Sonnie Ekwowusi
13 October 2009
opinion
Lagos — I can't remember now where I read the true story: it must have been in one of the papers, but certainly not a home video story. Anyway never mind the source. Just read the true story. Once upon a time there lived in Lagos a husband and wife who were childless despite many years of being married. One day in the couple's church, it turned out that the owner of the church saw a vision to the effect that the mother of the lady was a witch "responsible" for the economic misfortune of her son-in-law and the bareness of her daughter.
Believing everything that came out of the mouth of the man of God to be true, the couple ostracized the old woman in the village. To cut the long story short, after missing her daughter for a long time, the old woman decided to travel all the way from the village to Lagos see her first daughter and son-in-law. Her luxurious bus touched down Jibowu, Yaba, Lagos at about 4 p.m. It was a bright evening. Lagos was still fully awake. Vehicular traffic was not so thick either. The young girl accompanying the woman rang up the couple and said: "Mama has arrived to Lagos . We are carrying a big bag and some tubers of yam. Come and pick us up at Ekene Park , Jibowu".
But to the utter shock of everyone, the lady not only snubbed the call but sent someone to inform her stranded mother at the park that she was a witch "responsible" her misfortune and that of her husband and consequently she was unfit to come into their house.
It was at this juncture that I disconnected from the story. So I cannot now tell you whether the couple later changed their minds and went to the park to pick up sorrowful old mama or whether the poor woman entered the next Ekene bus and headed back for the village.
Anyway, what this true story illustrates is that despite the high religious fervour in the land, there is something we are not getting right. Call it religion for atheists, or fanatical atheism, or paganized Christianity, or religious syncretism or Christianity mixed with superstition, the fact remains that we are witnessing the dawn of a new paganism today, a new paganism that is an amalgam of Christianity, African traditional religion and old paganism. Without getting mired into the gobbledygook of sociology of religious talks, whereas the old paganism thrived on superstitious beliefs, divination, incantation, dreams, vision-seeing, the new paganism of today strives on the same platforms but on a new panoply of modern technology, beautiful church songs, bright colours, movements, fine artistry, modern dancing, drama and even poetry. Whereas the pagans of old, at least in Africa , were somewhat uncultured, our new religious people are the aristocrats of intelligence. Handsome boys and beautiful girls having a nice time.
No suffering. No deprivation. No want. Some of the people you find in many places today shouting and heating their heads against the wall are offering the same services which the dibias, babalawos, futurists, clairvoyants, native doctors of those days used to offer, but in modernized ways. They can, among other things, foretell future events. They have the power to command, invoke and the power to do and undo. They can banish the devil, change ancestral curses into blessings, restore sight to the blind, destroy the enemies and restore trapped material wealth. If a woman is in search of the fruit of the womb, there is a child to be implanted in her womb. If a lady is desperately looking for a husband, there is a heaven-made husband waiting for her. Those suffering from financial difficulties should claim the prosperity reserved for them from all eternity.
In the midst of all these is the new reveling in superstition. Whereas Scottish missionary and White Queen of Calabar, Mary Slessor stopped the killing and torture of twins and children branded as witches and wizards in Calabar betweeen1873 to 1915, the children of Akwa Ibom are still crying for help today, crying because some religious bigots in town who have condemned them as witches and wizards are looking for them to kill them or torture them. So superstition is religion and religion is superstition. The evil spirits and devils are hovering all over the world looking for whom to devour. If your business is going down it is a sign that you are having a secret pack with the devil.
If you haven't given your dead great-grand father a third or fourth burial as required by paganized village tradition, be sure that he will be getting up at night from his grave and tormenting you. In my village nothing happens by chance. Everything is either caused by one juju or one medicine man or the other. If the rain is falling, a rain maker is behind it. Conversely, if the rain is not falling, a rain stopper is behind it. If your leg is paining you, know that you have stepped on a juju planted on your way by your enemy. If a successful young man dies, someone who was jealous of his wealth must have poised his food and killed him. So we live perpetually in fear, fear of imaginary an evil spirits, fear of an imaginary devil and fear of life itself.
But nevertheless, you cannot beat the religious fervour in this country. Nigerians are deeply religious people. That probably explains why we are the happiest people in the world. The average Nigerian holds anything sacred in great awe. In the days of Bishop Joseph Shanaham, Revered Hope Waddell and others, it was the Christianization of Africa. Today Africans are being invited to re-Christianize Europe and other parts of the world. Among these Africans are many Nigerians. With the new secularization and Godless materialism depicting Europe as one hellish place, Africa stands taller than many continents in affirming faith in one Triune God.
I spent the last vacation with one Spaniard and others in one seemingly good-for-nothing village in Ezeagu-North Local Council, Enugu State . Without trying to flatter me, this man was so impressed with what he saw about Nigeria . One Sunday we attended Mass at a village Catholic Church. After Mass, he called me to his side and confided in me that Nigeria was the hope of the world. Why? Because of the young men and women he saw inside the Church attending Mass. Probably in Spain and other countries only a few old people go to church. And since there is scarcity of people to form the choir, liturgical hymns and recorded ahead of time and played by the official minister at the opportune time.
But in Nigeria churches are daily jam-packed with exuberant young men and women including children, singing and dancing. God is still present in the public square. Every time you set out to travel in Nigeria there is always someone volunteering to pray for journey mercy. There are many prayer warriors in Nigeria whose professional job is to pray for others. The other day I was traveling to Onitsha by bus and one highway evangelist stood up to preach. After preaching he asked for contribution for his highway evangelism. Many offices in Lagos cannot start the day without prayers. This is the good thing about Nigeria . Everybody remembers God at all times. But it is dangerous to carry the cross on one shoulder and at the same time carry juju or superstitution on the other shoulder. Granted, the faith is deep here but it is yet to penetrate the culture. That is where the issue of acculturation, unity of life and all that may come in. If a guy goes to church on Sundays, he should struggle to do his work well; love his neighbour; pay his tax as and when due; he should stop stealing public funds and stop rigging elections to grab power by all means.
Those who argue that religionis a very personal thing which should be exercised privately and subjectively forget that unreasonable practice of the so-called private religion could cause a great harm to the Common good. For example, the Akwa-Ibom child torturers cannot argue that they are exercising their private religious right or their right to freedom of worship. This is because, without prejudice to religious freedom guaranteed in our Constitution, the State owes the citizens a duty to control the unreasonable way in which religion is practised.
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