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On Sunday, June 30, 2019, we gathered at the Calabar Hall, Surulere, Lagos, for the launch of our town hall. Considering great things God has done for us as individuals and as a community, we should have been the ones from who other communities would be hiring their town hall in Lagos and indeed, in every town in Nigeria. Although some of our illustrious sons and daughters could not make it because of other commitments, much fund was realized and beyond that, those that pledged millions or something close to that, pledged also to give large quantities of building materials. For sure, God answered our prayer, that that day would be our last day of celebrating on a rented property!
As the meeting was going on, I started reading the article I wrote concerning Ovim – ‘The Ovim I know: If Morality were Christianity’. Please, read along with me.
“No, no, I will not take,” that was Papa Robert Igwe, a man of his words, who would always tell the story as it was, without looking at your height. We had gathered at Ama Nkpara that morning in 1967 for oath taking. “Why will you not take the oath?” Somebody challenged him. His indifference was that we were hiding under oath-taking, instead of confronting evil people with their deeds. “Do you know them? If so, name them?” Someone asked him. He mentioned three names, who he said were thieves. They were there with us, refugees, living in our community. That was in Ovim, the Ovim I know! I was born to see my mother going for the annual oath-taking, instituted by our forefathers, for sanitizing the land.
A rich man, with questionable wealth circumstances, may be celebrated in some towns but not in Ovim. If he stands up to speak during a meeting, someone fuming may cut him down to size by hushing him down. “Allow honest people to speak,” he will tell him. This may come from a man of low status. The applause from people will drive the message inside his cranial cavity. Ovim Christian Brethren scheduled a Christmas crusade on the premises of a Church and when the day dawned, the Church objected curiously, though aware of our posters and distributed handbills. Such an act makes the Church a cynical derision and the ‘yes’ of the world! Thank God, the bishop apologized to me later. Not comfortable with our predicament, the community youths offered us their shrine premises, not minding that we preach against idolatry. This is the Ovim I know. If morality were Christianity…
The oath may cover adultery, armed robbery, stealing, bearing false witness, poisoning people, et cetera. That day, I participated, it was stretched to include, ‘Selling and smoking of Indian hemp’. The result of violation is death. Think about it, a community being interested deeply in the moral virtues of its people! If morality were Christianity… Yes, this is a community, where strangers have the same right with the citizens and will participate in the sharing of the goodies, except land! It is a community that contributes money to get a wife for a stranger! In one case, Uncle refused to go back to his town! Would you blame him? On his death bed, he was forced to do so! He did not go alone, some people were delegated to go with him! If morality were Christianity…
Moral virtues are really, not confined to people in Ovim, but the objective behind it may differ. In 1982, I gave my wristwatch for repair in the US and the man told me that after repairing it, he would keep it for observation for a day. I told him to do it immediately as I would be leaving the next day. He refused to repair it. A typical Nigerian repairer might not mind if it stopped ticking when I was in the airplane. Not a US man! In 2001, I wanted to change my traveller’s cheque in London but the officer told me that I would pay them commission. Pointing at a building, he said, “They are the owner, if you go there, you will pay no commission”. I bled. He might have done that because of the so-called ‘Law of Karma’, but the demand of moral virtue in Ovim does not require ‘balancing’ the good with the bad. It is for our good and that of posterity.
The laws of our country frown also at those offenses on which the oath is taken. The difference is however, obvious. The penalties for violation differ. For the law, it will only be if the culprit is caught and sentenced in a court of competent jurisdiction. In oath-taking, committing the atrocity attracts death. In Christianity, mere conceiving the idea is enough.
As good as oath-taking is, it has its limits. In reciting the areas it covers, the leaders are very careful not to include fornication. This means that one is free relatively, to sleep with any man’s daughter, as long as they are not related. For adultery, they are also careful to limit the wrath to the wives of close relations. Christianity is encompassing. Sin is not relative. Those, investing in moral virtues, justify themselves as Christians. Morality is good but it is not Christianity. It is in Christianity but Christianity is far beyond it.
Religion is also, not Christianity. In Religion men look for God. That was why the Athenians, in searching for God, built a house to the ‘Unknown God’. In Christianity, God is the One, looking for man. He asked: “Adam, where are you?” Christianity is the expression of God’s love for man.
A youth raised in a family of medical doctors may know medicine more than a medical doctor––but he is not one. To be a medical doctor, he has to obtain credit passes in not less than five subjects, of not more than two sittings in School Certificate or GCE, which must include English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. He then confesses his ignorance of being a doctor, though he may know medicine more than doctors, by applying to the Medical School for admission. There, he will obtain his MBBS. One day, the Chancellor confers him with the honour and he becomes a medical doctor. This is close to Christianity, in which, the individual, irrespective of his position in the Church, or personal righteousness, must confess to the Lord Jesus that he is a sinner and pleads with Him for forgiveness. He then invites Him into his life as his Lord and Saviour. Like the Chancellor, the Lord Jesus confers him the honour of being born-again, the only acceptable qualification for Heaven.
I participated in oath-taking because I was not a child of God. May we drop all shadows and go for the substance. This, we can do, by surrendering our lives to the Lord Jesus and our lives and land will be sanitized beyond the visible.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002-471; [email protected]
