THE NATION ON SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2012
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‘We should help the Police to curb crime’ —PAGE 55
From magic to Christ Pa Kehinde Ilesile practised magic for over 40 years. Now a born again Christian, he says he does not want any of his children to tread the path he took. Taiwo Abiodun met him.
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S a young man Kehinde Ilesile was widely known in the old Western State, the north and on the West coast. A mention of his name may not ring any bell but his nickname “Young Wizard” will raise many eyebrows in recognition. In his heydays Young Wizard had performed magic in various schools across the defunct Western State, the old North and countries along the West African coasts. That was years ago, today he is a changed man. At 70, Pa Kehinde Ilesile has cast away his instruments of magic and embraced Christ. The old has passed away According to him, his encounter with Christ was simple. One day he was invited to a church service and he decided to go not because he was convinced anything spectacular was going to happen there. He went out of curiosity, and as they say, curiosity kills the cat. However, in Young Wizard’s case his curiosity saved him. As fate would have it, on that fateful day the preacher spoke about the ugly side of magic. After listening to the sermon, he w a s touched. He went home sober
•Ilesile
and pondered over the message. He immediately decided to turn his back against the art of magic, a profession he had practised for over four decades! “The sermon touched me. I repented and I am now a Christian. I have learnt my lesson that magical art does not pay,’’ he said in a feeble voice as he sank into the dirty and torn sofa in his living room at O m i Adiye, in Owo, O n d o State. At 70 Young Wizard h a s become a shadow of himself. He is no longer
PHOTO: TAIWO ABIODUN
bubbling; his chubby face has disappeared while his young blossoming skin is now wrinkled. He looks weak and sick. Asked what he has gained from performing magic he declared, “I have no money. I was only popular then. I only had fame but I was not rich. Now, I am living in my father’s house. I have no house of my own but I still believe that it is not too late to build a house. I am now over 70, there is nothing God cannot do’’, he told The Nation in a quavering voice. On how he got his nickname “Young wizard” he said, it was given to him by some Britons who watched his performance at Sabo Hotel, Ita Balogun in Lagos in 1958. “When the Britons saw my magical feat at Ita
Balogun they were shocked seeing a young man like me performing magic in big way. It was there they gave me the nick name and called me Young Wizard. Since then it stuck on me and only few people knew my real name.’’ Origin of a name His astute performance and magical feats were many and that was what gave him the nickname, among some of his magical feats according to him was that “I used to drink beer from the bottom of the bottle without removing the cork. This thrilled my spectators who were amazed at such a thing. That was how they started calling me ‘Young Wizard’.” That was decades ago, today he has lost all his youthful dash and energy. He now looks pale and sick. “I am now sick and old. I no longer practise magic again. It does not pay. I have accepted Christ into my life. God is beyond everybody. I now believe there is power that is above all these things called magic. I have abandoned it” The septuagenarian has now turned a new leaf “I now go to church. I attend Christ Apostolic Church. I now go to the house of the Lord to pray. I have accepted Christ into my life. God is beyond everybody. Man is wicked. I have seen a lot in life.’’ Power from the wind Ilesile did not attend any school of magic “I did not have any formal education. I did not learn the art of Magic. I did not go to any school of magic like those ones the late Professor Peller attended in India.’’ At the age of seven, he was swept away by a strange whirlwind! For three years he was marooned in thick forest where he learnt the art of magic. According to him, “I remember that if I stretch out my hand and demanded for any object, it will appear. If I asked it to disappear it would. I could call a stone to appear or disappear. I only needed to say the word or command it. That was all. I don’t know where they come from and I don’t know where those things disappear to. I don’t
conjure any spirit I did not go to school to learn the art.” Going down memory lane he listed as his contemporaries magicians such as the late Professor Peller, Oladokun of Ikirun and Alimi Ibarapa. He boasted that he did not perform ‘box match magic’ or carried instruments about like other magicians. He used bare hands to perform his magical feats. According to him, he had performed in many states and towns such as Lagos, Ibadan, Oyo, Owo, Akure, Osogbo, Kaduna, Kano and in the West African neighbouring countries such as Ghana , Benin Republic, etc. Despite his magic he had a close shave with death. “I was once swept away by the Atlantic Ocean’s waves in Lagos. The waves took me to the middle of the ocean but God is so wonderful that I was washed ashore again. I thought it had finished but God rescued me. There is no magic one can perform on the sea; it is a different terrain entirely.” Testifying to the power of a superior being he added, “God use to send His angels to keep watch over us all the time. He has angels guarding us all.’’ With hindsight he can today confess that magic is bad “God does not support magic; that is why one cannot be successful in it. There is no money in it as it is not regarded as a serious business. It is not appreciated as it is in the West. Here, if you claim that you are a magician they will accuse you wanting to dupe them. They will call you a liar. They forget it is part of entertainment.’’ He said all proceeds from his magical feats are given out to people free because it is forbidden for a magician to use such. Although he believes in the existence of witches and wizards, but reiterated that he was a magician and not a wizard! “I am just an ordinary person like you and calling me Young Wizard is just a nickname. I sleep and wake up like any other person there is nothing extra ordinary in me. I am a human being like any other person.’’ A new life Asked where all his magical powers have gone he replied: “I don’t have to do it again. I have stopped. Since I have been going to church and listening to sermon. I was once into star gazing, Ifa oracle and divination and many other things but in the end I stopped it. There is nothing in it, it is all evil.” He has vowed not to pass the profession on to his children. “God forbid. I don’t pray to pass it on to my children. Do you think magic is a good thing? It is not a good thing my brother. I reject it. None of my children should do it. Never and Never!’’ he swore.