ILORIN – A recent online video has highlighted escalating religious tensions in Ilorin, Kwara State, where Arab religion practitioners were recorded threatening Isese female worshipers during a traditional ceremony in the Oko Owo region.
The video footage shows the women conducting native rites by a river, only to be invaded upon and verbally threatened by the cleric shouting at them to vacate the arear
The footage was shared on Facebook by user Alfa Aribidesi At-Tawdeeh Islamic Da’wah, with the headline, “ANOTHER OSUN WOMEN CAUGHT LIVE @ OKO OLOWO IN ILORIN TODAY!!!”
The clip shows an unidentified male adherent of the arab religion advancing towards a vulnerable priestess and her followers, who were preparing to make offerings by the river. The cleric is seen threatening not only to disrupt the ritual process but also to physically harm the priestess and her two associates.
One cleric, speaking in Yoruba, warns against the continuation of the indigenous rites, threatening the group with the evidence he had captured on tape.
In response, a woman from the Osun priestess’ group retorted, asserting her rights as an African native of the region, despite the cleric’s insistence that Ilorin, an African city, does not accept traditional African religious practices.
After a heated exchange, the man menacingly advanced towards the vulnerable priestess and her group while reciting an Arab religion prayer, threatening physical harm to the women . Despite these threats, the priestess continued with the ceremony.
Alarmingly, this incident is not unusual in Ilorin. Previously, Yeye Ajesikemi Olokun Omolara, another priestess, was threatened by an Arab religion society, Majlisu Shabab li Ulamahu, who sought to prevent an Isese festival in the state capital.
In Nigeria and with Kwara being an indigenous African space, observers worry at the silence of the Nigerian male collective who’s apathy on a matter deserving utmost urgency, may give the wrong signals and further enbolden diehard followers of a foreign doctrine
SOURCE: The Punch
IMAGE: Amiloaded
