Marking children with tribal marks without consent evil – Nollywood actress Toke Makinwa

Nollywood actress Toke Makinwa has criticised the practice of using tribal marks for identification, describing it as a form of cruelty inflicted on children without their consent.

Makinwa voiced her disapproval in a series of posts on her X account on Sunday.

Reflecting on a recent encounter with an influencer who had tribal marks, Makinwa shared her thoughts on the age-old tradition.

She wrote, “Today I saw a beautiful influencer with tribal marks and it made me think about the cruelty that culture brought upon us. Marking a child without his/her consent as a means of identification is Evil, I know our parents didn’t know any better but damnnnn!!!!”

Today I saw a beautiful beauty influencer with tribal marks and it made me think about the cruelty that culture brought upon us. Marking a child without his/her consent as a means of identification is Evil, I know our parents didn’t know any better but damnnnn!!!!

— Toke Makinwa (@tokstarr) June 16, 2024

In her subsequent posts, she highlighted that even though she admires the beauty of people with tribal marks, her concern centres around the absence of consent when marking children for identification.

“Thank God it’s abolished now. My grandma had tribal marks too.

“Some on her face and her arms, I wonder what life was like when she was younger walking around with it, though I’m sure a lot of people around her had the same but thank God it’s cancelled now,” she continued.

Following heavy backlash from some X users, Makinwa explained in another post, that her disapproval was due to the lack of consent involved and not the beauty of the marks.

“It’s not the beauty or lack of but the lack of consent. But yeah, I’ve seen a couple of beautiful people with tribal marks,” she explained.