When the devil came to church in Uzobulu
Those whose tribal totem is to cling to political power may dismiss the tragedy at Uzobulu as the ethnic repercussion of the quest for wealth of a region instead of the national tragedy that it is. But when it comes to regional frailties, all mothers do have them. While some give birth for the streets, […]
Those whose tribal totem is to cling to political power may dismiss the tragedy at Uzobulu as the ethnic repercussion of the quest for wealth of a region instead of the national tragedy that it is. But when it comes to regional frailties, all mothers do have them. While some give birth for the streets, some run baby factories, while others slaughter fellow humans for rituals.
When it comes to clinging to political power, we the north have earned the gold medal. From when it was fashionable to stage coups to manipulating the game of numbers, we’ve always put our best foot forward. Young men with curious aliases have been making waves in the east long before Nnamdi Kanu declared the region a dream republic. But give it to the east; they don’t send their girls to the battlefronts of Belgium and Italy – that is the exclusive preserve of the Edo.
Eastern parents know the futility of wasting years in school. As soon as boys learn to read, write and particularly to count, they are apprenticed to ‘successful’ men who groom and mentor them into wealth. This is a right of passage because the average easterner has realized that at the end of the day, it is the child that brings wealth back home that is truly a freeborn.
Years back, the enviable video of a young man named Escobar made waves on social media. In that clip, Escobar, aka Bishop was dressed in a fake cassock complete with a fake pectoral cross dangling on his neck. This is the official cassock of the bishop of narcotism. Nestled in his arms were wads of freshly minted wads of currency notes that he was unclasping and literally frittering to the adulation of admirers. The ground he walked on is now carpeted in money as this was long before Charles Soludo made a law against the abuse of currencies or in spite of it. Those who control money, need not respect the law.
Remember Soludo was a professor before his appointment, but there was no way in hell that even as Governor of Central Bank, he could have displayed such wanton assault on any currency. Bishop did it because he is a successful ‘businessman’ who ran a ‘business’ empire that cost others their heads in Malaysia. Bishop did not head to Malaysia, China or Thailand to test his Chi; he allegedly established his narcotic gold mine in South Africa where poverty and years of inequality made our own people there susceptible to drug addiction. His business allegedly flourished to the level that he mentored several apprentices. One of his them, a boy from Enugu served his master diligently and upon graduation was street savvy enough to threaten his master’s territory.
In my corner of the globe, fathers, teachers and mentors pray for their mentee to overtake them. That is why you never see a Yagba man name his child Junior! But if you go back to Yagbaland, poverty is the language that speaks loud and clear, so; who morality don epp? Back to Bishop’s empire, the turf war degenerated even as the ground became too hot for the Bishop who returned home to live large and to find a new hobby – philanthropy.
He ‘invested’ in development better and faster than Peter Obi could find the cash to tar roads or build warehouses. Bishop is said to have clinics to his name; has taken widows and orphans to his charge and of course built a mini-cathedral in his neck of the wood – a Naija Robin Hood!
When his mentee met a violent death, the desire for revenge hatched from South Africa to Naija with the late mentee’s gang vowing not to let Bishop go to his grave with grey hairs. Those who know swear that this was the reason the devil came to worship at Ozobulu on August 6 leaving death and casualties among who is said to be Bishop’s own father. Bishop himself escaped unharmed because apparently, his Chi protected him.
A thrilling story if it were fiction that beggars belief. For how could one explain the prevalence of baby factories in several communities; the mushrooming of semi-illiterates with questionable wealth and opulent lifestyle; the emergence of the likes of Evans the kidnapper and the rise in ritual killings. This is 2017 where Elon Musk may take us to the moon on real honeymoon and Mark Zuckerberg is president of cybersphere. How does one explain obsession with wealth as the barometer of success except to say that the devil is in the details.
The devil went for mass in Ozobulu on a Sunday where value is eroded. If someday, we find the reason not to quanlify success in monetary terms we’ll be curing the ailments plaguing the very fabrics of our society. Maybe then we would discover the beauty of Maiduguri instead of Haramistan, travel on Kabba-Lokoja road without fear of being kidnapped; explore and traverse Obudu, Ikogosi, Yankari and other attractions without becoming victims of ritual killers. Then people like Bishop Escobar would get the cold shoulder and the isolation they need as church leaders reject donations from questionable sources. Then one minister would not steal enough to blight four generations. Until these things are fixed, the devil would keep attending service – leaving sorrow tears and blood.