The last time I watched a game of squash was at the National Stadium in Lagos about 37 years ago. The memory of the sport came back to me recently when I visited a recreation centre in Houston. Two fellas were on the court racketing the ball on the wall they both faced. Both men enthusiastically hit the round object hard enough against the adjacent wall so that it could come back to them for another hot hit until points were recorded in each individual player’s column.
And in a particular instance, as the ball came back to the players, it strayed and hit one of them in the face. The man crouched in pain. A message struck my spirit in the aftermath. Every hit at the ball against the wall was a seed. The corresponding stray hit was the unavoidable harvest that came after the seeding gesture. In other words, what you hit will come back and hit you. It’s also God’s way of doing what He alone does. He rewards the good man for his good deeds; and rewards the wicked man for his evil adventures.
In Nigeria, corruption is cocooned in a web of uncanny cohorts of powerful, cryptic, and mean men. Their menacing and vicious viragos of venality are also not left out. Their souls are sold out to the god of gold and Lucifer of larceny. The rich and powerful are both bountiful beneficiaries and facilitators of heavy-hitting corruption in Nigeria. Defeating corruption is defeating the rich and powerful. And anywhere in the world, defeating the rich is like pushing a boulder up the hill. It is tough. And in Nigeria, an attempt to defeat the rich is striving to defeat the invisible and invincible.
Larceny, stealing, robbery, and heisting of our collective patrimonies by elected leaders and civil servants are all a package of evil unleashed on the country since independence. Men in power have robbed the people dry. Actions of larcenous leaders have mutilated the destinies of the people. Unfortunately for these routine robbers in power, they never think about repercussions. They never think about the Law of Karma as a fundamental concept that refers to the principle of cause and effect.
Every action, whether physical, mental, or verbal, creates a reaction or consequence. Our intentions and actions have consequences that will one day manifest in this life. These consequences may be positive or negative and they shape our experiences and determine a future circumstance. The season of karma becomes the judgment day. Unfortunately for wicked and larcenous leaders, they don’t see it coming.
I once watched a video that went viral reportedly of one Accountant General of the Federation who was accused of defrauding Nigerians to the tune of over N100bn. He used his office to rob the people and when the chicken came home to roost, he feigned sickness and envisioned getting away with his malfeasance. Dream killers in the Nigerian public service always cover up as angelic religious folk.
These are the same guys who killed Skye Bank, ran lifeless the Co-operative Bank, slaughtered Société Générale Bank, and murdered Intercontinental Bank. That the Nigerian educational sector indicators are poor nationwide is because of high-altitude corrupt practices of people in government. That Nigeria’s literacy rate is estimated at 61 per cent with a large number of out-of-school children and young adults with limited literacy and numeracy skills is because of the evil wreaked on the nation by pillagers of our patrimonies.
Seventy-five million Nigerian youths are unemployed and 80 per cent of Nigerian graduates are unemployable, and no thanks to the depravity of these fellas who prey on the system and then pray weekly to God. Under them, we are under siege. Old people are homeless, hungry, and killed all day long by diseases without names. Orphans are thrown to the wolves and the poor are exploited by the rich. Nigerians are hungry! They are dying. The deprived, repressed, oppressed, and impoverished in Nigeria are over 150 million human beings. The top one per cent and their families are the only happy ones in today’s Nigeria. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recently announced that the ongoing probe of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and its suspended minister, Betta Edu, has blown the cover on an N30bn heist by some officials of the ministry. The EFCC revealed that over 50 bank accounts connected to the malfeasance are currently under investigation. Judgment day will come. But wicked and larcenous leaders don’t see it coming.
I conclude my treatise with the story of this man who did not see judgment day coming. Greedy and gluttonous he was while he served his master, a popular miracle worker in town. The foul spirit of greed pushed him into defrauding an Army General, one of his master’s clients who sought intervention for his long-drawn disease of leprosy. The Army General was healed by the master free of charge. But the servant cornered the soldier as he left town, lying to him that his master wanted cold cash for the health intervention. The General obliged.
The servant returned home, but he did not know that his master was spiritually one step ahead of him. The master confronted his servant asking if he had hotly pursued the General and made demands of him. The servant denied it, but the master knew what had happened. The wicked act grieved the spirit of the master. He placed a curse on his servant, invoking that the leprosy that was once a yoke on the General would strike him and his children. What grieved me in this story is that innocent children who were not part of the greed and fraud became partakers in the curse. They all became leprous.
Our leaders need to be told that every wicked deed against the destinies of innocent Nigerians will attract a curse that may stride generationally. Someone should tell them they need to feed the people, not fleece them. Somebody should counsel them that they serve the people sincerely and truthfully, not make them serfs. Let all thieving people in government know that actions have consequences that will one day manifest. For larcenous leaders, these consequences will be negative, and they may go a long distance hitting their children and grandchildren. The season of karma becomes the judgment day. Unfortunately for greedy, gluttonous, wicked, and larcenous leaders, they don’t see it coming.
