Framed

There is nothing as disheartening as 
being accused of something you 
didn't do 
It is so crushing 
I saw a video once as an undergraduate 
In the video, a lady was standing 
stark naked 
She was surrounded by ten other ladies 
and two guys 
They accused her of stealing undies and 
clothes
The ladies were all holding belts, canes, 
and sticks it was obvious they had been 
beating her before they tore off her clothes 
They were singing for her and they kept 
telling her to dance 
Out of the blue, a guy walked in and started 
slapping her on the waist and even her pubic
area 
The video traumatized me seriously 
I don't know the pleasure people derive 
from stripping others of dignity 
Has it proven to be psychologically effective 
that we shame a "thief" so that such 
can change? 
Three weeks later, i went to see a lady I 
was dating at the time in OAU
We had agreed to attend a BSF conference 
at a town in Osun State together 
So I went to her school to link up with her 
When we got to the motor park in Ile-Ife 
I saw this lady 
The lady in the video 
She sat at the passenger seat beside 
the driver at the front of the vehicle 
I couldn't say how i recognized her 
(I am usually very terrible with faces 
and names) 
It was just this knowing, a strong 
knowing inside of me 
It felt like a locator or a homing device 
I simply knew she was the one 
I didn't say anything to the lady with me 
When we got to our destination, we
parted ways 
We took motorcycles to the venue of 
our meeting while the lady also took a 
motorcycle to another destination 
I forgot all about the incident 
We had the BSF conference on Friday, 
Saturday and Sunday morning 
We left from the venue at 11AM on Sunday 
I followed the lady with me to the bus 
going to Ile-Ife 
(She was returning to school) 
As soon as her bus left the park, i went 
to sit in the bus going my way 
(I was returning to school too) 
I was seated right behind the driver 
A few minutes later, this same lady 
(The one in the video) boarded the
bus and sat right next to me 
I knew at that moment that it was 
not a coincidence 
I had to engage her 
There was no way the person inside 
that skin was still normal, not after 
what i saw in that video 
My usual practice those days was to 
pray as soon as the bus took off 
and preach a spontaneous message 
of salvation 
I didn't do that this time 
I prayed silently 
As soon as i finished praying, she turned 
to me and said "You are a student of 
Bowen University right?" 
(My ID card was around my neck) 
I said yes 
She told me her school and we began to talk 
She told me she had some cousins in 
my school 
After a few minutes she told me her 
boyfriend used to be in my school 
I asked her for his name 
She declined to give it to me 
She told me they broke up recently 
I asked her why 
She said I shouldn't worry 
She was so sad but I had added it 
together
I knew it had to do with that video 
It was before Whatsapp share was 
reduced to 5 people and the video 
was shared by almost everyone 
So I told her about myself 
In a relaxed mood 
I was very funny and made quite a 
joke out of my past 
I told her i used to be a kleptomaniac 
Just like that she didn't believe I said it 
without any air of self-consciousness 
She laughed at the tale of some of my 
daring exploits and how i was eventually 
caught while in the boarding house and 
at home 
She laughed deep and hard it was a 
good day in the market 
Then she told me what she went to do 
in Ejigbo 
She said a guy in 300 Level in their school 
asked her out 
She said she was not really considering 
the guy but he was very keen on being 
around her and spending some money for her 
She said she went with the flow and got 
to like him 
They started seeing each other but she 
told him she was in a relationship and 
they can only be friends 
She said he still came around often and 
took her out 
She knew he wanted to press home his 
intention but she was in a relationship 
and she was not going to change her mind 
because her boyfriend was in another school 
According to her, she got a Whatsapp 
message from him to come to a certain 
address one Saturday 
She said she chatted with him for about 
ten minutes before he asked her to come 
around 
She said she dressed up and went to the 
place at about 4pm 
Before she could say GSW, some people 
pounded on her and started beating her 
it was the guy's girlfriend 
The guy's girlfriend had been away on 
Industrial Training while the guy was 
chasing her 
She had no idea the guy was in a relationship 
She was not even allowed to say a word 
they beat her up and stripped her naked
They claimed she was a thief 
They said they were going to kill her 
She said she really feared for her life and 
did everything they demanded 
She danced and sang all the denigrating 
song they sang for her 
At the end of it all she was glad she was 
still alive but her relief turned to sorrow 
when she saw that the video had gone 
viral 
The video was tagged "How XXX students 
dealt with a thief" 
She was accused of stealing undies 
She said she almost committed suicide 
The shame was too much 
Eventually she went home and told her 
mother what happened 
Her mother told her to go to their hometown 
and talk to an uncle 
The uncle heard her story and gave her 
certain things to do when she got back 
to school 
She said she was determined to destroy 
the lives of everyone who took part in 
framing her and destroying her life
I heard her with my mouth wide open 
She was going to use a charm to bathe 
The charm was supposed to make all 
those who molested her get mental 
illness 
It was to be her revenge 
I didn't argue with her 
I listened with rapt attention and then 
i told her how by the power of the Holy Spirit 
I was able to overcome my issues and 
gain victory over the spiritual forces that 
dictated the affairs of my life until i met 
the Lord 
It was her turn to open her mouth 
She said she had never seen the 
Holy Spirit work so swiftly before I told 
her she only needed to meet the Lord Jesus 
and get filled with the Holy Spirit 
I rode with her all the way to Ibadan 
When we alighted from the bus, i asked 
her if she would like to meet my mother 
(My Mum is a Christian and I didn't think 
i did a good job of convincing her to drop 
the path she was determined to pursue) 
She said okay 
So i took her home 
My mother met her 
She told my mother the whole story and 
asked for counsel 
My mother prayed for her and told her 
to throw away the charm 
She agreed She returned to her school 
that same day 
Three weeks after we met, the lady
that set her up came to her to beg for her 
forgiveness 
The lady also made a video confessing 
her sin and begging for forgiveness 
(The video didn't go viral) 
God took away her reproach 
She graduated and was posted for NYSC 
in Ilorin She got married to a brother she 
met in Ilorin
I often wonder what would have become 
of her and her accusers if she had gone 
through with her plan 
It is wrong to blackmail people by saying 
you will commit suicide so that you can 
gain sympathy for a false accusation 
Desperate people turn to all sorts for help 
Remember this!

I remember the first time i heard the song 
"Kerewa" It was such a beautiful song and 
the video was creative
I didn't know what Kerewa meant I didn't 
bother to find out I didn't even process it 
through my thought even though the lyrics 
of the song and the storyline of the song
was plain enough 
I was an undergraduate at the time 
I was also a Sunday School teacher in 
the Student Fellowship 
I was teaching Sunday School some 
weeks after I had heard the song 
I turned to one of the students in my class 
and said "Let us assume you and Jesus 
are dancing Kerewa right now and the 
Pharisees see you! 
They will have an issue with it. 
They had an issue with everything 
Jesus did. 
It wasn't a matter of good deeds and 
evil deeds, they disliked what Jesus 
represented! 
Liberty of worship, anti-law, anti-religious 
merchandising, and so on 
When he healed the sick, they complained 
When he minded his business, they came 
to test him When he declared who he was, 
they wanted to stone him When he kept 
quiet, they fabricated lies against him and 
slapped him so as to provoke him 
They saw the good works but it wasn't 
enough 
What they wanted was conformance 
Jesus was a deviant and they had to 
whip him in line or tear him apart 
Jesus questioned their reality and they 
found that very offensive 
Jesus questioned their worldview and 
mindsets 
They, in turn, saw Jesus as a disruptor, 
a trouble maker 
That was why they felt 
He had to die...." 
After the class, one of the lecturers who 
was my Sunday School teacher called 
me aside to say good things about how 
I taught 
Then she said, "Do you think it was 
appropriate that you used an example of 
Jesus dancing Kerewa with a female 
student?" 
Oh my those days I was very idealistic 
I thought it didn't matter what I said, 
what really mattered was what I 
intended to say or do (Please note that 
I wasn't born again at this time. 
I was a student in a Christian school 
who came from a Christian background 
and was playing religion)
I tried to explain to the lecturer that 
"It was just an example" 
One shouldn't be so priggish 
Look at the context of my discussion 
Did I denigrate the person of Christ? 
Was I irreverent in any way? 
(I hated criticism at that time of my life! 
I was in my twenties, and I thought
I knew it all 
The lecturer realized i was getting 
worked up and said "I should forget 
about it" 
We went for Sunday Service 
After the service, I walked into the 
Cafeteria One of the students in my 
Sunday School class approached me 
She said "Thank you for your teaching 
today, I was a convert from another 
religion into Christianity and i had often 
wondered at how authentic the person 
of Jesus that was presented in the 
Bible was. 
He was a man 
A Jewish man 
Do you know the Jews and the Arabs 
have a lot in common? 
The main character of my former religion 
married four wives 
He was biologically accurate because 
he followed the nature and custom of 
his people but Jesus! 
How can a grown man not have sex or 
marry at that age? 
It was odd to me  but when i heard 
you saying Jesus danced Kerewa earlier 
today, I came to the conclusion that there
are many details of the life of Jesus that 
had either been edited or cleaned up to 
give him this strange and odd holy image 
Wow. 
Alarm bells started ringing in my head I 
had done a bad job in my teaching and 
someone had been misled 
I asked if I could buy her lunch 
She said yes
The money i had could only buy my own 
lunch but i had to sacrifice it 
We sat down to talk I said, "Please can 
you explain to me what Kerewa is?" 
She got flustered and lowered her gaze 
I didn't let her speak further 
I apologized I also apologized to her 
about the class and my goof
I told her the lecturer's observation 
I was very patient I made sure she got it 
The following Sunday, I apologized to 
my class 
I told them i didn't know what Kerewa 
meant and using it as an example was 
misleading 
The students laughed at my naivety 
I suffered through it 
It was terrible but I learned to look before 
I leap from that day 
After i met the Lord on the 17th of 
September 2007
I became very of doing anything out of 
good intentions rather than out of 
being led 
It was a deliberate cultivation of Spiritual 
awareness 
In Genesis 11, men decided to build a tower 
They had all the ingredients bricks and mortar 
A common language, a mutual understanding 
and a purpose 
They have also united God saw it but 
God didn't approve of it 
Ideas that do not originate from God 
through the Holy Spirit will not get 
sanctioned by God 
He does not endorse change that 
looks good to men 
He knows the end of every plan from 
the beginning 
He sees the thoughts and intents of 
the heart 
He knows our frame
In Genesis 12, we see God deliberately
calling Abraham and making a
covenant with him
God left the mob to call one man
That is God's way
He is God all by Himself
Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan God 
had promised Canaan to Abraham and it 
was time to possess the land 10 of the 
spies returned with tales of woe 
The people heard their report and cried 
and grumbled 
God said "They are not ready" 
Moses talked to the people 
He stirred their hearts 
He reminded them of how powerful 
their God is 
He asked them how small they think 
God was compared to the giants 
They got it but they got it too late 
God had determined that they will 
not be given Canaan at that time 
They woke up and went off to battle 
without God 
They had a promise, they had the men 
What they lacked was the presence 
of God 
Moses cautioned them against being 
led by sentiment and feelings
They didn't listen 
They went off to war early the next 
morning 
They were soundly defeated 
Years later, Joshua and Caleb led a 
new generation into the promise land 
God led Joshua 
The leading must originate from God 
God does not do a collaboration with 
other ideologies 
He is God alone 
He does not share His glory 
He does not camouflage his agenda 
He is God! 
I welcome Nigeria to a new dawn 
We are all beginning to learn that 
good is not always God 
For those who have not learned this yet 
It is fine God is very patient but 
He is also never late 

-GSW-