At different times, every Nigerian has wondered in his or her mind the connection between our country’s reputation as one of the most corrupt nations on earth and another reputation as the most religious nation on earth. As proof of our religiosity prayer houses for both Christians and Muslims litter in their tens in every street of our major cities. Tales of testimonies of divine favour and blessings emanating from such houses give impression of a people directly in touch with God. Of course, the clerics, with the boldness with which they make pronouncements about things unseen by the eyes help to reinforce this impression. Were we not regaled recently of the story of a man of God who placed direct phone call to God from his church while his congregation marvelled at God’s voice. The dead are said to have woken from their eternal slumbers during miracle hours and all sorts of incurable diseases take their flight once they come in contact with our holy compatriots. At other times, it is the wicked in whatever form, that are made subjects of divine wraths. In Christian gatherings, bouts of hot, unquenchable Holy Ghost fires are rained on them as worshipers seek their justified destruction. I am sure there is a corresponding practice in the mosques and other Islamic gatherings. Thus, when we hear testimonies of answered prayers, we believe that at least some demons have been vanquished.
I have had course in the past to imagine the nature of demons. My starting place in this intellectual gymnasium is to know how many demons there are in the world. Then I wondered whether they are everlasting beings and therefore beyond death. If this is to be the case, then what happens to our prayers and constant death sentence which we pass daily on them? On the other hand, if demons die as we command them to do in our prayers, have we not prayed enough that the world should have been rid of all demons by now? And should the hypothesis that they succumb to death as a result of our prayers be true, and given that we have not been able to eliminate them, it may not be out of place to think that somehow these demons have a way of reproducing themselves. If this be true, by whose power do they do this?
These questions serve only intellectual purposes. For practical purposes, I dare to think that there is a big connection between human beings and demons. Indeed, when we pray in church or mosque against the machinations of the demons we are only asking the God Almighty to help us thwart the evil plans hatched against us by our fellow human beings. And as far as this goes, one man who is a victim here may be the demon there. The man who prays for the death of a demon in one church is the same man who is constituted as the demon in another church and his death demanded during prayers offered against demons. The chain is truly endless. Thus, anyone who wants to make a connection between our religiosity and our national corruption must take note of this phenomenon whereby one man is robed as saint and demon at different times and places.
I believe that it is in the nature of the two major religions we received to promote this. Both Christianity and Islam preach forgiveness as fundamental aspect of their belief system. Christianity for instance, preaches that the sinner is easily forgiven once he asks for forgiveness from God. Islam too believes that sins can be propitiated simply by appealing to God’s love and mercy. Since the God of both Christianity and Islam is quick in absolving followers of their sins, one does not need to look too far to discover why the more religious we become the more corrupt we also become. The man who has stolen billions of naira may build a church or mosque with just a fraction of it and live with the tight assurance that the prayers of the saints inside the place of worship will wash away his sins.
There is precedence to this even among the early Christians. St Paul had gone around the various Christian churches promising them salvation only on the strength of their belief in God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. On his next visit to the people he previously evangelised Paul discovered that, one by one, the people have gone too deep into all sorts of sins and iniquities. It was a desperate Paul in his letters to the Romans (6:1) who questioned them thus: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” To a good many of us, the answer to this is yes. And herein lies the reason for our corruption inspite of our religiosity. Now there is a new duty for the religious preachers.They must be conscripted into the fight against corruption. In this new role, their message should be simple: God does not forgive the sin of corruption. Christians already teach that God does not forgive the sin against the Holy Spirit so adding the sin of corruption to the list may not be a bad idea.
