Sadly, acknowledged bright minds are now waxing strong in superstitious theology and pseudo-spirituality. Society is guided by the philosophy it embraces. Because theology is the mother of all philosophy, every society will become what it theologizes!
What ensnared the villa, and indeed the country itself, was corruption in all of its forms. Attributing metaphysical basis to our individual and collective irresponsibility is a shifty way of blaming everything on Satan!
No be Satan’s fault. Na our fault! Forget Lucifer and his demons; corrupt leaders inflict more harm on a country than the beasts from Dante’s Inferno. Every money stolen whether by a president, governor, minister, legislator, civil servant, contractor or judge catapults the fleecing of the land to infernal magnitude.
Let all thieves cough their loot. Roads will be built, environment will be cleaned, schools will be renovated, hospitals will be equipped, airports will be maintained and lives will be preserved.
Mega million naira egunje are commonplace in government offices. Meanwhile, the elevators in the buildings that quarter those offices are not working. The clinics are not equipped, the electronics constantly fail. And those whose dereliction of duty inflicts such disrepair blame demons and principalities! Hogwash!
Consider the fact that Islamic Qatar and Saudi Arabia are working as are Singapore and Pakistan. Christian England and USA are working as are Italy, France and other countries proffering Christianity. Israel has prospered with its Judaism. Hindu India is working. Atheist China and Russia are working. Bhuddist Japan is working. Multicultural Malaysia is working. Does God hate Nigeria so much that he puts half of the demons of the world to live there? Or might it be that the righteousness which exalts a nation is defined by ethical behavior and moral rectitude rather than by theological malarkey?
Our people, especially opinion molders must wake up from this hocus-pocus supernaturalist worldview. You reap what you sow and sleep on the bed you lay.
There was an Orisa edifice in Oregun in Ikeja that prevented the expansion of an important road. Contractors feared moving the edifice which had been erected as far back as anyone could remember. After Governor Bola Tinubu took office in 1999, I offered to help to negotiate with the chief priest of that Orisa to remove the edifice. I proffered that the law of eminent domain, operated worldwide, allows any government to displace private interest for the good of the larger public.
Should the Chief Priest refuse to negotiate, I offered to kidnap the Orisa, burn it and dump its ashes in the Atlantic. I dared the Orisa to visit its wrath on me. Governor Tinubu had a better idea. He and Julius Berger made a better offer to the Chief Priest. The Orisa and its Chief Priest relocated within a month. The road was renovated and expanded. It is now called Kudirat Abiola Way in Oregun, Ikeja.
If there were ghosts disturbing them in Aso Villa, they should long have given others the key. As a friend of mine asserted, he would have lived with all the ghosts and gotten the job done. We must accept no excuses. Anyone who can not overcome the ghosts should leave the job alone; let’s get professional Ghost busters to run the country.
Ghosts always bow to determined humans!