalawo chose to use his knowledge of the tradition to engage in work that was not in the young man’s best interest.  Though this doesn’t mean that Ifá is evil or replete with dark powers. 

Instead, this aspect informs us that power is power. To the filmmakers’ credit, the movie also profiles how Christianity can be used for evil and nefarious purposes. Once the charm worked, he used it to draw in crowds so he could become wealthy. Likewise, he used his power to abuse others. Even so, the people backing him employed their church organization for the same purposes. They weren’t associated with the Ifá tradition at all.

Ijakumo: The Brutal Attack

Needless to say, though the charm worked for him, it was the beginning of the young lady’s downfall. Right before her boyfriend started working in the ministry, she learned she was pregnant. He didn’t want to keep the child because he had already decided that she was not fit to be part of his future.

She was a traditional woman with prominent tribal marks. He didn’t feel like she fit into the life of a wealthy Christian preacher, so he decided to leave her behind. But when he found out she was pregnant, he made plans to get rid of her altogether.

So, he gave her a concoction to end her life. Then, he left her to die alone in a deserted area. She cried out to her father, who had become an ancestor by this time. In her despair, she went to the astral realm to commune with her dad. Her deceased father then reminded her of her power and what she was capable of. However, he also let her know that she would abort her pregnancy and never be able to bear children again. 

Revenge and Restitution

From that moment, she reconciles to avenge her child’s death and her broken heart. So, the movie follows her as she plots revenge, using a stripper to take her ex-boyfriend down. She was aware of his propensity for lascivious sexual behavior. So, she elicited the help of a stripper to gain access to incriminating information about him.

Once this information is retrieved, she uses it to destroy him and his backers. He lost all of his money, which was returned to the people whom he had deceived to get it. In the process of trying to escape, he learns about the stripper’s role in the process. So he kidnaps and tortures her. This is followed by an epic battle between the two main characters. 

The Price of Power: A Lesson in Patience

While the main character gets the revenge she seeks, she lost something far more precious – her ability to bear children. This occurred because she failed to yield to the warnings of Ifá. Likewise, she consented to align herself with the dark aspects of magic and conjure. 

You see, though the charm worked, it is not profitable to use spellwork to bring corrupt or ill-aligned things into existence in the long run. The young man was informed that the power was not for him at that time. The essence of Ifá is patience. We are to use akose or spiritual medicine to bring about balance and harmony. Even more, we are to allow them to unfold according to divine timing.

If one is meant to gain power, wealth, love, etc., it should be allowed to come according to one’s destined path. Yes, we can assist the process by removing negative energetic forces that attempt to steal or divert our blessings. But we appeal to Orishas and other benevolent forces to prevent such evil works and to open a path for us to receive our due reward. This is done by giving sacrificial offerings – not compelling things into existence that do not suit our destiny.

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