The decision of two men to publicly punish a masquerader has sparked the anger of some culture promoters in Nigeria.
A video that surfaced on Facebook shows some two men punishing a masquerader, forcing him to hold his two ears with his hands while he falls and rises on the same spot.
It is close to what is called squatting in sports.
This is with the threat of further assault if he fails to do so.
It is not clear what the offence of the ‘spirit-being’ is, but one of the men dealing with him is heard saying in pidgin, “As I move this way, e still dey follow me,” suggesting that the masquerader might have harassed him.
The complainant, who is also playing the judge and enforcer, puts on a cap that looks like that of a soldier.
Most of the people who have commented on the video do not find the scene funny at all.
They see it as amounting to the humiliation of the culture the masquerader represents.
Among them is dance expert and film critic, Shaibu Husseini, who notes, “This is not a good video to share. We are debasing our culture and it is most unfair and uncharitable. The two guys involved should be fished and reprimanded. That they don’t know the worth of masq whether it be social or cultural masq should not be an excuse to debase it.”
Others include:
Gbolahan Adenuga Cindy This is rubbish. No matter what offence committed they shouldn’t have disgraced the masquerade like that. Those two idiots should be punished for posting this video. Absolutely nonsense
Mufu Onifade I do not like that this video is shared, no matter the masquerade’s offence
Gbolahan Adenuga Cindy This is rubbish. No matter what offence committed they shouldn’t have disgraced the masquerade like that. Those two idiots should be punished for posting this video. Absolutely nonsense
Adeyemi Oginni They should have let him remove the ‘sacred’ gown before punishment for whatever offence. Ridiculing him in public with the EKU on is a great sacrilege and abomination against egungun cultism. Though a kid who looks like a comic clown, yet the sacred gown on him (eku) is spiritually symbolic and should be respected and treated as such. I’m sure those whose family’s traditional religion is purely egungun worship will obviously frown at this and may invoke the wrath of the spirit on those guys.
