The Oracle Of New Age

A play of ifa oracle by the poet in the south western Nigeria that later transcend borders and earn the white man praise to win world war 3

The Oracle of the New Age

A Play in Two Acts

Characters

BABALAWO OLORUNTOBI: The Ifa Priest. Ancient, wise, with a voice that carries the weight of history. Dressed in traditional white garb, adorned with beads.

ADEWALE: Oloruntobi’s grandson, a young, tech-savvy Yoruba man. He respects tradition but is impatient with its old-world slowness.

CHIEF ADENIYI: The community head. Dressed in fine agbada, representing the voice of the elders and local leadership.

DR. ELEANOR VANCE: A leading Western scientist and diplomat, representing the West. She is sharp, skeptical, and driven by data and results.

GENERAL MARCUS THORNE: A military strategist, pragmatic and battle-hardened.

A GBEDU DRUMMER: The musical heart of the play. His drumming marks the rhythm of the narrative and the spiritual.

CHORUS OF VILLAGERS: The collective voice of the Yoruba community.

Act I: The Sound of War

Scene 1

(A courtyard in a small Yoruba village. A sacred Ifa space with carved statues of Orishas. The sound of GBEDU DRUMMING is soft and mournful. BABALAWO OLORUNTOBI sits on a low stool, facing his opon Ifa (divination tray). ADEWALE, his grandson, is on his phone, scrolling through news reports with a worried expression.)

ADEWALE

(Muttering to himself)

It’s getting worse, Baba. Every day, more conflicts. They say World War Three is no longer a possibility, but an inevitability.

OLORUNTOBI

(Without looking up from his tray)

The world has always been at war with itself, my son. The mind is a battlefield. The body, a temporary truce.

ADEWALE

This is different. Nuclear arsenals, cyber attacks... it’s not just land they fight over. It’s for the control of everything. The white men with their big bombs, the Asian powers with their endless armies. All posturing, all bravado.

(The GBEDU DRUMMING intensifies, mirroring the growing anxiety. CHIEF ADENIYI enters, his face grim.)

CHIEF ADENIYI

Oloruntobi, the news is bad. The world leaders speak of a final war. Our young men are talking of joining the army, seeking glory. Our farms are neglected, our harvests are failing because of the new drought.

OLORUNTOBI

(Finally looks up, his eyes deep and calm)

Let them speak. What Ifa says is what matters. The world is a sick body, and the Awo (initiate) must find the cure.

(Oloruntobi begins to cast the sixteen sacred palm nuts. He chants softly, his voice resonating with ancient power. Adewale watches, captivated despite himself. The sound of the palm nuts hitting the tray is a rhythmic, hypnotic rattle.)

OLORUNTOBI

(Chanting)

Okanran Meji… Eji Ogbe… The world is troubled, Orunmila, witness of destiny. The rivers run with sorrow, the earth cracks with fear. What is the cure?

(He casts again, his movements deliberate and slow. The villagers, hearing the chanting, begin to gather, listening intently.)

OLORUNTOBI

(Reads the final cast)

Odu Eji Ogbe… It speaks of light after darkness, of a journey to a far-off place. It says, "The one who sees the sunrise must not turn his back on the moon." The solution is not in the ground we stand on, but in the ground we have forgotten.

CHIEF ADENIYI

What does it mean, Oloruntobi? How can we, a small village, affect this great war?

OLORUNTOBI

(Looks at Adewale)

It means a son must bridge the old world and the new. It means we must offer our ancient wisdom to those who have forgotten it.

ADEWALE

(Confused)

Offer it to them? The white men? They think our ways are backward, superstitious. They will not listen.

OLORUNTOBI

(Smiling knowingly)

They will. When all their science fails, they will look for another kind of truth. And they will find it here.

(The GBEDU DRUMMING becomes hopeful, a new rhythm rising from the old. Scene ends.)

Scene 2

(A sterile, high-tech command center in Washington D.C. Large screens show maps of global conflict zones. DR. ELEANOR VANCE and GENERAL MARCUS THORNE are huddled over a holographic map.)

GENERAL THORNE

Our intelligence is failing, Eleanor. Every strategy we deploy, they anticipate. It’s like they have access to our every move.

DR. VANCE

It’s more than that, Marcus. My algorithms are predicting patterns of irrationality. It’s not just military tactics anymore. It's... chaos. The system is breaking down.

(A junior aide enters, looking bewildered.)

AIDE

General, Dr. Vance… we received a strange communication. Encrypted, but it came from a source we’ve never encountered before.

AIDE

It’s a message, not data, ma’am. It’s… a riddle. It says, “The solution is not in the sky, but in the earth. Seek the father of secrets in the land of the drums”.

DR. VANCE

(Shaking her head)

Marcus, you can’t be serious. We’re talking about a global conflict, and you want to consult… a witch doctor?

GENERAL THORNE

(Looks her in the eye)

When every logical solution has failed, Eleanor, a man is forced to consider the illogical. We've exhausted every option. This is our last resort.

(The aide projects an image of Oloruntobi on a screen, sitting at his opon Ifa. Vance scoffs, but Thorne studies the image intently. Scene ends.)

Act II: The White Man’s Praise

Scene 1

ADEWALE

They are coming, Baba. The big white men. Will we have enough cola nuts? Will the drums be loud enough?

OLORUNTOBI

(Smiling)

The truth is its own volume, my son. The drums are only to help the deaf hear.

(A convoy of black SUVs pulls into the village. General Thorne and Dr. Vance, looking out of place in their Western suits, step out. They are followed by the aide and security personnel. The villagers watch, curious and a little afraid. Chief Adeniyi greets them with formal dignity.)

GENERAL THORNE

We are here to see the one they call Oloruntobi.

(Oloruntobi steps forward, a serene expression on his face. He gestures for them to sit. Dr. Vance looks around, unimpressed.)

DR. VANCE

(Whispering to Thorne)

This is absurd, Marcus. They have no technology, no infrastructure.

OLORUNTOBI

(As if hearing her thoughts)

We have what you have lost. The connection between the earth and the heavens.

(He begins the divination. The GBEDU DRUMMING becomes a driving, insistent heartbeat. He casts the palm nuts. Dr. Vance, a woman of science, is mesmerized despite herself. The rhythmic action, the deep chant, the air of absolute conviction—it is unlike anything she has ever witnessed.)

OLORUNTOBI

(Reads the Odu)

Eji Ogbe… the path of the first light. The spirit of the world is sick because its head and its body are separated. The West, the head, has been thinking too much, forgetting the body. The South, the body, has been feeling too much, forgetting to think.

DR. VANCE

(Stepping forward)

This is a metaphor. We need actionable intelligence, not poetry.

OLORUNTOBI

(Looks at her, his eyes piercing)

The head makes plans, but it is the body that makes them work. Your plan is to kill the enemy. But what if the enemy is not a person, but an idea? A sickness in the heart of humanity?

GENERAL THORNE

How do we fight an idea?

OLORUNTOBI

(Casts the nuts again. The rhythm of the GBEDU DRUMMING softens, becoming introspective.)

Irosun Ogbe… it speaks of healing. The sacrifice is not an animal. The sacrifice is greed. The sacrifice is hate. The divination says you must find the sickness at its source. A great sickness is hidden in the belly of the earth, in the mines of a hidden land. A sickness that gives power, but at a great cost.

ADEWALE

(Steps forward, looking at the Odu with new understanding)

No, Dr. Vance. It’s the data you couldn’t see. The patterns of extraction. They are not random. The oracle is giving us the location of the secret mines.

(Adewale, with Oloruntobi’s guidance, begins to interpret the Odu in a way that resonates with Vance’s scientific mind. He connects the symbolism of the verses to geographical and historical data. The oracle speaks of a desert land, of a mineral that burns, of a tribe that has been wronged. Vance’s face shifts from skepticism to shock as the patterns align with her own algorithms.)

DR. VANCE

(Staring at the screen, her voice barely a whisper)

The desert… the burn… the tribe… it’s a specific lithium deposit. Controlled by a fringe group we thought was insignificant. They have been funding the war through a clandestine trade route.

GENERAL THORNE

The source of the rot.

OLORUNTOBI

(Stands, looking at the rising sun)

You have seen the sunrise. Do not forget the moon. The solution is not to destroy. The solution is to heal.

(Thorne and Vance leave, a new, respectful silence between them. The villagers watch as the convoy disappears. The GBEDU DRUMMING swells with pride.)

Scene 2

(Months later. The command center. General Thorne and Dr. Vance, looking weary but triumphant, review news reports. The war is ending. Not with a bang, but with a series of coordinated, targeted operations that led to a global diplomatic resolution based on the intelligence from the oracle.)

GENERAL THORNE

We didn’t go to war, not really. We went on a hunt. And we caught the disease before it could kill the patient.

DR. VANCE

(Looks at a framed photo on her desk: Oloruntobi sitting at his divination tray)

He called it the head and the body. We, the West, have been so disconnected from the earth we claim to protect. He reminded us to feel again, to listen.

GENERAL THORNE

You should have heard the President’s speech. He didn’t mention Ifa, but he spoke of balance, of listening to the ancient wisdom of the world. It was... a concession.

(A news report comes on. A journalist in Lagos is interviewing Adewale. He is smiling, speaking confidently into the microphone.)

ADEWALE

We did not win the war. The oracle showed us how to prevent it. We simply reminded the world that wisdom is everywhere. Not just in your data, but in your destiny.

(The scene ends. The GBEDU DRUMMING, now full of joy and celebration, plays as the lights fade 

DR. VANCE

(Scoffs)

Probably a prank. A foreign power trying to rattle us.

GENERAL THORNE

(Intrigued)

"The land of the drums." That's West Africa. Specifically, the Yoruba. Get me everything you can on their indigenous knowledge systems.

(Back in the Yoruba village. Oloruntobi is preparing for the arrival of the visitors. He is calm, methodical. Adewale is buzzing with nervous energy.)

DR. VANCE

(Scoffs)

A hidden land? This is mythology.

(The End.)