100 Years Of No.28 Broad Street, Lagos Nigeria.

Rowland Adewumi, Nigeria.

For a passerby who is in a hurry, there is nothing spectacular about No. 28 Broad Street. Perhaps for the purpose of easy identification, No. 28, which is unmistakably etched on a storey building, stands side-by-side with Mr. Biggs, the franchise eatery with outlets across Nigeria. Don’t be fooled because if you look closer, No. 28 is a building with not only a strong Masonic historical antecedent but also a bold inscription which announces the St. Georges Masonic Hall. Welcome to Lodge 3065, the Masonic Hall of the English Constitution in Nigeria otherwise known as the Freemansons. According to the President of the Board, Chief Isaac Ogun, a chemical engineer by vocation and retired staff of Guinness Breweries, “there are three Lodges – the English, Irish and Scottish ranked in this order. In Nigeria, these three Lodges are fully operational across the country. For now, we are still affiliated to these Lodges abroad and yet to gain autonomy as the Ghanaians have. All Grand Lodges including English, Irish and Scottish all have Provincial or District Lodges in Nigeria headed by a District Grand Master. In our own case, our Lodge is headed by Olorogun Moses Taiga”  By his estimates, the Masonic Lodge on Broad Street is 100 years old. Shocked? You then ask him: how old is freemansonry in Nigeria?  From the records, Ogun explained that freemansonry found its origins in Nigeria around 1913, this is however five years earlier than the date put forward by Justice Adewale Thompson, a past master whose one year reign dates back to 1962.

According to Thompson’s 1978 account published in his Short History of Lodge Scottia (N0. 1166 S. C) 1918 – 1978, “In 1918, Nigeria was a colonial country…Lagos was the centre of gravity of national life, mirrored by the activities of Nigerian stalwarts who have justified their greatness by the indelible footprints they have left on the sands of time. These men were the founders of Lodge Scottia No. 1166 on the roll call of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.” In reality and in consideration of the multiplicity of Lodges in Nigeria, it is perhaps clear that the English Lodge preceded other lodges in Nigeria five years earlier.

What is Freemansonry?
According to the United Grand Lodge of England, the Freemasons began as members of craft guilds that united into lodges in England in the early 1700′s. They espoused religious tolerance, the equality of their male peers, and the themes of classic liberalism and the Enlightenment. Today they are a worldwide fraternal order that still educates its members about philosophical ideas, and engages in harmless rituals, but also offers networking for business and political leaders, and carries out charitable activities.

The history or origin of fremansonry dates back to several centuries ago. This development may perhaps explain why it is very difficult to place an exact date on the particular year the society was formed. At best, historians have had to depend largely on conventional explanations, ancient scientific perspective, ancient stone mason, medieval operative Masonic guilds, box club charity theory, Knights templar and the Rosslyn Chapel to make up all the sources that have produced some forms of explanations or in-roads into the possible origin of the society. But according to ancient manuscripts at the British Museum, the earliest known record of a Masonic initiation anywhere is that of John Boswell, Laird of Auchenleck, who was initiated in the Lodge of Edinburgh according to the lodge minutes of 8 June 1600. That lodge was operative and Boswell appears to be an example of one of the earliest speculative initiations and adds weight to a case for the Transition Theory of Freemasonry, at least in Scotland. The earliest records of an initiation in England include Sir Robert Moray in 1641 and Elias Ashmole in 1646. Abroad, the first native-born American to be made a Mason was probably Jonathan Belcher, in 1704, who was then the Governor of Massachusetts.  Even at that, the society continued to replicate new Lodges as individuals continued to push for distinct Masonic identities. Thus at the end of the day, English, Scottish and Irish Lodges have endured as the leading lights in the propagation of Masonic evangelism. In Nigeria just as in Africa, freemansonry grew in population dominating all sectors of the economy, gathering membership from religious sects and even the traditional institutions. The society was so powerful that its members occupied top seats in both the private and public sector, including most notably in the judiciary.

Generally Misconstrued

Despite the huge membership of freemansonry estimated at about 5.9 million worldwide, the society has attracted some of the most virulent attacks ever known to have been thrown at any organisation. This is largely because of what its antagonists describe as its secretive nature and especially the rituals which most religions construe as evil and misleading. In Nigeria, the freemasonry is regarded as a secret society. But Ogun rejected that notion stating that “this is not a secret society, how can it be when it is legally registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission? We are not hidden as you can see and easily walked in here for this interview. But let me be clear here, we are not a religious organisation and don’t pretend to be one. We are just like any other society and St. Georges Hall, which is this building has been standing where it is for about 100 years and we have propagated our activities openly and in published works, on the internet and in the media for all to see and have granted interviews to provide answers to what may not have been understood by outsiders about our organisation.” Even with the much touted openness, freemasons are regarded with undue suspicion to the extent that in some countries, the masons have been accused of nurturing grand ambitions and scheming to rule the world.  Indeed, because of the mason’s sphere of influence in some countries, it is recorded that such was the ill feeling towards freemasons in some Catholic countries that in Portugal in 1810, for example, the Duke of Wellington had to curtail his officers public Masonic activities whilst stationed there for fear of public unrest (Yasha Beresiner MQ Magazine April 2004). In more recent times, most dictatorships (including those of Hitler, Franco and Mussolini) and certain zealous politicians have shown aggression towards bodies of men, including freemasons, who might frustrate their fanatical plans by upholding freedom of thought, law and order and tolerance for ones neighbour. In Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon outlawed freemansonry and dubbed it a secret society during his reign.

Roots of Opposition
As opposition weighed in, so has the grand conspiracy. The idea of a widespread freemason conspiracy originated in the late 1700s and flourished in the US in the 1800s. Persons who embrace this theory often point to purported masonic symbols such as the pyramid and the eye on the back of the dollar bill as evidence of the conspiracy. According to publiceye.org allegations of a freemason conspiracy can be traced back to British author John Robison who wrote the 1798 book “Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and Governments of Europe”, carried on in the secret meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati and Reading Societies, collected from good authorities. Robison influenced French author Abbé Augustin Barruel, whose first two volumes of his eventual four volume study, “Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism”, beat Robison’s book to the printer. Both Robison and Barruel discussed the attempt by Bavarian intellectual Adam Weishaupt to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment through his secret society, the Order of the Illuminati.

Weishaupt was appointed a professor at the University of Ingolstadt in Germany around 1772 and elevated to the post of professor of Canon Law in 1773 or 1775, the first secularist to hold that position previously held by the clergy. Weishaupt began planning a group to challenge authoritarian Catholic actions in 1775. The group (under a different name) was announced on May 1, 1776. This group evolved into the Illuminati. The Enlightenment rationalist ideas of the Illuminati were, in fact, brought into masonic lodges where they played a role in a factional fight against occultist philosophy. The Illuminati was suppressed in a series of edicts between 1784 and 1787, and Weishaupt himself was banished in 1785. Weishaupt, his Illuminati society, the Freemasons, and other secret societies are portrayed by Robison and Barruel as bent on despotic world domination through a secret conspiracy using front groups to spread their influence. Barruel claimed the conspirators “had sworn hatred to the altar and the throne, had sworn to crush the God of the Christians, and utterly to extirpate the Kings of the Earth.”
For Barruel the grand plot hinged on how Illuminati “adepts of revolutionary Equality and Liberty had buried themselves in the Lodges of Masonry” where they caused the French revolution, and then ordered “all the adepts in their public prints to cry up the revolution and its principles.” Soon, every nation had its “apostle of Equality, Liberty, and Sovereignty of the People.”

The major immediate political effect of allegations of an Illuminati freemason conspiracy in Europe was to mobilise support for national oligarchies traditionally supported by the Catholic Church hierarchy. Across Europe, the authoritarian governing elite were coming under attack by reformist and revolutionary movements demanding increased political rights under secular laws. The ideas of the Enlightenment were incorporated by the leaders of both the French and American revolutions, and in a sense, these Enlightenment notions were indeed subversive to the established social order, although they were hardly a secret conspiracy. The special status of the Catholic Church in European nation-states was actually threatened by the ideas being discussed by the Illuminati and the rationalist wing of the freemasons. Several common conspiracy themes emerged from these two books. The Enlightenment themes of equality and liberty were designed to destroy respect for property and the natural social hierarchy. Orthodox Christianity was to be destroyed and replaced with universalism, deism…or worse. Persons with a cosmopolitan outlook–encouraging free-thinking and international cooperation—were seen as disloyal, subversive traitors out to undermine national sovereignty and promote anarchy.

Rites of Passage
One of the major hate propaganda against the masons is the rituals which are conducted in absolute secrecy. Ogun explained the processes and the different levels prevalent in the organization revealing that “we have different levels beginning from the first degree to the third. From the first degree, you are initiated then passed to the third degree and raised to the third degree as an apprentice in the Lodge. This is a guild of craftsmen who are to build the temple or work in the Lord’s vineyard. They are differentiated by the mode of dressing. The next grade is fellow craft; he is then passed and raised to master mason which is a very important post in the masonry. Your growth to this stage is dependent on your tenacity, interest and ability.”  He went further to point out that after attaining the position of the master of the lodge, the mason then moves to the district and may begin as a steward, which is the base and may rise to the position of standard bearer and possibly District Grand Master. Ogun said the Grand Lodge is headed by a Grand Master, currently occupied by the Duke of Kent and District Grand Lodge is headed by a District Grand Master while a Lodge is led by a Worshipful Master. He was quick to point out however that the process of admission into the Lodge is usually very strict and tortuous. According to him, “first you have to apply to the Lodge and must be sponsored by two members. If you are successful, the Lodge will invite the applicant to an interview while critical questions are asked. If the applicant scales the hurdle, he is admitted.”

The President of the Board pointed out that the “process of joining is not easy because the interview is demanding and the candidates future is hinged on how he performs at the interview. Once he is recruited, training begins. At the initiation, you are read a charge which espouses the candidate’s duties to God, his neighbour and himself. You are also instructed on what you must do and what you must not do within the limits of civilized behaviour in the open. This is followed by ritual books which enunciate what you should know at your level. You are also introduced to symbols of recognition, greetings and signs for members’ consumption for the sole purpose of communication.”

Restrictive Admission
Apart from the fight for supremacy by rival groups, one of the major grouses against masons is their strict admission policy. Ogun admitted this much when he said “to be fair our admission policy is very strict and highly restricted because we prefer dealing with the known so that we don’t adulterate the organisation with people of doubtful character.” Adewale Thompson captured it succinctly when he noted that “the grandeur of the elite, which the Brethren maintained both in their personal appearance and in their homes seemed to have compelled the generality of the populace to seek admission into freemansonry and so thick was the upsurge, and so furious the stampede, that a combination of Inner guards could no longer defend the portals, and the hordes had their way.” According to him in the Lodge, the trend was “recognised and contained by means of a selective, and I must say frugal, policy of initiation. It is on record that between 1918 and 1932, a period of 14 years, only one initiation ceremony was conducted even though there were 24 affiliates. The whole idea was to admit into the Lodge only those who have been tried and proven.” He however realized later that while it succeeded in preserving the Lodge from pollution, it also arrested the growth of the Lodge as one of research in that some of those who could have brought new ideas into the Lodge might have been unwittingly excluded under a general policy which gave a tag to the Lodge as a Lodge of professionals. It is also widely assumed that this exclusionist policy became the bane of the masons in Nigeria as it enshrined a culture of sit tight leadership mocking its claims to democracy and, sterile ideas in place of a platform for the propagation of knowledge.

Freemasonry Philosophy
Contrary to the negative perception attributed to the masons, members expound the triple philosophy of brotherly love, relief and truth. According to Ogun, “the solid foundation on which freemasonry rests is the practice of social and moral virtues. It is therefore expected that the teachings of the masonry will be regarded as complementary to that of religion and we are assured that the practice of the principle of our honourable institution should make us respectable in life, useful to mankind and an ornament to the society itself.” He said the philosophical trilogy underscores the charity work through which the masons impact on society. Part of the charity work, contrary to allegations that the masons favour members alone, according Ogun, is focused on the less privileged in society, and in pursuing these doctrines he maintained that “we don’t discuss politics or religion in our meetings, even though each member is allowed to practice whatever religion he deems fit and operate strictly within the by-laws (a set of guidelines for members) of the organisation.”

Worldwide Membership
Indeed, from its membership, the masons have a large following that cut across all religious boundaries, and reads like a list of Who’s Who. In Nigeria, there are both Muslims and Christian male members. Some of these members include Moses Taiga, Adediji Adedoyin, Olawale Obayemi, Graham Douglas, Chukka Ifejika, Adonye Ibiama, Ishola Abudu Emmanuel Araka, Louis Mbanefo, Adewale Thompson, Obas Sijuade, Akenzua, Adetona, Aderemi, Igwe Achebe, Adebola Bailey, Justice Udo Udoma and TOS Benson. In Africa, Mandela, Paul Biya, Bongo, Campaore, Nguesso, Tanja, John Kuffour, Jerry Rawlings, Koffi Annan of Ghana are all members. Globally, such notable names as Yitzak Rabin, Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan, Winston Churchill, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Kent, Billy Graham, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, the Rothschilds and Rockefeller dynasties, and Alister Crawley all show in the mason’s hall of fame. Also US presidents from George Washington, Monroe, Jackson, Polk, Buchanan, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Ronald Reagan and up to Bill Clinton were, or are still members.

Sphere of Influence
The mason’s spread is so far and wide that it is speculated that some of its symbols are on the dollar bill. A recent review of freemasons by H. Paul Jeffers stated that, “Freemasonry has become the cornerstone of the United States Government. Masonic link evidences abound despite disputations by some historians. Masonic signs and symbols are everywhere in government. For example, the Great Seal of the United States and the street plan as well as designs of federal government buildings in Washington DC were laid out on the basis of Masonic beliefs. “The symbol of an inverted triangle or pyramid can be seen in the street plan and the sites are connected to famous freemasons such as Marquis de Lafayette, after whom a park opposite the north side of the White House is named. The Washington Monument and the Pentagon building were designed by masons to conform to a pentagram which is an occult symbol.” Even a commentator, Rowland Adewumi writing on the Nigeriavillagesquare.com wondered whether “Nigeria will be better if we can adopt the masonic principles of friendship, charity and integrity, rather than orchestrating the persecution of freemasons and labelling them as ‘secret societies’, a concept since the days of Yakubu Gowon? He argued that in Britain, for example, freemasonry is probably analogous to the government, the Duke of Edinburgh is a Mason; Duke Michael of Kent is one; the House of Lords and the House of Commons have members as freemasons; Scotland Yard have officers as freemasons; Rowan Williams (the archbishop of Canterbury) is a mason, as were his predecessors.   But as the public perception of the society continues to remain the negative, the masonry may have to adopt a more pragmatic approach of liberalising its membership admission procedures as well as introducing more open rites of initiation or passage. It is only in this manner that the public would shun the conspiracy theories, half truths and innuendos which cast the masonry in the mould of an exclusive secret society.

Unmasking Freemasonry, JOSEPH USHIGIALE

www.rowland-adewumi.com