This photograph captures devotees of Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder and lightning, participating in a traditional festival in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. The celebration features vibrant drumming, dancing, and ritual performances dedicated to invoking the deity’s power.

As noted by art historian Margaret Thompson Drewal in Yoruba Ritual (1992), “there is some amount of cross-dressing by both men and women, and in possession trance there are more literal gender transformations.” These ritual practices reveal how, despite rigidly defined gender roles, Yoruba religious traditions create spaces where participants can temporarily cross gender boundaries, embodying the spiritual and symbolic traits of the opposite sex.

Photo Credit: Eliot Elisofon

Sarah Mullally will become the first female leader when she officially takes charge of the church in March 2026. A group of conservative Anglican churches across Africa and Asia criticized the appointment.

Sarah Mullally has been named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury on Friday, making her the first female leader of the Church of England.

The former chief nursing officer for England will be confirmed as the church’s top bishop at a legal ceremony in the coming months.

In her first words after confirmation of her appointment, Mullally said while the role is a “huge responsibility,” she feels a sense of “peace and trust in God to carry me.”

Mullally will legally become Archbishop of Canterbury at a ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral in January.

Spiritual leader of Anglican Church

Mullally takes over the role from Justin Welby, who resigned in November 2024 and left office in January 2025 after failures in handling an abuse scandal.

Mullally will become the ceremonial head of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, but GAFCON — a grouping of conservative Anglican churches across Africa and Asia, criticized Mullally’s appointment.

The group said her appointment showed that the English arm of the Church had “relinquished its authority to lead.”

Although King Charles III is head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior bishop and is the spiritual leader of the Church.

Reforms allowed a woman to take Archbishop role

Mullally was ordained as a priest in 2002 and became one of the first women to be consecrated as a bishop in the Church of England in 2015.

She served as Bishop of London since 2018 and has been known to be progressive, championing causes such as allowing blessings for same-sex couples in civil partnerships and marriages.

Eleven years ago reforms were introduced to allow a woman to the hold the office, meaning Mullally could become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.

“I want, very simply, to encourage the Church to continue to grow in confidence,” she said in her first statement since the historic appointment.

“I look forward to sharing this journey of faith with the millions of people serving God and their communities in parishes all over the country and across the global Anglican Communion.”

King Charles gave formal consent for appointment

As is tradition, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office formally announced Mullally’s appointment after the formal consent of King Charles.

As monarch, Charles is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The role was established in the 16th century after King Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church.

“The Archbishop of Canterbury will play a key role in our national life. I wish her every success and look forward to working together,” Starmer said in a statement.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery

Correction: This article, originally published on October 3, 2025, was corrected on October 6, 2025, to remove information about the church’s history. The church has existed for over 400 years, not 1,400.

The founder of Citadel Global Community Church, Dr Tunde Bakare, has disclosed that he is under pressure from political stakeholders to join the African Democratic Congress.

Bakare, who spoke on Saturday at the maiden edition of the Citadel School of Governance Dialogue Series tagged ‘Nigeria at 65: Historical Reflections, Futuristic Projection’ in Oregun, Lagos, however, ruled out the possibility of joining the party.

According to him, several political figures, including a former governor and minister from the South-West, had urged him to align with the ADC.

“There has been a lot of pressure on me from who is who to join ADC. They come to my home. Even while I was abroad, the hierarchy of that party kept calling, saying they needed my voice,” Bakare said.

He added that one of his younger political associates, who benefited from holding key offices in the All Progressives Congress, urged him to lend his influence to the ADC.

Bakare, however, dismissed the idea, saying, “I am not going to take part in ADC. The last time I knew about ADC was about a plane that crashed. I wish them well, because we need a robust opposition. But you don’t birth a child called APC and then try to kill it yourself. We are not going to have another Awolowo–Akintola crisis in the South-West,” he stated.

The cleric, who played a role in the formation of the APC, maintained that the emergence of President Bola Tinubu was backed by divine providence.

“

If God wants to remove ‘emilokan,’ He knows how to do it. You can’t get the kind of thing Tinubu has brought without God’s support,” he added.

Also speaking at the event, guest speaker Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, identified corruption and tribalism as Nigeria’s greatest challenges.

He argued that the ethnicity of the president should not matter if governance delivers results.

“The two problems our country faces are corruption and tribalism. If there is a way of eradicating these two evils, we will be alright. Corruption is the father or mother of tribalism. If the money being stolen was available for development, Nigeria would be far better.

“The fact that Tinubu is president does not automatically improve the life of an average Yoruba man, just as an Igbo presidency will not improve the life of the ordinary Igbo man if there is no development.”