By Osondu Anyalechi
Ugly things have
been repeating themselves in recent times. It is either a man is defiling his
teenage daughter or a 70-year-old man is doing so with his neighbour’s
daughter. The plea of one of them was that he was misled by the devil. Another
man said that he did what he did under the influence of alcohol. Well, the
effect is the same, irrespective of their plea. An innocent girl has been
exposed to an evil practice. A little girl has been abused and cheated. A man
is suffering from what his fellow man has done to his daughter. It is all about
the devil, rightly called devil [deviser of evil].
In one case, Uncle admitted that he defiled his daughter but
blamed the native doctor, who had told him that it was a quick means of getting
rich. And he obeyed! He must have put his daughter and wealth on the scale and
then made his choice. Money became more important to him than his daughter.
There are many people who are in pains because they have no children, and yet,
they are very wealthy. To them, children are more important than wealth. Not Uncle!
Each time Uncle’s daughter returned from school and sees him, she
remembers how he saw her nakedness. In school, if she is told that she has a
visitor and it is him, she remembers what he did to her. Sitting in their car
behind the driver, to avoid body contact, she moves a little bit away from her
Dad, remembering the unholy touching of their bodies that day he was defiling
her. During her convocation, as she jumps out joyfully in her academic gown and
hood to the embrace of her family members and he tries to embrace her, it
reminds her of that forceful embrace in which she lost her virginity. To her,
it would have been better if it was a rapist or an armed robber, but not
someone, who gave birth to her.
As her Dad holds
her hand happily, leading her to the altar, in response to the Minister’s
question, ‘Who gives this lady to this man’, during her wedding, she weeps. She
remembers what her Dad did to her, when other Dads were rather protecting their
children from evil men. When she gives birth to her own daughter and he carries the
baby gleefully, she is filled with anguish, not too sure if her daughter might
ever be safe in his hands, when she grows up, as she was not…
You may think that
shame and prudence might compel her to keep to herself the evil thing her Dad
did to her. The opposite holds. Her siblings, especially the females, are in
the picture. Each of them avoids their Dad more than they do a leper. They
hardly visit home when their mum travels out of town, so that he will not make
mistress of them. The more he tries to relate with them as their Dad, the more
they suspect his intentions. This makes them partial orphans when their parents
are alive, and if his evil deed sneaks out to the ears of the boys, he becomes
childless though he has many children.
In his life time,
this is the price he pays for listening to a native doctor, a man he knows is
poor, and yet, promised him wealth if he indulged in that abomination. ‘Do
native doctors hate wealth, if not, why is he poor?’ Uncle would have asked
himself, knowing that the native doctor has many daughters. ‘Why should he not
have been sleeping with them to become wealthy?’ he should have imagined. A wise
man did so, when a native doctor brought out a loaded rifle, after giving him
some charms he would be wearing and no bullet would penetrate into his body. He
recited the names of Army officers he had fortified, who had fought in various
war sectors and returned safe. Uncle took the gun, appreciated him and
requested that he wore the charm so that he could try its potency by pulling
the trigger on him. The native doctor would not allow that. Uncle gave him his
charm and left.
What is painful is
that many people will rather believe the native doctors more than they will
believe God and His Word. God is emphatic in condemning fornication and
adultery, whether it is with human being or any other creature, but a native
doctor will encourage them. Who we obey, is a tacit declaration of who is our
master. God does not speak in the covens. His Word, the Bible, is sold in bookstores
and in the market places, where anybody can buy and read. The members of
Gideon’s International give out Bibles free to students and place them in
hotels, hospitals, etc, for people to have access to them at will. I have never
heard of any native doctor, who documented his beliefs, such as the formulae
for wealth by sleeping with one’s daughter and then making them available to
the public. Why should someone believe a hidden advice rather than an open and
verifiable one?
In 1980, in Texaco Oversees
Petroleum Oil Company, I started a Christian Fellowship, where God’s children
were meeting twice a week during the lunch break. During the Christmas Party,
organized by the company, we would make drama presentations, aimed at reaching
out for Christ. One day, a top management staff told me that some people were
also meeting at the same venue, the board room, but were not interpreting the
Bible the way we were doing. I wondered why he could not mention the name of
the society. I reminded him, how we were open, and also of our invitations to
all and sundry. Our name, TOPCON Christian Fellowship, and purpose, were common
knowledge in the company. I reminded him, how we would, sometimes, minister to
the staff and would serve them lunch. I asked him why that other set of people,
would not also come out in the open. He was all eyes, having received more than he had
bargained for.
The society may not
condemn fornication and adultery but it condemns incest, and that is what a
native doctor was bold to tell Uncle to do and he did. Why should he do what is
frowned at by God and man? Painfully, some people buy their lies. It can be equipping
robbers for success in stealing, killing, maiming, raping or doing all sorts of
evil things to their fellow men. The native doctors’ relations, children and
they, themselves, sometimes, may not be free from the mud.
We may not have
known all these if the potency claimed for the charms is true. In that case,
nobody would have caught them. In Police custody, some armed robbers and
similar people, who were promised heaven and earth concerning the potency of
the charms given to them, have regretted their investment in evil and have
vowed to deal with the native doctors, should their lives be spared by the
government. Regretting their conduct at this time is not good enough. It pays
great dividends if made before apprehension.
*Mr. Anyalechi, a public affairs analyst, could be reached with anyalechiosondu@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment