A lady has cried out over a death threat by her uncle, Chief Adekunle Aiyedogbon, because of her religious preference.
Aderinsola Oluwayemisi Aiyedogbon called one of our correspondents in the early hour of 4th of September, 2010 to narrate the incident on how she met him and what happened to her fiance, Charles Oladokun, when the latter came to visit her home state in Kogi.
“I met him in the university and we were really relating cordially, though with different religious backgrounds. As time passed by, I also fell in love with his religion which is devoid of idolatry, ritual sacrifices with animals in the middle of the nights and other fetish practices. On getting home few weeks back from school, my immediate family and extended family noticed I have found a new faith in which my parents were indifferent to, although not too comfortable with it. The stern opposition came from my extended family and it was a crazy experience seeing them attacking my fiance. It was a great shock. What if he had been killed? We had to rush him down to a nearby hospital.”
Aderinsola born to a clan of traditional worshippers in Kogi State would later convert to Christianity as her newly-found faith after meeting her fiancé, Charles Babajide Oladokun, while at the university against the will of her extended family, most especially, the custodian of the family’s tradition, Chief Adekunle Aiyedogbon who is also the Chief Priest and a retired police officer.
According to our investigations, immediately the family got wind of her new religion, persecution began. According to the family’s source who craved anonymity, “This is the height of insensitivity and an insult to the belief of our forefathers. How can a child raised from a cultured and traditional background exchange and ridicule her honor for a foreign belief? This is beyond me, but the family knows what to do. She is a disappointment to our heritage and time shall tell.”
Our correspondent later reached out to Chief Adekunle Aiyedogbon who is the Chief Priest through a telephone call, he declined to make comment on the issue neither reply to our messages.
As at the time of filing this report, we contacted Mr. Charles Babajide Oladokun on the issue, he said, “It is really sad and unfortunate that, in this time and era, some backward elements would still want to decide which faith you should practise. I have been physically assaulted by my girlfriend’s extended family – they threatened to kill me, if I refused to stay away from her. According to them, I am taking her away from the path of their traditional religion. It will interest you to know that, the man at the centre of all this and his accomplices are of the opinion that, I would not escape their punishment, if I did not stay away from her.”
“As for me, I would not do anything outside the law to fight back, because I will follow due process and let the appropriate authority and the whole world know about their barbaric act at this present age. However, my life is in danger.”
Furthermore, he stated he was lucky not to have been killed when he was attacked during his visitation to meet his girlfriend few days ago in Kogi state.
This practice is common not only in Nigeria, but some parts of Africa and the Middle East.
