SUPERSTITION AND DECEIT

By Abu Onyiani

Only recently, Apostle Johnson Suleiman of the Omega Fire Ministries made headlines for declaring that his spiritual son was magically teleported from Germany to France. He had bogusly claimed that this spiritual son, despite not having the required documents, was spiritually transported from the restroom of a German airport, to an airport in France, after God told him to speak in tongues. The members were cheering the miracle, not even thinking about the plausibility of such fiction.

What was alarming about this claim was that Apostle Suleiman refused to give us any verifiable information such as date, time, name of airports, or even the name of his spiritual son. In fact, all he did was to suggest that he worships a God that facilitates illegal migration. You can imagine the shock, utter disbelief and disgust I felt watching that video, an ordeal I wouldn’t wish on any sane person.

Apostle Suleiman is not new to controversial claims. Months ago, he had accused Pope Francis of being the Anti-Christ. He claimed God told him that the Pope was responsible for Coronavirus. He had earlier predicted that Donald Trump would lose the elections, and that the running mate of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris would be sworn in after Joe Biden was impeached, so as to usher in the New World Order. Months later, he ordered his “Flock” to pray against the loss of Donald Trump, a moved that only confused many as to what side he really was on, since God had already told him who would lose.

Like Apostle Johnson Suleiman, there are many who exploit and weaponize poverty and illiteracy against the masses. They create conspiracies that only serves the purpose of enslaving people to their will and ambition, an ambition that has no end. How else would you describe a man who is neither a medical doctor, a virologist, or an engineer drawing, labeling and mathematically interpreting a graph that “explained” how 5G technology was disguising as the virulent and deadly Coronavirus. When it comes to infectious diseases and illnesses, I have often wondered why Nigerians will ignore the advice of a doctor, a scientist, a virologist, a physician, and others whose profession and expertise is diseases and viruses, and instead begin to laud a Vulcaniser, a Brick Layer, and a Pastor whose only reasons for spinning lies is Superstition and Deceit.

As to why God will tell Mr A that the Pope is responsible for Corona Virus and tell Mr B that Corona Virus is a hoax is an argument for another day. Most Nigerians believe these stories without sparing a moment for logical thoughts and reason. For example, many Nigerians who own vehicles, many engineers who understand how vehicles work would rather suspend logic and believe that Daddy Enoch Adeboye drove over a hundred kilometers on an empty tank, rather than contemplating that he in fact had a faulty fuel guage.

The irony of this is, nearly every Nigerian believes in these things in the name of miracles, and like I dare say, poverty and ignorance has been weaponised by the leaders, such that the exploitation of the masses becomes a norm. Awdhesh Singh in The Secret Red Book of Leadership said “Leaders are usually a reflection of the people they lead…..” In this case of dangerously deceitful superstition, it is entirely true, as a vast majority of Nigerians still believe in, and still disseminate stories that will make you wonder if Nigerian citizenship is conferred on most Nigerians only after they have been successfully lobotomized. The average Nigerian still believes that a person who died prematurely will become a trader in a faraway market. That these reincarnated people will vehemently refuse to sell to someone they know, and will magically disappear just before they are fully recognised or apprehended. Things these Spirits are selling are always pepper, crayfish, and garri. I don’t know why Nigerians love mediocrity, even in death. I mean, if I had enough powers to resurrect from the dead and become a business man, why would I want to sell pepper and onions? Would it not make better sense if I use my powers to create a multinational organization? No, Nigerian spirits would rather continue in the very poverty that killed them when they were mortals, because their imaginations are very limited, and their brains have had little occasions for critical thinking.

Another popular myth is that dead people hold meetings in mortuaries. Dieners in Nigeria make a lot of money selling these lies to people. They encourage these myths by knocking on the doors of mortuaries before opening them, telling ridiculous lies such as saying so and so dead person bought them groundnuts and banana, or a pair of nice shoes. They even claim to argue with these dead beings. Whereas civilized societies employ Dieners based on Intellectual, Educational and Emotional intelligence, Nigeria employ those who can tell the fattest lies.

During funerals ceremonies when people take their deceased loved ones to their final resting places, drivers of ambulances fleece many gullible people dry. From concorting ridiculous orders such as the number of Kola and Schnapps to be given to him, to strictly ensuring he’s in front of whatever convoy the procession attracted. They sometimes even abruptly stop their vehicles, claiming the spirit of the deceased needs to be pacified, even though they are the ones pocketing these monies and gifts. In 2017, a colleague of my elder brother lost his father. They made every necessary arrangements for the funeral, and planned to move the corpse from Benin City to Umuahia on the day of the funeral. My brother recalls that the driver of the ambulance kept stopping every now and then, claiming the dead man was dragging the wheels with him. He offered libations a few times and pocketed the money people threw at the bonnet of the vehicle and coffin.

The honest truth is, many Nigerians aren’t so mentally balanced because poverty and hunger has so eaten into our hearts that we see everything as spirits fighting against us, as we continue hoping for one magical interference that will change our life. Our leaders too, especially our religious leaders are deluding and leading many ignorant and fearful Nigerians into the madness of superstition. They even back it up by threatening that God will destroy you if you speak ill of them. Nigerians, think for a moment, why would a God who created and loves you destroy you because you spoke or criticized another person he created? Why would a good God, instead of burning and destroying shameless liars and pulpit bandits, destroy you because you merely said, I disagree with what so and so is saying?

Superstition is exactly why there are still many reported ritual killings. I know that if money rituals were real, the Federal Government would have since used all the inmates across all Nigerian prisons for rituals, so they can have enough funds to support their greed and selfish looting of our collective wealth.

Many Nigerians adults continue to be domiciled in their crudest childhood fantasies, and although childhood indoctrinations may be allowed parts of the blame, every adult is ultimately responsible for using his brains. The only danger here is, innocent children with barely formed minds, and honest hearts, are being infected by this madness, and by the time they are adults who should be responsible for themselves, they have already been infected with the craze of mindless Superstition.

(c) Abu Onyiani 2020