By BAMIDELE JOHNSON
Somewhere in Lagos State, a clash between Oro devotees and members of a church has left one dead. The incident arose from the Oro devotees’ assumption that the restrictions their deity imposes must affect non-devotees, something I’ve seen with some egungun, which flog those who don’t roll up their trousers and remove footwear when around them.
Oro devotees approached a church holding a vigil and demanded that it turns out its lights because they were having a procession. The church, as it should, refused and the traditionalists ran amok. Happy to hear that arrests have been made and I hope those responsible receive the harshest punishment possible.
Oro worshippers need to have a conversation with their deity and point it out to it/him that times have changed, so movement restrictions regularly imposed for devotees’ professions should stop.
It’s common in our society for people to think that profession of faith comes with the entitlement to abridge the rights of others. We see that when churches use sound equipment with the loudness of an amp-stack for vigils. We see it when mosques do a similar thing for tafsir (hope i got that) and other sermons, keeping people awake.
Complaints, almost always, are met with affronted disbelief. Right abusers seem to wonder why you can’t high-five them instead of having a grievance that your right is abused.
At a CDA meeting where I once lived, there was a mosque reported for the continuous use of a PA system for sermons after doing same for the call to prayer at dawn. The man making the report was a Muslim and argued that if he didn’t go to the mosque after the call to prayer, he simply wasn’t keen. He said he slept better at dawn and that the refusal of the imam to respect that was the reason he never had anything to do with the mosque.
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The imam was subsequently told by the CDA leadership to make the dawn call to prayer very brief and never again use the PA system for sermons. Sensibly, he agreed. Some other may have bristled. I have also had a reason to angrily confront a pastor, who got permission to use a small private school premises in our 12-house close for a vigil.
He started around 11pm. I was beyond irate. Hurled a big stone at the gate, as that was the only they could be notified I was around. The stone’s impact was impressive, so it got the pastor out and I laid on my complaint as forcefully as possible. I was surprised that he didn’t feel affronted. Really surprised. My anger level dipped and instantly rose again when he said he didn’t know the noise from his speakers could disturb.
It’s common in our society for people to think that profession of faith comes with the entitlement to abridge the rights of others.
I asked if he thought the close was a colony exclusive to people with end-stage hearing impairments and, naturally, shot him a stream of words that I shouldn’t repeat. He had his people turn off disable the speakers. I suspect that what he had that night was a premiere and he was hoping to make it a weekly thing if he’d not been confronted. He never came back, thankfully.
Oro worshippers need to have a conversation with their deity and point it out to it/him that times have changed, so movement restrictions regularly imposed for devotees’ professions should stop. Times have changed and Oro needs to get used to that idea. I saw chaps in my secondary school boarding house produce flat wood, string such and whipped it around to produce the same Oro sound. Oro worshippers in the hood reported the indiscretion to the school, which conducted an investigation that led to the suspension of the imaginative trio behind it.
Oro worshippers need to have a word with their deity. Christians and Muslims don’t impose restrictions during their festivities.
