Here is what you need to know
when you wake up to the shocking realization that you've been labelled a witch
by someone dear to your heart.
Madam Jaquel, a Christian woman who has slaved through the stinging smoke of burning firewood while frying akara to earn a living and send her children to school has just encountered how the Nigerian brand of Christianity changes the dynamic in relationships.
Madam Jaquel is just coming
to know that her married daughter, Kosolu, has given birth to a child, three
days after the delivery. Kosolu in the course of her pregnancy was unwilling to
disclose the month her baby would arrive and told no one in her family when she
went into labour. Only after the baby had arrived and she was discharged from
the hospital and well settled in her home did she share the news of the birth
with her parents and siblings. When Madam Jaquel asks Kosolu the reason for
such behavior, Kosolu says in Igbo, "O
ka m wee muo n'udo—so I can give birth to my child in peace!"
And in that instant, it all
comes together, the blur of confusion begins to fade and Madam Jaquel sees
things for what they really are. Madam Jaquel is roughly jarred to the
realization that to her daughter, she has become a different person. She has
become a person free from the ties of a blood relationship, free from the
familial duty to love and protect her own. She has become a person who can
imagine harm and devise evil against her own. Madam Jaquel soon sees herself
through the eyes of her daughter. She has become a witch, in the eyes of
Kosolu, a daughter who once nursed at her breasts and did not gag on the milk,
whose intestines did not churn and twist in revolt to her mammary love—the only
poison her milk contained.
In the uncanny equation where
a mother suddenly becomes a witch who cannibalizes on the happiness of her
young, lies the balancing element—a Man
of God. When someone begins to act out in an unfamiliar fashion, the Igbo
have an expression for it. They say such a person is dancing to the beat of a
drummer. Here the drummer is the "Man of God."
The manner in which events
are weaved may differ but the principle is always the same. It starts with a
divining, a poking through the layers of one's past and a seeing of impending danger. At this point, when a person's past is
so dramatically unraveled, the well-buried intimate details of one's life
exhumed, the ground is prepared and such a person has no choice but to believe
whatever the "Man of God" says, if even if he claims that such a
person's mother is a witch.
These "Men of God"
are self-assured people whose confidence in their supernatural ability to peel
open the past and the future tapers on the periphery of a god complex. They
have come to enjoy and expect the cowering of people—the way people swallow up
their words as though they were morsels of divine candy, the way people
singularly followed their instructions, determined and unthinking, as though
overcome by a sense of mindlessness and of course, the presentation of money to
them by people seeking a blessing, seeking to, in their own words,
"connect to the grace in the Man of God's life."
In the progression of events
that led to Madam Jaquel becoming a witch to her daughter Kosolu, lies the defining
moment, which probably was a church meeting. The atmosphere was probably
charged with the electrifying sound of the keyboard. Hands were probably raised
and people probably toppled and fell.
And the "Man of God" plugged into his soothsaying elements
must have begun to see things for the
people, to astound them by digging through the many crusts of their pasts and
parting through thick veils to see into their future.
He probably stood before
Kosolu, not really seeing her face but beholding reams and reams of her life,
knowing things he would not ordinarily know without the metaphysical plug-in.
Hmmm… Pregnant woman… Kosolu. Kosolu.. I
hear Kosolu in the spirit…
A dramatic shrill from Kosolu.
Yes! Man of God. That's my name.
The ushers with a grave
seriousness smeared on their faces probably positioned themselves on the left
and the right, expecting a caving of knees, a falling.
Jaquel. Jaquel.. Madam Jaquel… I see a
woman in the spirit. Who is Madam Jaquel to you, young woman?
A look of astonishment would
spread rapidly over Kosolu's face. That's
my mother. Madam Jaquel is my mother. Oh, Man of God!
He would then fix his gaze on
the Kosolu's abdomen, peering intently at the roundness of her gravid belly, as
though watching her foetus swirl in the thin-walled sac of amniotic fluid.
You are carrying a boy. He is a child of
destiny. But your enemies are out to thwart this pregnancy. A man's enemies are
the members of his own household
(A misconstrued Bible verse). Beware of
Jaquel. I hear that word in my spirit.
Kosolu's face would, of
course, crumple in bewilderment.
Yes, Man of God. Thank you Man of God!
The "Man of God"
would probably blow into her face, bits of his saliva descending on Kosolu's
face, warm on her skin, and then she would probably backstep as though losing
her balance and the ever ready ushers would swing into action, to catch her, to
keep her from coming to harm.
Her scans would have shown
the gender of her baby: a boy. The seeing of the "Man of God"
corresponded with the reality of her life except on one issue—the witchcraft of
her mother. She had never had reason to think of her mother as a witch. It had
never occurred to her that her mother was capable of hurting her. But she would
believe the "Man of God." She would gape and scream and then swallow
the words of the "Man of God"—words that become, for her, divine
prophylactic pills to keep her from coming under the viral attack of her
mother's supposed witchcraft.
And so with the seeing and speaking of the "Man of God," Madam Jaquel is transformed
from a loving mother who once enjoyed the warmth and friendship of her daughter
to a woman who preys on her child's joy. A woman to be avoided.
Point number one in
determining if a family member or friend is about to label you a witch—an enemy
of progress: Find out who is the person's "Man of God." If your
family member or friend speaks glowingly about the foretelling prowess of a
"Man of God", if they say "Pastor m na hu uzo—my Pastor sees things" with the offhand confidence
of one who has entrusted and left all spiritual responsibility to a "Man
of God," then you should probably prepare to be labelled a witch or an
enemy of progress.
Point number two: If your
family member or friend who naturally thinks objectively and is not given to
sentimental judgments begins to strongly oppose reasonable discourse and spice
conversations with the words "enemies," "frenemies,"
"haters," "back-stabbers," "unfriendly friends,"
"adversaries," or any other associated word that tells you that they
are on a defensive against hostility, you probably should be worried because
you might soon be labelled with one of those words that embody hostility.
Point number three: If your
family member or friend just cuts you off, without an argument or a fight, and
if such person is going through tough times or is on the verge of having
something really joyful happen for them, there are two things you should know.
If they are going through a rough patch in their lives and have become fixated
on seeing "Men of God" for solutions and attending prayer houses on
Monday mornings, they probably have been told that you have a hand in their
hardship. And if they are expecting some good news and suddenly cut you off,
they probably have been told that you are an enemy of progress on a mission to
massacre their happiness.
So dear perplexed people, run
through the points and determine if anyone you know has bundled you into a drab
box that reads "Enemies of progress ONLY."
You may also like this post: Shit happens:Why we are a nation of remorseless open 'defecators'.
You may also like this post: Shit happens:Why we are a nation of remorseless open 'defecators'.
Intelligently written
ReplyDeleteYou haven't yet cracked what God has prepared for you
This is just the starting point
Keep soaring
Wow. Thank you very much for reading and leaving feedback.
ReplyDeleteFantastic article. I really appreciate this. Keep it up
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Tony.
ReplyDelete