Fides Media Living the Faith
By Pat Amobi Chukwuma
A certain wealthy man snatched the wife of a very poor man. The woman in question was finding life very difficult under her poor husband before she was snatched. For her the snatching is a blessing. Indeed things have begun to change positively in her life. The rich man gives her anything she wants. She now dines with the gods. Before now she was dinning with hungry spirits. Presently she owns a modern air-conditioned jeep with a driver driving her while she sits proudly at the owner’s seat. Just last week, her actual poor husband was standing beside the road waiting for a taxi. When her jeep came along, she asked the driver to slow down. She wound down the glass and spit at the face of her lawfully wedded poor husband and then asked the driver to speed off. The poor man wiped the spittle on his face and cried to the heavens for consolation. Oh, what a pity! Should we praise the rich man for snatching and looking after the woman well? Should we also extol the snatched woman for living a luxurious life now, having suffered from abject poverty for years under her poor husband?
Some time ago, a popular politician contested the gubernatorial election in his state, which he ‘won’ through outright rigging by changing of figures and snatching of ballot boxes. Eventually he was sworn into office for tenure of four years. He performed well unlike his predecessors. His subjects were hailing him as the messiah. They gave him the title Moonlight. Should the masses enjoy the light he illuminates since he came to shine through fraud? Should we then justify his electoral rigging because of his good performance? He came into office through the window instead of through the door. Is he then a friend or a foe?
There was a notorious kidnapper under surveillance by the police for some years. At a time he seemed to be invisible. He was kidnapping for ransom that ran into millions of money. Almost on daily basis he smiled to the banks with heavy Ghana-must-go bags. He used most of the money to build houses for the homeless, gave scholarship to indigent students, built hospitals for the handicapped and was doing other humanitarian services. Also he made huge donations to the church from time to time. In fact he solely built a magnificent chapel within the church premises. Can God hear the prayers of those who go into the magnificent chapel to pray? The Igwe of the town honoured him with the title Agunecheumuya 1 of Isiagboncha. The town people were very happy for his good works and held him in high esteem. Hardly did they know that he was a kidnapper. Eventually he was captured like a stubborn rat by eagle eyed policemen at a check point. His beneficiaries were sad over his arrest. They loved him so much for his charitable works. Some say that his crime was beneficial. Therefore he should be released. Should his humanitarian services funded with the money he got from kidnapping be justified? If you were one of those on his scholarship scheme, would you continue or discontinue your studies based on the evil earned money? Since the kidnapper used the millions of ransom to improve the lives of the less privileged, was his charity praise-worthy or condemnable? It was at last that it dawned on the people that the rate of death of patients in the hospitals he built was unimaginable. Hardly did any patients admitted there recover. Blood money must claim blood in one way or the other.
If the president of a country comes into office with forged certificate and through electoral manipulation, should he be addressed as ‘Your Excellency’? If so, what is excellent in him? Suppose he fights corruption during his presidency but became president through corrupt means, does he really fight or encourage corruption?
Have you heard how a lawmaker of the National Assembly was humiliated by his constituents? He got into the lower chamber through fraudulent means. He falsified his West African Examination result, falsified his age and falsified the National Assembly election result through his cronies who acted as returning officers. For the four years he was in the Green Chamber, his constituents knew no dividends of democracy. His constituency allowances were channeled into his private bank account. At the end of four years he returned home with a trailer load of indomie for his people. The people planned a grand reception for him with ulterior motive.
They were angry in their hearts but smiling facially. In the welcome address they wrote: “Welcome home our dear dishonourable member. You are a disgrace to your constituency. In four years what you brought for your people is nothing but a trailer load of indomie. What an insult! Shame!” Out of anger the people rose and were throwing packets of the indomie at him as he was running for his dear life. The mob went further to set his two storey house on fire. He voluntarily went into exile with his wife and two children. Till today he has not returned. They nicknamed him ‘Dishonourable Indomie.”
Many Nigerian politicians enter into office through fraudulent means. They fight tooth and nail to grab the end, which is victory by all means. Some shed blood because of power. No wonder it is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. During political campaigns and power tussle, report of missing persons abound. The vital organs of those missing persons are used to prepare charms for some desperate politicians aimed at winning election. A certain native doctor promised a particular politician of automatic victory if he buries a live human being under his bed. The occult politician sent out his boys who kidnapped an innocent man going about his business. They blindfolded him, tied him hands and legs and buried him alive while he was crying for help, which did not come. The floor was cemented and marbled. Then the evil politician set his precious bed on top of the grave and slept it on daily basis. Later he won the senatorial seat he was vying for through bloody means. His constituents began to address him as Distinguished Senator. He was spraying money left and right. He was popularly called Moneygram.
One day as he sleeping on the bloody bed, he heard a loud strange voice coming from beneath his bed. Esoterically, the voice shouted, “Mr. Moneygram, there is no hiding place for you now. Your time is up!” Out of fear he began to run without applying breaks. Looking back he saw the spirit of the man he killed for power pursuing him with a shape sickle. He fainted instantly. Before any medical help could come he kicked the bucket.
The moral Law states that the means justifies the end, and not vice versa. But for desperate politicians and dictators, the end justifies the means. A justifiable means leads to a justifiable end. You ought to walk on the right path before you can enjoy everlasting banquet in Heaven. Heaven is the ultimate end for all mankind. But no one can get in there through foul means. There is a story of a wealthy woman who prostituted so much while on earth. She died and was ushered into hell. As she stepped in there, the heat of the fire in hell scorched her so much that she was gasping for breath. When she looked further, she saw Lucifer and the devils dancing and welcoming her to hell. She shook her head sideways and shouted, “This can’t be true. I am in the wrong place. The devil is a liar!” Lucifer slapped her with venom asking, “Who do you say is a liar?” At last she found herself in the hottest part of hell.
The die is cast. Those who climb into the corridors of power through fraudulent means will be humiliated sooner or later. Nigerians are now ready to confront our inefficient leaders at home or at abroad. We have seen how a senator who went abroad to celebrate New Yam Festival was humiliated and pelted with eggs and rotten things. Charity, they say, begins at home. Our leaders at the state and national levels should make good governance possible. Our democracy is turning into democrazy. The President and other leaders who travel abroad for medical reasons must desist from doing so, since they fail to equip and maintain the hospitals at home. No life is more precious than the other.