Month: November 2014
PROACTIVE ENCULTURATION: A CASE FOR AFRICAN POLYGAMISTS
When HRH the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi visited London with his four wives, it was really a lovely sight to behold. Memories of Eddie Murphy in the movie “Coming to America” resurfaced. People came out in numbers to see the “King from Africa” (as one onlooker called him). My maternal grandfather had 6 wives while my paternal grandfather had 4 wives and I was told there was no rancour among the women as they understood that in Africa, a man can marry as many wives as he wants. When I was in primary 2, my social studies teacher taught me that polygamy is a marriage between one man and two or more woman; which according to her, is a norm in Africa. As a catechumen receiving catechetical instruction, my Catechist told me that marriage is strictly a relationship between one man and one woman. He got this definition from the teachings of the Whitemen who brought the gospel to Africa. I was now soaked in a dilemma to either abide by the noble tradition of my ancestors as taught by my school teacher or to go with what my Catechist said.
If I must go with what my Catechist said, then I should know the benefits of forfeiting my rich cultural heritage for the Whiteman’s belief. In my quest for answers, I read deeply about the Catholic Church, I came to realize that members of the Catholic Church are grouped into 16 rites and the Church in Africa falls into the Latin rite. This grouping was done to accommodate peoples’ culture and tradition. An accommodation the Bishop of Rome and his college Cardinals call Enculturation. This is why priests in Ethiopic, Coptic and other rites are allowed to marry, in order to promote the culture of that domain but those of the Latin rite are not allowed to marry. Then I went further to inquire to know the position of the Church on a converted polygamist. This is what I found: If you have two wives, you should convert the second wife to a sister (no conjugal visits) and keep the first as your wife. For obvious reasons, African polygamists would not be able to abide by this Roman dogmatic expression unless they practice it with some element of hypocrisy.
The Catholic Church in Africa with her population has reached the stage to demand for her own rite in the mother Church so that it can effectively accommodate African culture and belief system. After all, whatever the Church binds on earth is considered bound in heaven (Matthew 18:18). African Bishops should be proactive in the decision making process of the mother Church and not to just swallow every dogma thrown on Africans under the name of ‘infallibility of the Pope’. There is nothing wrong if the Church in Africa call for a third Vatican council where African traditional belief system will be fully integrated in the Church just as the Roman culture was fully integrated in the mother Church.
The dogma or Biblical doctrine of one man one wife is not just working in Africa. This is why a man will have one wife at home and 4 concubines or sexmates somewhere else. It has also led to a situation whereby young girls with potentials are being feasted upon by oldmen who cannot live with just one woman in the house; thereby making adultery that was hitherto an abomination in Africa to become an acceptable norm under the watch of the Church. This monogamy enforcement by the Church has also led to a situation where a lot of women willing to marry are unable to find husbands to marry as the population of women continue to outnumber the men.
The Church in Africa should stop pretending as if this strong Roman laws are actually practiced by Africans who take the oath to practice them. As for me, marrying more than one wife is a burden too heavy to carry but some men are strong enough to carry the burden. Such men should be given the freedom to carry the burden under the banner of the Church else they will carry it in a hypocritical manner. This type of peaceful reforms should be encouraged by the Church else radical ones like that of Fr. Martin Luther (Sell of Indulgence) and King Henry VIII (Divorce Policy) will spring up.
LOVING THY NEIGHBOUR MORE THAN THYSELF
Nigerians never cease to amuse me:
Some months ago when Israel attacked Palestine, the Northern Muslims in Nigeria were enveloped by a cloud of sorrow, they mourn, wept and protested, calling on Allah to come to the aid of Palestine. At the same period, we were faced with Boko Haram killings and Ebola epidemic in Nigeria.
A preacher/motivational speaker, Dr. Myles Munroe died in a plane crash far away in Bahamas and Nigerians (especially the Pentecostals) flooded Facebook with condolence messages, telling us how the man is now in heaven with God. This same period, over 47 school children were killed by Boko Haram in Potiskum, Yobe State and it appears as if all is well.
All I can say is that religion has done Africans (especially Nigerians) more harm than good. In the North, the Jihadists collected their culture and history and forced them into Islamic religion by the use of the sword, making subsequent generations to appear black in skin and Arabian in thought. As the late Dr. Bala Usman said: “…..they follow this religion (Islam), thinking that sharia is the solution to their frustration in life”
In the South, Chinua Achebe captured the tragedy in his book (Things Fall Apart): “…….the white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
This type of hypocrisy exhibited by Nigerians might be the reason why Wole Soyinka said that Nigeria would have been better without religion.
~Yeye dey smell for my country~
UNVAILING THE REAL WITCHES AND WIZARDS IN NIGERIA
Two months ago a picture of an old woman being lynched by a mob action in Lagos appeared on cyberspace. They said the woman is a witch and that a barb wire intercepted her on her way to perform her duty as an assassin. Yesterday I watched a video of some residents of Abuja molesting another woman whom they accused of being a witch; but in her case, they said she was intercepted by the roof of a house. As I watched the video, I heard a man shouting: “Kill her! Kill her! Una know the number of people tis woman don kill?” Same type of medieval ranting that led to the death of four innocent students in ALUU community and a lecturer in Taraba state. I don’t think anybody saw the women as they were flying and got intercepted. We don’t even know if the women are mentally derailed.
This attitude of suspecting poor old people as witch is uncalled for. Old age is part of the human lifecycle as can be seen from the sigmoid shape of a growth curve. If you are looking for witches and wizards, I can show you where to find them. All the government officials looting us to stupor, I mean the corrupt government officials that we reverend and hail and even give chieftaincy titles are the witches and wizards troubling our lives. They steal money meant for the purchase of arms to fight insurgents; thereby leaving our military men at the mercy of the insurgents. They steal money meant for the construction and rehabilitation of our roads, thereby making our roads to be death-traps. They steal money meant for the rehabilitation of our Industries, making our youths to be unemployed. They steal money meant for equipping our health centres, making our heart centres to be death centres. They steal money meant for generating electricity, putting us in darkness. They also starve workers and their families by not paying them salaries for months.
The second group of witches and wizards are the criminals in religious clothing who collaborate with these miscreants in power to loot us to stupor.
MY TRIBESMAN MUST WIN OR WAR WILL ERUPT
At the heat of the civil war, Odumegwu Ojukwu took only his family and ran away; leaving behind the people he led into the war.
When Gideon Orkar coup failed in 1990, Major Moukoro (one of the coup plotters) quickly took his family and fled to USA; leaving behind members of his community who were arrested because of his actions.
As Vimtin (the hometown of the Chief of Defence Staff) fell into the hands of Boko Haram, the Chief of Defence staff sent Helicopters to pick only his family members; leaving behind a community that tie her pride to his(Air Marshal Badeh) current status as the Chief of Defence Staff.
The lesson here is that we may continue to kill ourselves especially in the run of the 2015 election for someone from our ethnic group or religious affiliation to rule (Whether the person is competent or not), but if crisis erupts as a result of our insistence, the people we are fighting for will pick their immediate families and jet out of the country, leaving us in the ordeal.
FOOTBALL FANS AND THE ARCBISHOP
As I walked close to the door of the church today to attend morning mass, I saw two men discussing. They looked Irish and about 60 years of age. One of them pointed to the logo on my Jacket and asked: “are you an Arsenal fan?” before I could answer, the second man said: “It’s not an Arsenal Logo”. I smiled then I told them that I am an Arsenal fan and they busted into laughter saying that Arsenal are in the premier league just to add to the number of teams not for the trophy. I told them that football is not all about trophies but the beauty of the game and entertainment, and that Arsenal’s style of play makes the game of football look beautiful and unique. Then I told them to try watching rugby for a week and they will appreciate what Arsenal is doing to the game of football. I smiled, opened the door of the church and walked in.
As I knelt down in piety meditating, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and then a voice whispered: “Don’t forget to pray for Arsenal to win a trophy”. It was one of the men. He smiled and meandered through the narrow passage way to get a seat. In the mass, Fr. Jimmy told us about the pastoral visit of the Bishop of Birmingham Archdiocese which normally occurs once in every 10 years. While the mass was going on, the Bishop walked in with two travelling bags, he had no personal assistant to help him carry them. He dropped the bags and joined the congregation in prayers. Such humble gesture by the bishop reminds me of the humility exhibited by the founder of the faith (Jesus Christ) and also by the leader of the faith on earth (Pope Francis). At the end of the mass, the football enthusiastic fans waited for me outside the church and they told me about their team, Liverpool. When I reminded them that Liverpool has not won the Premier league for the past 53 years, they chuckled and bowed their heads in humiliation.
As I walked home, the Bishop’s gesture of humility resurfaced in my mind:
No Jet to fly him to Coventry
No entourage to receive him at the Airport
No Limousine to convey him to the parish
No Personal Assistants to carry his bags
He can get all these luxuries if he wants
He is just simple and humble
This is the type of person I call MAN OF GOD
This white guys brought this religion to us in Africa, we recieved it and redefined it to suit our material benefits at the detriment of the poor and gullible people in our society.
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