#1 Sounding Afterlives Of Traditional Religious Slavery And Oath Systems In Nigeria
UDC:
Received: May 25, 2025
Reviewed: Oct 15, 2025
Accepted: Nov 12, 2025
#1 Sounding Afterlives Of Traditional Religious Slavery And Oath Systems In Nigeria
Citation: Olaleye, Olufemi Akanji and Olusegun Stephen Titus. 2026. "Sounding Afterlives Of Traditional Religious Slavery And Oath Systems In Nigeria." Accelerando: Belgrade Journal of Music and Dance 11:1
Abstract
The agonizing afterlives of the traditional religion conquest and the cultural oath system alterations by the adherents of imported foreign religions to Nigeria brought spiritual favoritism to the Bible and the Quran as an object of oath. Consequently, the traditional religion suppressions emboldened Nigerian leaders and politicians to do away with the fears of the traditional gods, which they had earlier feared and venerated. Therefore, this study explores the afterlives of traditional religious slavery and the foreign politics of modern oath systems and their consequences on the socio-political lives of Nigerians. The study adopted an ethnographic method that included participant observation, interviews, and textual analysis. Secondary data were sourced from books and the internet. More so, the song of Fela Anikulapo was analysed, which exposes and itemizes the negative effects of traditional religious slavery in Nigeria. Based on the religious diversity theory, the study argues that Nigerian religious tradition differs from the foreign religious philosophies and doctrines; however, the skewedness of the two unequal religions has negative consequences on the socio-political lives of the people. Finding reveals that the exterminations of the cultural oath systems contributed to Nigeria's downfall with in-depth corruption, abject poverty, suffering, lack of social amenities, hopelessness, and sickness, ‘JAPA’, and early deaths in Nigeria. Findings also reveal that music is a useful weapon of historicity and excellent cultural ideological reawakening, and that music is significantly valuable to sustainable development. The study concludes that the antidote to cure Nigeria of endemic political imbroglio and economic challenges permanently is the resuscitation of the fearful cultural oath systems.
fela anikulapo kuti, religious enslavement, spiritual confusion, oaths, JAPA
Introduction
The historic religious dimensions of slavery and its afterlives in Nigeria are mixtures of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Historically, three major foreign invasions were noted in Nigeria: the Portuguese explorers, the Religious fundamentalists, and the Colonial Masters. The Portuguese explorers arrived in Lagos harbor in 1472 with guns, and their activities laid the foundation for the forceful slave trade and colonialism. The second invaders were Christian evangelists around 1842, with the Bible doctrines that preached against traditional religion and outlawed its practices. The Colonial Masters' incursions in the 19th century, with foreign ideologies, colonized the indigenous people and exploited their human and natural resources. The study noted that the indigenous Nigerians already established religious traditions and believe in Olódùnmaré as their Almighty God and worship Olódùnmaré through the intermediary of venerated deities such as sàngó (god of thunder), ògún (god of iron), òsun (god of ocean), and are deeply rooted in rituals to ensure survival, continuity, and justice. The indigenous social Justice, unity, equality, peace, and a prosperous society were achieved through the invocation of deity spirits for the oath of office and leadership. Therefore, this study examined the indigenous religious practices before the slave trade and explicates afterlife happenings, events, and troubles in the socio-political imbroglio in Nigeria as a result of foreign invasions. Specifically, it highlights the extermination of cultural oath-taking systems with traditional gods such as sàngó, ògún, amadioha, agwu nsi, kuri, jam maraki, and sarikin bakka in favor of foreign religious books such as the Bible and the Quran as items of oaths. Suggestions were proffered to alleviate the troubles brought by the religious dimension of slavery in Nigeria.
An oath is a solemn promise or a pledge by an individual, often invoking a divine witness in the form of an object, regarding future actions, behavior, and attestation to serve faithfully. Oath typologies include the oath of office, oath of allegiance, oath of affidavits, marriage oath, and general oath between two parties. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Section 38, 1999, concerns the oath of office to guide public office holders. Affidavits in the Nigerian system are also backed with oaths in section 13 of the Oaths Act, and in section one of judicial proceedings, witnesses are made to swear an oath or solemn affirmation to give evidence in court truthfully. The Bible and Quran were declared in Nigeria as objects to swear an oath as a result of the afterlives of traditional religions, slavery, in which the cultural jùjú, gods, and deities were abandoned. The Nigerian cultural jùjú gods were known to be more effective with instant judgments of an offender or dubious individual, which scared the politicians away from their use. The use of the Bible and Quran that preached mercy to an offender or sinner birthed corruption, dishonesty, fearlessness, and overconfidence to steal public money, the politicians, public officers, uniform men, and people in positions of authority in Nigeria. However, the ineffectiveness of the adopted Bible and Quran for instant judgment gave way to the promulgation and setting up of corrupt combat commissions such as the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on June 4, 2004, and the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act in 2006. Therefore, afterlives of traditional religions' slavery that forbid traditional oath objects to the modern Bible and Quran birthed overwhelming corruption, stunning embezzlements, and dishonesty that resulted in Nigeria's backwardness.
Before the arrival of colonial masters and missionaries to Nigeria, the indigenous people had developed their religious practices, indigenous oath practices, and the maintenance of their society. Besides, oath-taking constitutes a viable weapon of peace maintenance among the various traditional tribes in Nigeria. An oath, in the traditional concept, is a solemn promise often invoking a divine witness under the guidance of traditional deities, regarding one's future actions or behavior. This traditional oath perception simply implies the use of the invocation of a divine witness or an object that will stand against an individual for wrongdoing or actions in an office. However, this study observed the slow punishment for the offenders who use the Bible or the Quran as a foreign book in the Nigerian oath system, with very deep corruption and backwardness. At the assumption of office, Nigerian politicians usually swear an oath using the Bible or the Quran without any effect, and this encourages corruption, embezzlement, dishonesty, greed, selfish interest, strife, hate, and an uncaring attitude toward the masses. Therefore, Abati (2009) opined that not up to a percent of Nigerian politicians have a belief in a religion or at most in the one they feign to believe in; for this, they should not use Jesus or Mohammed as a shield (sources: The Guardian Newspaper, 3rd July 2009).
The reasons for the Bible and Quran's ineffectiveness, opined to Ekwenze (2022) that Christianity and Islamism are both for peace and salvation, while jùjú is for justice, and he advocated that jùjú should be adopted as an oath in Nigeria. Therefore, one of the major challenges of the afterlives of religious slavery in Nigeria is the suspension of the traditional jùjú oath system that birthed endemic corruption and backward society, agony, hunger, and hopelessness. Therefore, this novel study focuses on the religious dimension of slavery in Nigeria through the following questions: What are the foreign religious dimensions of slavery and its afterlives in Nigerian politics and socio-economic development? What are the negative effects and troubles of the extermination of cultural oath-taking systems with sàngó and ógún, amadioha, agwu nsi, kuri, jam maraki, and sarikin bakka in favor of the Bible as an object of oath in Nigeria? Is there any means to alleviate/eradicate the troubles brought by the religious dimensions of slavery and its afterlives in Nigeria?
The significance of this study includes unearthing the religious dimension of slavery in Nigeria for the restitution and amendment of the wrongs done during the slave trade. This study will also serve as an eye-opener to the contemporary generation of Nigerians on the negative aspects of religious slavery and the discontinuity of the same erroneous ideology. The study examines the importance of Nigerian traditional religion and its benefits to the world at large. The comparative analysis and in-depth study of Western and indigenous Nigerian religions will foster unity, peace, and enhance society's sustainability. This study supports the Indigenous people toward revitalizing their communities, addressing environmental challenges, restoring native landscapes, re-establishing sustainable natural practices, and strengthening traditional religious knowledge for peace and sustainability.
Materials and Methods
The theoretical framework for this study is religious diversity theory, which emphasizes the triangular concepts of regional religious culture, environment, and human beings. The author argues that Nigerian religious tradition differs in philosophical and doctrinal interpretation from European religions. The Nigerians were indoctrinated, forced, and bullied into accepting foreign religious practices of oath-taking without the opportunity of any choice. The imposition of the Bible and the Quran as objects of oath laid the foundation for religious confusion that birthed corruption, poverty, and death in Nigeria. Religious diversity is evoked to analyze the required restitution, pacification, and the reversal of existential tenets of Nigerian indigenous society. The mythical interconnections between traditional religion, environment, nature, and culture, as an evolving area of scholarship, are increasing rapidly. The religious pacification “interface” within the Nigerian social system and nature’s mystery of religious slavery healing was exhumed.
This study employs an ethnographic research design and textual analysis. The study was conducted between 2022 and 2023. It entails interviews of some Nigerian elders, Chiefs, and community members with the experience of afterlives of religious slavery in Nigeria, such as Ayeódèmi Olálówò (Chief of Mogbà Idopa, Nigeria), Bolajoko Akanji (Chief Majeobaje of Idopa, Nigeria), Adejare Adisa (òrìsà Obàtálá worshipper Oyo, Nigeria), and Dr. Arikana Chihombori (Africans, Religion and Self-Hatred). In the submission of Chubuike Ikenna, interviewed on the 12th January, 2023, Abdullahhi Adamu interviewed on the 3rd June, 2023. Participant observation was used in gathering data, and secondary data were sourced through libraries and the internet, TikTok, and BBC Yoruba on Facebook. The use of Popular Song analysis of Fela Anikulapo, based on its advocacy for cultural oath methods as an initiator of instant and immediate punishments for offenders, historicizes and documents afterlives of slavery in Nigeria. Research findings were documented through ethnographic summaries, explanation-building techniques, and social-environment object explanations. Results
Before the arrival of the slave master in Nigeria, indigenous people had developed methods of oath-taking that were very effective with traditional gods’ paraphernalia. According to septuagenarian Olagoke Akinwale in an oral interview on the 12th January, 2023, submitted that in the previous traditional oath practice in Nigeria, the gods were effective and known for instant justice. Elder Olagoke further opined that the adoption of metaphysical oaths through the spirit of the gods and other primordial entities is to ensure compliance with rules and regulations. Traditionally, oath-taking in the Nigerian society is meant to protect the citizens against injustice, corruption, dishonesty, protection against evil and unfaithfulness, and to maintain law and order. The indigenous oath system includes the invocations of gods and cultural objects among the various tribes and subgroups through nature-gods such as sàngó, the god of thunder, with objects such as Edun Èra, osé sango (thunder stone, warden), functional deities ògún, the god of iron, with àdá, orí, obì, ìbon sakabùlà (cutlass, substance, kola nuts, and local gun), and Yemoja, the god of the river, and ayélála, the god of justice. According to Chibuike Ikenna in an oral interview 26th March, 2023, in the Nigerian Igbo society, oath deities include amadioha, the god of thunder and lightning is the most popular and the strongest used for an oath; agwu nsi is the god of health, divination, and can take away offenders' wealth, fortune, and bestow poverty for any form of dishonesty and disobedience. Besides, Anyanwu is regarded as the god of productivity and well-being of his people on earth, who is constantly ready to mete out punishment for any form of disobedience. Furthermore, Abdullahhi Adamu in an oral interview on the 3rd June, 2023, submitted that some renowned Nigerian Hausa gods are kuri, jam maraki, and sarikin bakka, which traditionalists can give illness to any nonconformist to cultural instructions and directives.
Traditionally, the oath tripod contents include the traditional adjudicator, the person taking the oath, and the unseen god who takes care of the oath. The traditional adjudicator acting on behalf of the people and gods is expected to make a pronouncement, and the individual taking the oath will imply evils or calamity to befall him if he reneges from performing the society’s duty bestowed on him; however, provoke blessings for all his good deeds to the people. According to Chief Ayeódèmi Olálówò the Mogbà of Idopa, Nigeria, in an oral discussion on the 22nd January, 2023, opined that the plaintiff, who may be an intending cultural officer, chief, political office holder, and king, will swear using an object and in the case of ògún (god of iron) worshiper, he will be made to use an iron object to touch his tongue and in the proceed swear to an oath of allegiance to the society. The fear of gods, objects, religious emblems like thunder, and the heavy repercussions of disobedience usually force the people to keep to their oaths, and this naturally results in a peaceful society. Ogunleye (2013) opined that oaths taken either in front of divinity or religious emblems make traditional people of Nigeria behave well in society. Besides, this is also the case with leaders, kings, politicians, and community chairmen, housewives, to maintain honesty, obedience, purity, and a peaceful and egalitarian society.
The effectiveness of traditional oaths and the immediate consequence judgment in the presence of cultural gods is speedy, timely, and accurate. Bolajoko Akanji, the Chief Majeobaje of Idogo, Nigeria, in an oral interview on the 24th March, 2023, submitted that all the gods are known for instant judgment without any fear or favor; instant judgments are noted with all traditional gods. He further argues that these practical traits of traditional oaths are responsible for curbing societal aberrations. Besides, the spread of punishment to the culprit and his cohorts is another manifestation of God's judgment, which is believed to manifest generationally from father to his children, otherwise known as ègún àjogúbá: inherited curse. The fear of an inherited curse as a result of cultural oaths keeps the society going, and children learn to behave without involving themselves in unfaithful acts within the society. Before traditional religious slavery, the citizens of the Nigerian society and their leaders were always at peace because of their attachment to and belief in the efficacy of their gods and deities. Traditional oath-taking has proven to be useful in taming any form of aggression, unfaithfulness, and dishonesty, and placing moral obligations upon society. The respondents observed and maintained that the traditional oath system has no respect for persons because every person is ontologically equal in the eyes of the gods and cultural deities.
According to Bolajoko Akanji, the Chief Majeobaje of Idopa, Nigeria, confirmed the efficacies of Yorùbá gods and cited cases of sàngó, the Yorùbá god of thunder, who meted out punishment with thunder and enjoined people not to stand at the building entrances in order not to partake in the punishment whenever the gods are on his way to arrest the offender. Citing some traditional oaths' effectiveness of òrìsà ògún, the god of war, of the hunt, and of all pursuits in which iron or steel is used. Traditional oath methods include: washing of the knife in water and palm leaves, and then drinking the water from a special calabash itòó; putting a gun and cutlass on ògún shrine and pouring water for people to drink the remaining water and eating the kola-nut; and kissing an object of iron and inviting ògún to witness the oath. All these effective traditional methods were suspended as a result of traditional religious slavery. If an oath is broken, the gods will punish the offender by making him ill, mad, or outright killing through a snake bite, motor accident, or stray bullet.
Afterlives of Traditional Oath Slavery in Nigeria
Numerous foreign religions, such as Anglican, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventist, Catholic, Islam, Ahmadiyya, and Judaism, were introduced into Nigeria, and the worship of traditional gods was banned from the society, and a foreign system of oath-taking was introduced into the socio-political lives of Nigerians. Having observed the negative effects of foreign religions, the Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka in an online television program has singled out religion as the number one problem hindering Nigerians from being liberated as “rational beings” channelstv.com. Therefore, after a careful study of the ineffectiveness of foreign oath systems, the lackadaisical results, and the levels of impunity in the Nigerian society, most of the enlightened citizens have written off the imported religion. However, the BBC (2004) observed that religious practice is so endemic in Nigeria and declared the Nigerian people as the most religious people in the world. In the opinion of Human Rights Watch (2019), this religious ‘height’ notwithstanding, the nation (Nigeria) equally ‘stands tall’ among the corrupt nations in the world. The banning and slavery of traditional religions have brought remarkable change to the moral values in Nigeria. Western religious infiltration has not been altogether beneficial to Nigerian society in terms of fear of gods and respect for humanity's rules. There is an increase in deceit, corruption, and treachery. Christianity and Islam, by a miscarriage of purpose, have contributed to the detrimental changes in moral value by replacing the old fear of divinities with the relieving but harmful notion of God, who is ever ready to forgive all sins. Therefore, enlightened church followers and Islamic adherents are given to greed, corruption, stealing, breaking covenants, and confiscating people’s property without any fear.
According to Adejare Adisa, an òrìsà Obàtálá worshipper, in an oral interview on the 22nd January, 2023, in Nigeria, confirmed that the introduction of foreign religious objects for oath-taking led to religious confusion and the downfall of Nigeria. The mixture of imported religions created confusion and crisis, with several losses of lives and properties. The foreign religion brought fanaticism, intolerance, favoritism, and deeper divisions among the Nigerian masses and community. Religious particularity or comparison is one of the crucial factors that are responsible for religious confusion in Nigeria. Both Islam and Christianity claimed to be superior to each other, especially to the traditional worshippers. The upsurge of religious intolerance, wishful desire, selfish interest, and provocative utterances against traditional religious adherents laid the foundation for religious confusion and crisis. There were reprisal and retaliatory attacks that were a very common feature in Nigerian society. Some of the afterlives of the religious slavery crisis included the Kano religious riot in 1980; the Bauchi religious riot in 1984; the Katsina, Sokoto, and Zaria riot in 1987; the Sagamu riot in 1999; Lagos religious riot in 2000; Jos religious killing in 2002 and over two decades Boko Haram religious war that has claimed over one million souls in Nigeria. Sounding afterlives of religious enslavement and devastating consequences, Fela Anikulapo rightly documents the afterlives of religious confusions in Nigeria in his several albums such as Confusion, Colo-mentality, Everything Scattered, and Shuffering and Shmilimg.
Suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer,
Suffer for world
Na your fault be that
Me I say: na your fault be that
I want you all to please take your minds
Out of this musical contraption
And put your minds into any goddamn church
Any goddamn mosque
Any goddamn Celestical
Suffer, suffer for world
Enjoy for Heaven
Christians go dey yab
"In Spiritum Heavinus"
Muslims go dey call
"Allahu Akbar"
Open you eye everywhere
Archbishop na miliki
Pope na enjoyment
Imam na gbaladun
Archbishop dey enjoy
Pope self dey enjoy
Imam self dey enjoy
My brother wetin you say?
My brother wetin you say?
My sister wetin you go hear?
My sister wetin you go hear?
Archbishop dey for London
Pope dey for Rome
Imam dey for Mecca
Archbishop dey for London
Pope dey for Rome
Imam dey for Mecca, Amen!
My people them go dey follow Bishop
Them go follow Pope
Them go follow Imam
Them go go for London
Them go go for Rome
Them go go for Mecca
Them go carry all the money
Them go juba Bishop
Juba Pope
Juba Imam
Then them go start to yab themselves:
Every day, for house
Every day, for road
Every day, for bus
Every day, for work
My people, my people
My people, my people
This is what happens to we Africans every day
Now wetin I want tell you now
Na secret o
Na confidential matter
Don't tell anybody outside
Na between me and you
Now listen
As I dey say before
E dey happen to all of us every day
We Africans all over the world
Now listen
Suffering and smiling!
Every day my people dey inside bus
Every day my people dey inside bus
Forty-nine sitting, ninety-nine standing
Them go pack themselves in like sardine
Them dey faint, them dey wake like cock
Them go reach house, water no dey
Them go reach bed, power no dey
Them go reach road, go-slow go come
Them go reach road, police go slap
Them go reach road, army go whip
Them go look pocket, money no dey
Them go reach work, query ready
Every day na the same thing
Every day na the same thing
Every day na the same thing
Every day na the same thing
Suffer, suffer for world...
How many, many a many you go make?
Many, many...
How many, many a many you go make?
Many, many...
How many, many a many you go make?
Many, many...
How many, many a many you go make?
Many, many.
The lyricist Fela Anikulapo Kuti vividly describes and brings out the afterlives of traditional religious slavery that birthed fearlessness as a result of the enslavement of the cultural oath system in Nigeria. Religious enslavement laid the foundation of Nigerian suffering, stealing of public funds, and fake obeisance to their bishop, Pope, and Imam after sharing the public funds. He emphasized that it is not a secret that African total lives are in confusion because Nigerians were told that their enjoyment is in heaven while they suffer here on earth. However, the Archbishop, Pope, and Imam were enjoying life here on earth while Nigerians dwelt under the yoke of confused lives. Fela warned Nigerians to do away with foreign religions that cannot deliver them from confusion, suffering, corruption, poverty, and slavery. Fela advised the Nigerian Judiciary arm of government to adopt traditional gods’ practices in oath exercises with special objects like stone, sand, water, cutlass, dane gun, ocean, and fire, and tested effective traditional deities. Therefore, religion was used to conquer and brainwash Africans, and we need healing from the afterlives of religious slavery. Popular music has served as the object of historicity for the preservation of socio-historical phenomena.
Afterlives of Religious Slavery and Corruption in Nigeria
Nigeria has been adjudged as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, and the rate and magnitude of corruption (official and non-official) in Nigeria now appear endemic (Ekwenze, 2022). This sad appellation was achieved as a result of the afterlives of religious slavery that birthed the abandonment of the traditional oath-taking system. According to the Nigerian criminal code, section 2 of the Criminal Code Act cap C38 LFN, 2004, and sections 98-102 of the Criminal Code Act cap C38 LFN, 2004, an offense of corruption evolves into an act committed by a public officer by asking, receiving, and obtaining any property or benefit from people. Furthermore, in the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act Cap. 31 LFN 2004, the corruption act is declared to include bribery, fraud, and other related offenses. Despite the acts, every facet of Nigerian life is corrupt (Ibid.). The historic abandonment of fearful oath objects by Nigerian politicians with endemic corruption while using the Bible and the Quran has destroyed Nigeria beyond repair, except we revert to old, fearful traditional oath-taking objects. The observed position of Nigeria in the global corruption perception index ranking varied but continued to generally worsen. The following gives a vivid corruption index ranking in Nigeria from 2021 to 2023.
| Year | Nigeria | Africa | Worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 76 | 67.7 | 57.0 |
| 2021 | 76 | 67.9 | 56.8 |
| 2020 | 75 | 67.5 | 56.7 |
| 2019 | 74 | 67.6 | 56.8 |
| 2018 | 73 | 67.5 | 56.9 |
| 2017 | 73 | 67.9 | 56.9 |
| 2016 | 72 | 68.5 | 57.1 |
| 2015 | 74 | 67.7 | 57.5 |
| 2014 | 73 | 67.4 | 56.8 |
| 2013 | 75 | 67.9 | 57.4 |
| 2012 | 73 | 66.7 | 56.8 |
| 2011 | 76 | 70.7 | 59.7 |
The Nigerian corruption index is extremely high based on the data that is determined annually by Transparency International. In 2022, the index was calculated for 180 countries from all continents, and Nigeria's original index shows that the figures were at very high levels of corruption. So the official score for Nigeria is 24 points in 2022, which would make it an anti-corruption index because, as the score increases, corruption decreases. Generally, most African countries still have a long way to go in the fight against corruption. According to Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index in 2022, Nigeria scored 24 on a scale from 0 (‘highly corrupt’) to 100 (‘very clean’), which analytically portrayed Nigeria as a highly corrupt nation. When ranked by score, Nigeria ranked 150th among the 180 countries in the index, which is an indication of a reckless nation in corruption as a result of fearlessness brought by foreign religions and afterlives of traditional religious slavery.
Afterlives of traditional religious slavery and oath systems in Nigeria that result in the use of the Bible and the Quran without immediate punishment have emboldened Nigerian politicians and the people in government. Some of the notable corruption and breathtaking fraud cases that result from fearlessness are the Maina Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team accused of N198 Billion fraud; the Police Pension Fund Fraud concerns only 5 people with N32.8 billion; Stella Oduah, a former Minister of Aviation, stole N643 Million; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation lost N20 Billion Oil money; A $15 Million private jet arms scandal in which a private jet was used to convey the money to Johannsburg; A Malabu Oil scandal $1.1 Million; A Farouk Lawal bribe of $620,000; A Former Minister of Health Adenike Grange was accused of mismanaging N300 Million; in February 2028, a snake was accused of swallowing N36 Million from the vault of the Joint Admission Matriculation Board in Markurdi. The itemized fraud and corruption cases are the linked cases to the public by the youthful Nigerian journalists; however, countless cases have been swept under the carpet, and the menace continues without any abatement. (Sources: premiumtimesng.com, researchgate.net)
Findings and Conclusion
The initial worries of this paper are a critical study and exploration of traditional religious slavery and its afterlives in Nigeria, especially as a result of the suspension of effective oath-taking methods in the Nigerian judiciary system. Findings show that contemporary Nigerian politicians no longer fear the consequences of oaths with the Bible and the Quran, having tested their ineffectiveness. The banning of traditional religious practices and the extermination of traditional gods gave birth to afterlives of religious confusion, fearlessness, and misbehavior in Nigeria. The introduction of foreign religious practices and the favoritism of the Bible/Quran as an object for oath-taking, hysterically emboldened the citizens, due to the lack of immediate punishment. Christianity planted afterlives of spiritual confusion, and Nigerians were between two or three religious practices. Spiritual confusion and fearlessness birthed corruption, poverty, hunger, sickness, suffering, lack of social amenities, unemployment, youth restiveness, weak educational institutions, strikes, and professional youths' migrations (Jápa) to foreign nations, feeble healthcare, and early deaths in Nigeria. Besides, as a result of confusion brought by afterlives of religious slavery, the contemporary Nigerian youths are fighting rigorously to eradicate corruption; however, the more the fight, the higher the challenge grows.
Nigeria is heavily in debt as a result of mismanagement, corruption, fearlessness, and a lack of empathy for the masses. Nigeria’s total debt as of December 2024 (Federal Government and states’ loans) hits N107.38tn following the approval of fresh borrowings for the Federal Government and new securitization of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s N7.3tn Ways and Means advances. This is because the Senate, as of December 2023, approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to borrow $7.8bn and €100m as part of the Federal Government’s 2022-2024 borrowing plan. According to President Tinubu, the Federal Executive Council under former President Muhammadu Buhari approved the loan facility on May 15, 2023, to finance infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, insecurity, and other sectors. Despite Nigeria as one of the biggest exporters of petroleum and other infrastructural amenities, the removal of fuel subsidies brought a negative impact on the economy. The country is set to borrow more from the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group in mitigating the economic shocks and recent reforms, with a sum of $1bn and $2bn, respectively. The prices of food have skyrocketed by more than 400% to the extent that people now resort to begging, eating from the dumb hills, and people are dying as a result of poverty and hunger.
The suffering of afterlives of traditional religious suspensions continued to reverberate and extended to all facets of Nigerian lives such as backward education, constant strikes, bad roads, lack of power, restlessness, armed robbery, kidnapping, religious and tribal struggle, money rituals with human body parts, empty hospitals, prostitution, hunger, tribalism, fake churches and mosques, sicknesses, lack of social amenities and constant lives of fear, heat and noises. The consequences of the decay in university education and research facilities led to a massive brain drain of academics in other developed nations. The career choices of the brightest brains were adversely affected in Nigeria as a result of siphoning a large chunk of Nigerian oil money. Nigeria is currently the poverty capital of the world as a result of afterlives of traditional religious slavery, and Nigeria has one of the largest out-of-school children populations in the world. Despite the huge natural resources endowment, Nigeria has abundant oil but cannot refine ordinary petroleum as a result of corruption occasioned by afterlives of fearlessness.
In 2024, using ethnographic data and random selection interviews, youths in Nigeria's higher institutions submitted their immediate plans at the expiration of academic studies to leave Nigeria for a better nation where humanity is meaningful. Some of the reasons given were a lack of social amenities, joblessness, hunger, hopelessness, and misery. Human rights violations were extremely high in Nigeria, including torture as a result of economic downturns and rising costs of living, which made Nigerians, especially the youths, become violent. Nigerians keep struggling daily with no signs of things getting much better. Based on the religious diversity theoretical framework, the author argues that religious tradition differs in philosophical diagnosis and doctrinal interpretation. The antidote to permanently cure Nigeria of endemic political imbroglios, corruption, and economic challenges is the resuscitation and the use of fearful cultural objects for oath-taking. Music is a useful weapon of historicity and excellent cultural ideological reawakening, and is significantly valuable to sustainable development. Fela’s music as an art of resistance has cemented a synergy between activists and enclaves of extraction to create awareness and fill the gaps of documenting afterlives of religious slavery in Nigeria. This study, therefore, has exhumed the troubles Nigerians have seen as a result of the religious dimensions of slavery and its afterlives. Finally, the author concludes that Nigeria has the potential and the capacity to continue to multiply and double its GDP per capita relative to most advanced countries if it returns to the deities’ styles of traditional religious oaths system. Nigeria's corruption and economic situations defy basic corruption theories; the circumstances are abnormal, requiring native corruption intelligence to navigate the situation at hand.
References
- Abati, R. 2009. Oath Taking in a Nigerian Political Episode Guidance Newspaper. 3rd July, The Guardian Newspaper, 3rd July 2009. theguardian.com
- Ekwenze, S.A.M. 2022. The Use of the Holy Bible, The Holy Qu’ran, Juju and Others for Oath of Office: to Fight Corruption in Nigeria.” coau.edu.ng
- Soyinka, W. 2021. Why Religion is the Number One Problem for Nigerians, Channel Television. Channel Television Online.
- Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, section 26 (1); section 2 of the Criminal Code Act Cap C38 LKN, 2004; section 98-102 Criminal Code Act Cap C38 LFN; Corrupt Practices And Offences Act Cap C 31 LFN 2004.
Discography
Fela Kuti, albums, songs, playlists. deezer.com
- “Zombie,” 1977;
- “Live,” 1971;
- “Expensive Shit,” 1975;
- “Beasts of No Nation,” 1989;
- “No Agreement,” 1977
Fela Kuti, discography. wikipedia.org
- “Gentlemen,” 1973;
- “Fefe na Efe,” 1974.
The Complete Works of Fela Anikulapo Kuti CD Box Set 51 and album 29 CDS. felakuti.com
Oral Interviews
- Ayeódèmi Olálówò; Chief of Mogbà Idopa, Nigeria, interviewed on the 22nd January, 2023
- Bolajoko Akanji; Chief of Májèobàjé Idopa, Nigeria, oral discussion on the 24th March, 2023
- Adejare Adisa, an òrìsà Obàtálá worshipper, in Nigeria, interviewed on the 22nd January, 2023
- Olagoke Akinwale; Oral interviewed on the 12th January, 2023
- Dr. Arikana Chihombori (TikTok and Facebook)
- Chubuike Ikenna interviewed on the 12th January, 2023
- Abdullahhi Adamu interviewed on the 3rd June, 2023
Internet Sources
- Hewan-Lowe (1986, Fall). “Black Man’s Cry: Fela.” In The WUSB 90. IFM Program Guide, Vol 3. wusb.org.
- Rostow W. W. 2014. study.com, retrieved 02-01-2024
Nigeria's Anti-Corruption Agencies and Acts
- EFCC: Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on June 4, 2004
- AFFROA: Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act of 2006.
