"The Killer Tree Case' By Adesina Ogunlana

Oyinbo mu ti

Mo mu ko
Oyinbo gun ka
Mo gope
Oyinbo tawaya
Mo ta okun osongbo

(The white man drank tea
I make do with pap
The white man rides a car
I am also atop the palm tree
The white man lays the telegraphy lines
I lay forest twines.)



I came across this ditty, a long, long time ago, certainly before I finished Primary School in 1970. I did not realize its importance that time- the defiant black nationalism set to music. The simple essence of the song is to show that the Caucasian is no superior to the African, after all the African has achievement equal to the white man.


I recall the ditty simply because of the recent tragedy that befell the nation’s Chief Judicial Officer- the Honourable Justice Alloysuis Katsina-Alu, the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

According to newspaper and television reports, the Chief Justice of Nigeria one night was relaxing under one of the trees in his house at his Tse-Alu country home Mbayem in Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State. The old man was not alone. He was in the good company of his wife.


Of course I do not know the content of their discussion. But I doubt whether it had anything with law.


Suddenly, suddenly, as Fela, the Fela, would say, a wind storm started gathering. Before long, the rage of the wind became alarming. And in obedience to the Yoruba saying that “Kojumaribi gbogbo ara logun e” (The answer to not witnessing any evil, is fleeing) Mrs Katsina sprang up from her chair and made post- haste towards the entrance of the house, calling her husband to follow suit.


Alas! The sprint placed her right in the way of a sturdy tree that had been violently uprooted from the ground and was rushing down, equally violently in obedience to the commands of the law of gravity. It fell on the lady of the house, killing her immediately.


The Chief Justice was luckier. Reports had it that he was knocked down and aside from his chair by a falling branch of another tree. He was still down on the ground when a heavier and bigger branch descended on his chair smashing it into several pieces.


It was clearly a freak accident, the horrendous display of the terrific might of nature acting out of sync with the usual and common orderliness and harmony of nature.


Of course a true and proper African (and who is not) raised from infancy on an unceasing diet of ill-digested and fantastic ideas and principles of metaphysical appreciation of events, will never agree to the notion that the Katsina-Alus tragedy was “a freak accident.” Simply put the African regards any event that stands apart from the usual as the handiwork of the invisible extra-terrestial forces and elements.


I have had the opportunity of discussing the incident of the Katsina-Alu tragedy with lawyers, magistrates and at least one Judge.


Interestingly, all or virtually all agreed that dark occultic and sinister forces were at play, in the death of Mrs. Mimidoo Katsina-Alu. More interestingly, they traced the malevolent forces to the door step of a particular native of Ilorin, town, Kwara State. Hear samples of their “informed opinions:”


a. “Ayeo! What manner of death is this? How can a tree just fall on somebody right in his own house”?


b. “Imagine, a wind actually uprooting a tree. I am sure it was an “attack” and actually meant for the Chief Justice, but his wife was the one that was fully caught.”


c. “There’s surely more to this incident then meets the eye. Is that the first time, the CJN and his wife would be relaxing under the tree? Why is it that it is only in their own house in the town that a tree will succumb to the wind. Who says there’s no “power” in this wicked world?”


d. “I always knew it that Ilorin people are “powerful.” Tira nbe nilorin. They will tell you that it is prayer they are doing, but we know how these things work.”


e. “If Justice so and so loves himself, he should not go and commiserate with the CJN. Those Benue people are wild. They will attack him.”


The Justice so and so referred to is the one who had a celebrated dispute with the Chief Justice a few months ago and is from Ilorin, a city reputed for potent Islamic metaphysical power.


That is enough evidence from the true and proper African mind to hold him responsible for the terrible assault on the Chief Justice and his wife.


I am very sure that the affected Judge will now be specially regarded and feared by his colleagues in the Judiciary.


“Don’t cross that man’s path o” they are already telling themselves I am sure. “Or do you want trees to fall on you like it happened to oga patapata?"


Surely the “Killer Tree Case” is our own answer to the famous “High Tree Case” decided by the immortal Lord Dennings, Master of the Rolls.


After all, “Oyinbo gun ka


Mo gope.”