Big bumbums everywhere

BBL offers individuals a chance to achieve their desired body shape. This growing interest in such procedures highlights the clash between global beauty standards and local cultural values in shaping individual choices and aspirations in Nigeria. Sadly, many have suffered irreparable damages, including death, trying to conform to a broader societal emphasis on physical appearance.

 

Damilare Kuku had no idea MedContour Services Ltd founder, Anuoluwapo Adepoju, would become a convict and later die when she decided to write a book built around Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL), a craze which brought Adepoju both fame and infamy.

Kuku’s debut novel, ‘Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow’, came out about the time Adepoju was convicted and she died as the book began to catch the fancy of readers around the world.

In May, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State convicted Adepoju for obstructing FCPC’s investigation into the death of Nneka Onwuzuligbo, who died of complications arising from buying a big bumbum from the MedContour Services Ltd founder in 2020.

This big bumbum is achieved by taking fat from parts of the body, purifying it and injecting it into the buttocks to create a more contoured look. It is not as easy as that. Complications can arise as did in Onwuzuligbo’s instance.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCPC) instituted the case against Adepoju. The agency was convinced the plastic surgeon messed up while ‘selling’ the deceased her dream ‘yansh’.

Babatunde Irukera, who was the agency’s Director-General when the case was instituted, wrote on X: “Today is a day of pride for me that I prosecuted Anu Adepoju and her medical practice. Though I’ve left, the case has ended in a conviction strengthening the accountability framework for all in society, professionals or otherwise. This is how society should work and grow.

“Dr. Anu Adepoju and her medical practice convicted in all 5 counts charged by FCPC. The wheel of justice may grind slowly, but we must see it through. What we need is enforcement with audacity and the will to prosecute competently and diligently. Good day for consumers of professional services.”

Justice Mohammed Liman found Adepoju guilty and gave her the option of paying N100,000 instead of the jail term. She paid, but death eventually came in circumstances shrouded in mystery.

Before the case was instituted against her, many of her victims (sorry, customers) complained about her failed big bumbum services.

Kuku’s book has helped to shed light on this craze in a way that is warm and not judgmental. It provides insights on possible reasons for the novel follows Temi, a girl schooling and living on the university campus in Ílé-Ife. She is displeased with her buttocks and decides to change the situation after seeing an interesting advert of a firm in Lagos offering to ‘sell’ her her dream ‘yansh’.

Temi faces the dilemma of not just raising the millions for the procedure, but how to tell her close-knit family members who are clearly conservative and will query her sanity for nurturing such a thought. The gathering of the family members as a result of Temi’s Professor-father’s death and courage from an extraordinary source, provides her the opportunity to detonate the bomb leading them to forget that they ought to be grieving the death of Professor Tito Toyebi!

This novel from the author of the phenomenally-successful ‘Nearly All The Men in Lagos Are Mad’, though built around Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL), is about much more; it tackles issues that make our world go right and wrong, issues that make us cry and make us laugh, issues we can’t avoid.

One of such issues is how deceitful friends can sometimes be as shown by Boboola, Temi’s friend who reneges on an agreement she reached with Temi.

Temi’s big-yansh-quest announcement is a tool the author uses to get the other women in the book to reflect on their own lives and following these reflections, scandals and secrets leap off their cupboards, regrets cloud their faces and remorse dons modest apparels.

Self-esteem is a sub-theme and the novel sheds light on how it makes us take decisions we either end up being proud of or regretting.

This novel also examines the complexity of being a woman in Nigeria, and its inter-generational ramifications; what emerges is a vivid and well-realised portrait. Ladun’s pains, which she keeps away from her big bumbum-seeking sister and grieving mother, help to make the picture whole. Big Mummy’s and Jummai’s experiences also give crucial insights into what it takes to be a woman in a patriarchal society like Nigeria. We also see how their bodies and their looks affect their journeys and make them warped. While one person is sad that she has no big bumbum, another is sad that her near perfect physical features are the source of too much masculine attention.

Religion is subtly tackled, especially through Big Mummy, the one who orders fasts as if she is ordering an uber and who says eating meat is akin to “eating your husband’s penis”.

But of the themes in Kuku’s debut, the big bumbum quest towers above all. This is not surprising because almost everywhere you turn, you’re likely to see a butt that looks to have been human-moulded. The trend reflects international influences, including media portrayals of ideal body shapes. The increasing accessibility of cosmetic surgery clinics is also a factor increasing the population of bought bumbums, which is achieved with the harvesting of fat from areas such as the abdomen, thighs, or flanks.

Nigerian celebrities and influencers often showcase their enhanced physiques on social media, contributing to the procedure’s desirability among the public.

My final take: BBL offers individuals a chance to achieve their desired body shape. This growing interest in such procedures highlights the clash between global beauty standards and local cultural values in shaping individual choices and aspirations in Nigeria. Sadly, many have suffered irreparable damages, including death, while trying to conform to a broader societal emphasis on physical appearance.