A biblical perspective to the African predicament
In chapter one, for instance, tracing the history of colonialism in Africa, Agbo noted that “Colonialism, which most African commentators, in escapist indulgence pour the guilt of underdevelopment, agreeably had its adverse retardation effects in terms of among other things, unbeneficial exploitation of a nation’s resources. However, colonialism for most colonized states was also a […]
In chapter one, for instance, tracing the history of colonialism in Africa, Agbo noted that “Colonialism, which most African commentators, in escapist indulgence pour the guilt of underdevelopment, agreeably had its adverse retardation effects in terms of among other things, unbeneficial exploitation of a nation’s resources. However, colonialism for most colonized states was also a platform to launch themselves into supersonic projectiles of industrial and economic revolution, deriving from the instant, non-evolutionary, leapfrogging civilization and development opportunities it offers to the colonized states. But Africa took only the negative impact of colonialism, and this and other appalling elements of our psyche have combined in effect to make the glorious continent the dreg of the nations.”
Chapter two looks at Africa in the primeval family tree. Agbo in this part of the book pointed out that of the first ten generations of Adam, the most dramatic and remarkable of the patriarchs was Noah. According to him, “The Patriarch Noah had three children, namely Shem, Ham and Japheth, the three of whom begat the three human races of the world. The Caucasoid race; the Negroid race; and the Mongoloid race. Ham is generally believed to be the patriarch of African family tree. This consensus belief is among other reasons established by the fact that the children of Ham at the dispersal of the early human family after the flood were the ones that took habitation in the continent of Africa, first in the north and north east Africa, before they multiplied and spread all over the continent. He (Ham) is believed to be the black son of Noah and the father of the black (negroid) race.”
The erstwhile legislator in the third chapter discussed the glory of ancient heritage of Africa under four subheadings: Human organisation and city building; Knowledge, Science and Philosophy; Industry, Commerce and Agriculture; and Religion.
On human organisation and city building, he made reference to Nimrod, the grandson of Ham and the great grandson of Noah. According to Agbo, Nimrod whom he referred to as the great African was the first King of Babylon, the city he established and built. Noting that Nimrod initiated and built nations, kingdoms and empires, the author maintained that the most sensitive and sensational of all his works was the Tower of Babel. The building of the Tower, in the words of the author, was extremely sensitive to God and particularly remarkable to man as it was the first mass mobilization of men for a collective task. Though, it was a task predicated on defiance and rebellion against God, Agbo noted that before He pronounced the confusion of tongues among the people, “God Himself was shocked and deeply concerned at what the people had achieved through the mobilization and leadership of Nimrod.”
The glory of natures endowment to Africa is the focus of chapter four, where the ex-parliamentarian critically examines the African continent and its wealth from nature.
In chapter five, the author analyses the curse of Africa, observing that “Under deep spiritual and even temporal reflections, one gets an obvious clarity that Africa as a continent and Africans as a people are cursed, and that even till date, the continent and its people are still being weighed down by the lingering consequences of this curse.” He highlighted the symptoms of the curse on Africa to include: absence of imagination; ignorance; poverty; base characters; laziness, excuse and dependency prone; poor leadership; enjoyment and entertainment prone; and disposition to lawlessness. Agbo went further to identify four reasons why God cursed Africans. They include: (a) the curse of Ham (b) the Sins of Babylon (c) Slavery of the Jews and (d) idolatry. For him, these were “the principal transgressions that brought fatal estrangement between God and the Africans and which formed the foundations upon which Africa and Africans were comprehensively cursed, which in consequence led to the several centuries of poverty, slavery, servitude, disease, ignorance, spiritual blindness and generalized darkness in the continent.”
However, in the last chapter, the politician indicated that all hope is not lost as he believes that the African predicament has remedy. While showing the route to Africa’s new glory, he stated: “Despite the torrents of anger and the attendant plethora of curses which God pronounced on Africa, all of which have indeed come to pass, God by His abundant mercy still gave an indication in the Bible that He will heal Africa and indeed make Africa His beloved.” He quoted Isaiah 19 V 19 – 25 to buttress his position.
In conclusion, the author asserted that, “Africa should position itself as the new moral sign post of the world as well as the new world headquarters for propagation of undiluted Christian values and rechristianization and evangelization of the entire world.”
Chairman of Nigeria Prays and former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), in his forward to the book, describes it as “a voluminous compendium of biblical perspectives, apparently borne out of a rigorous and deep research study of religion in the Continent of Africa by Senator Anthony Agbo. The author’s views on the foundation, predicament and retrogressive nature of Africa religious and custom rating from ancient biblical times, to the present day and time is simply awesome and demand respect and commendation. Senator Anthony Agbo stressed the need to deal decisively with some of the negative foundation of Africa traditional beliefs and religion which is founded on idolatry and deep-seated transgressions.”
Commenting on the book, Uche Chukwumerije, Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, said it is a well-researched non-fiction book written in a style that lights up every chapter with the suspense and pathos of a thriller. Anthony Agbo, a one-time Speaker of old Enugu State House of Assembly and former Commissioner for Finance in Ebonyi State represented Ebonyi North Senatorial District in the National Assembly between 2007 and 2011. He is believed to be one of the active Senators in plenary and committee work at the sixth Senate, where he held sway as Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Born on December 15, 1954, Agbo, a poet who has published his work in several journals has been a very curious person right from his early school days as he disclosed in the story of his life. This, according to him, perhaps made him an avid and voracious reader, consuming all manner of literature, from science, philosophy, history, religion, literary works of fiction and non-fiction, current affairs, mythology to mystery books.
However, for the former lawmaker, the greatest curiosity of his life had always been: why Africans are different from other races of mankind in all facets of human personality and engagement indices. This, of course, is certainly where his motivation to put together a well-researched book on the African predicament emanates from.
Jegede, a journalist, writes in from Abuja