In Nigeria, and I'm sure this is probably the case in other countries where �r�sh� worship has grown and developed over a few hundred years, there is a system of checks and balances. While the system may not be very strong, or may not even be a formal system with council members, etc�it is much harder for a native Nigerian to be taken advantage of by a so-called Nigerian priest. In the States, however, people are taken advantage of left and right by so-called priests of every nationality! This is probably due mostly to the fact that the Yor�b� traditions are relatively new in the States, ca. 50 years. Because of this, many people still don't know about �r�sh� worship and far too many people are left in seclusion to worship.
�r�sh� worship is a communal worship, so finding guidance in a small town in Iowa can be pretty hard. But there are people who worship �r�sh� in Iowa � and what's to save the poor kid who read Santeria or The Yor�b� of Southwestern Nigeria who now developed an interest in �r�sh� worship from falling into the wrong hands? Well, this site is everything but the �r�sh�-police. But, since finding a priest in Nigeria is about as easy as finding a Doctor in the states, and finding a priest in the States can be almost as hard as finding a decent politician in Nigeria � I thought the least I could do with this site is give some pointers.
To double-check someone's credentials in Nigeria, all you have to do is ask a few people and the truth will be at your disposal. But in the States, especially on the Net where everyone is just a scree'name, it's not as easy to double-check someone's references. Especially not priests that come to the States from Nigeria and the Caribbean, among other places.
Some pretty famous American priests have all but reconstructed their history to make it seem as though they all hail from tremendously long lines of Babal�wos. They seem to suffer amnesia in forgetting about the Latin Americans who introduced them to �r�sh� worship, but that's another issue. And, most unfortunately, some Nigerian "priests" have come to the States, set up shop and have been initiating folks left and right�when they either are not even priests to begin with or have absolutely no permission (yes, ladies and gentleman, Nigerian initiates must have permission from their Oluwo before they can begin doing any kind of work besides personally taking care of their �r�sh�. That means permission to learn Od�, permission to learn herbs, incantations, how to divine, etc�) whatever to be practicing their "trade!" That's not to say there are no good Nigerian or American priests in the States; on the contrary, there's quite a few.