Okenyi Kenechi
The top stories on social media are that Bill Gates is racing to reduce the population of Africa and the rest of the world through the development of COVID-19 vaccine, which, in other contradictory arguments, as espoused by Nigerian social media users, is the mark of the beast, the anti-Christ that will be used only on Africans. Just a few days ago, a popular pastor was seen in a video clip claiming that the fifth generation of wireless communications technologies, popularly known as 5G, was responsible for coronavirus. His followers quickly went to town, claiming he got the revelation through the power of the holy spirit. Days later, he was forced to retract his philistine claims in the face of overwhelming evidence.
The Coronavirus outbreak which reached Nigeria later than other countries has not only afforded internet users, especially Nigerians, the opportunity to espouse as many conspiracy theories as they want. After all, almost everyone is at home, with their phones or computers, curing boredom by gluing to the internet. It has also gifted the government the opportunity to steal in what the Legendary Fela referred to as Authority Stealing. Nigerian government’s reactions to the outbreak have largely been passive rather than active despite the fact that it had enough time to prepare. And while the rest of the world activated its scientific community to find solutions to the pandemic, our government sat down and asked the people to pray while using the opportunity to transfer cash to ‘poor Nigerians’ with no names. Funny, isn’t it?
The other day, Maryam Uwais, Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Investment, said the government cannot publish names of beneficiaries who received “cash transfer” due to COVID-19. Speaking on Channels TV -Sunrise Daily, on Thursday, 9th April, Maryam Uwais said the government cannot publish the names of the beneficiaries because they don’t want to be regarded as poor.
Hear her: “Those who benefit from the conditional cash transfer of the Federal Government as a palliative to cushion the effects of the lockdown caused by the deadly Coronavirus don’t want to be addressed as poor people that is why we can’t publish their names.”
Mrs. Maryam Uwais later said that these people don’t exist where normal people exist and this is the reason they didn’t go with any form of press.
“Also, the beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s gesture are invisible and dwell where the conventional society cannot see them and carrying journalists along to investigate the authenticity of the payments to the target persons will be cost implicative to the scheme because the funds at hand can’t pay for extra burden as we are only managing what we have”.
What is the best way to steal other than this? If Nigerian Government officials go to those numerous summits in Europe and America where all they contribute to the global discussion is to beg for loans, why would citizens of such a country who are pauperized on a daily basis not want to be identified as poor? Or didn’t the ministry of finance, in the government’s usual bambiallah nature beg Elon Musk ventilators the other day? Dear Maryam, you are a liar and you know it. Every day, on social media, people drop their account details on posts promising to do give away. So, this rubbishes your claims of beneficiaries not wanting to be identified as poor. It is either you transferred money to no one or you only did to people who looked like you.
But Nigerians are not angry. Heck no! Bill Gates and his vaccines are evil and not Maryam Uwais. Bill Gates is the anti-Christ and not the Nigerian Government.
One thing the bastardize Christian and Islamic religions practiced in Africa does to the mind is that it takes away your ability to reason beyond the words of your pastor, Imam or marabout. They think for you and you accept because they use elements of fear to coerce you. They tell you that everything is there to kill you, including the ones that will save your life but gets you to embrace that which will kill you by hinging your hope on it.
Oh, I get it. Bill Gates is the anti-Christ but he spent billions of dollars in Africa eradicating polio. He wants to reduce the population of Africa but he spent billions of dollars on mosquito nets trying to save your life. Who did this thing to us? In the words of Chukwuemeka Odumeje, ‘how do you form? Who you?
All over the scientific world, diseases that lack cure are prevented from ravaging humanity through vaccines. That is why we have yellow fever vaccines, hepatitis vaccines, polio vaccines et cetera. Most importantly, people should be vaccinated against ignorance powered by pulpit bandits. These no-good-merchants of conspiracy theories are the real anti-Christ if anything like that exists.
None of them has activated their healing powers to heal COVID-19 patients. Worse still, they gave out thousands of prophecies in January and none captured the Coronavirus epidemic. Why couldn’t they see that and then work on how to stop it? Or are their prophecies fake or just the usual gamble?
In essence, religion has limits to its madness. Everyone is waiting for science to bring a cure and heal the millions who have been infected. The disease is also wrecking the world’s economy with airlines losing over 113 billion dollars as thousands of flights are canceled, planes grounded and people afraid to travel.
Nigerian pastors should show the world the magic they have been showing us, heal the world and redeem themselves. It is not by paying people to testify that they were healed from unknown sicknesses.
Never mind that none of them has taken their holy ghost fire to Sambisa forest to tackle Boko haram nor did they ever visit Congo and those countries ravaged by Ebola Virus to heal them. We forgive them but they should prove the stuff they are made of with this coronavirus outbreak.
We need to see the power of anointing oil, holy water, coconut, and stickers. Eradicate coronavirus and watch your businesses prosper.
