Ogbomoso: A town with Ritualistic Mindset or Pure Prosperity Shyness

Aláta, Aládé Global: Are They Money Ritualists, or Is Prosperity Simply Alien to Ògbómọ̀sọ́?

I know this may sound controversial. I also know that, out of hypocrisy, some people may want to become defensive. But this is an everyday reality that I think we need to confront.

If you're very familiar with narratives in Ògbómọ̀sọ́, or you're the kind of person who is as inquisitive as I am, you must have heard people discuss certain personalities and many others, especially those whose businesses were based in Ògbómọ̀sọ́. For many of these people, the moment someone becomes extraordinarily wealthy, the first explanation that comes to mind is “Ologun Owo.”

It makes me wonder: is prosperity itself alien to Ògbómọ̀sọ́, or have we simply developed a culture of suspicion around successful people?

It sometimes appears that the safest way to become wealthy as an Ògbómọ̀sọ́ indigene is to build your business somewhere else, keep your identity as the owner relatively quiet, and then return home to become a philanthropist. That way, people are less likely to ask questions about how you made your money.

Perhaps the lack of significant industrial investment by our indigenes is not entirely about the popular “Ògún ò jà lù, ire ò wọ̀lú” narrative. Maybe another factor is the fear of being labelled “ologún owó” the person whose wealth is somehow suspicious.

I Heard of an Ògbómọ̀sọ́ indigene who owns a factory somewhere in the Southwest. Interestingly, he deliberately keeps his identity as the founder away from public attention and prefers to be known more as a distributor.

I don't know his reasons for doing that, but I have my suspicions.

But how often do we actually tell these stories?

Instead, one of the narratives that seems to have survived is simply:

“Owó náà ò mọ́.”

The money wasn't clean.

And this brings me back to the uncomfortable question:

Ògbómọ̀sọ́, do we actually believe that a person can build a successful business while remaining based here?

Don't get me wrong. As a Yoruba man, I believe in the spiritual realities our people believe in. I also believe that nobody receives anything without God's permission.

But if someone becomes wealthy and the immediate explanation is “Ogun Owo,” where is the evidence?

Abi ṣé ẹ̀yin ni evidence ni?

Maybe we should start asking a different question.

Instead of always asking “Where did he get the money?”, perhaps we should also ask:

“What did he build with the money?”

Who did he employ?

How many businesses did he create?

How many young people learned a trade through him?

How many families benefited from his enterprise?

How many people became successful because they once worked for him?

Because sometimes, the greatest evidence of wealth isn't the money sitting in someone's account.

It is the number of lives that continue to benefit from what that person built.

Maybe Ògbómọ̀sọ́ doesn't lack wealthy people.

Maybe we lack a culture that knows how to celebrate, study, preserve and reproduce legitimate wealth.