Against the background of a child Rights Law that guides against harmful cultural practices on children in Ekiti State, two families: the royal family of Olaoye in Ushi-Ekiti and the Oyenekan family are at loggerheads over the circumcision of a 5-year-old girl. The once rosy relationship between both families has now turned sour following a disagreement over the circumcision of their 5-year-old daughter, (name of baby withheld).
Miss Olufunke Oyenekan, mother of the 5-year old girl and fiancee to Mr. Emmanuel Olaoye, son of the Olaoyes, a royal family in Ushi-Ekiti, Ekiti State, had disagreed with the Olaoyes over their decision to perform the traditional circumcision rites on her daughter. The woman, sensing that her husband’s family wanted to perform the rites by all means, fled with her child from the Olaoye’s family house in Ushi Ekiti in 2012 and her whereabouts has since remain unknown.
Recently, the Olaoye family again raised the alarm through a representative, identified as Chief Olu Olaoye over the sudden disappearance of Olufunke and her daughter.
The family said that their son’s fiancee did not mean well for the family by preventing them from performing the circumcision rites on the child. Their explanation is that it is a mandatory cultural practice to have all their children circumcised, moreso that theirs is a royal family whose duty it is to preserve the cultural heritage of the people of Ushi Ekiti in order to set an example for the people.
She (Olufunke) is not helping us, neither is she helping our daughter she has taken away. There are certain cultural practices that we adhere to in our land, some are avoidable while others are not. This practice of circumcision is part of the unavoidable ones. Olufunke cannot prevent us from carrying out cultural and traditional rites on our own blood. It is a must that we do the circumcision rites for the girl. Moreso, that the child is a princess, a daughter from the royal family of Ushi Ekiti and possibly a future regent!
We have told them (Olufunke’s family) that they must ensure that they produce her because she cannot prevent us from performing our traditional duties. She must bring our daughter for the circumcision rites, “ he said, fuming with anger.
Meanwhile, Olufunke has vowed not to allow anyone, even if it is her husband, to carry out any circumcision rites on her daughter. A member of her family, who spoke to Sunday Sun on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said: “As for the Oyenekan family, we have no problem with whatever the Olaoye family wants to do with their daughter. In our part of the world, it is the man who owns the child and has the final say over him or her. But our daughter, Olufunke is more western-oriented than many of us. She has vowed not to allow any circumcision for her daughter. She says the practice might have an adverse effect on the girl in the future
Credit: Sunday Sun