One of the things holding black Africa back is wickedness. We simply hate ourselves. Just look back some three or four hundred years. When the white men came they met people who were enslaving anybody they could catch, trading in human beings, indulging in inter tribal and inter village wars, kidnapping, cultism, killing of twins and so many other unwholesome activities. When we blame the white men for slavery we should remember that we helped them in so many ways to carry our brothers across the Atlantic Ocean for suffering, hard labour, torture, and often, death. Some of our forefathers were indulging in cannibalism. Cannibalism was still there in some places even as recently as 1963-64 as I attested to in my earlier post, Christmas In Coventry.
Wickedness is alive and well especially in our villages. In the villages many people do not want the other person’s son or daughter to be better or ‘bigger’ than their son or daughter. And they would take measures to snuff out the lives of hapless individuals. There are so many ways they achieve this. Poison, or nsi in Igbo, is a very potent method. The story is that this may be stored under the finger nail or wrapped in a piece of paper or even in cola nut served to the unwary visitor. And that is one of the reasons you hardly find anybody leaving his glass of drink, be it beer or soft drink, and rush off, say, to the toilet.
Villagers would warn you against telling anybody the exact date of your travel or the means of your travel. They believe that your enemies who are supposed to be many waiting to stop your progress would visit the shrine and cause you to die on the way through an accident or other means. You are not supposed to let people know your routine especially travelling routine. In an earlier post I wrote about how I nearly perished with my whole family between Asaba and Agbor in Delta State on my way back to Lagos after one Christmas holiday. The particular unknown enemy did not go to the shrine. He or she simply, the night before my departure, got to my car parked in an unlocked garage and loosened the nuts holding the tyres. My son’s alert ears saved us as I ordered my driver to stop the car just in time as two tyres were about to come off.
More recently there have emerged two new devilish methods of killing innocent people. One is what they call ntutu, meaning needles in Igbo! Apparently by juju or by visiting a shrine or some other mysterious means needles are all over pricking the victim internally. The victim has to find a dibia, native doctor, or go to a shrine for a cure. Another very recent wickedness is ule ukwu, foot rot. This is not the one between the toes that may occur through bacteria following neglect of hygiene. But the victim is supposed to have stepped on the poison, or whatever it is, deposited in the person’s farm or roadway or even premises and the whole foot begins to rot! People are also kidnapped, killed, and body parts sold to ritualists for the purpose of making lots of money. There are so many other evil ways people kill others to stop their progress or to advance their own progress. Not long ago a high government official died when he sat on an evil potion or thing placed on his seat in the office by a lower officer anxious to be promoted to his position. Hence you hardly find people who allow others access into their office in their absence.
Bribery, corruption, stealing of public funds, inordinate ambition, greed, envy, impunity, lawlessness, election rigging, murdering of political opponents all come under the wickedness keeping black Africa down but these are major evils that cannot be expatiated on in this post. So, Africa loses a lot of manpower and resources through wickedness of black people on fellow black people and that partly explains why we are where we are. Many people do not want to work hard but, if possible, have all the money in Africa. For black Africa to make progress change, meaningful change, not change of leadership from one thief to another currently happening, has to come. And the sooner there is change the better it will be for future generations. Africa, the wealthiest continent of the world, that allows other continents to loot its wealth under its very nose has to wake up. It should not remain the butt of all jokes, the laughing stock, the sick baby, and the principal beggar of the world.