Video: Muslim Cleric Attacks Osun Traditional Worshippers Performing Religious Sacrifice In Ilorin

Intolerant Islamic Cleric Attacks Osun Traditional Worshippers Performing Religious Sacrifice In Ilorin Kwara

Tensions Flare as Muslim Clerics Threaten Isese Worshippers in Ilorin

A fresh piece of video footage that presents a disturbing scene in which Muslim religious leaders confront and intimidate a group of adherents of Isese, a traditional religion, in the Oko Owo district of Ilorin in Kwara State, Nigeria, has recently surfaced on the internet.

In the contentious footage, the faithful of Isese are depicted engaging in indigenous spiritual practices beside a river bank. However, their rituals are abruptly interrupted by the Muslim clerics who aggressively demand that they vacate the riverside location.

The video was publicized on Friday evening by an individual using the Facebook profile, Alfa Aribidesi At-Tawdeeh Islamic Da’wah. The user captioned the upload with the inflammatory statement, “ANOTHER OSUN WOMEN CAUGHT LIVE @ OKO OLOWO IN ILORIN TODAY!!!”

The video dramatically captures a Muslim religious leader launching himself at a still-unidentified priestess, who, alongside her followers, was standing by the river, prepared to conduct sacrificial rites. The cleric is seen and heard issuing threats of not only disrupting the traditional proceedings and ceremonies but also violently assaulting the priestess and the pair of younger girls accompanying her.

In the heat of the moment, one of the religious leaders, speaking in Yoruba, is heard issuing a stern warning: “We warned you against these sacrifices. I have you on tape with your calabashes. You dare not drop the calabashes,” the cleric shouted at the group.

Responding to these threats, a woman from the priestess’s faction shot back defiantly, declaring, “Everything you are saying is cheap talk. I am an Indigene just like you,” thereby challenging the cleric’s remarks against the traditional religious rites.

The verbal altercation between the two parties raged on for a moment, after which the cleric, in a fit of anger, advanced toward the priestess and her followers, all the while reciting a Muslim prayer.

In a booming voice, he issued an ultimatum, “Come out here because this is Ilorin and such is not allowed. Is this Osun? Leave! Leave! Leave now! Do you not hear me, leave or I’ll pelt you with stones.”

Unfazed by the cleric’s intimidation, the priestess stood her ground and continued with her religious observances.

This incident is, sadly, not an isolated event in Ilorin. Only a few weeks earlier,  a similar story involving Yeye Ajesikemi Olokun Omolara was reported. She was confronted by a Muslim group, Majlisu Shabab li Ulamahu Society, in the city of Ilorin, who attempted to obstruct a planned Isese festival in the state.