Sir: Advocates of African traditional religions have never at anytime left anyone in doubt about their preference for African traditional religions over and above the foreign ones. Their argument has always been that the African religions are on the same level and even more potent than the foreign ones and they would not see any reason why Africans rather than embrace and be proud of the religions of their forefathers only look down on them while clinging irredeemably to the foreign ones.

In all honesty, following the introduction of the two major foreign religions namely Christianity and Islam to Nigeria in particular and Africa in general, there had been a massive attraction to the new faiths over and above the local religions leading to arguments and counter arguments about the justification or otherwise of the attitudes of Africans in rejecting their own and accepting wholeheartedly the ones brought by foreigners.

It is true that for many centuries, Africans believed and had infinite faith in their pantheon of gods based on traditional worships. That Africans believe in God was never in doubt and throughout the length and breadth of the large continent are thousands of ethnic groups each with the names and appellation given to the supreme deity.

There were different gods and various festivals through which Africans express their beliefs and faiths in unequivocal manner and no member of the society was allowed to remain aloof without belonging to one or several of the cultural groups.

There were evidences of transcendental powers as reflected in different visible magic that convinced the traditional worshippers that their activities were far from being ordinary and indeed had the support of spiritual elements and this further strengthened their faith in their traditional practices.

And then came the era of intrusion of Europeans into Africa which disrupted the entire setting and brought in a completely new set of cultures and orientation. The invading foreigners starting with the Portuguese in 1442 had two main purposes, which were to find markets for their products and also to source for raw materials.

The industrial revolution in Europe brought about a real scramble for Africa for purposes ranging from spreading of the gospel, establishment of white governments over the local people and also slave trade. Before the intrusion of the Europeans into Africa, the Arabs had also their incursion through the desert with Islam and the religion had penetrated most of the coastal lands and hinterlands.

The era of slave trade saw to many Africans being transported across the Atlantic Ocean against their wish and were subjected to various forms of inhuman treatment. This continued for so many years until evils of slave trade began to draw attention and some people began to argue vehemently against it. It was only when the illicit trade was abolished that many ex-slaves were returned to Africa and gradually re-integrated into their society.

The salient questions demanding answers from all advocates of traditional religions are therefore as follows. Of course, it is normal for anyone to defend whatever he  considers as his own especially in an atmosphere of competition with others and so the usual strong defence of traditional religions by their adherents and advocates is never out of place.

But truth will always remain non-negotiable and sacrosanct. Agreed that Africans had their own highly potent religions before the advent of the foreign ones, why were those gods unable to protect them from foreign domination up to the point the adherents of traditional religions and even their gods which the whites referred to as artefacts were all carried away to foreign lands without their gods showing any iota of resistance or to rescue their worshippers from unprovoked intimidation?

What is the whole essence of a religion that could not shield its own worshippers from unjustifiable oppression perpetrated by the invading foreigners and most regrettably on the African soil? Where was the acclaimed god of thunder when African rulers who tried to put up some form of resistance were dislodged unceremoniously, ruthlessly assaulted and violently insulted?

Why is it that even now, traditional worshippers are more like people under some spell as they are ever encumbered by challenges that disallow them from achieving visible successes comparable with those of their counterparts in the foreign religions? Why is traditional religion mostly about extreme filthiness, excessive drunkenness, hooliganism, dreaded cultism and absolute nothing worthy of noble emulation to offer the youths?

Again, why are most of those who pose as ardent followers of traditional religions never bold and proud enough to be associated with them but would always still hide under the foreign religions especially during interviews or when filling any form?

It is perhaps only when anyone especially the advocates of traditional religions are able to proffer acceptable answers to all these pertinently probing questions and as honestly as possible that the reason why most Africans jettisoned the religions of their forefathers and cling tenaciously to the foreign ones would become very clear.

Jide Oyewusi is the coordinator of Ethics Watch International Nigeria.