CLAIM: Spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Bala Elkanah says tattoos and dreadlocks are strange to our culture.
CONCLUSION: FALSE
EVIDENCE:In Nigeria, some children are born with dreadlocks. As a result of this, they are given a special name, especially the Yoruba. Such children are called “DADA”. So, which culture is the police spokesman talking about?
FULL TEXT:
In an interview with the BBC Pidgin Service, Elkansh said: “Tattoos and dreadlocks are strange to our culture, especially for Nigeria. Most times when you arrest cultists, many of them have signs on them.”
In Nigeria, some children are born with dreadlocks. As a result of this, they are given a special name, especially the Yoruba. Such children are called “DADA”. So, which culture is the police spokesman talking about?
Also, Yoruba priests of “Olokun”, the priests of the deep ocean, wear dreadlocks.
Tattoos also exist in our culture. Fatimah Mohammed Palmer, a researcher from the University of Benin confirmed that body tattooing is traditional to Nigeria. “In some cultures, such as seen amongst the traditional ethnic Hausa and Fulani people, permanent facial marks were used to identify slaves within a community and also used to enhance the beauty and appearance of the women folk especially. In the southern part of Nigeria, amongst the Yoruba, it is used as a tribal identification symbol that provides information about the individual, as well as some culturally-related beliefs.”
CONCLUSION : TOTALLY FALSE
