It is so sad that despite the massive information out there about the terrible effects of Female Genital Mutilation, some families in Nigeria still continue to practise this harmful tradition.

In Ushi-Ekiti, a mother has had to flee her home with her 5 year-old daughter because her finance’s family insists on carrying out the circumcision rites on her.

Here is an excerpt from the story written by Wole Balogun for Sun Newspaper;

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.

article copied from www.femmelounge.ng

in this age? smh

That is why you need to know about the cultures/tradition of the family you want to marry into to avoid stories like this one

There is a need for us to study, understand and control the narrative of our culture and stop letting outsiders define our culture for us.
There are many types of female circumcision and some forms are as benign as male circumcision.
Also female circumcision, as practised in most parts of southern Nigeria, is hardly different from labioplasty and clitoral hood reduction (carried out in the western world), but they do not draw similar condemnation (same can be said of bre'ast augmentation).
We should not continue letting the west patronise us and treat us like children or savages that need to be saved from ourselves.

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/20090702_designer_vaginas_is_female_circumcision_coming_out_of_the_closet

http://www.pierre-legrand.com/oba.pdf

http://joseph4gi..nl/2012/01/male-and-female-infant-circumcision.html?m=1

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100704205934AAxta75