Of Prophets, Showmen & Open-Enterprise Religion

(By Ikeddy Isiguzo) - Odumeje: Onitsha’s Trending Trader

Prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere is testimony that size cannot obstruct one’s determination to excel in a chosen career. The petit fellow, who has seized minds in Onitsha, can easily be lost in a crowd of three. He is that small.

He has put his size to mesmerising acrobatics that hold audiences captive in serial releases of theatrics, some of which you won’t expect in a Christian place of worship. He is him.

He can break into a dance in the middle of his rare conversations about the Almighty: the music could be any trending secular ‘dance all’ number with lyrics that should not be heard in church. He makes his own rules in a business that is doubtlessly lucrative.

Some of his best advertisements are video clips of followers. In testifying to his abilities, they spray him with money, in amounts that confirm he is into serious business, or his visits to businesses, where crowds quickly gather when they hear he is around.

An alliance with Nollywood actors guarantees a sprinkling of popular faces to his church. Whether worshippers go for Nollywood, wrestling, his dance steps or miracles, their expectations are exceeded.

However, he remains his best advertisement with performances that include sporadic leaps into the air as if he intends to fly. The unwritten rule is space, more space, around him for his sprouts of displays.

Of Nollywood and Nigeria's Diaspora Talents

Adesua Etomi

(By Tchidi Jacobs; Additional Reports By Onyinye Ndupu) - Has Nigerian show-biz been high-jacked by the diaspora?

During the 4^th season of Big Brother Naija, which featured Ikechukwu Onyema, Avala, Mike Edwards, and at least 3 other diaspora Nigerians, an online debate ensued over perceived marginalization of local talent. It was not a new debate: the second and third seasons had up to 6 housemates whose following was arguably helped by their diaspora backgrounds. Nollywood has Adesua Etomi, Wereuche Opia, Osas Ighodoro, Adunni Ade, and more. In Nigerian music, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Teni, Davido, Falz, Don Jazzy, Banky W, Naira Marley, and many others have found same privilege. 

The trend is growing, especially in Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry built with sheer local skill and hard work. From DVDs sold in Alaba and Upper Iweka, to the posh cinemas adorning urban city malls, the industry that started in the early 90’s has been on a steady growth trajectory for almost three decades. With better production expertise and funding has come a limelight drawing diaspora talent. Sometimes it is as though local actors are deemed less screen-worthy.

In our pop music industry, street cred, not foreign swag and accent, is key; but like politicians thrill the Nigerian public when they are found eating roadside corn or akara, the diaspora singer that rolls with pidgin is king. It is as though fans feel lucky the performer shares an aspect of their lives—something taken for granted in the local singer. In Nollywood, it gets more interesting.

Leveraging foreign accents and education, overseas returnees in the industry are bringing a refreshing touch to the screen. They are not necessarily better than their Nigerian-born counterparts, but the foreign allure is an asset. It is no surprise that today, many of the A-List players in Nollywood are either born or educated abroad.

Of COVID-19, Religion, and Conspiracy Theories

(By Farooq A. Kperogi) - Coronavirus and Exploding Conspiracy Theories of Religious Crackpots

Of COVID-19, Religion, and Conspiracy Theories

The novel coronavirus is not only devastating humankind, it is also disrupting the settled certainties and spiritual verities of religious fanatics for whom atavistic and superstitious frames of reference are the only ways to make sense of the world around them. 

I’ll start from fringe members of my own religious community. When the new coronavirus first emerged in China, a lunatic fringe of the Nigerian Muslim community celebrated it and said it was Allah’s punishment against China for mistreating its Muslim minority population.

They said the clearest indication that it was divine pestilence to avenge the persecution of Chinese Muslims could be seen in the fact that all Chinese people were compelled to cover their whole bodies in ways that were reminiscent of the sartorial choices Allah enjoined Muslims, especially Muslim women, to make, which China denies its Muslim minority.

I recall telling a religious crackpot who made this silly argument early this year that it wasn’t the first time that people had covered their bodies in response to a pandemic. The 1918 Spanish Flu, which killed nearly half a million Nigerians and more than 50 million people worldwide, caused people to wear face masks.

COVID-19: Health Crisis and Crisis of Faith

Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church is silhouetted against the rising sun in Kansas City, MO., 

Wednesday, April 8, 2020. With Easter Sunday in several days, many churches are looking for 

ways to celebrate the occasion in light of stay-at-home orders and restrictions on gathering in an

 effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

(By Anthea Butler) - Is faith as we know it enough to get us through a pandemic?

(RNS) — This week, Christians will not gather in the streets of Seville, Spain, for the annual Semana Santa processions. There will be no washing of feet on Holy Thursday. Seven last words services on Good Friday will be livestreamed. For Jews, Passover has taken place at tables devoid of physical outside guests. Friday prayers at mosques will not happen. 

It turns out that a virus we cannot see is a more formidable threat to religious faith than secularism, government or unbelief. Catholics and Confucians, Buddhists and Baptists have all seen their piety give way to the coronavirus, which demands a solitary sufficiency that forbids the tactile, communal rituals that one would normally see this time of year.

Covid-19 is a health crisis, but it is also a crisis of faith.

This new normal will have profound implications for religious groups. Some will make it through this time, and their faith will be stronger for it. This is a test for believers — in the face of death, and robbed of their rituals and practices, what remains of their faith? It is a dark night of the soul, the ripping away of the familiar, the comforting, the soothing.

Many around the world have already been tested. In the Detroit area, seven bishops and leaders of the Church of God in Christ have died from the virus. Outbreaks have risen in the Orthodox Jewish community. In South Korea, the coronavirus outbreak began in a church in Daegu; in France, Covid-19 spread through a meeting of evangelicals in Mulhouse.

COVID-19, 5G Conspiracy Theories, & Empire Wars

(By Obinna Aligwekwe) - In all the midst of conflicting theories, conspiracy and otherwise, here are a few things I have been able to gather. 

These facts are verifiable:

1. America won the 4G war, and generated over $100 billion in GDP.

2. There was an intense race for 5G, a race which China has all but emerged victorious.

3. 5G is 20 times more powerful than 4G.

4. 5G has the capacity to generate 3 million jobs, and add $500 billion to GDP.

5. Most importantly, the nation that controls 5G, will control the world via information. Basically, 5G is the new nuclear button.

6. Donald Trump, on realising the US had lost, cancelled a contract with HUAWEI, Chinese tech giant, thereby stunting the progress of the technology in the West.
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Something makes me feel the disinformation regarding 5G is about GLOBAL POWER.

I may be wrong.
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My theory is:

The US may be buying time with which to develop their 5G and keep it at par with the Chinese.

The sad thing for them is... China is already working on 6G!!