Absurd Tradition

ABSORD TRADITION

I am starting this write up with Chinua Achebe’s quote “A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.”

The African people have very strong cultural beliefs which their whole lives is tied around, these beliefs form the basis of their existence as a people. These beliefs however differ from region to region. African people from region to region have their unique ways of proposing for marriage, conducting marriage ceremony, burial, how a family should be run etc.

During my youth service in Ebonyi State in Nigeria I came across some cultural practices I never suspected or think existed. These cultural practices to me coming from the western part of the country look so strange, in this article I’m going to share one of my numerous awkward cultural practices I came across during my service year in Ebonyi State.

I served at Abakaliki, Enyandulogu Agalagu, Ishieke, Ebonyi Local Government Area to be precise. Enyandulogu Agalagu is a remote town in Abakaliki and it is about 15 minutes drive to the Abakaliki township stadium. My place of primary Assignment is located at the same town and it is very close to Ishieke town where the state university is located.

It was a very hot afternoon, I was heading home after the day’s work when I noticed group of people clustering around an open compound was a man sitting on the floor with robe tied on his wrist and feet, the man was looking so scared, he is a familiar person to me, whenever I was heading to school in the morning he always greeted me in Yoruba language, he understands the language because according to him he lived in Ogbomoso, Oyo State for several years.

On several occasions we’ve met in a local bar where we have light conversations and share experiences, I never saw him drunk, he does not take more than two or three shots of kia kia (local gin) and sometimes I or another person may buy him a bottle of beer or two and then and then we exchange greetings and he leaves for home which is just the opposite street.

So, when I saw him in that horrible condition I was disturbed and curious, I wanted to know to know what he has done. In the evening I called two of the indigene of the of the town which I have a good relationship with and inquired from them what the man has done to make people subject him into such inhuman condition, I was surprised at the answer I got.

First, I was told the crowd I saw were his own family members and the family of his in-law. Second, I was told he was beaten seriously where he was sitting in bondage by every member of the family present and that after the beating, the culture mandate him to buy drink for all the people that partook in the ritual (beaten).

The third is the shocker, I was told everything they did to him was a ritual, it must be done or else the gods of the land themselves will punish him and according to them the punishment of the gods is more severe than that of man. His offence was that he often beat up his wife and four children whenever he was drunk.

The next day I saw him putting on black singlet, he has marks of the cane all over his body, he was pushing a wheel barrow full of cocoa yam, I was told he was taking it to his in-law.

The west where I come from I don’t think such practice exist, the worse the woman do is to run for her life if she could not take it any longer. This kind of experience reminds me of the Akure monarch who battered his wife in 2010, who subsequenly died 2011 of the injuries inflicted on her by the monarch sustained Mr. Adepoju Deji. It was repoted that the mornach who relocated to the UK was deposed by Governor Olusegun Mimiko. I think it is because the king shows himself to be a very bad example to his people.

Africa is rich in culture and the culture is dynamic, I cannot believe even a man in African that is patriarchal can be so humiliated publicly for behaving in a graceless, improper and incongruous manner. But, I still believe if such practice exited everywhere I think wife beaters will not be much as we have it now.      

Poetry

Oh! My Country                                              

Oh! See what they have done to my Nigeria!

Oh! See how they ridicule my Naira!

They discover crude and crudely

Bring down the groundnut pyramid

They found oil and simply leave palm oil

They left cocoa, kola, yam and fruits

So, when oil left, they are left with nothing

They wish to increase productivity

But their weak hands cannot farm again

They wish to make Naira strong again

But they seems to have forgotten the road

To which to ride to groundnut, cocoa and palm oil

The land is still overly fertile

If they can come back to the land, it can yet show them the way.  

HYBRID LIBRARY INDEED

Akinboro Oladayo Samson

 HYBRID LIBRARY INDEED

One of the responsibilities of government is to provide social amenities for the people. The people of Mushin Local Government Area were joyful when the past local government Chairman Adepitan erected a building on surplus land at the St. Jude Primary School, Ilasamaja, Mushin.

The building was commissioned by Muiz Banire whom the building was named after, the building carries a big sign board indicating the architectural beauty of the Library.

This building is not just a building. It has boldly at the top HYBRID LIBRARY a name that is uncommon to most of the student living in the area but sounds well. People were happy especially students and parents who know the importance of education.

The most unfortunate thing about the library however is that after it was commissioned, it was not opened for people to use for several months. The building was just their on its own wasting along with its beauty and glory. After sometimes a very good observer will notice the presence of people living in the so called Hybrid Library, you will see people spreading their wet clothes on the fence, some relaxing with comfort on the balcony and you begin to wonder as a right thinking member of the society what the building was actually erected for.

Later on, it was noticed that students have started trooping in to the Hybrid Library with their bags on their back and some carrying a handful of books in their hands. It was a thing of joy at the initial stage because from the outside the Hybrid Library has started functioning.

Ironically, I took it upon myself to visit the library and see what is inside the building, when I got in it was an eyes sore. Plastic chairs and computer tables with sockets everywhere but no single computer, about two shelves with few books on them, it is a total disappointment to the students whom had vision a big library full of computers, shelves with updated books just like a standard library.

Some of the politicians around when people lament on the state of the digital library said the computers and books for the library had been booked for in the overseas and will soon arrive. It’s being years now we are still waiting for Godot, which may never come. Right now students in their hundreds take their books to the Digital Library to read and go home with sometimes two Librarians, sometimes one and most of the time no one.

It is however, obvious that the Hybrid Library was built to score a political point, the building was erected to amuse the on lookers and not to serve the purpose it was supposed to serve, a thing that is common in the country like ours, which is most unfortunate.

Infidelity, Polygamy not Decent Acts

Infidelity, Polygamy not Decent Acts

The world is a man’s world, woman has been seen as weak and fragile from inception, woman status in the society is always lower to that of man, woman status also varies by country and region. A man can go ahead to marry as many women as he likes and house them under the same roof, this practice common in Africa. On the other hand, it is not possible to have a woman married to two husbands and live with them under the same roof. In Africa woman are not equal to men in status, majority of the women take care of home cores, children, gather fire hood and tend to family field why men look for jobs outside the home.

However, in this modern world, the twenty first century, things are gradually changing, Christianity for instant is against polygamy and divorce, some Muslims too now use rings and stick to monogamy but because men are naturally polygamous in nature I have observed that most married men still indulge in extra marital affairs, some do it with no regret and with the belief that it is a normal thing men do.

The society maybe ignorantly supports men infidelity; I have seen a couple of women complained about their husbands’ infidelity to friends and family, some of the response they always get me cold. People ask them questions such as: Does he take care of you and your children? Does he pay your children school fees? If the answers are yes people tell the women to face the up keep of their children instead of worrying about the husbands’ infidelity. People tend to forget the psychological trauma and diseases that an adulterous spouse exposes himself and his wife to, these people refuse to consider. Also, the way girls are brought up by African parents, prepare them for marriage, they are taught to clean the house and the environment, wash, cook, and fetch water while the boys hand out around with friends or help in the farm. Most times, the boys are giving proper education while the girls are given out to early marriage; they are being denied the opportunity to get knowledge hence, they are exposed to being abuse in different ways.

The two most practice religion in Africa Islam and Christianity established that women are men’s’ helper, they also strongly advice that a man should stick to a woman, infidelity is never encouraged by these two religions. I find it ridiculous when I hear some people claim Quran 4v3 gives the go ahead to marry two, three and four but turn a blind eye to the candid advice in Quran 4v129

Quran 4v3:

And if you fear that you may not be just to the orphans, then you marry whom you please of the women, two and three and four. But if you fear you will not be fair, then only one, or what your right hand possesses. This is best that you should not have financial hardship.

Quran 4v129:

You will not be able to treat all women equally even if you wish to do so.

I think the Quran is clear enough on the marriage issue here; some men have ignorantly or deliberately misconstrued these verses to carry out their hypocritical act of dishonour

Howbeit, Paul of Tarsus in his letters to the Corinths emphasises that woman should be silent in the church also; she is to be submissive to her husband and cover her head whenever she is in the church.

1Corinthians 14v34-35:

Let your woman keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

 Paul made it clear that women are to be silent in church, the Roman law forbids woman to speak in public at this period. As degrading as Paul position may be in the above sentence, he upholds the law and also enlightens us on how the Roman law feel about woman right to talk in the public and even in the church.

Furthermore, Paul states in his letters to the Ephesians the roles of wives and husbands, he did not however, failed to include in his letter how God view male and female as equal. This is evident in Galatians 3v28 and Ephesians 5 respectively.

Galatians 3v28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ.

The main purpose of this article is to argue and establish that the edge male has over the female in marital issue or in the society should not give him the right to indulge in extra-marital affair; it should not be construe to make him a pervert even when his sensibility or his society supports such ungodly act. Marriage should be built on trust and the fear of God.

Culture plays a very strong role in the way woman is view in different society, this is a fact that cannot be denied but when a man seeks for justice, he has to be truthful to himself first. No condition should be accepted to allow a man engage in extra marital affair and condemn vehemently woman from doing the same. Couple should be sufficient for each other in all ramifications of life; this is my conclusion and conviction on this matter.