Politicization of Yoruba Oro Spirituality and the National Threat of Extremist Islam in Nigeria

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Politicization of Yoruba Oro Spirituality and the National  Threat of Extremist Islam 

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

Why was Oro, the Yoruba cultural and spiritual  activity requiring people to stay indoors, declared on election day during the last guber elections in parts of Lagos in the midst of ruling party APC demonizing of Igbos, on account of the leading  opposing party, Labour,  being led by an Igbo man, demonizations in the name of winning that election and MC Oluomo, APC activist, threatening those who were not going to vote APC not to come out of their houses during the election?

What's the justice in imposing a curfew on election day for no reason other than for a spiritual activity?

Govt curfew is ideally placed for security reasons and applies to everyone.

Oro was described, in that context as prohibiting movement of only non-Yoruba people.

Why prevent free movement to non-Yorubas on election day?

Given the desperate efforts of APC to secure Lagos in the guber elections after their defeat in the Presidential elections, the central theme of their struggle being that Igbos want to take over Lagos, it's not far fetched to conclude that Oro was announced to prevent non-Yorubas  from voting.

As if in a twist of karma, fellow Yorubas and Fulani religious masters in Ilorin in Yorubaland have barred practitioners of classical Yoruba spirituality, an aspect of what is known as Isese, classical Yoruba culture, from public practice of their religion in Ilorin.

With the help of the police, they have enforced the ban on public practice of classical Yoruba religion, have imprisoned prominent Isese figures who fought back, compelled  one of them, Iya Osun, to reconvert to Islam, even as she did so in tears, have incarcerated Tani Olorun, claiming that he wanted to cause war in Ilorin by calling on Isese followers to converge there for an Isese festival, accusing him and Iya Osun of defaming Muslim clerics, arguing that they, the Ilorin Muslims, are primarily Muslims above their being Yoruba and that they don't want Idolatry i.e Isese spirituality, in Ilorin.  

Meanwhile, Muslims in the Fulani dominated North, as Ilorin is dominated by Fulani Islam, which achieved this dominance through subterfuge and force of arms,  are free to kill a person extra-judicially or judicially, if the person is believed to speak ill against their prophet, and not only will the law do nothing about it, prominent  Northern Muslims will give open support without reprisal from anywhere including the govt, as has happened in the recent mob murder of Deborah and less visibly in other cases.

That is the cancer growing in the SW, where Ilorin is located, a region once known for its peaceful co-existence between different religions.

Will Yoruba people get sympathy for this problem?

Will people be able to appreciate it as a national problem stemming from the inhumane fanaticisms that often characterize the fruits of the jihad of Usman Dan Fodio's conquest of the Hausa states, a jihad extending to Ilorin?

Are we not witnessing the further spread of this militant and extremist form of Islam that has made the North so unstable due to recurrent rise of  Islamic terrorist groups, the political enablement of  Fulani militia and other politically enabled terrorists euphemistically called bandits?

The Isese challenge in Ilorin is a national challenge.

Classical African religions are generally demonized in Nigeria.

They and all Nigerians  all need to join hands.

How will they if one is being used as a political tool, as one may conclude was done with Yoruba spirituality in the use of Oro in the last guber elections in Lagos?

Can't one see how helpless most Yoruba elite are against the Ilorin threat?

If not for national figure Yoruba writer/activist Wole  Soyinka's leadership how likely is it that those SW states that did would have  granted the Isese holiday they did?

How bold and equitable are Yoruba politicians,  as  Rauf Aregbesola, the former Muslim governor of Osun State, who was the first, years before now, to grant an Isese public holiday in his state?  

What is the level of response to this crisis from the Yoruba Islamic community?

Can't one see the total silence from Kwara State govt, unless I missed their response?

Who wants to lose votes by refusing to appease the extremist Muslims?

The politicians are silent as they largely were when Deborah was murdered in the name of Muhammad bcs they are looking for votes from the extremists.

The extremists are likely to be emboldened by the fact that for the first time in history, I think, Nigeria has a Muslim President and vice, covering the two major Islamic constituencies of Nigeria, the Muslim North and the Southwest.

The terrible issues on the ground require cooperation of all humane Nigerians. 

The religious extremists, the Muslim ones being the most virulent, must be defeated.

Can this happen if Isese is used as a political tool, dividing Yoruba from non-Yorubas while extremist Islam divides Yorubas from each other?

Also published on Facebook -

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[cornelius...@gmail.com]

According to Solomon

the wisest man that ever lived

“There’s nothing new under the sun”

So, once again, it’s a great many thanks to the indefatigable Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju who has taken the timeout to direct our attention to the looming tragedy that’s waiting to happen, once again. We observe that we have all been here before, we understand that it’s a perennial déjà vu ,but this time he brings something new to the old, odious and acrimonious  Islamophobia, namely his premonitions about the future of mankind, indeed the future of all humanity currently surviving in that neck of the woods, once the centre of civilisation and tolerance, once celebrated as Ilorin, Kwarra State Nigeria  - and now the dismal prospect that if this perpetual danger is not checkmated but allowed to fester, these dangerous religious tensions are in real  perpetual danger of bursting at the seams into untold bloodletting and more religious wahala to add to the general confusion and states of anarchy and chaos that reigned in various states throughout the Federation in the weeks and months leading up to the Presidential elections of 25th of February this year . 

It would seem that in his role of “warner” Oluwatoyion Vincent Adepoju is far from notably displaying that immensely praiseworthy aspect of the Yoruba character, namely tolerance - the place in Nigeria where you find the greatest extent of religious pluralism, especially prior to e.g. the era of Ajayi Crowther, the Church Missionary Society and the advent of Christian Fundamentalism taking root in that part of the country 

I daresay that it was the same Christian fundamentalist sources of human/ political nature that were the first to raise the hue and cry about the so-called ”Muslim - Muslim Ticket “ - not that the would be leaders  are Nigerians - as stipulated by the constitution, but that Brer Tinubu and his running mate were and are both MUSLIMS ! 

If only Oulwatoyin Vincent Adepoju could do us all a favour : disentangle some of the extreme terms with which he has chosen to pepper his discourse, since everything is in the superlative  - he speaks of “Classical Yoruba Spirituality “ ( exactly what's that, one wonders) in contrast with what he has variously referred to as “Extremist Islam “ and the uninformed babble about “ the inhumane fanaticism that often characterize the fruits of the jihad of Usman Dan Fodio's conquest of the Hausa states, a jihad extending to Ilorin?”

To begin with I would suggest that you take a closer look at Krister Stendahl’s three rules’

Secondly, we could all take a closer look at the significance of SHIRK in Islam

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Cornelius,

Why not analyse the subject of what is happening in Ilorin?

Can you share with us your view of the murder of Deborah by a mob in the Muslim North for allegedly blaspheming against Muhammad?

What do you think of the practically unqualified support openly given to that action by various Northern Muslim elite?

What do you think of the other mob murder meted out to another resident of the North after that on the grounds of another claim of blasphemy?

Could you share your opinion of the death sentence passed on a singer in the Muslim North a few years ago for supposedly praising an Islamic cleric in a way that was seen as elevating him above Muhammad?

Coukd thrse incidents  be described as demonstrating a culture or just random incidents with no relationship to the dominant attitudes of the community where these incidents took place?

What relationship could such actions have to that of the assassin who killed a high profile Pakistani for suggesting the abolition of anti-Islam blasphemy laws?

Could these questions also shed light on the thinking of the Muslim man who killed the film maker van Gogh in Denmark for making a film critical of Islam?

Could thes questions be related by the further extraemization of these attitudes by people who go further, not only to   kill those they see as defaming Muhammed or Islam, as the murders carried out by those Muslims who attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices in France, but who take it upon themselves to force their Islamic ideology on others through force of arms, bombing churches and machine gunning the worshippers, bombing markets, slitting throats of sleeping schoolchildren  and carting away school girls into sexual slavery, as Boko Haram has done, all in the name of compelling Nigeria to follow their brand of Islam?

What is the implications of the replication of this culture in the Pakistani Taliban, who shot a little girl in the face for her activism against them?

Al Shabbab etc the story is repeated in Africa and beyond, in contexts where these characters cannot be said to be freedom fighters or to be fighting Western imperialism as they at times claim.

Are these simply renegades, crooks using Islam as a cover for bloodlust and homicidal mania or are they pius Muslims who see themselves as fulfilling an Islamic mission?

Is there anything in the Koran or other Islamic texts or in Islamic history tht inspires these people?

We know the bloodthirsty aspects of the Bible, the command to kill one's own son, the command to slaughter all living things in a war generated by those who said the land of others was given to them by God who had made them his chosen people, the same God described as commanding the killing of the son only to declare the command a test at the last minute.

How would we see anyone who operates by such values today?  

Why do some Muslims across the world insist on placing their religion above human life in the examples I gave or are the examples false, figments of my imagination?

The Christian church was once one of the deadliest organisations in Europe, policing beliefs with threats of execution, perhaps even wiping out an entire community, the Albigensians, in the name of combating heresy, engaging in mass executions of women for witchcraft etc 

Yet today such behaviour is unthinkable.

But there remains one religion in which a call to kill the writer of a book described as mocking the founder of that religion was declared not too long ago, leading to the deaths of a good no of members of that religion in the chaos that followed. 

Yet, this same religion has some of the best people I have ever met, such as my former teacher Abdul Rasheed Yesufu and my friend Mansur Boase, some of the greatest achievements of humanity in all fields of knowledge, yet it's members of the same religion engaging in those inhumanities I earlier described, behaviour other religions have moved on from. 

Can you help analyze this paradox? 

Thanks

Toyin

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Edited

Cornelius,

Why not analyse the subject of what is happening in Ilorin?

Can you share with us your view of the recent murder of Deborah by a mob in the Muslim North for allegedly blaspheming against Muhammad?

What do you think of the practically unqualified support openly given to that action by various Northern Muslim elite?

Yet Tani Olorun is in prison for trying to organize a Yoruba spirituality festival in Ilorin, described by Ilorin Muslims accusers as equivalent of trying to cause a war in Ilorin since those Muslims have declared they will resist all efforts to publicly practise, even in peaceful assembly, the ancestral religion of the land where they have become the majority, since they won't tolerate idolatry in their land, they say.

Tani Olorun is also accused of  burning the Koran but Northern Muslims are free to kill human beings in the name of their religion, openly declare the justice of their actions and politicians of all parties  cower in fear of even referencing the incident even as Atiku withdrew his condemnation of the barbarism of that incident  when his fellow Northern Muslims threatened to withdraw their votes from him. 

Who wants to alienate people who take life and death into their hands in the name of their religion when an election to the Presidency is at stake?

What are your views on the social and political implications of such a stranglehold on a society?

Is it possible that Nigeria is sitting on a slowly building eruption on account of such brazen recurrences?

What do you think of the other mob murder meted out to another resident of the North after the Deborah murder on the grounds of another claim of blasphemy?

Could you share your opinion of the death sentence passed on a singer in the Muslim North a few years ago for supposedly praising an Islamic cleric in a way that was seen as elevating him above Muhammad?

Could these incidents  be described as demonstrating a culture or just random incidents with no relationship to the dominant attitudes of the community where these incidents took place?

What relationship could such actions have to that of the assassin who killed a high profile Pakistani for suggesting the abolition of anti-Islam blasphemy laws?

Could these questions also shed light on the thinking of the Muslim man who killed the film maker van Gogh in Denmark for making a film critical of Islam?

Could these questions be related to the further extremization of these attitudes by people who go further, not only to   kill those they see as defaming Muhammed or Islam, as the murders carried out by those Muslims who twice attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices in France, but who take it upon themselves to force their Islamic ideology on others through force of arms, bombing churches and machine gunning the worshippers, bombing markets, slitting throats of sleeping schoolchildren  and carting away school girls into sexual slavery, as Boko Haram has done in Nigeria, all in the name of compelling Nigeria to follow their brand of Islam?

What is the implications of the replication of this culture in the Pakistani Taliban, who shot a little girl in the face for her activism against them?

Al Shabbab etc the story is repeated in Africa and beyond, in contexts where these characters cannot be said to be freedom fighters or to be fighting Western imperialism as they at times claim.

Are these simply renegades, crooks using Islam as a cover for bloodlust and homicidal mania or are they pius Muslims who see themselves as fulfilling an Islamic mission?

Is there anything in the Koran or other Islamic texts or in Islamic history that inspires these people?

We know the bloodthirsty aspects of the Bible, the command from God to  Abraham to kill his own son, the command from God to slaughter all living things in a war generated by those who said the land of others was given to them by God who had made them his chosen people, the same God described as commanding Abraham to kill his son only to stop him at the last minute, declaring the command a test.

How would we see anyone who operates by such values today?  

Why do some Muslims across the world insist on placing their religion above human life in the examples I gave or are the examples false, figments of my imagination?

The Christian church was once one of the deadliest organisations in Europe, policing belief with execution of those who diverged from it's official theology, perhaps even wiping out an entire community, the Albigensians, in the name of combating heresy, engaging in mass executions of women for witchcraft etc 

Yet today such behaviour is unthinkable.

Classical, foundational, endogenous African religions once officially practised human sacrifice, at the burials of monarchs and in other strategic situations.

But they have moved on from that. 

But there remains one religion in which killing other human beings in the name of that religion recurrently occurs as a demonstration of dedication to the religion, an anti-human  attitude occuring across general members of the religion, as in the examples of murderous mobs and murderous individuals I have mentioned, as well as  extending to those who organise themselves into armies, such as Boko Haram and Al Shabbab, for the purpose of using death and fear as means of promoting this religion, things members of other religions no longer do.

A call to kill the writer of a book described as mocking the founder of that religion was declared some years ago by a prominent member of the religion, leading to the deaths of a good no of members of that religion in the international chaos that followed. 

Yet, this same religion has some of the best people I have ever met, such as my former teacher Abdul Rasheed Yesufu and my friend Mansur Boase, some of the greatest achievements of humanity in all fields of knowledge, yet it's members of the same religion engaging in those inhumanities I earlier described, behaviour other religions have moved on from. 

Can you help analyze this paradox? 

Is it not cause for alarm if an oasis within these recurrent eruptions of sacrificing human life and well being in the name of this religion, Nigeria's SW, where members of that religion regard themselves first and foremost as humans among fellow humans and not soldiers of the religion who have the power of life and death over others in the name of that religion, is being infected with the culture of refusing to share social space equitably, creating breeding ground for those horrors I have outlined?

Thanks

Toyin

[cornelius...@gmail.com]

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,

The series of  rhetorical questions that you pose are questions that you and the various authorities, religious leaders, Classical Yoruba Spiritual Entities have to take seriously and have to answer. 

You concluded your original post thusly : 

“ The religious extremists, the Muslim ones being the most virulent, must be defeated.”

Well, that’s the moot question and the way you frame it implies that it is or has to be a war against (from your point of view) evil forces that you say  “must be defeated.”

The question arising is , can the evil forces that you have in mind be defeated peacefully, or do you intend to put out fire with overwhelming fire ? Another historic incidence of operation shock and awe? The Yoruba Christian Forces of course being led into battle by the  troika of Brigadier-General David Oyedepo, assisted by Generals Enoch Adeboye and William Folorunso Kumuyi , these holy pious Christian gentlemen singing their battle hymn “ Onward Christian Soldiers” as they march bravely  against the various armies of Holy Muslim Jihadists & suicide bombers gathered  to defeat them.

Forget it; I was only kidding; in unison the troika is most probably going to quote this piece of Jesus : “Those who use the sword will perish by the sword”

Of course as you are well aware, the forces of evil are not only operating locally in the theatres of action such as what has now become the Ilorin crucible, for context, all the world’s a stage in which we have our exits and our entrances , the forces of evil are still active, very much so, Hitler’s children are still very active and there's been all that awful Quran burning in Sweden for example , but for the wider context, looka here ( and don't despair) : understand that it’s a propaganda website :The Religion of Peace ( take your time to check it out , because Nigeria is also featured there…

Very cautiously we could take a legal approach to solving some of these problems. We could begin with citizen education as a sine qua non for creating a law and order society. Muslims and non-Muslims alike could be taught Articles 18 and 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Right ….

Citizens should pay greater attention each time Mr. President says, “God bless Nigeria”

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,

We’ve been here before, again and again, and we ought to stop treading water with regard to these issues. 

Hopefully, you yourself would not risk your neck by ever saying anything unbecoming of the Prophet of Islam - sallallahu alaihi wa sallam

Simple, clear, concise and straightforward : Islam and Blasphemy

I should like to add that it would seem that most unfortunately, when it comes to provoking Muslims, whether in the secular streets of Stockholm or Sharia Law Sokoto, we haven't heard the last of the most sinful blasphemy that nowadays is always in the headlines. 

The common understanding is that “Ignorance of the law is no excuse”

The informed Nigerian citizen who is well aware of the risks to personal life should only have himself / herself to blame - especially within the precincts of any of the twelve sharia states in the Federal Republic of Nigeria ( the death penalty, most likely mob justice to be meted out spontaneously and on the spot, in tune with the concept of " justice delayed is justice denied ") would normally therefore not risk sticking his or her neck out, unless of course hungry for that kind of martyrdom and posthumous fame in the name of his/her Western ideal known as unlimited “freedom of speech”, freedom to criticise, freedom to blaspheme, indeed freedom to eat shit and die as a consequence.

True: Nigeria is a secular state and not a Muslim/ Christian or Classical Yoruba theocracy.

 So, very simply, people have to learn to live together, peaceably, with mutual love and respect like God’s chosen nation….

I propose  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ought to be taught in all schools ( with due regard toIslamic reservations about Article18 of course….

Re -“ The religious extremists, the Muslim ones being the most virulent, must be defeated.”

Think  again,begin by taking a good,long hard look at this Religious Map Of Africa ) good enough reason to not want to start a religious war against Muslims….

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Thanks, Cornelius.

Your declaration sums up the barbarism that must not be exported to the SW, where Yoruba Muslims do not value their religion over the lives of other human beings-

''The informed Nigerian citizen who is well aware of the risks to personal life should only have himself / herself to blame - especially within the precincts of any of the twelve sharia states in the Federal Republic of Nigeria ( the death penalty, most likely mob justice to be meted out spontaneously and on the spot, in tune with the concept of " justice delayed is justice denied ") would normally therefore not risk sticking his or her neck out, unless of course hungry for that kind of martyrdom and posthumous fame in the name of his/her Western ideal known as unlimited “freedom of speech”, freedom to criticise, freedom to blaspheme, indeed freedom to eat shit and die as a consequence.''

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAFYPD-RgkpdJpMKm2HYGPaAFAfN0pfs2p0KUqBxr428uYjwCsA%40mail.gmail.com.