Fides Media Living the Faith
By Fr Pat Amobi Chukwuma
To vomit is to eject matter from the stomach through the mouth. It can be emotional or self-induced. A sickly stench can make a person want to vomit. As a noun, the word ‘vomit’ means ‘matter ejected from the stomach.’ It is an eye-sore. In other words, the stomach vomited; the eye saw. Both the stomach and the eye become downcast at the vomit.
It is said that whenever a dog sees a man with a protruding stomach (tank belly), it follows him until the heavy stomach man vomits or excretes and the dog will satisfactorily feed on the vomit or the excreta. In its wisdom the dog does not follow a pregnant woman because it knows that she is carrying a baby. At the fullness of time, the baby is born through the birth canal and not vomited through the mouth.
A vomit can be attractive or repulsive. In Germany some years ago, a black man from one of the African countries, who found himself in the shores of Germany by crook or hook, became critically sick. He was jobless and was eating from dustbin to mouth. His residence was under a hidden stair-case in a railway station. On a fateful evening, as he was walking to the railway station, he vomited at a spot and was very weak to walk further or to dispose of his vomit.
Helplessly he sat down there and was breathing like a conquered ghost. Some German men and women who were passing by stood in a circle watching the scenario. One of them shook her head and exclaimed, “Meine Guete! These Africans swallow potatoes without chewing.” In essence the black man ate; Africans swallow with watery soup. The vomit came out in bad shape. It was really repulsive.
There is a vomit which is attractive. The vomit of a poor man is repulsive while that of a rich man is attractive. Poverty manifests itself in everything a poor man possesses or does. A certain Pentecostal Pastor says that the word ‘poor’ means, “Passing over opportunities repeatedly.”
This passing over is repulsive. On the other hand, a rich man’s vomit is attractive in colour and in content. It contains the essential ingredients that give rise to a balanced diet.
The vomit of a poor man is watery while that of a rich man is thick. My house dog can bear me witness. It had tasted both and while wagging its tail in approval nodded, “The difference is clear!”
I hope I am not causing you indigestion by this vomit analysis. Even the above clarifications bordering on vomit can make someone feel like vomiting. I am sorry if you feel so. Someone may say that I am out of my senses in this equivocal write-up. I am just making some preliminary analysis.
When I reach my destination, everything will be made clear. A conclusion can never be made from the introduction. You clear a bush in order to cultivate. To cultivate in a bush is a waste of energy and resources. The bush automatically would overgrow the planted crops and choke them to death.
Here comes the nucleus of my argument so far. The economic and political hardships we are experiencing in our country Nigeria is as a result of greed. The rich continues to get richer while the poor get poorer. Vomiting does not come only from the stomach to the mouth. It also comes from the heart and is vomited through the senses. A good man vomits virtues while an evil man vomits vices.
The Holy Book says, “For out of the abundance of heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Mtt. 12:34-35). The law of nemesis does not get old. It is always at work in every generation. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Whatever one consumes out of greed must be vomited sooner or later. Neither the heart nor the stomach tolerates greed. Since his sudden death in 1998, the late greedy head of State General Sani Abacha has been vomiting the wealth of Nigeria he swallowed. He cannot rest until all is vomited. His successors who also swallowed the wealth of this country will vomit at their own time. The vomit does not only end on earth. It continues in the world beyond. A popular modernized saying stipulates that the evil that men do lives with them and after them. We have refused to learn from History.
A sick man vomits food or drinks. On the other hand, a corrupt or greedy leader vomits money in Naira or Dollars. Any political leader who swallowed power unjustly must vomit it when nemesis begins its work. Injustice cannot overcome justice forever. We are looking forward to the Nigerian Judiciary to proclaim justice in the Presidential Election Petitions before them. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Presidential Election was conducted on 25 February 2023 in daylight. Unfortunately, selection was done in darkness which produced the President. Anyone who uses money to buy injustice at the detriment of justice will eventually vomit the money in this physical world or in the world of the spirits beyond. The damned souls in hell fire are vomiting repulsively and eternally. The evils they swallowed on earth are the cause of the repulsive perpetual vomit.
The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) are allegedly vomiting bags of money they swallowed out of greed. They are just scapegoats. Many state and federal government agents are involved, both in the past and the present.
The immediate past semi-civilian federal administration claimed to have aggressively fought corruption, but she ended up in absolute corruption. If satellite is beamed on the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Arms of Government in the past and present administrations, many heads will roll. The entangled culprits will vomit attractively and repulsively in Naira and Dollars. Embezzlement of public fund, if not refunded, causes financial vomit here or hereafter.
It is not only those in state and federal government administrations that vomit the public fund they embezzled while in office. All the leaders in civil and religious circles can be guilty. It is only the fear of God and uprightness that can prevent any political, economic and religious leaders from temporal and eternal vomits. Whether attractive or repulsive, no vomit is a treasure. The devil is evil, whether he is white or black.