Nollywood actress Hadizah Abubakar has revealed that she comes from Etsakor in Edo State, a predominantly Muslim community where Christianity has historically had little to no presence. She explained that her village is one of those rare places in Nigeria where religious diversity is virtually nonexistent, with Islam being the only faith practiced by indigenous residents for generations.
Speaking on the Talk-to-B podcast with Bola Ade, Hadizah described her village as a small, close-knit Muslim community where everybody knows everybody. The community is so compact that distances are trekking, though motorcycles are also available for transportation. She emphasized that the Muslim dominance in her village is not due to persecution or exclusion but simply represents the historical religious composition of that particular area.
According to Hadizah, for a very long time there was no church building in her village at all. If churches exist there now, they must be located far from the main settlement area. The only Christians one might find in the village are people who originally left the community, converted to Christianity elsewhere, and then returned home. This religious uniformity extends throughout her family lineage, as both her mother and father come from the same village and are Muslims, making her upbringing exclusively within Islamic traditions and culture.
Hadizah Abubakar said: “I’m from Edo State, Etsakor to be precise. And I’m a Muslim. Those from my side, that’s the Etsakor, are majorly Muslims. So you have majorly mostly Muslims from your place. Yeah. Especially in my village, we don’t even have Christians except those that have actually left the village, came back and been converted to Christianity. We don’t have Christians in Etsakor. And for a very long time there was no church in my village. I don’t know if there’s still churches there now. Maybe far far, but the main Etsakor, there’s no church at all. Christians don’t live there. All Muslims. It’s a Muslim community. Not really big. Everybody knows everybody. Yeah. It’s one very small place like that. You can take bikes, but you know this person’s house. It’s trekking. So it’s one very small place and it’s a Muslim community
