Unease as secret female circumcision persists in Osun

“What else do you want me to say when government said we should not do it again? Or don’t you know that government is powerful? I don’t want government’s trouble please,’’ Pa Isola Alabelewe, who specialises in circumcision in Osogbo, Osun State, said in reaction to the efforts of the state government at eradicating female […]

“What else do you want me to say when government said we should not do it again? Or don’t you know that government is powerful? I don’t want government’s trouble please,’’ Pa Isola Alabelewe, who specialises in circumcision in Osogbo, Osun State, said in reaction to the efforts of the state government at eradicating female genital mutilation. He spoke to our correspondent in Yoruba language after keeping silent for several minutes and gazing into space. 

Also, Pa Adetunji Olalekan was not ready to talk to anyone about circumcision because of the suspicion and fear of government officials and security agents. However, after much persuasion he said, “I have stopped circumcising female children since government  forbade it. So I do not have anything to say about it.”

In Osogbo, there are certain families whose sole occupation is circumcision. People who want their female children to be circumcised would go there secretly to avoid the wrath of government officials. The situation is the same in other parts of the state. Many people are yet to agree that female genital circumcision is not good for their female children. 

While speaking on the consequences of female circumcision, a gynaecologist in the state, Dr Lekan Awolola, said that women who were circumcised could experience continuous bleeding during labour, suffer from acute urinary retention, injury on the adjacent structure of the genital, among others. 

But a medical expert who preferred anonymity said the level of enlightenment and sensitization on female genital mutilation was low. He tasked the state government to step up campaign against the practice. He, however, lauded the efforts of the wife of Osun State governor, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola, on community sensitization to discourage the practice.

Alhaja Aregbesola described the prevalent rate of female circumcision in the state as worrisome and vowed to continue to mobilise the people to eradicate the practice. She listed the dangers and disadvantages of female genital mutilation and advised those practising it to stop and allow the female children to enjoy sex when they grow up.

She noted that the reason adduced by those who engage in the practice was not tenable, adding that they are just inflicting lifelong trauma on the female children and denying them sexual pleasure, simply because of cultural belief and tradition. She said investigations had revealed that none of the reasons adduced by the perpetrators has medical support.

The head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Lagos Liaison Office, Dr. Omolaso Omosehin, told Daily Trust on Sunday in Osogbo that the effort to stop female genital mutilation in the state was yielding positive results. He advised Alhaja Aregbesola and other development partners not to relent in the campaign.

The chairman, Osun State House of Assembly Committee on Health, Adeleke Ogunsola, said the state was one of the six most endemic in female circumcision in the country, and warned perpetrators to desist from the act or face the full wrath of the law.

Brandishing copies of the law of the state that prohibits the practice, he warned that after the ongoing campaign and widespread awareness in all the nooks and crannies of the state, violators would be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.

However, despite the efforts of the governor’s wife, the UNFPA said the state still recorded the highest  number of circumcised females in Nigeria, with over 76.3 per cent. A gender analyst in the UNFPA, Mrs. Damilola Obinna, said the statistics was arrived at after a survey by the organisation, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 2015. After a data collation and analysis, it was discovered that Osun had 76.3 per cent prevalence, Ekiti, 71.2, Oyo, 69.7, Ebonyi, 55.6, Imo, 48.8 and Lagos, 44.8 per cent.

Speaking with Daily Trust on Sunday, the permanent secretary in the Osun State Ministry of Health, Dr Akinyinka Esho, said there had been improvement in the efforts at eradicating female genital mutilation  in the state since 2015 when the UNFPA data came out. He said that as a result of concerted efforts, the practice had drastically reduced. 

Esho said one the approaches taken to eradicate the practice was the sensitization of stakeholders, including those who perform the circumcision. During the campaign, tagged “Stop Female Genital Mutilation,”  held in Osogbo, the state capital, traditional rulers and community leaders openly declared their resolve to desist from the practice, and promised to take the campaign to their various domains.

Speaking on the matter, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said that female circumcision under the pretext of cultural beliefs was callous and cruel. The governor said neither Islam, Christianity nor traditional religion supported the practice. 

The coordinator of a group championing the female genital mutilation war, Mrs Aduke Obelawo, however, said the practice had declined in the state owing to sensitization efforts in various communities.

“Let those who know inform others, that there is zero tolerance to female circumcision in Osun State.  We shall continue to intensify this campaign. Those that are still practising it must desist or they will be prosecuted when apprehended,” Obelawo said.

Pa Kareemu Adebayo, who specialises in circumcision, told our correspondent that majority of his colleagues in the state had dumped the job. He, however, said that those without any other means of livelihood might still engage in the practice secretly. He pleaded with such people to desist from the act. 

“We inherited the job from our parents. I have performed circumcision for a very long time, but I stopped it since the wife of our governor said we should not do it again. I was able to dump it because I have another job. I am a bicycle repairer. Those who do not have any other job will find it difficult to stop the practice,” Kareemu explained. 

Another specialist in circumcision, Alhaji Fatai Alabetutu, explained that many of them could not desist from the act because it is their only means of livelihood. He said, “Government has not given them any alternative source of income that would enable them to feed their families when they dump circumcision. And they would not want to become beggars.”

Osun monarch, clerics speak

Bishop Seun Adeoye of the Sufficient Grace and Truth Ministry, Rehoboth Arena, Okinni in Osun State, described female circumcision as an act of inhumanity against the children. Saying that Christianity does not support the practice, he added that there was no instruction in the Bible to back it.

 “I have never read in the Bible where Christians are told to circumcise their female children. Therefore, it is anti-God and unacceptable. It is man’s inhumanity to womanhood.

“Those who engage in this dastardly act are doing so for their selfish desires. It must be banned. Female genital circumcision has to stop,’’ Bishop Adeoye said. 

A traditional ruler in the state, the Olufon of Ifon, Oba Almaruf Magbagbeola, urged the people to desist from female circumcision, saying that the belief that a woman whose genital was not cut would be promiscuous was unfounded and baseless as far as Yoruba tradition and culture are concerned.

“Those who claim that a woman would be promiscuous if she was not circumcised are not saying the truth because such assertion has no basis in our culture and tradition. Any woman that wants to be promiscuous would be, regardless of whether she was circumcised or not.

“What about those circumcised and are still promiscuous. I wish to join the campaign against female genital mutilation as is being championed by Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola,’’ he said.

The leader of the Islamic Movement in Osun State, Malam Isiaq Muhammadu Jamiu, said Islam was indifferent on the issue of female circumcision. He explained that according to the tradition of Prophet Muhammed,  female circumcision is not a crime, neither does the refusal to engage in it constitute a crime.

Malam Isaq said: “Islam does not prohibit circumcision of female children; but it mandates the circumcision of male children. Refusal to circumcise a female child would not attract any punishment from Allah.

“Also, if any parent decided to circumcise his child, he has not done anything wrong. However, it must be done by an expert. One of the Hadiths of Prophet Muhammed cautions anyone who wishes to circumcise his or her daughter to get an expert so that the genital would be cut properly. Also, circumcision should not be criminalised. It should be optional.”