The Yoruba Orisa-Divinities and their Significance in Times of Pandemics as Evidenced in Osa Meji in Ifa Corpus

In every human society, religion performs significant roles. It is one of the most important institutional structures that make up the total social system most, especially in Yorùbá society where religion and the divinities are in charge of all human activities. Religion and the divinities are regarded as the sources of ethical and moral behaviours, public order and inner peace of the individual persons. They become even more active during economic, political and health-threatening crises and situations that could affect individual, groups, communities or cities. An example of such a critical situation was the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world. It is on this background that we want to further examine the significance of these divinities, particularly in times of epidemics and the role that Ifá can play in such a situation. Africa is a continent endowed with rich traditions and Nigeria, particularly the Yorùbá is not less endowed and blessed with knowledge and means of solving problems physically and spiritually through these divinities. These innate knowledge and wisdom are believed, can still be employed in this contemporary time for the betterment of the society and the world at large. Twenty priests and priestesses of some prominent and principal Yorùbá divinities like Ògún, Ifá, Ọ̀ṣun, Ọbàtálá and Èṣù were interviewed personally and through Telephone calls for their views and their views content analysed. The study revealed that the Yorùbá have confidence in Olódùmarè and the divinities he sent to help us in all our everyday affairs including diseases and epidemics.