Wasilat Olalere, the TikToker who recently went viral after claiming she suffered persistent bleeding for recording the Oloolu masquerade procession in Ibadan, Oyo State, has alleged that she was coerced into making the claim and forced to perform traditional rites.
Her latest account contradicts the narrative contained in an earlier viral video, in which she claimed she became ill after recording the revered masquerade and underwent traditional cleansing to regain her health.
The fresh allegation comes days after videos of Olalere undergoing traditional rites at the Oloolu shrine circulated widely on social media, fuelling public debate over the consequences of filming the annual masquerade procession.
However, in a video obtained on Wednesday, Olalere denied ever suffering any health complications after recording the event, insisting that she was compelled to make the earlier claims.
Speaking during an interview with an Islamic cleric in Ibadan, she said she neither saw the Oloolu masquerade nor experienced any strange ailment as portrayed in the earlier video recorded after her release.
According to her, she only recorded operatives of the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, and residents who had gathered in anticipation of the annual outing of the masquerade before posting the clip on TikTok.
“I was inside our house when I recorded Amotekun operatives and people waiting for the Oloolu masquerade. I only captioned the video that Oloolu was around Atolu and advised people to be careful not to come in contact with the masquerade.
“Oloolu did not even pass our area. After I posted the video, people asked me to delete it, and I did immediately. I never knew people had already saved it,” she said.
According to Olalere, men she identified as members of the Oloolu traditional institution, popularly known as Sokoti, stormed her shop shortly after she deleted the video, threatened her and took her away despite efforts by residents to intervene.
“They told me the Olubadan wanted to see me and said I would be jailed. I kept begging them, but they took me away. I was detained at Agungun Police Station and released on bail on Saturday. Immediately after I regained my freedom, they took me to Ode Aje, saying I had to undergo traditional rites,” she alleged.
She further alleged that she and her family were forced to purchase items for the ritual, including a goat, red cloth and blade, before she was subjected to what she described as a cleansing ceremony.
“They told my mother to buy a goat, a red cloth and a blade because she would shave my hair. They placed the goat on my neck, made me sit on a mortar, slaughtered the goat on my head and instructed me to allow the blood to dry on my body.
“After the ritual, they recorded a video and instructed me to say that I had been bleeding and falling ill since I saw Oloolu. They also forced me to say that I came there willingly for cleansing, whereas they were the ones who took me from my shop.
“Nothing happened to me. I never bled. In fact, my menstrual period had not even started. They later called my husband and collected N400,000 after we bought all the items used for the ritual. I still have the payment receipt because the transfer was made through my bank app,” she alleged.