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GBÀGÀLÀ AS A DEITY FOR INVESTIGATION OF CRIME AMONG THE ILAJE AND 

IJAW/APOI OF ONDO STATE, NIGERIA* 

 

Abstract 

This paper introduces Gbàgàlà a sacred divinity among the Ilaje and Apoi people of Ondo State Nigeria 

which has recorded few or no literature. It is a traditonal African mode of crime detection.  The study 

design is ethnographic, analytical method of research was adopted while data for the study were 

obtained from structured interview with 7 indigenes of Ilaje and Apoi the sampled population area 

where the practice of  Gbàgàlà is prevalent and about seven cases successfully investigated by Gbàgàlà  

were reported.  Gbagàlà performed the role of police in investigation of criminal offences, mysterious 

or strange occurrences like untimely death of a deceased. No doubt, it had worked in the past and 

presently still working. This paper therefore brings into lime light this sacred divinity as an 

investigation mechanism in the criminal justice system of Ilaje and Apoi people of Ondo State Nigeria. 

It showcases its swiftness, effectiveness and potency in investigation of criminal complaints among these 

people. Integrating African mode of crime detection into the English criminal justice system of Nigeria 

was recommended.      

 

Keywords: Investigation, Gbàgàlà, Sacred divinity, Crime, Offence, Ilaje and Apoi. 

 

1. Introduction 

Crime detection formally known as crime investigation is an integral part of criminal justice system and 

as one of the functions of the police, body or organisation saddled with the responsibility of policing; it 

builds up public confidence and encourages respect for law and order. Crime investigation when 

effective and properly done promotes peace and order in the society by unveiling any would-be 

criminal. Crime investigation therefore, is the process by which the perpetrator of a crime is identified 

through the gathering of facts (or evidence)- although it may also involve an assessment of whether a 

crime has been committed in the first place or not. Among the Yoruba of south west Nigeria, divination 

is mainly the means of investigation. It is used for crime detection and to inquire about the future or for 

explanation on an issue which appears to be dicey, precarious, uncertain, unsafe, dangerous and 

unpredictable to them. Divination could be through a medicine man normally called babalawo, ifa priest 

who will conduct the investigation through cowries, Opelele while some use sand, water in a white 

calabash, kola and mirror.  However, among the people of Ilaje and Apoi of Ondo State, Gbàgàlà is the 

main type of divination aside ifa invoked or used for investigation of criminal wrongs or offences when 

the offender is unkown or known but, denied. These two groups of people are also known and reported 

to be custodian of Ayélála1 Awolalu: 1981).  

 

The Ilaje people were said to have left Ile-Ife, their original ancestral home in the 10th Century. They 

later found themselves in the present day Ondo state through migration. They mainly occupy the 

Atlantic coast line of Ondo state Nigeria, a large hinterland of 1,318 kilometres square which is bounded 

by the Ijebu people to the west, the Ikale people to the North, the Itsekiri to the East, the Apoi and 

Arogbo Ijaw to the North East and the Atlantic Ocean on the Southern part. The Ilaje people are one of 

the enterprising nations in Nigeria. Their aquatic skill, couple with their ability to conquer their harsh 

geographical environment and turn it to their advantage is a plus for them. Apart from petroleum which 

is found in the area, other mineral resources available in Ilaje Land include glass sand, salt, tar sand, 

quartz and clay2. 

 

On the other hand, the Apoi people are known as Western Apoi of the Ijaw people and they live in Ondo 

State Nigeria. The tribe (also called Ijaw Apoi) consists of nine settlements; Igbobini; Ojuala, Ikpoke, 

Inikorogha, Oboro, Sabomi, Igbotu, Kiribo and Igbekebo3. The Apoi inhabited higher ground than most 

                                                           
*By Olubusola Tunde SHEMUDARA, PhD, Lecturer, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State. Email: 

shemudara@gmail.com, Phone No: 07039458128. 
1 JO Awolalu, Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites (Longman Group Ltd. 1981) 41-45 
2 Ilaje – Wikipedia. en.m.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on the 10/12/2020. 
3 EJ, Alagora, A History of the Niger Delta, Nigeria (Onyoma Research Publication, 1972) pp 1-19. 

mailto:shemudara@gmail.com


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of the other Ijaw tribe4. They speak Yorùbá language and are bounded to the north by the Ikale, to the 

west by the Ilaje Yorùbá. The group also shares a boarder with the Ijaw to the Furugha Ijaw to the East. 

 

The choice of these two groups is as a result of their uniqueness and differences in religion, beliefs, 

social life and customary laws which are almost different from other Yorùbá south west of Nigeria. 

Again, these groups share or have certain things in common, they have similar socio-cultural belief, 

religious background and their customary laws are the same. They also worship similar deities and 

celebrate similar festivals. For instance, Ayélála as a deity is common to both of them as it originated 

from them. They are the custodian of Gbàgàlà the subject matter of this discourse though its origin in 

Apoi. It has been observed that while Ayélála has recorded literature Gbàgàlà has not in spite of its 

effectiveness and prevalence among the people. It is on this note we are bringing Gbàgàlà into a lime 

light as another means of crime detection among the Apoi and Ilaje people of Ondo State, Nigeria. 

 

2. Crime Investigation under the English Criminal Justice System 

Crime investigation is an integral part of policing under the English criminal justice system. The art of 

policing has always been an integral part of human life. Right from the dawn of creation, the tendency 

has been rife for human beings to seek to protect what is theirs. The public has always had, nurtured 

and practiced a police idea, no matter how rudimentary. As long as people live in groups and communes, 

there was always the need to control and check the excesses and aggression of fellow humans. When 

personal control broke down, following which an individual deviant behavior endangered the society, 

a form of a community were responsible for their collective security. Thus, all organised societies 

display a body of rules, norms or customs, tending to protect the security of individual interest, and at 

the same time, the survival of the group as a whole5.  In Nigeria for instance, there are so many organs, 

bodies or groups that are already put in place or set up to monitor or preserve social order and control 

same in order to have peace and order in the country. The officers, men and women of Nigerian 

Correctional Service formerly known as Nigerian prison service are in charge of convicted and non-

convicted inmates in their custody to ensure that they are transformed to become better and changed 

citizens of the country6. The custom officers are policing the coming in and out of goods in the country 

and also cross-border vices7. The National Drugs law Enforcement Agency is called with the 

responsibility of policing the spread of narcotics and psychotropic drugs. Now, having done with 

policing, the next is investigation which is one of the policing works of the police. Although, the police 

are not the only one clothed with the power to investigate, private persons too investigate. However, 

without wasting too much time, it is pertinent to state that investigation in this paper is the one pertaining 

to crime investigation. Crime investigation is an integral part of criminal justice system and as one of 

the functions of the police. It builds up public confidence and encourages respect for law and order. 

Crime investigation when effectively and properly done promotes peace and order in the society by 

unveiling any would-be criminal. 

 

 Crime investigation is the process by which the perpetrator of a crime is identified through the gathering 

of facts (or evidence)- although it may also involve an assessment of whether a crime has been 

committed in the first place or not. 

 

There are two basic approaches to managing crime investigation. In some areas typified by jurisdictions 

with a civil law tradition, the responsibility for an investigating criminal offences is given to a 

prosecutor or judicial officers, such as a juge d’’instruction or “investigating judge’’. Where this is the 

case, investigators work under the instruction and management of the prosecutor and or investigating 

judge and, indeed, there may even be a special law enforcement agency designated as “judicial police’’.  

In the second approach, often found in jurisdictions with a common law tradition, investigations are 

conducted by the police more or less independently of prosecutors until the case, and the suspect are 

handed over for prosecution in the courts. There are however many variations within both basic systems. 

For example, in many common law jurisdictions, prosecutors work closely with police investigators for 

                                                           
4 Western Apoi Tribe-Wekipidia, en.m.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on the 10/10/2020.  
5 ESC, Ojukwu, Discovering the Police (Gold Press Ibadan 2011) pp 69-73. 
6 The Nigerian Correctional Services Bill was signed into law on the 14th August 2019 and repeals the Prison Act, Cap P29, 

Laws of Federation of Nigeria, 2004. See CSA 2019 S 4 & 34.  
7 Customs & Excise Management Act 2018 (CEMA) S 4, 8, 18-24. 



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at least some types of crimes no matter what the system is, basic tenets remain the same: identifying 

who committed the criminal act and gathering sufficient evidence to ensure a conviction. What 

constitutes an offence or crime can vary. 

 

Many countries categorise minor offences, such as speeding or using public transport without a ticket, 

as misdemeanors, with either a separate code or portion of the code devoted to these offences. Other 

countries consider these to be “administrative’’ in nature and they do not form part of the criminal code. 

Such offences are not then subject to neither criminal investigation, nor do they fall within the 

competence of a prosecutor, but are dealt with inn lower level administrative tribunals. However, 

generally speaking, the definition of what constitutes a serious crime will be much the same, and 

recognisable, from country to country even though the specific detail may be different. For instance, 

the term ’’burglary’’ in one country may only refer to the entering of a building with an intention to 

steal. In others, the term may also include an intent to cause criminal damage or to commit rape, but the 

illegal act of entering of a premises with intent to commit a crime is common to all jurisdictions. 

 

A further issue that should be considered is that limitations in time for which a person may be charged 

with a crime may apply; this is sometimes called the ’’statute of limitations’’. In some countries, even 

some very serious offences may not be prosecuted once the limit set by law (i.e. the ’’limitation’’) has 

expired. In other countries, however, especially for serious crimes, there may be no time limit set by 

law at all; a person may be charged years after the commission of a crime, where new evidence may 

come to light8. Whatever system of criminal investigation has developed or been adopted, there is a 

universal  value that must be preserved in any criminal justice system; that their suspicions are based 

on an objective evaluation of the facts and that they have not twisted the facts to suit their suspicions 

 

To conduct criminal investigation effectively, an investigator will need considerable powers. These 

include the power to: detain a suspect, seize property as evidence, search for evidence, both in premises 

and on persons, interview suspects (and, in doing so, question their honesty and character which in some 

countries may otherwise be considered to be an act of defamation), require samples, such as fingerprints 

and DNA, and to take photographs, run identification procedure, interview witness, including victims, 

ask members of the public questions, keep and maintain personal and confidential information, use 

technical and personal surveillance and use other intrusive means to observe persons, work undercover 

(i.e. pretend to be someone else) or use informants, protect and relocate witness, undertake otherwise 

illegal activity, such as possess illegal substances, carry weapons, force entry to property, or monitor 

illegal internet traffic. 

 

 Police and other officials may use a variety of methods to conducts criminal investigations; sometimes 

they work with their canine co-workers. They may also use various scientific techniques such as 

fingerprint and ballastics analysis. A controversial investigation sometimes employed in Nigeria is the 

use of informants. Many people disagree with this practice because of punishments. It is therefore 

argued that they can be influenced to say or do whatever will please those investigating the case. 

 

 There are some parts of criminal investigations that the police may not be able to handle. Some cases 

require investigative techniques that demand specialized knowledge or training that the investigators or 

their colleagues may not have. This is especially true with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing, 

although this techniques is popular, it is often performed by third parties. A criminal investigation does 

not always yield results. Sometimes suspects are accused only for it to be determined later that they are 

not guilty. At other times an extensive criminal investigation may not produce any suspect. This can 

mean that no one will be punished for the crime that was committed.  

 

3. Policing and Investigation of Criminal Offences among the Indigenous People 

 It is part of human nature to keep their environment and themselves free from attacks or threat. While 

staying in common with nuclear and extended families with kith and kin, human beings have since 

                                                           
8 For instance defilement of a girl in Nigeria must be tried within 2 months of the commission of the offence section 218 of 

the CC; Eze .v The State (2019) LPELR-47984 CA, Treasonable felony is 10 years, Custom offences is 7 years. Statute of 

limitation also applies to civil action like tort 6 years, actions against public officers  



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learnt to be their brother’s keepers and ensure a crime free society. It is imperative for every one of us 

to keep a watch over one’s siblings and neighbors, and to be concerned, not just our spirit, soul and 

body but also about material blessing which God has endowed us with. As long as people live in groups 

and communes, there was always the need to control and check the excesses and aggression of fellow 

human beings9. It is also the desire of everyman to see that a culprit who commits an offence is brought 

to book at all time. As Olaleye puts it, before the advent of civilization and its security system, the 

Yorùbá method of security still persist. The Yorùbá do not treat with levity issues that relate to security 

because they have realized that it is to this that the economic, political, social and religious lives of the 

people are anchored10. Traditional Nigeria societies guarded and guided their members through a system 

of indigenous law, customs and sanctions, mostly drawn from traditional beliefs, customs and norms. 

Religion too also plays an activitive role since these customs and norms arose from it. These 

discouraged vices and mischief curry and gain the favour of the gods. Shoremi also posits that the aim 

of religion is to fight with the divine powers to attain what the ancient Romans called pax decorum, the 

favour of the gods11. The fear of the vengeance of the gods.Oracles and ancestral spirits, kept everyone 

on one’s toes to be righteous. The Yorùbá are religious in all things. Religion forms the foundation and 

all-governing principle of life for man. The full responsibility of all the affairs of life including security 

belongs to the Deity. The duty of men is to obey and do whatever the priests or diviners tell them to do. 

Olodumare is the controller of all things12. Oputa also commented: ‘Our indigenous religion had that 

strong moral code and that supernatural sanction that were both able to keep the old village society 

morally clean and free from crime. Then there was no police force, but rather it was supernatural 

sanction of their religion that policed the primordial Nigeria village society’. 13 

 

Among the natives, in addition to the sanctions and deterrence imposed by religion, social norms, as a 

unit also played a vital role in policing the village society. This unit was made of general individual 

nuclear families knitted together by a bond of common ancestry and lineage. It provided check against 

any form of misbehavior. In this regard, the family head and lineage were set on toes of consciousness 

as to the kind of labeling negatively. The family head was strict and applied iron-hand on his family 

members. The sanctions meted out include ostracisation and slavery or threats of all. The village 

associations created a more complex and strong helping hand in preventing and detecting crimes. 

Therefore, customs and norms play a prominent role in premordial native societies in areas of crime 

commission and security. In corroborating the position and role of customs and norms in security issues 

before the natives encounter with western civilization, Tamuno stated14: ‘This mystical link between 

dead and living forces, both in the making and enforcement of African laws and customs, before contact 

with Europeans is of crucial importance. The fear of breaking such laws and customs, involving dread 

punishment by unseen and allegedly powerful elements in traditional religion, provided an effective 

preventive factor’. Shoremi while writing on important aspect of the social structure (association) has 

this to say: 

The process whereby a group of individuals interact to attain specific goals. It is formed 

a response to the particular needs of a community. In some cases, it may result from 

environmental presence; which forces men to cooperate with one another. Generally, 

association provides the mechanism by which men relate to the environment around 

them15. 

 

The age-grade system was one of such association that has played a significant role in issues relating to 

security, crime prevention and management among the people of Nigeria, even prior to colonisation. It 

involves stratification of the entire village into various classes on the basis age. For instance, among the 

                                                           
9 J Ferguson cited by EA Agboola, Traditional Religion in West Africa (University Press Ibadan 1983) p9 
10 SK Olaleye,’ African Indigenous Knowledge as a Cure to the Security Problem in the Contemporary Society’ [2013](5] 

Proceedings of 2013 Biennial International Religious Studies Conference, 41-48.  
11 MO Shoremi, ‘Indigenous Association in Nigeria’ Cited in Nigerian Life and Culture: A Book of Reading (Ago – Iwoye 

University Press 1989) 219. 
12 Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief (Long Man Group LTD. London 1962) 5, 35-43. 
13 CA Oputa, ‘Crime in the Society’ [1975] Lecture Delivered in African Indigenous Law Proceeding Workshop by Institute 

of African Studies, Nsukka, 1-2.  
14 TN Tamuno, Crimes and Society in Pre-colonial Nigeria (Malthouse publishers Lagos 1993) 129. 
15 Shoremi, op cit., p220 



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Yorùbá of Lodo district (Ѐkὶtὶ) and Àkuré, the Elègbè were responsible for law and order. This is the 

same with ìlàrì in Oyọ and Odi in ìjèbú, as well as the Ẹmẹṣè in Ilé-Ifè. In the same manner, the Ode 

(guild of hunters) in Yorùbá land with their Igbo counterparts called Egbé Liọba performed guard duties 

in the villages. Masquerades and various cult groups also performed security sometimes) 

Oppenheimer16. Among the Yorùbá people, it was observed that the age-grade were among the group 

that performed quasi-police functions in the various communities. Inotu among the Ishan people of 

Uromi performed police duty. In the North among the Fulani Northern Nigeria, they have the ‘Dongari’. 

Among the ἰlàjẹ, they have jongbe or Wama.  They also carried out investigation of crime however 

crudementary it may be and arrest the culprit in cases where it was considered needless to consult a 

diviner. 

 

From the statement and facts stated above, it is apparently clear that the idea of policing and 

investigation is not strange among the native before the advent of the English men. In other words, the 

maintenance of public order, the protection of persons, property and the prevention of injurious acts 

were not part of the legacies of colonisation, for as Edward Wislmot Blyden said: 

The tribes have law regulating every function of human life and the laws are known to 

all members of the tribe and justice is administered by the tribal chiefs in the presence 

of the whole people in the village or town, where any violation of law may have taken 

place. The whole people of village or towns are jointly and generally guardian and 

preservers of the peace17. 

 

The social structure no doubt performs the duty of maintenance of peace and order and also where 

crimes are committed, aside the social structure, other means of investigation may also be invoked e.g. 

Divination or ordeal. This is when recourse is being had to relio-magical influences particularly where 

the offender was unknown. Now, coming back to the subject- matter of this discourse, among the Apoi 

and Ilajẹ,. Gbàgàlà is the basic means through which investigation of criminal offence is being carried 

out. They also use divination through medicine man but it is uncommon among them. Gbàgàlà 

performed the role of police in the investigation of criminal offences. No doubt, it had worked in the 

past and presently still working. Before the introduction of the English court and formal policing to the 

native of Ilajẹ and Apoi, Gbàgàlà would investigate an offence and hand over the person to Ayélàla 

which is common to both Ijaw/Apoi and Ilajẹ where the offender has denied committing the alleged 

offence. 

 

4. Crime Detection by Gbàgàlà among the Apoi and Ìlàjẹ  

The Apoi are known as western Apoi ethnic group of the Ijaw people while the Ìlàjẹ occupies the 

Atlantic coast line of Ondo State, Nigeria. The major way of investigation of criminal offences among 

these people was divination through Gbàgàlà before the introduction of English legal system. In other 

words, Gbàgàlà was the investigation and policing agent. The Ìlàjẹ traced their origin to Ile-Ife as their 

ancestral home. The major deity for prosecution of criminal offences was Ayélála. It is a common 

divinity to both Apoi and Ìlàjẹ. In fact Ayélála emerged as a result of settlement of dispute between the 

Apoi and Ìlàjẹ. The headquarters of Ayélála is at Ita-Ayélála along the Atlantic Ocean in the coast of 

Ondo State. 

 

The Ìlàjẹ and Apoi both have Ayélála in common as a deity they worship and serve. Different tribes 

upon being convinced about the efficacy of Ayélála had come in the past to borrow the deity and have 

it in their locality. Some of these include Akoko people from Ondo State, Edo people from Edo State 

among others18. 

 

As we have stated, it is one of the duties of the formal police to investigate criminal offences, so also is 

the duty of Gbàgàlà.  Gbàgàlà is a wooden like structure of four edges carried by four men holding 

each of the four edges.  Gbàgàlà is not only limited to investigating crime but also civil action or sooth 

                                                           
16 H. Oppenheiman, The Rationale of Punishment (University of London Press London 1913) p121 
17 Edward Wilmot Blyden, African Life and Customs ( African World Press 1908)  
18 Akhilomen D, The Resurgence of Ayélála in Benin Kingdom. www.rig2011electionyoudie@rocketmail.com.posted by 

Otedo News Udate on September 25, 2009 at 3:46pm. Retrieved on 13th December, 2020. 

http://www.rig2011electionyoudie@rocketmail.com.posted


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sayer about unseen problem. It is also used to investigate the cause of death of a deceased person when 

it is believed that the person has not died a natural death. Complaints were normally lodged with the 

priest of Gbàgàlà who would set Gbàgàlà into motion by performing the required rites particularly 

when the offender was unknown. Upon the invocation of the power, Gbàgàlà would lead them to the 

house of the offender or where the stolen property was hidden.  Among these people, when the offender 

was unknown or the offender had been detected by Gbàgàlà and still denied, recourse would be had on 

Ayélála usually inform of trial by oath taking. The trial began with the open question of whether the 

suspect is guilty or not guilty? This is synonymous to taking of an accused person’s plea under the 

English legal system. These questions of guilty or not guilty are tantamount to an aspect of natural 

justice; audi alteram patem hear from the other side under the English legal system. 

 

In 1990 at Ikoya in Òkìtìpupa Local Government Area of Ondo State, Gbàgàlà was used to investigate 

the Ọba’s crowns that was stolen after the formal police had tried several days and could not get the 

offenders. Gbàgàlà apprehended the person and the culprit was handed over to the police who 

formalised the arrest and prosecution. Someitime in November 2017 in Okitipupa, Ondo State, a case 

of burglary was reported where along market Street Okitipupa a rice store was burgled and the thieves 

looted the shop. Police tried everything within their ambit to apprehend the culprits or recover the stolen 

bags of rice but all their efforts were fruitless. Recourse was had to Gbàgàlà.  Gbàgàlà led them to 

where the bags of rice were hidden and also the respective houses of the culprits. They were all 

apprehended and handed over to the police, finally prosecuted. A respondent was also interviewed who 

said in 2013 in Delta State in his office where he was serving as a Divisional Crime Officer 2, he said 

the suspect was serving his boss and stole eight hundred thousand Naira (N800, 000: 00) belonging to 

his boss. He said their office tried in vain and the complainant went to an Ayélála priest at Isoko. 

Gbagala was involved in the investigation and it identified the suspect among all other persons 

arraigned for parade. Still, the suspect denied stealing the eight hundred thousand naira (N800, 000:00) 

and recourse was had to Ayélála. The priest according to the interviewee had not finished performing 

the rites to invoke the jurisdiction of Ayélála when the suspect had started confessing that he gave the 

money to his mother. The mother was arrested by the police and they recovered the money from her.  

Another interesting case reported on the effective investigation mechanism Gbàgàlà was relayed by 

Chief Netufo Oladele a Gbagala priest aged 76 and resident of Sabome in Ese-Odo Local Government 

Area of Ondo state. He said in 1983, in military barracks in the northern part of Nigeria, he was invited 

by an Apoi man a military personnel who was in charge of the armory in the barracks. Some of the 

ammunitions, about five rifles were missing in the barracks. Gbagala led them to where the rifles were 

buried in the barracks and identified the culprits among the personnel. This respondent also mentioned 

that he had successfully investigated so many cases of theft with the aid of Gbàgàlà 

 

In 2008 Chief Bolodeoku Segun an Ayélála / Gbagala priest and diviner said he has been in the practice 

for three decades and he inherited it from his father. The last prominent case he used Gba ̀gàlà to 

investigate was a case of a stolen baby, a toddler of less than two years. The father had divorced the 

mother and baby yet to be weaned was with his mother in a village where the woman was working as a 

laborer for someone. The mother was in the farm doing her normal routine for the day and got carried 

away with the work, carelessly she did not know when the baby crawled away according to her 

statement to the police because the matter eventually got to police station at Okitipupa. Gbàgàlà 

detected that the father was actually the one who came to carry the baby. 

 
Another case investigated by Gbagala was the one garnered from an interview with Chief Omosua 

Omopariola Gbose (aged 59 years) residing at Igbobini in Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State. 

The respondent said he inherited the knowledge of Gbagala priesthood as a practice from his father, Late 

High Chief Omopariola Joel Gbose (the Peti of Igbobini), who served as a Gbagala priest for the Apoi people 

for over six decades until his demise and his father also inherited it from his own father, that is the grandfather 

of the respondent. He stated that he witnessed so many cases treated by his father as a learner or apprentice 

or shrine boy and unlimited number of cases he himself had handled. He gave the few prominent ones that 

gathered the attention of the entire people of Ilaje and Apoi. According to the respondent, he said that there 
was a homicide matter at Atijere in Ilaje local Government Area of Ondo State in which his father was 

invited as a Gbagala priest to investigate the complaint. The police unit at Atijere had failed hence the matter 

was transferred to the state Headquarters (State C.I.D).  The respondent being uneducated could not 



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remember the year but informed the researcher that it was the year Olando Owoh released his album, Lamgbe 

jina and by my assessment, that was 1977. Gbagala rites were performed at Atijere to invoke its jurisdiction 

and Gbagala identified the culprit one Gbajimi, an Ijebu man. The deceased was a woman. Upon further 

inquiry from Gbagala whether the man was the only one involved, Gbagala also identified another man. 

Gbajimi denied the criminal act while the other man admitted that he was there but never took part in the 

criminal act but as a palm wine tapper, he was on a palm tree watching Gbajimi when he strangulated the 

woman and hid her inside the bush but remained mute. He said Gbajimi was not the only person there and 

they might kill him. They asked Gbajimi to produce his other cohorts he declined insisting that he knew 

nothing about the alleged offence. He was compelled to be tried by Ayélála and since he knew the consequent 

fast justice of Ayélála, he ran to Akure on a petition against the Respondent’s father and he was invited by 

the then Commissioner of Police who picked interest in the case. The respondent further stated that he went 

to Akure with his father along with all the material necessary for invocation of Gbagala jurisdiction. At 

Akure, his father set in motion Gbagala and the Commissioner of Police set up the first case for Gbagala to 

investigate. According to the Respondent, he said the commissioner of police placed three calabashes on a 

table and kept the cassette produce by Olando Owoh (Lamgbe jina) in one of the three calabashes and asked 

his father to use Gbagala to detect the one containing the cassette. Gbagala identified the calabashes that 

had the cassette and he said his father took the cassette that Gbagala had confiscated it. The commissioner 

of police not yet convinced set up another case for Gbagala to investigate in his office. He kept the police 

radio phone in a drawer according to the respondent and assembled four police men before Gbagala in his 

office to detect in whose possession the radiophone was. 

 

Gbagala knocked the drawer and neglected the assembled police officers. It was further revealled that the 

Commissioner of Police still went on to keep wrist watch outside the police command and asked Gbagala 
to locate it. The respondent said Gbagala forced opened the commissioner’s office and its carriers out of the 

office. Immediately, the Commissioner called his father back that he was convinced and ordered the arrest 

of Gbajimi for the purpose of prosecution. The case gave Gbagala serious popularity that same year in the 

state according to the respondent and corroboration of same from other aged men and women in Ilaje and 

Apoi communities. 

 

The respondent said of recent in 2005, he personally carried out the Gbagala rites investigation. According 

to him, in Igbobini his home town there was a case of stolen money precisely four hundred and fifty thousand 

Naira (N450, 000.00). The Oba in the community directed that they should make announcement and nobody 

admitted taking the money. Being a Gbagala priest, he was invited to use Gbagala to unveil the culprit. 

Gbagala identified the culprit but he denied and when Ayélála’s jurisdiction was to be invoked, he admitted 

taking the money and the money was recovered but he had spent about thirty thousand Naira (N30, 000.00) 

out of it. So many cases had been successfully investigated by Gba ̀gàlà. In fact, these reports show case the 

efficacy of Gbàgàlà which had helped in the past to maintain peace and order among the people in the area. 

 

5. Limitations to Gbàgàlà    

The development, civilisation and influx of people in our society today have in no doubt affected the 

consciousness of people about African jurisprudence. The intrusion of the English men in Africa has 

prodigiously contributed to the factors withering away African beliefs and customs. The groups, Apoi and 

Ìlàjẹ, where Gbàgàlà  was being used for investigation could be considered as  macro-communities compare 

to nowadays where we have towns and state that are already over populated; where automobile are used as 

their means of transportation. Of course, Gbàgàlà can be taken to Lagos from Ondo State for investigation 

since it would be arranged and the rites would be performed over there. This is similar to formal police 

officer who can travel too any part of the country. The only problem envisaged is where the culprit is not 

within and there is need for Gbàgàlà to search for the person in the metropolitan society, movement of auto 

mobiles will not permit Gbàgàlà to carryout same as the carriers can easily be crushed by automobile.  

Gbàgàlà as an agent of investigation whose jurisdiction is invoked by religio-magical means cannot 

recognise automobile. Another limitation is the existence of English courts. Where somebody is arrested or 

identified by Gbàgàlà such person may go to the English court to seek redress for either defamation or 

enforcement of fundamental human right since Gbàgàlà is unknown to the English law. It is in view of this 

we are calling for the incorporation  of traditional criminal justice system and the English criminal justice 

system presently operating in the country which can be achieved once there is legislation to validate and 

rubber stamp it.  However, these limitations though not limited to these alone, cannot stand as a bar to the 

use of Gbàgàlà in the modern society. With respect to automobiles, traffic warden may be placed on the 

road to direct traffic especially if this could be done during traditional festival of Ẹ̀̀yò ̣̀ and Eégún.  



 ACARELAR 2 (2021) 

Page | 33  
 

6. Conclusion 

Without prejudice to the formal police and the modern modes of investigation, traditional means of 

investigations are devoid of all protocols, technicalities and failures. It is cost saving, effective, swift, 

expedient, and potent. Gbàgàlà should be incorporated into the criminal justice system of Nigeria. The 

conjunction and collaboration of the two criminal justice systems would create a striking balance in our 

criminal justice system more so, that the society we live is theocratic and dominated by Africans who believe 

in their custom and tradition and are conscious of the efficacy of the societal norms, beliefs and sacred 

divinities of the land.   

   

 
Gbàgàlà being carried after invocation of the power 

Source: Field work 8th December, 2020  



SHEMUDARA: Gbàgàlà as a Deity for Investigation of Crime among the Ilaje and Ijaw/Apoi of Ondo State, 

Nigeria 

Page | 34 
 

 

 
Picture of the Wooden Structure called Gbàgàlà 

Source: Field work 8th December, 2020 

 

 


