Deity in transit: The traditionalist edition of religious overreach

My sympathy for traditional religionists is gradually dissipating. There is no doubt they are clear underdogs, persecuted, misunderstood and unfairly dismissed by the arrogant foot soldiers of Christianity and Islam. For decades, they have been mocked as fetishists, demonised from pulpits and minbars and erased from national discourse unless a deity happens to appear in a movie, usually with thunderclaps, smoke and pestilence.

But it is becoming difficult to ignore that with just a sprinkle of power, they could become just as totalitarian and oppressive as those they constantly accuse. Consider the Agemo and Oro festivals. Sacred, yes. But also prime examples of spiritual bullying. Markets shuttered. Roads barricaded. Women ordered to vanish indoors because the gods, allegedly, cannot stand the scent of estrogen or are allergic to ovaries.

Step out in protest or even curiosity and you risk being flogged by men claiming to enforce divine ordinances, but clearly enjoying the unchecked power believed to have been given by their ancestors. Professor Ishaq Akintola of MURIC is an avid chronicler of abuse involving masquerades, particularly in the South West. He has, on various ocassions, described how masquerades, under the guise of religious observance, forcibly seized food from traders, demanded cash from motorists at roadblocks and harassed Muslims performing their prayers.

There are have been reports of Islamic schools being disrupted by roving masquerade bands, whose religion demands respect but offers none in return.
Yet, the irony stinks more than incense. In Ilorin, Isese folks were violently prevented from holding their religious festival by hardline Muslims, emboldened by clerics and openly supported by the police. A traditionalist priestess was detained, not for breaking any law, but for daring to practise her faith on a soil to which she should have the same right.

It is the same old tune, just a different choir. Christians and Muslims have long mastered religious overreach. Churches and mosques often blast sermons through loudspeakers as though the entire neighbourhood signed a worship contract. Highways are casually blocked for crusades or prayers, as though gridlock is a necessary offering to the heavens.

Try building a church in a heavily Muslim town in the North or erecting a mosque in a Christian stronghold in the South East, and watch your building plans dissolve into bureaucratic mist. Muslims in the South East have repeatedly raised complaints about being denied land for mosques and cemeteries, facing hostility and administrative sabotage for trying to practise their faith in peace.

Now imagine traditional religionists in the majority. Picture shrines at every junction, masquerades dictating traffic flow and entire days marked “Deity in Transit: No women outdoors.” Same thirst for control. Different costume.

The issue, obviously, is not the deity people serve. It is what people do when their beliefs are handed a microphone and state power. They begin to act like spiritual landlords, expecting everyone else to adjust, kneel, fast or disappear according to their sacred timetable.

Give almost any religion political cover, numerical strength and watch it go about mauling people like T-Rex in Jurassic Park. Traditionalists are not saints simply because they have been marginalised. If given the numbers, the state’s favour and a few legislations, we would witness the same oppressive theatre, this time with more cowries, palm fronds, amulets, “bante” and masquerades who double as traffic wardens and unofficial tax collectors.

Is the real problem religion itself or is it the human lust for domination? Whether it is the crucifix, the crescent or an effigy, once people believe their God gave them permission to bully others, it is always the same loud, inconvenient and deeply inconsiderate gospel of control.

Is the problem religion itself? Or is it the human need to dominate, wrapped in sacred cloth? Somehow, whether it is a crucifix, crescent or an effigy, once people start thinking their God gave them permission to bully others, it’s always the same old gospel of control, which is loud, inconvenient and deeply inconsiderate.