Does someone here know God?
The journalist who collects money to write untruth, knows God.
The judge who collects bribes to give false judgements, knows God.
The Police who collect bribes to oppress those he is supposed to protect, knows God.
The security chief who misappropriates security funds for personal gains, knows God.
The medical practitioners who divert medicines, equipment and allocation from public hospitals to their private hospitals, know God.
The education officials who steal and divert funds from the ministry, UBEC, SUBEB, TETFUND, etc to their personal use, all know God.
The market woman and trader who sell poisoned, fake and adulterated products, know God.
The driver and conductor who arbitrarily increase fares once fuel is hoarded, know God.
The fuel marketer who swindles the country of oil subsidies, knows God.
The pastor who milks the population to fund lavish lifestyles, and hoodwink the people with false prophecies, knows God.
The Imam who preaches divisive sermons and encourages violence and mayhem around the country, knows God.
The importer who imports fake products, arms and ammunition into the country, knows God.
The customs officials who participate in, aid and abate smuggling, know God.
The banker who gathers the money of the poor to give to only the rich to invest and continuously deduct unwarranted charges from your little savings, know God.
The artisan who inflates the cost of materials, collects a job and either refuses to deliver or do not deliver as promised, know God.
The owner of the electricity distribution company that has been collecting your money for decades without supplying you power, know God.
The house agent who charges near or more than your actual rent, for agreement and agency fee, knows God.
The lecturer who collects sorting, knows God.
The student who pays sorting, knows God.
The armed robber, kidnapper, human ritual killer, all know God.
Even hook-ups and gigolos, know God.
The politician who promises and never delivers, knows God.
Bandits and terrorists commit terrorism in the name of God.
The babalawo calls the name of God.
Funds budgeted by governments at all levels every year are embezzled by people who say they know God.
Almost everything that everyone of us calls injustice, that is done to us or to people we know, is done mostly by people who say they know God. These people commence every meeting with prayer and end every meeting with prayer. They start everyday with prayer and end everyday with prayer. They pray before every meal and thank God after every meal.
So why are we where we are? Can we dare say that knowing God doesn’t beget godliness or that godliness no longer abhor bad-liness? Is it God that has lost his iron teeth of chastisement or why have we the people disdained his godship? The more we talk about our God, the more our human nature continues to deteriorate. Have we always been like this or did we derail somewhere? Is there any hope that we will ever care for one another again or are we condemned to this vicious circle?
I really wish I knew? I wouldn’t have bothered you.
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.