Fides Media Living the Faith
By Rev Fr Amobi Chykwuma
Most films or dramas we watch are curled from the happenings in our society. The other day, I was watching an interesting but sorrowful local film involving a deceitful husband and his suspicious wife. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).
In other words no one acts from vacuum. The action of each person hinges on what is internalized. Also, the evil that men do lives with them wherever they go. You can run away from crime location, but you cannot run away from the dire consequences. The law of nemesis is still active.
It happened that a certain man raped his parents’ housemaid mercilessly. When his father intervened, the only son in question beat him up and ran away from the house to an unknown destination. As time went on, he settled in exile. He found a menial job of a cleaner in a company. Later, he got married to a woman he admired. They lived together for seven years without a child.
They went for fertility test in a private hospital and waited for the result. The dubious husband secretly approached the laboratory technician and bribed him to forge his own fertility result because he was aware he had very low sperm count which cannot be remedied, except by divine miracle. When the doctor read out the fertility Lab tests, he told the couple that they were medically alright. He asked them to go home and pray earnestly to God.
Later, the wife suggested to her husband that they should go for child adoption as they await God’s intervention. Unfortunately the husband was not in support. Against his will, the wife adopted a male child of five years. She cherished the child’s behaviour so much while the husband maltreated the child. From intuition the child knew that his foster father is a dupe and an obstacle in the family.
One day, the wife paid a casual visit to his husband in the company he lied to his wife that he was the manager. When she came in, she asked the receptionist to take her to her husband’s office. The receptionist obliged her. The woman nearly slumped when she saw her husband wearing tattered clothes and was sweeping and mopping offices.
Deceptively, the husband leaves the house every morning cladded on befitting suit with a suitcase as a “manager”. When he reaches the company, he pulls off and wears cleaner’s attire.
At the end of the day’s work, he changes into suit again. The wife cried and shouted, ‘So, you are just a common cleaner and not a manager! Why did you lie to me?’ The dubious husband replied, “Please do not vex. It was by slip of tongue that I told you I am the manger instead of a cleaner.”
Lies beget lies. Later, the wife discovered that her deceitful husband forged his fertility test when she accosted the lab technician who told her the whole truth and nothing but he truth. She also found out that the father of her husband whom he told her had died was still alive. It was the curse from his father that was following him all along. Angrily, the wife packed out from her marital home with the adopted child. Her conclusion was that she cannot live together with a man who speaks from two sides of the mouth.
When a girl called Mmesoma forged her JAMB result, everybody was crying hue and condemned her. There is no smoke without fire. When the mother she-goat is feeding on strange leaf, its young offspring would be watching her. One day the young one will also learn to feed on it. It is said that the elders have eaten unripe fruits and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
My people say that if an elder eats the head of a fowl, what will the children do? Scandals are very bad. Thus, Jesus Christ warns: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Mtt.18:6). From all indications, it is clear that Mmesoma learned forgery of result and certificate from the deceitful elders in our society and country today.
Some of the leaders in power at the state and national levels forged their primary, post-primary and university results; yet they are at the helm of affairs. Some of the politicians who succeeded in becoming governors, lawmakers and presidents in the past and present forged their electoral victories by rigging. Rigging is not different from forgery.
The Judiciary which is the last hope of the common man is now besieged by the spirit of forgery. Hence, some of the judgments delivered by magistrates, judges and justices are coated with forgery. Often the judgments are based on the amount of money offered by the highest bidder.
A popular proverb in my locality says: “O na-adi nma ka ikuku kuo ka a hu ike okuko.” This means that whatever that is hidden must be revealed. It is not strange news to hear that a dog bit someone. But it is very strange and awkward to hear that a man bit a dog.
The crime of an ordinary person, does not carry heavy weight. If the same crime is committed by a person in an exalted position, then it rings bell everywhere. Sin is sin, no matter who committed it. However, the sin of an ordinary citizen is a local evil. On the other hand, the sin of a person at the helm of affairs in a state or country is an international evil. If a governor or president forges his result or certificate, what shall ordinary citizens do?
It is a scandal to hear that the content of the Chicago State University Certificate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) prior to the 25 February 2023 Presidential Election is fake. There are discrepancies between Tinubu’s 1979 CSU certificate and the samples of certificates issued by the University to students in the same year.
At this point, it is pertinent to observe some minutes silence over the discrepancies. The certificate must have been manipulated and doctored to ascend to political power as a one-time governor and now as the Number One Citizen of the Giant of Africa. In fact, the country has been polluted with the spirit of executive forgery. As it stands now, our country Nigeria requires urgent cleansing and deliverance.
The services of powerful Men of God are required here. If it were in a sane country, the president would have resigned in order to save his face. Unfortunately, abomination in Nigeria is glorified. This is the more reason I said that I will not be a Nigerian again, if there is reincarnation.
In conclusion, we can forge results and certificates to cling to power here on earth. We can appeal to higher powers or to the Judiciary to justify our forgery. Unfortunately, it is not permissible before the Gate of Heaven. Entrance to Heaven is only by merit.
The presentation of fake Eternal Life Certificate carries heavy penalty of eternal damnation and direct entry into hell fire. Nothing impure or unjust can enter into Heaven. A certain foolish rich man was dying of undisclosed terminal sickness. When he was still conscious, he stocked his pockets with billions of money and valid cheques with which to bribe the Angels at the Gate of Heaven.
When they open the heavenly gate, he would also bribe God himself in order to secure the most decent place in the Heavenly Kingdom. Eventually, he died unrepentant. From his death-bed, the satanic angels escorted him and his money into hell. He was ushered into the hottest place in hell. This is a lesson for all of us, especially for all deceitful and greedy Nigerians. Saint Paul strictly says, “Each and every one of us must give account of his life to God” (Romans 14:12). To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Eternal life is strictly based on merit and not on forgery.