In the middle of Lagos- Benin expressway, before the Ore
junction, sits a rusty disabled car with a partially burnt-out engine. It has
been there for weeks, abandoned by the owner and by the state. There is no
light where the car rests, yet thieves have managed to visit at night and
extract anything of value in the car. Meanwhile, at their home in FESTAC, a
patriarch and his family are preparing to travel to Onitsha. They have packed
their luggage and taken them into their Honda Pilot jeep. They pray for God to
grant them safe trip. The parents speak in tongues and the children sing
choruses. Their neighbors and friends come out and wish them journey mercies.
As they drive, they play gospel music and sing more songs and praises. Near the
site where the rusty car rests, the patriarch of the family swings the car to
avoid a pothole. By the time he regains control of the car, he is face to face
with the disabled car. The last thing that comes out of his mouth before the
car slams into the abandoned car is, God.
Over two hundred years ago, the French used to attribute
everything to God. They revered their leaders as people chosen by God. They
worshiped their clergies as men anointed by the Almighty, even as evidence
mounted that these men and women of privilege were ruining the lives of the
poor French citizens. In a sporadic uprising, the French society yanked off the
yoke of ignorance and subservience and kicked out the so-called men and women
handpicked by God.
