Editorial

The Ogun special prayer

Tribune Editorial Board
Gabriel Olanrewaju’s death FOR some time now, there have been protests and agitations arising from the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct outstanding by-elections into vacant legislative seats at the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly. The recurring violence among secondary school students soldiers’ invasion of DisCo offices, marvelous Mabel, The Congo beheadings, rescue Afenifere youth leader, The missing police guns, ICPC’s alarm on hospital contract fraud, YouTube surgery in Owerri, These filth-ridden motor parks, EFCC’s corruption Shariah Court in Oyo State, DHQ’s 2024 report, Ogun security guards’ burning of The controversy over the Air Force’s Christmas Day The fuel dispensing fraud suspension of Edo LG chairmen, An appeal to the political class The Ebonyi man who killed his wife The death of citizen Jimoh Abduquadri Merry Christmas Of kidnapping and humongous ransom Beyond the Port Harcourt refinery, The situation in Syria, The Ghana polls The errant Kwara teacher The attack on Miss Chidubem Eze These incessant fire The burning of revenue Yet another killing spree Who/what killed citizen forfeited Abuja property Joe Tagoe’s confession, Auditor-General’s report Governor Nwifuru’s arrest of Between EFCC boss Stopping Lakurawa, IMF’s double-faced verdict Chidimma Adetshina’s success Maureen Madu Jega’s curious indictment of lawmakers, The killing of citizen Azumi Abubakar Charcoal as toothpaste The recovery of N10m bribe These child defilement cases Electricity customers’ demand The contested tax reform Equatorial Guinea sex scandal, From dating site to the hereafter Between NNPCL Dangote Refinery The killing of a friend The killing spree Rapist teachers NSA’s allegation Lewis Stevenson’s suicidal stunt, The violence in Rivers Perish the FRSC gun Super Eagles’ ordeal Imo girl burnt for eating food, Nigerians are tired Citizen Usman Mohammed’s Cameroon’s unseen president The undue delay of cargoes Nigeria’s refineries’ The brutalisation of 14-year-old Bandits’ onslaught on hospitals, Nigeria at 64 Nigeria at 64 Only the rulers are happy Where is the promised waiver Tinubu administration, story of Rebecca Cheptegei, Nigeria’s peculiar petrol The North and the lingering Of Governor Ododo Yahaya Bello Maiduguri flood of tears. The Niger road NAFDAC and the miracle The robbery of Ghana returnee ritualist husband in Abia, The new petrol price Between South Africa and Nigeria’s The SIM card registration worsening insecurity, blackout in varsities, Containing Mpox NAHCON’s N90bn embarrassment Justice Kekere-Ekun The seized presidential aircraft The sad story That ‘nothing-will-happen’ defilement case in terror against children, Legislators’ pay, Rene Wakama’s classy moment Ghost police and other ghosts Nigeria’s disastrous Paris World Bank loan to states, Hunger protest Matters arising The smuggling of Nigeria’s fuel to UNICAL student union president and her Pastor Desmond Eke’s wickedness, Dissenting governors and new minimum wage, The Favour Ofili embarrassment FG’s initiative on food That killer suitor in police corporal who evaded transfer, The proposed LG electoral Commission, The Jos school

AS economic gloom aggravates social precarity across the country, Nigerians have been resorting to various drastic measures to make ends meet. In the attendant scenario, countless vices of privation have emerged, even as all manner of spiritual tricksters and charlatans are capitalising on the misery and desperation of the commoner. To say that the average Nigerian is paying a high price for the desperate situation in the country would be an understatement.

The recent incident involving 21-year-old Sukura Owodunni is a perfect illustration. According to media reports, Ms. Owodunni was tasked by her pastor, one Taiwo Odebiyi of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Maberu Parish, Sagamu, Ogun State, to buy some items for a “special prayer session” during which, ostensibly, a divine solution would be found to her problems. However, instead of a solution, what Ms. Owodunni ended up with was an experience she would never forget as the unknown perfume Pastor Odebiyi had doused her with suddenly caught fire in the middle of the prayer.

While Ms. Owodunni will at least live to tell the story of how she got burnt in her desperate quest for a spiritual remedy, many others have not been so lucky. In May 2021, Dubai-based socialite, Kayode Badru, lost his life in similar circumstances after being badly burnt in the course of a “special prayer session” at the Imole Parish of the Celestial Church of Christ in the Alagbado area of Lagos State. He gave up the ghost at a Gbagada hospital where he had been rushed for treatment.

As harrowing as these cases are, they do not begin to capture the utter desperation that has put many Nigerians at the mercy of quacks and sundry spiritual entrepreneurs. No day goes by without a report in the media or on social media of ritual killings involving people looking for quick wealth and going beyond the pale to get it. While it is true that ritual killings and similar perversions are motivated by desperation to get rich, it should be remembered that they couldn’t possibly exist without the general conviction as to the efficacy of such spiritual malpractices. If there is anything the average Nigerian believes wholeheartedly, it is that every form of wealth has a foundation or authority in the spiritual. This belief would not be a problem but for the fact that it tends to make people ignore hard work, diligence, and long-term investment. After all, why work or apply yourself to any craft if all you have to do in order to be wealthy is to perform a ritual or acquire some spiritual licence?

To be sure, wealth, or success in general, is not without a spiritual dimension. Our model of spirituality and wealth is the protestant ethic, which emphasises work first, followed by spiritual blessing. This is the exact opposite of what prevails in Nigeria today where people abstain from work and hope somehow to use spirituality as a short cut to wealth. The unfortunate fact is that many so-called religious leaders in the country today actively encourage this perversion.

 

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