In 2022, Osunsemilore Adetutu came up with an unconventional way to share her Oshun religion with the younger generation.
The priestess set up a TikTok account where she could preach and educate people about Oshun, the eponymous river goddess associated with purity, love, and fertility in the Yoruba tribe, one of Nigeria’s three largest tribes.
“Oshun wasn’t popular online,” Adetutu, 38, told Rest of World. “The new generation is lagging behind in terms of proper enlightenment about Oshun, and since other major religions are popular on TikTok, I decided to open a new account to fill that gap.”
Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim, while the south is majority Christian. Both religions dominate social media platforms across the country, with prayers and sermons conducted over Instagram and Facebook livestreams.
But minority religions like Oshun — which have been sidelined since the precolonial times when Christian missionaries arrived in southwestern Nigeria — rarely get much attention on social media and are unfamiliar to much of the population.
Two years after she began preaching about Oshun on TikTok, Adetutu now has more than 350,000 followers. She said her prayer sessions are aimed at helping people find solutions to real-life problems. In one viral video, she talks about how people might find their spiritual mate and fulfill their earthly destiny. Another focuses on attracting wealth through incantations and rituals.
She posts at least five times a week and conducts prayer sessions on TikTok Live every Sunday. Adetutu also charges for consultations where, she said, she helps people find their egbe or spiritual mate — these cost 3,000–5,000 naira ($1–$3) and are conducted mainly over WhatsApp calls. “I didn’t know my TikTok page would go viral with hundreds of people following me globally. I give thanks to Olodumare [God],” Adetutu said.
A large chunk of Adetutu’s followers are young people seeking to understand how concepts from the religion might help them navigate through life.
When Oriyomi Arike, 27, came across one of Adetutu’s Sunday prayer videos in 2022, she said she had something of an epiphany. “She was discussing everyone’s [spiritual] star and destiny,” Arike told Rest of World. “I slid into her DMs and asked her to check mine, which she [did].” She now pays for consultations and regularly sends Adetutu gifts. Adetutu lets her have round-the-clock access, in case she needs spiritual guidance, she said. Arike says Adetutu has become her “godmother.”