Pointing Fingers

Out of five children, he chose 
not to be educated 
His father put all five children in 
Baptist primary school 
He would sneak out of school to go 
and fish in the local river or change 
his uniform, rent a bicycle and ride 
all day or go to people's farm to 
harvest crops he didn't plant 
He was a truant 
He always came last in class 
His father begged, urged, counseled, 
and cried 
He said he didn't want to go to school 
Eventually, his father gave up and sent 
him to learn how to repair cars with 
one of his uncles 
He was his mother's favourite 
His mother was not a fan of western 
education too 
The apprenticeship thing seemed to 
work for him 
Within six years he had done his freedom 
and joined a team of fresh mechanics to 
start an auto mechanic workshop 
He was nineteen years old at the time 
His older brothers and younger sister 
were still in school 
His eldest brother was the only married one 
He was a teacher at the time and was not
making much money yet
His immediate older brother had won a 
scholarship to study in England 
His other brother was studying for his M.Sc 
in Political Science 
His only sister was studying accounting in 
the University 
He started making money 
Daily money 
His mother taught him how to set up a 
thrift account with thrift collectors so that 
he collects a lump sum to save in the bank 
at the end of every month 
Within a year, he had rented an apartment 
and furnished it to taste 
He was more than ready to settle down
He had a lady in mind 
She was the one who hawks food to their 
mechanic workshop every day 
He had told her his intention 
She was still an apprentice with the caterer 
she was hawking for 
He invited her to his apartment one day 
When she saw what he had at home, 
she opened her legs
He got her pregnant within three months 
She didn't complete her apprenticeship 
He promised that he would rent a shop 
for her and set her up in business 
He had enough in the bank to feed them 
and meet every other need 
His mother was so proud 
She told everyone who had two ears that
her fourth child has surpassed them all 
He was the bright and the shining star of 
the family 
While others were still collecting allowances 
and school fees 
Her fourth son had become financially stable 
and even gotten married 
His wife delivered a son, it was an indelible 
mark! 
He had given his parent their first male 
grandchild and at such a young age too 
His mother told people to be calling her 
"Mama ****" (using his name) 
To show how proud she was of him but 
he reigned for only four years and a few 
months 
The other children graduated and started 
working
Within a year they were married and 
building mansions 
His younger sister married an architect 
She was the first of the children to live in 
a built and owned house with her husband 
and children 
Within five years the other brothers had 
built their houses too 
He remained a tenant
His siblings prospered in their careers and 
other businesses 
All he achieved that was spectacular was 
buying a pick-up truck he used for his 
refuse  disposal business which he started 
when it seemed the mechanic business 
was not thriving anymore and giving birth 
to more children
At a point he got frustrated and visited a 
prophet 
"Sir, I was the star of my family 
I was the first to make money, get married 
and do great things but sir, it seemed 
something changed somewhere 
I am the poorest now 
I can barely feed my family 
I can barely make ends meet..."
The prophet told him someone had 
exchanged his glory 
Someone had taken his virtue 
Someone had taken his aura of prosperity 
We have to do destiny reclamation 
The prophet told him what to bring some
things for the ritual
He ran to his mother 
His mother believed him 
He ran to his father 
His father told him the truth 
You limited yourself by refusing to get 
an education 
The fact that you made money in your 
early twenties was because your siblings 
were still in school 
They get promoted, bonuses, travel 
allowances, loans and investment 
opportunities at work 
You only have your daily income and 
sometimes you dont get customers 
with deep pockets 
This is the problem 
He heard his father but he preferred 
the Prophet's verdict 
He chose not to believe his father 
because if he did, he would have to 
look within and change his approach 
from within but if he believed the prophet, 
he would have to point fingers at 
other people and blame someone else
 for his misfortune 
The prophet collected the stuff needed 
for sacrifice and did all sorts of spiritual 
work on him 
He bathed in the river and his garment 
was changed from black to white as a
symbol of the reclamation of destiny 
He returned home expecting a change 
of fortune 
It never happened! 
After four months his mother gave him 
a lot of money to open a shop selling 
vehicle parts 
I was the silver lining he needed but it 
didn't last a week 
He got robbed on his way
to Lagos to buy the spare parts 
The luxurious bus he took from Kano 
to Lagos was taken over by the highway 
robbers and he lost everything 
He went back to the prophet in tears 
Since I met you and did the destiny 
reclamation, things had gotten worse 
I had never been robbed before I met
you but after i met you, i seem to have 
been attracting ill-luck 
The prophet fell into a trance and told 
him his wife was a witch 
He believed the prophet 
Already, he was suspicious of all his 
siblings because either one or all of 
them stole his glory 
Now his wife was a witch 
He has to believe the prophet because 
she was the only one who knew about 
the big money his mother gave him 
and his plan to travel to Lagos with it 
He threw his wife and children out of 
his home 
He married another woman recommended 
for him by the prophet 
The woman died eight months
later with her seven months old pregnancy 
in her 
The prophet told him it was an attack from 
his ex-wife 
He didn't consider the fact that the late 
woman was depending only on local herbs 
and never once visited the hospital for 
antenatal 
The prophet was right 
His ex-wife was a witch!
He started a soap making business 
It didn't work 
His siblings tried to help him 
He refused to accept their help because 
the prophet had told him if he collected 
anything from them they would take 
back his glory 
He tried getting into the transportation 
business 
His bus was always faulty 
His father called him several times 
Upgrade your skillset on the auto mechanic 
business and go back to it 
That was what you were trained to do 
He refused 
He told his mother he wanted to make 
money 
He wanted to be rich 
He hated being the poorest of his mother's 
children 
He held his mother responsible for his 
lack of education 
He was determined to shine again at 
all cost 
His mother told him about a man 
somewhere in Oyo who can help him 
He decided he must do money ritual 
He must have the kind of money that 
will put hard work to shame 
He went for the ritual
He died a week later 
He died with his life in tatters 
He blamed everyone else but himself 
for his fortune in life 
I hope our youths will learn from this 
I hope we will look within and correct 
our crooked paths 
Members of SARS are mostly Nigerian 
Youths too! 
We all need to change

So this lady called in at 3:30 am 
in the morning 
She says SARS guys had gone to 
her family house to arrest her 
grandmother, her mother, and 
her siblings 
Why? I asked 
She said it is because of her brother 
Her younger brother and some other 
guys in Lagos did an internet fraud 
job, when the funds arrived from 
their mark, they needed a guy to go 
to the bank and get the fund from 
their banker friend who was also in 
on their deals 
Because of the nature of their job, 
many of them had been arrested 
before while others are on the 
watchlist of the police 
They decided to use someone that 
has never been in the police net 
before 
The person was her brother 
A guy who had tried his hands at 
many things and left Port Harcourt 
for Lagos out of frustration just a 
few weeks before then 
Her brother went to the bank & got 
the money without a hitch and then
he did what none of them expected 
He ran away with the money 
The money was thousands of dollars 
After waiting all day without seeing 
the guy, the other yahoo guys decided 
they needed to take action before 
the young man could get to Niger republic 
They had another bigger payout
in Niger republic and another one in 
Benin republic 
They used this young man's name on 
all three transactions because he 
was new, unknown and had an innocent 
face 
The reason some of the money was 
routed through other west African 
countries was that many nations had 
blacklisted Nigeria and there is a limit 
to how much they can move through 
Nigerian banks while banks in 
Niger republic and Benin Republic do 
not have such restrictions 
They were afraid he was going to clean 
them out and disappear, so they made 
some phone calls and within an hour 
members of the SARS force had gone 
to the young man's family house in 
Port Harcourt and arrested all his 
family members. 
His mother called his older sister who 
was located in Ireland and told her 
everything going on 
The sister in turn called me seeking 
counsel and prayers. 
We prayed and waited 
Four days later this young man showed up 
with the money and told the guys he only 
laid low for a while to be sure the police 
or other law enforcement officers were 
not on his trail because he didn't want 
to lead trouble to them! 
His friends called the SARS guys and this
young man's family members were released
(This young man is now a believer and
does not engage in internet fraud anymore
but that wouldn't have been the story if
Christ did not encounter him when we
met)
There are several families harbouring 
young men and women who are into 
internet fraud 
Many have turned a blind eye to this 
scourge saying ""ALL money is good 
money" 
We need to address this as a whole 
Evil has birthed evil and all evil must go 
Some SARS officers work hand in 
gloves with some internet fraudsters 
and in turn some internet fraudsters 
get protection from corrupt police officers 
Some prophets pray for internet fraudsters 
even make charms and other amulets 
for the fraudsters to mesmerize and 
confuse their marks 
Many of us have heard of yahoo plus 
and other devilish things that the lure 
of easy money has dragged many of 
our youths to 
There are so many ladies reading this 
whose boyfriends are into internet 
fraud 
Some of them act as models in such 
internet fraud transactions in order to 
get the mark to pay...
We have a duty as a nation to walk in 
uprightness 
We are all victims of the societal ills 
this nation is battling at the moment 
From wanton corruption to embezzlement, 
to nepotism, to tribalism to kidnapping, 
to banditry, to insurgency... 
We need to reason together and chart a
better course going forward 
We were all here when the Police Pension 
fund was looted 
It was in the news 
Is it worth it to start naming scandal and 
after scandal? 
We have a culture of sweeping the truth 
under the carpet and allowing evil to 
fester in Nigeria 
One protest is good
A deliberate change of orientation and 
a consciousness aimed at building a 
better nation is better 
SARS (If disbanded) will be replaced by 
something else 
If we refuse to replace it, there will be 
a vacuum that will haunt and hurt all 
of us when hardened criminals take it 
over
If Nigeria will break up 
Let it 
If Nigeria will remain one 
Let it 
But a Nigeria built on corruption, inequality, 
injustice and bad governance is not 
worth the trouble we have seen over 
the past few days 
Let this not just be about "We shut 
down the internet with our noise" 
Please, let is be about reflection and 
change! 
The Politicians have failed us 
The military failed us 
The police failed us 
Every institution that ought to stand 
for us has collapsed 
If we will have a better Nigeria, the 
mindset of "I must chop my own" and 
"My tribe must not carry last" must go 
The same way we united regardless 
of tribe, language and differences in 
this campaign to call out SARS and 
tear it down must be the same way 
we stand against unrighteousness 
in every form as a nation 
This generation does not know Joseph, 
can it give us Exodus?

-GSW-