LAGOS – The media was awash with report last week with a report credited to a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Moshood Oshun, in which he allegedly indicted all Nigerian politicians on fetish practices saying no political class can be exonerated of using charms.
Oshun, a three-time lawmaker representing Lagos Mainland Constituency II was said to have made the disclosure during the Yoruba speaking plenary yesterday even as he supported the proposal to declare traditional festive period, ‘Isese Day’, a public holiday, which is August 20.
Oshun, in his contribution, said that if all lawmakers in the plenary were asked to stand up and pull up their clothes, none of them will be exonerated.
“We all tie charm within our waists, arms and even rob on our bodies. “All politicians are into charms. We all patronise black powers and we know where to go during elections and to what extent we seek black powers to win elections. We wear charms within our arms. Even the civil servants patronise black powers to get promotions,” Oshun was alleged to have said.
No sooner was the story published that Nigerians took to social media to air their views on it. While some stated that the lawmaker stated the obvious as it is common knowledge that politicians engage in fetish practices especially when seeking office, others asked the lawmakers to supply proof that ‘ALL’ politicians in Nigeria including President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo and others are into fetish practices irrespective of their religious beliefs.
However, setting the records straight, Oshun last Monday denied the report saying that it would be wrong for him to insinuate that his colleagues, and by extension all politicians in the country are into fetish practices .
Speaking while addressing members of the Lagos State House of Assembly Correspondents Association (LAHACA), he added that he was misquoted in the newspaper report on the issue especially since he made his remarks in his native Yoruba language.
He said “I want to correct a report that is flying. On Thursday 17th October 2019 during the Yoruba sitting in the House, a motion was moved by Hon. Setonji David from Badagry 2 on Isese Day and why the traditionalists should be granted a day for their celebration.
“In the cause of my contribution, I said that it was something we should all embrace because religion, tradition and culture go together.
“I now went ahead to talk about the fact that we have lost our culture and our tradition. I said that we don’t even speak the Yoruba Language anymore and that our children don’t understand the Yoruba Language anymore other than the English Language. I said that on the chamber that day that if you look at the civil servants, the doctors, the lawyers and politicians there, there was a tendency that some of them had traditional medicine on them”.
“But that day, I saw in a newspaper report indicating that I said that all Nigerian politicians tie charms on their waists, on their hands and the rest of it, which was erroneous.
“I never said only politicians that carry charms. Politicians are humans and just like I said that day; doctors, lawyers, civil servants and others had a choice to practise any religion. You don’t have to be a politician to practise a particular religion,” he said.
Oshun, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts (State), added that he felt that there was a kind of misunderstanding in the report and that he spoke to the newspaper concerned and that they pulled it out of their website immediately. He, however, said that the report had gone viral and that people were asking him if he actually said what was reported by the media.
He insisted that having spent 12 years in the House, he couldn’t have said that on the floor of the House, which he said was an open place.
“You must say what you mean and something you can defend on the floor of the House. I cannot defend that. I don’t even know all the politicians in Lagos state alone not to talk of the whole of Nigeria. So, I cannot assume that all politicians do charms. I cannot even assume that all the politicians in my local government do charms not to talk of Nigeria”.
“But the good thing about it is that the newspaper concerned has pulled it out of their website, but it had gone viral and everybody has been calling me about it till today. I just felt we should correct that because it was not what I said and I will never say that,” he said.
Shedding light on the message he was trying to pass across in the plenary, Oshun maintained that there was a need to differentiate between religion and culture. He added that culture was the way we dress, the way we speak our language and that it involved some other things.
He insisted that he spoke about culture, and about language, adding that he went further to say that the Yorubas should not wait till white men from the United Kingdom and the United States of America would teach their children Yoruba Language.
He said: “We need to teach our children our language. To say politicians are fetish is very wrong. Politicians are humans, they are part of society.
“The same way you have politicians who believe in charms, you have doctors, lawyers, economists and others who believe in it. It is a matter of choice. If a politician or lawyer believes in it, it is a matter of choice.
“If you say a politician is afraid that someone might take his seat and he goes fetish, what of civil servants, and even footballers. When we were younger, we felt that Indians used charms to play football. Are you saying that lawyers don’t believe in charms or doctors don’t want a very good hospital, it is a matter of choice.”
END
Be the first to comment