The Moral Degeneration of Nigerian Institutions (Parts 1 & 2) – By Tochukwu Ezukanma

Posted by admin Articles, Columnists, NNP Columnists, Tochukwu Ezukanma Sunday, May 26th, 2013

By Tochukwu Ezukanma / Lagos, Nigeria / May 26, 2013 – In theory, Nigerian institutions, like the Church and government agencies, are motivated by the loftiest ideals. Usually, they have mottoes: pithy and poetic expressions defining their guiding principles and objectives. But due to the moral and ethical collapse of the Nigerian society, occasioned by a series of irresponsible, amoral and conscienceless rulers, these institutions generally operate in total contradiction of their professed principles and objectives: at the detriment of the Nigerian people.

A lady in her early thirties lives with her senior sister. She worked as a cleaner in a private school and went to school part-time. She attended a Pentecostal church. Her pastor, who is also a “prophet”, knew that she earnestly desired marriage. So, he “prophesied” to her. According to his “prophesy”, she will, in a short while, meet a man whom God has designated to be her husband. In his “prophesy”, he revealed the man’s name and state of origin.

About two months later, a long time friend of the pastor, a shiftless, homeless and jobless man, appeared in the church. His name and state of origin were exactly as the pastor had “prophesied”. With the flippancy and suave of a con artist, he captivated the lady; and promised to marry her. He admitted being homeless but claimed to have a job. She was not overly concerned about the man’s antecedence and the details of his present life. After all, the man was God sent, and everything about the marriage and her prospective husband was unfolding according to the prophecy of her daddy in the Lord. She was ecstatic; rejoicing that God had finally answered her prayers.

The man leeched off her and her senior sister. Shortly, the lady became pregnant. With the lady pregnant, the next logical step, the lady and her family argued, was marriage. The man, with his slippery and serpentine parlance temporized (on marriage). On the day of her delivery, after a Caesarean operation, and with the woman in a coma and her hospital bills mounting, the “God anointed husband” vanished. Homeless, and of course, with no traceable place of residence, no one could locate him.

After the hospital bills were duly paid by the lady’s senior sister and the lady discharged from the hospital, he reappeared. Instead of money and provisions for the new born baby, he brought water in a bottle for the baby. The baby’s mother questioned his insistence on the baby drinking this “special water”. There was a heated argument between them, and the man vanished for the second and final time.

Disconcerted and dispirited, she adjusted to her new role as a single parent. With time, her daughter started school. After school, she was baby sat by a woman that runs a small store for about two to three hours before her mother gets off from work, and then, pick her up. One day after school, as the girl (now 6 year old) played around, she was gang raped by 3 grown men.

After the rape, as she ran out, crying and bleeding, her baby sitter realized what happened. She hushed her up and cleaned her up but neither notified the police nor told her mother. The girl told her mother about the rape. But, like many Nigerians, frightened by the inherent wickedness, insensitivity and oppressiveness of the Nigerian system, the mother did nothing. She did not confront the rapists, question the baby sitter or report the rape to the police. And, most terrifyingly, she did not take the girl for a medical check up because she could not afford it. The girl had a strange cough and complained of waist pain. Still, the mother did nothing.

On this given day, the young girl was in a gossipy mood and was telling her aunty (the mother’s senior sister) about another aunty. She said that her other aunty is not a “good girl” because she “allows boy to touch her”. At her work place, she was “hugging the boys” that work with her. Her aunty said it was okay for her other aunty to hug boys because she is a grown lady. But, as for her, who is still a small girl, no boy should touch her. She asked her if any boy has been touching her. She replied yes, and told her about the rape. She gave graphic details of the rape, including how one of the men stuck “that dirty thing” with something like milk dripping from it into her mouth and forced her to drink the milk-like liquid. She reeled out the names of the three “uncles” – that is – the pedophilic rapists.

Her aunty was flabbergasted. She confronted the girl’s mother. The mother defended her inaction on the grounds that she has no money and therefore could not afford a “police case”. The aunty provided money for the girl’s medical check up. The doctor’s report attested to a rape. The doctor notified a staff of an NGO and she called the police. The police moved in and arrested the rape suspects and charged them to court.

Oh wow! Splendid, you will think. At last, the pedophiles, in line with the stipulations of the law, will be prosecuted, convicted and consigned to jail where they really belong. With the rapists arrested, the girl’s mother was elated. She was animated by a new sense of relevancy and self confidence. Her self doubt and distrust of the police, lawyers and the legal system all disappeared. In her romantic naiveté, she was enlivened by a new found faith in the Nigerian judiciary system. She rebuffed appeals from different quarters (the families of the rapists, the child’s baby sister and some of her own relatives) to drop the case. She was determined to see the case brought to a conclusive end. And the culprits sentenced to long jail terms for their desecration of her innocent daughter.

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
[email protected]
0803 529 2908

The moral degeneration of Nigerian institutions (Part 2)
By Tochukwu Ezukanma
Months later, she was frustrated by lack of progress in the prosecution of the suspects. Crestfallen and confused, it, finally, crystallized to her that Nigerian institutions, including the judiciary and the Church, are Whiten Sepulchers. On paper, their objectives are superb. But in practice, these magnificent objectives are marred by the Nigerian factor: corruption, greed, dishonesty and lawlessness.

The case was flagging. It was repeatedly adjourned. For nearly a whole year, nothing happened as the prosecution was yet to make its case. The problem was that the Public Prosecutor refused to prosecute because she has not “seen the prosecutor” (a euphemism for: she has not bribed the prosecutor).

With the lady broke, and her benefactor (her senior sister) not enthused about the prospect of a protracted legal tussle, she may not be able to bribe the prosecutor. And as such, the case against these bestial rapists may just peter out because a desperately poor woman cannot afford to bribe the public prosecutor. The thought of three sociopaths, who, in their demonic thralldom, sexually abused a six year old girl, going unpunished because a public prosecutor insisted on being bribed before doing his job brought the refrains from one of Fela’s sad songs to my mind: this country na wa a; this country na wa a; this country na wa, a a a.

This woman’s depressing story is an indictment of two of the most powerful national institutions: the Church and the Ministry of Justice. Even, within the confines of the church, trusting and unsuspecting members are routinely deceived and betrayed by their pastors. Was it not in the church that a reckless and feckless man was foisted on her by a fake prophet? The church should be the ultimate sanctuary – a pious bulwark against the forces of evils and depravity – a refreshing contrast to the moral seediness of the Nigerian society – a light that illuminates the paths of believers, if not, the entire nation. Lamentably, in Nigeria, many churches, especially, amongst these one-man owned Pentecostal churches, are well-spring of falsehood, deceit, betrayals, and all forms of evil.

Many of these churches are led by freebooters, deviants, swindlers and all types of questionable characters that realized that it is very lucrative and safe to cheat, deceive and steal under the cover of the church. And that crimes committed under the guise of being a pastor are mostly shielded from public reproof and criminal prosecution. So, they abandoned the dangers, rigors, vagaries and opprobrium of mainstream criminality, and posturing as pastors and prophets, moved their bases of evil activities into the churches.

In these churches, they exercise inconceivable control over the lives of their members and make enormous money. With their gross misrepresentation of the Christian doctrine (prosperity doctrine), they swindle their congregation and justify for their own greed, selfishness and materialism. And with their false prophesies, they deceive and exploit their members, and in addition, frustrate hopes, poop dreams and ruin lives. In all these, instead of reproach and disdain, they earn respect and admiration – at least from their members – and strut to sanctimonious titles: man of God, pastor, prophets, daddy in the Lord, etc.

Like in every other country of the world, there will always be criminals and crimes in Nigeria. The rule of law, social justice and the best criminologist’s formulations cannot totally eliminate crime because there are some individuals who are, intrinsically, criminals and their passion will always remain in killing, stealing and raping.

So, the criminals are less of the problem than the institutions that, supposedly, deter and fight crime and prosecute criminals. The motto of the Nigerian Police Force is “to serve and protect” Nigerians. Despite this high-minded motto, many Nigerians feel intimidated by the police, and even, as crime victims will still deliberately avoid any involvement with the police because the police are unreasonable and corrupt (they extort money from crime victims). So, many crimes are not reported to the police. Did the raped girl’s mother not refuse to report the rape to the police because she could not afford a “police case”

The Ministry of Justice, in all likelihood, has a motto – an inspiring and superlative expression that tersely states its mission. However, like other national institutions, there exist an unbridgeable chasm between this stated mission and the modus operandi of the ministry. Thus, public prosecutors, employed at public expense to prosecute crime suspects and ensure that the guilty are punished, refuse to do their work because they have not been bribed. That a public official sworn to uphold the law, in his venality, has no qualm to (by his inaction) deny justice to two hapless individuals and allow Satan- possessed rapists to walk the street in freedom dramatizes the problems of this country.

The central problem of Nigeria is leadership. It is the corruption, arrogance and contemptuous indifference for the common man of the ruling elite – president and governors – that filtered down through the ministers, commissioners, permanent secretaries, etc, and permeated every facet of government institutions. Therefore, officials in government ministries are corrupt, arrogant and disdainful of the Nigerian masses. No wonder, these institutions operate as merciless enemies of the people; they violate and abuse – thus, figuratively – rape Nigerians. Consequently, the Ministry of Justice that is reputably the hope of the common man degenerated to disreputably the nightmare of the common man.

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
[email protected]
0803 529 2908

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