The wicked stepfather

THE spectacle of citizens resorting to actions totally bereft of any grounds of rationality is becoming worrisome. These days, many have the proclivity for cruel and irrational conduct that should ordinarily belong in the animal kingdom. The  media space is daily suffused with tales of beastly, precipitate and bizarre conduct by adults. Penultimate week, we ran an editorial on an eccentric father who visited mindless violence on his eight-week-old baby ostensibly for disturbing his sleep. And the incident culminated in the amputation of the hand of the hapless child. In the last three weeks, not fewer than two people, a male and a female, have reportedly jumped to their deaths in the Lagos lagoon. And there are many more tragic though unreported incidents that defy reason and justification.

Last week, Nigerians learnt of yet another bizarre incident, this time involving a wicked stepfather, one Joseph Ojo of Ondo town in Ondo State who set his wife and her children ablaze. His gripe was that the woman denied him his conjugal rights while  the children ganged up with her to beat him up. In other words, for being denied sex by his wife and for alleged assault by the step children, Ojo levied and attempted to execute the death penalty, as it were, on all of them  in a most horrendous and ghoulish fashion. Sadly, while neighbours promptly responded to the screams of the victims, one of the children reportedly died on the spot while two others died later. The rest are said to be responding to treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo.

Ojo’s action was the height of uncivilised recourse to self-help by a morally depraved individual. Surely, this was not an ordinary incident and the motivations could not have derived solely from the excuses being put forward by the alleged perpetrator of the dastardly act.  Most probably, there is a question mark on the man’s ability for rational thought and action.  No matter the level of provocation, he should not have resorted to such cruelty. Why did he take out his frustrations on the innocent children? Assuming but not conceding that his life was even in danger at anytime, why did he not escape? Obviously, a man who had ample time to plan and execute the incineration of his wife and stepchildren could have fled danger if there was any, and if he was not just fixated on bringing calamity upon his family.

Apparently, the friction between this man and his wife did not start now but why couldn’t the two adults resolve their differences amicably or go their separate ways if that was impossible? Why did they allow their conflict  to degenerate to the hideous attack that has now occasioned irreversible consequences? This unfortunate incident is yet  another indication of the growing tendency of Nigerians to react to every issue with pent up frustration and bottled up anger leading to cruel and unfathomable actions on even family members. What did the accused want to gain by setting the woman and her children ablaze for denying him sex? Would their death give him the desired sex? What is the sense in killing one’s wife and her  children? What  was the ultimate gain envisaged in this barbarity?

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Certainly,  the country is beset by socioeconomic challenges that have been taking a toll on many families by way of hunger, misery, anger, and perhaps deteriorating mental health. However, while we urge the government to up its ante and work harder to resolve this issue so that the citizenry can begin to have some respite, the existence of economic problems cannot be sufficient justification for the burgeoning reign of chaos, irrational conduct and anarchy in the land. Apparently, this callous stepfather  would now be trying to rationalise his illogical and cruel action to the police after his arrest, but how does one justify a patently criminal and illegal act of setting ablaze members of one’s family?

The government and the other critical stakeholders at family, traditional and religious levels should address the increasing tendency for many citizens to jettison reason in their decision-making. No decent society can condone the level of depravity and senseless actions coming from many Nigerians in recent times. Evidently, the conditions of living in the country are truly frustrating and there is the need for governments at all levels to work towards improving citizens’ living conditions so as to  lessen  their pains and obviate the danger of depression. It is a fact that the living conditions of people have implications for their mental health. And one of the surest ways to reduce the propensity of citizens toward persistent depraved actions is to evolve a regime of high  standards of living capable of  confining them within the precincts of decency and civility. Meanwhile, the law should take its normal course on the murderous stepfather because no level of provocation can explain away his despicable action.