By Sunny Awhefeada
There is no doubt that Nigerians are deeply religious. Unfortunately, that religiosity is shallow as it lacks spirituality. Nigeria will probably rank first in the chart of the most prayerful nations of the world. Yes, we pray a lot. We pray in the morning, at noon, at night, at work, in the market, just anywhere not to mention the church and the mosque. We pray just about any time and everywhere. The commencements of meetings where politicians share loots are always marked with an “opening prayer”. Every meeting by civil servants, somebody called them evil servants, during which they steal with the pen must commence with the ubiquitous item “opening prayer”. Policemen leaving their conscienceless offices to mount illegal checkpoints where they extort and steal from the citizens also clasp their hands and bow their heads in prayer! So do the exploitative market man and woman and the corpulent contractor! We hear that armed robbers actually do pray before embarking on their criminal adventures. These prayers and wishes are not backed by spirituality as the motives behind them manifest in desires for the kind of materialism that debases soul and the spirit. Spirituality in its full essence is anchored on the soul and human spirit and it runs on a higher order which is more powerful that the mundane that drives religiosity among most Nigerians. Spirituality is pure and driven by good intentions. And how many Nigerians, even among the horde who call themselves pastors, reverends and bishops, can stand in the realm of purity and good intentions?
Our intentions, acts and what happen to us are intertwined into what ultimately determine so much in our existence. Sadly, no matter how good intentioned you are there is the likelihood of being affected by the ills engendered by some other fellow. Indigenous lore speaks to this with the proverb that when one finger touches oil it soils the rest! Our individual existence and experience are thus bound to be affected by what others do. We are all caught up in an existential conundrum. So, when we wish, hope and pray that “may Nigeria not happen to us” we do not realize the emptiness of that aspiration until we ineluctably experience the reality of Nigeria happening to somebody. Some are lucky to survive the experience, but others are not. Somtochukwu Nwadiagwu and Barnabas were not fortunate to survive Nigeria happening to them. They did not live to recount the experience. There are many like them who became victims of Nigeria who are not alive to tell of the experience. It has been reported that Somtochukwu made a social media post praying that Nigeria should not happen to her just before her fatal encounter with the phenomenon. As a young lady of twenty-nine, a lawyer and television journalist, she must have had her life plan mapped out with hopes and aspirations marked by timelines. She had part of her education in the United Kingdom and was even a holder of that country’s passport. While her contemporaries are fleeing Nigeria in their numbers, she chose to return home to build her troubled country. But Nigeria mounted impediments on her path and gifted her death. Nigeria happened to her! Very much against her wish!
The narrative is that Somtochukwu’s residential building was invaded by armed robbers and calls were made to the police who as usual did not arrive until the armed rogues had departed. In the course of the robbery, Somtochukwu in panic jumped out through the window of her apartment and got badly wounded. She cried and begged the police to take her to the hospital, but the police refused. Eventually, her mother’s friend helped her to the hospital where the medical personnel, a source said, insisted on getting her identification before attending to her. Life ebbed out of Somtochukwu and she gave up the ghost. Just like that! First, it was the police that not only arrived after the robbers had left, but refused to take her to the hospital despite her pleas. Second, if the account was true, the hospital staff who exhibited unprofessionalism that was akin to witchcraft. Somtochukwu’s story is out there because of her status. But she was not the only victim of that macabre night of blood and death. Barnabas, one of the armed guard in charge of the building, who resisted the armed robbers was also badly shot. A resident rushed him to the hospital and the medical personnel refused to attend to him. Barnabas also died! Nigeria happened to both of them. The two institutions that are culpable in the death of citizens Somtochukwu and Barnabas are essentially life-saving institutions that have ironically become life-taking agencies in Nigeria. The police as an institution is supposed to protect the citizens, while the medical profession is primed towards saving life.
When people pray that “May Nigeria not happen to us” they often have government in mind as the organ engineering the “Nigeria” that should not happen to them. But we need to look deeper and ask the simple question, who is the “Nigeria” that should not happen to us? The answer is that all of us are the Nigeria that should not happen to us. Yes, we are held down by dysfunctional leadership, but the people have also failed themselves in all ramifications. The armed robbers who invaded Somtochukwu’s residence didn’t come from Aso Rock, the nation’s symbol of government. The police who refused to show up while the robbery was on were not held back from performing their duty by Aso Rock and it was also not government that told them not to help me Somtochukwu to the hospital. The hospital staff, if that narrative were true, who refused to attend to Somtochukwu and Barnabas were also not acting at the behest of government. The robbers, the police and hospital staff are all citizens who collectively killed fellow citizens Somtochukwu and Barnabas. True, our leaders have failed us and Nigeria; true also that we followers have also failed ourselves. So, when we say may Nigeria not happen to us we are simply saying that may we not happen to ourselves. Let us now begin to see the fingers pointing back at us. Just before the Somtochukwu and Barnabas tragedy, another family cried out over the tragedy that befell a member of their family. The victim was involved in a ghastly road accident and was rushed to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital. She was left unattended to for entire day until she gave up the ghost.
Nigeria is in thralldom due to debased leadership, debauched judiciary and callous citizenry. Deliberate elite conspiracy is reinforced with citizens’ active connivance at self and collective destruction. Civic consciousness, patriotism and national consensus have taken flight. What Nigeria has become is a vague label without meaning or significance in the articulation of the ideals of statehood. We are just here, just here and everyone to himself. Where do we go from here? Nigeria happens to us all daily if not hourly and it manifests in different ways. Bad roads, helpless hospitals, benighted education sector, insecurity, economic hardship, unemployment, police brutality, acute corruption and other plural indices of distress continue to afflict us at all levels. We have all become assailants and victims. The teacher who encourages examination malpractice, the doctor and nurse who takes bribes before attending to patients, the civil servant who extorts money before attending to files, the hawker or market man and woman who cheats buyers, the neighborhood rascal who pilfers hoping to evolve into a robber are all elements responsible for the undoing of Nigeria. It is not only those in government that are destroying Nigeria. Those in government are probably less than one percent of the population. So, instead of saying “May Nigeria not happen to us” should we not say “May we not happen to us”? Our nation just turned sixty-five. Could this be sixty-five years of independence or of disillusionment? Let us gird our loins and think about Nigeria and confer on her a meaning and significance. Let us invent ideals and re-imagine what we want Nigeria to be. Let us ensure, and subscribe to a creed, that it shall be well with Nigeria.
