Kayode Oyero
Aug 8, 2017 · 5 min read

Ozubulu: The Error and the Horror | By Káyò̩dé Oyèró

Tuesday, 08 August 2017

Many years ago, walking on the street an evening during Ramadan, I heard an Islamic preacher make a profound statement during Tafsir. If you are familiar with the hood, you already know how street Tafsir dot every nooks and crannies during the one-month holy fast, how Muslim faithfuls congregate in groups to listen to sermons at twilight before or after breaking the day’s fast, and of course, how the movable Ahuja dome-like speaker is an iconic element of street Tafsirs.

As someone who believes every religion has its beauty, I still find the statement of the turban-wearing preacher wise, instructive, even respectable, regardless of the difference in our faith.

“No one person is allowed to build a mosque no matter how wealthy he or she is,” the Islamic preacher had said matter-of-fact as I walked by. His words filtered into my ears and I decided to loiter around for some seconds. “The mosque must be built by the Jaman; mosque building is a communistic project,” he buttressed amidst the excited cheers of “Tekbir!” and an ensuing “Allahu Akbar!” thundering from the impressed faithfuls.

I was also impressed and said my “Allahu Akbar!” too. That doesn’t make me less of a Christian. After all, it is an Arabic expression of “God is great!” If it were a Christian gathering, it would have been “Praise God!” and the fever-pitched response would have been “Halleluyah!”

(Sometimes, religion blindfolds us that we seem not to know that there is a language variant of religious terms. Religious fanaticism makes us completely ignorant of the truth that saying some things in another language, particularly a language ascribed to another religion, is no desecration of our tongue or renunciation of our faith. Is this not what we do sometimes when we speak in tongues? This is topic for another day.)

Not long after the Tafsir, some weeks after Ramadan, a Muslim friend regaled me with a tale of how a rich Alhaji with gold-studded canine wanted to singlehandedly build a mega central mosque for his neighbourhood in place of the open tent they observe solat under and how the chief Imam and the elders obstinately rejected the offer. I was again impressed. I have a special respect for people who live their words.

This memory rushed to mind on Sunday, 6th August 2017, when the shrieks of agony and death pangs was heard in Ozubulu, a town in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria.

Some gunmen had invaded St. Philips Catholic Church during the 6a.m mass. It was a mission on target for one Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu, an indigene who had arrived the day before from his base in South Africa. But unknown to the assailants, the target was a fox who erected a perfect smokescreen of his presence in the church premises with his SUV which had been used to convey his parents to mass in his stead.

Upon discovery that the target had fooled and eluded them, and perhaps infuriated by the target’s tact, the assailants opened fire on innocent worshippers leaving dozens dead and injured.

The ignominious attack has been attributed to a feud between the target and a disgruntled business partner (both drug barons) over some unfinished drug deals. The target had singlehandedly built the church and donated it to the ecclesiastical authorities at Nnewi. This must be the reason the attackers thought the church a befitting battlefield and slaughter house. But when two elephants wrestle, the innocent grass is usually the casualty. It was bloody. It was carnage in what was supposed to be a sanctuary of worship, in what ought to be an emporium of solace and comfort for the weeklong toil and distress of parishioners. It was horrific. I still find it inexplicably unfair in social justice and cosmic affairs that the innocent are always the victims.

This shocking bloodbath at Ozubulu brought that Tafsir to mind after almost a decade. So, I have been thinking:

What if the church had not been built singlehandedly by the alleged target and drug baron, Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu?

What if the Catholic diocese of Nnewi had rejected the gift of a cathedral (like the Imam my friend told me about had done) not because it was not a need but because erecting a worship center should be a communal project?

What if and if and if religious centers take things slowly and contentedly under tents and canopies with assured peace instead of accepting mega buildings from so-called benefactors and philanthropists who flagrantly count scores with the lives of worshippers? Does the holy Bible not say that better is a morsel eaten with peace than a meaty meal taken with strife?

I have also been wondering if that particular preacher and the Imam have shifted ground, embraced compromise and join the bandwagon with the passing away of years. Who knows?

But wait, when there is no giver, there is no taker and vice-versa. This makes me wonder who and what gave crime-cuddling rogues the idea that their spoils could be used to give-back to the society in which they have morally and violently raped and betrayed? An attempt to 'bribe' God and 'compensate' the populace, simultaneously?

Even the Pharisees and Sadducees did not accept such money when Judas Iscariot gave them. If they did not, why should today’s spiritual heads do? But again, how would they know when more than majority of them don’t have the spiritual gift of discernment? When greed and selfishness have overridden their senses of spiritual acuity, justness and verification? Did the holy Bible not say prove all things and establish that which is true and noble? No, for them, every show of help is divine. Again I ask, did the Devil not show up to help Jesus when he was famished?

To save them the stress of probing and proving which money source is pure and impure, religious houses can put an end to an Ozubulu-like horror if this error of ownership is not repeated, if building projects in the house of God is taken as a communistic responsibility and not a one-man lion donation. But like many things in Nigeria, the more you look, the less you see - there are more than ten sides to a coin here in this country.

The souls of the wasted wail vengefully on Chief Aloysius Ikegwuonu like that of Abel crying on Cain. Peaceful rest to the departed. Fortitude to the bereaved. Quick recovery to the injured.

Kayode Oyero

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Writer | Author | Speaker | SME Strategist | Media Professional

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