Nigeria and the Politics of Hijab

(By Abimbola Adelakun) - Hijab not about ‘religious discrimination’ 

        A bill to end “hijab discrimination” has reportedly passed second reading in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Rep. Saidu Musa Abdullahi of Niger State, the bill, “Religious Discrimination (Prohibition, Prevention) Bill, 2021,” is supposed to protect hijab wearers from various forms of discrimination. Abdullahi was, of course, reacting to the ongoing hijab war in Kwara State that had degenerated into skirmishes. Just as it happened in Osun, Oyo, and Lagos states too, schools considered “Christian” are putting their feet down against their Muslim female students wearing hijab within their premises. Abdullahi managed to dredge up a few other instances of women who have been refrained from performing certain duties on account of their wearing hijab and added that the issue needs to be addressed once and for all. 

        Truly, Nigeria needs a definitive solution to this recurrent hijab issue but framing what is at stake as religious discrimination is a misdiagnosis. In countries where Muslims are a minority or migrants, religious discrimination might be a thing. In Nigeria, no honest person can allege that with a straight face. 

        In Nigeria, a Muslim can petition a whole Inspector-General of Police and threaten violence if an atheist whose opinions unsettle him is not dealt with, and the letter would be honoured in less than 24 hours. Even more shocking, the target of that attack has been indefinitely incarcerated without trial. In Nigeria, a Muslim would petition the Police IG saying that a woman who posted a photograph of herself on Instagram had blasphemed, and then threatened the issue could degenerate into violence. The woman in question almost went into exile even after she withdrew the photo, donned a hijab, and virtually begged for her life. In another country, those that threatened her would have at least been arrested, but not Nigeria. When a religion that can pull those kinds of stunts alleges discrimination, you want to take a closer look.

There is Nothing Like "Money Ritual"

(By Abimbola Adelakun) – There is nothing like ‘money rituals’

The gruesome murder of the Lagos State University student, Miss Favour Daley-Oladele, by a self-deluded young man in pursuit of an illusion of “money rituals” is saddening. According to reports, Favour’s boyfriend, Owolabi Adeeko, had allegedly connived with a pastor, Segun Philips, who promised to make a potion that would magically draw money for Adeeko and his mother. Now that they have been busted, the pastor claimed the ritual failed because “the spirit did not bring any money.”

I am uncertain if he genuinely believed that money would magically surface or he was merely making things up for the press, but here is the truth: There is nothing like money ritual. There has never been, and there never will be.

There is nobody that claims that “money ritual” is real that can also substantiate it. The evidence people tender about its efficacy is typically reportorial, or some fantasy they picked up from home movies. Meanwhile, Nollywood filmmakers too have never seen money rituals work either. What they rehash are urban myths and similar tales. Nobody, I repeat, nobody can make money come out of thin air or conjure it from another location.

Of "Gay Jesus" and Offended Christians

(By Abimbola Adelakun) – On ‘gay Jesus’ and offended Christians 

So far this week, more than two million Christians worldwide have signed a petition demanding streaming services provider, Netflix, to pull a comedy special that portrays Jesus Christ as gay. The film, “The First Temptation of Christ,” was created by a Brazilian comedy group called Porta dos Fundos and it is as goofy as it can be. At the Nigerian end, the Pastor of Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleman, also started a campaign urging Christians to “cancel” Netflix.

Whether they can build up enough momentum for Netflix to yield to their demands remains to be seen. Capitalist behemoths like Netflix are not moved by morality or liberal arguments of mutual tolerance. They only respond to what threatens the balance of their company’s balance sheets. The recent case of Hallmark films and their flip flop over two lesbians kissing in an ad demonstrates this to a hilt. In this case, Netflix might just point at the gazillion Christian shows on their stables as proof of their all-round neutrality. And they will be sincere if they say they are not for or against any side. Those that imagine we are witnessing an ideological battle between conservative and liberal values, and that Christianity is being offered up in this contest simply do not have the full picture. There is only one god we are all called to serve these days, and its name is capitalism. Or, dollars for short.

Faux Historians and Nigeria's Need for Humanities

Adelakun

(By Abimbola Adelakun) - Fani-Kayode And His History Teachers 

If by now, faux historian and professional agitator, Femi Fani-Kayode, has not responded to the rejoinders of Professors Banji Akintoye and Farooq Kperogi on his Yoruba identity flippancy, we can conclude he has nothing further to say and move on to drawing some lessons from the brouhaha of “Yoruba” and its etymology. In some ways, Fani-Kayode’s attention-seeking ways represent the flawed ethics of the present milieu. We live in a post-truth world; the traditional structures that regulated popular inanities have broken down and given way to the reign of alternative facts.

There are two lessons that I took away from the Yoruba/Yariba episode. First is the role that the media played in helping Fani-Kayode brew his pot of mischief. There was no other apparent motive about his claim that the Fulani bequeathed the Yoruba their name other than troublemaking, and it fits into a larger pattern of his anti-Fulani sentiments. He did not cite any source for his discovery, and the way the more astute scholars dislodged his argument shows that there was no rigour invested in his ideas before he hit the streets. He just wanted to arouse the ethnic chauvinists permanently resident on social media as he is wont to do. Judging by how tribal irredentists crawled out of the woodwork to feast on his historical dabble, he pretty much succeeded.