Why I won’t deny using juju to succeed in music — Osupa

Popular Fuji musician Saheed Okunola, widely known as Saheed Osupa, has sparked controversy after openly declaring that he practices juju and pays homage to the Ifa oracle to achieve success.

Osupa made the admission while performing at the 52nd-anniversary celebration of veteran actor Fatai Odua, known as Lalude, on March 30. In a video that went viral on Wednesday, the singer was seen advising his backup singers to embrace voodoo to sharpen their memory after they struggled to keep pace with his stage delivery.

He said he had previously been advised to publicly deny being fetish but flatly refused.

“Somebody told me one time to grant an interview, denying that I’m a fetish person, but I told him that I am, and why should I deny it. I didn’t kill anyone with my juju or commit evil with it. I am only looking for how to progress,” he said.

Osupa added that he pays daily obeisance to Ifa and argued that everyone practices voodoo — some openly, others in secret.

“All those talks of mine that I rely solely on the Bible and the Quran are pure lies,” he said.

The admission drew swift condemnation from Islamic clerics who had held the singer in high regard.

A TikTok cleric identified as Alagusiy urged Osupa to abandon the practice, insisting it was God, not Ifa, who made him successful. Another, Uwais Lukman, argued that musicians, by the nature of their craft, could not be regarded as religiously upright.

A third commentator, General Tom, alleged that Osupa had grown so deep in voodoo that he now disrespects God.

Responding to his critics, Osupa said he had never faulted any holy book and acknowledged Jesus and Prophet Muhammad as men of God, but dismissed the backlash as eye service. He neither retracted his juju claim nor addressed any cleric by name.