Xmas; Ndi Igbo alago!

Finally, December 25^th is around the corner. For the past couple of months, I have been agonizing in prayers that the Pope will decree that Christmas has been postponed.

As the day dwindles to December 25^th, my hope to answered prayers diminishes. As I see my neighbours deforesting their bank account to buy Christmas ham pack to win their oga’s favour, my heart bleeds and I ask myself, why this subtle bribe and craze for Christmas?  Even the roadside chemist shop managed by Okoro(colloquial name for igbos), is winding down for Christmas, I am reliably informed that Okoro has made plans to migrated to Biafra(The Igbos when disenchanted with Nigeria , crave for a spiritual Biafra , where all their dreams will be met. Why this craze for exodus to the East? While musing on this, my wife quickly reminded me that the biblical Israelites moved east from Egypt towards their borrowed land.

The 1948 United Nation’s creation of the state of Israel has given the biblical Jah people a permanent state, though they are still fighting their landlords-the Palestines. But all over the world, Jah people are still searching for a home land that is corruption, tribalism, evil and unemployment free. This has been at the root of internally displacement of people and the brain behind regional conflicts. There is a constant movement of people but it becomes evident during the Christmas-New year celebration.

At this period of the year, there is a massive movement of people to their homelands to celebrate Xmas and be with their ancestral spirits to welcome the New Year.

Nigerians are not left out in this exodus. A visit to any city in Nigeria will evidence this mass evacuation. The air ports, motor parks and donkey tracks, all full to the brim with people wanting to go home. The Nigerians in Diaspora are not left out. Many dish washers and mortuary attendants in Europe and America, are also home bound, to escape the high cost of living through the harsh winter. Some are also coming home to find a “village girl” to dollar-mesmerise and break a long standing relationship. Village girls are getting wiser now as it is evident that USA has gone into recession and a good number of Africans in Diaspora are jobless and crave to come home but the shame of having nothing to show for the prodigal son years in Diaspora is keeping them far from home and those who will make it, will find to their dismay that the village girl knows where Wall Street is and may demand a glimpse of his Green Card before she will allow him “do”.

The local communities have dusted their leaking baskets of unfinished community projects, launching, fund raising and all sorts are lined up for this period. The rural churches and shrines are not left out. They organise abroad harvest and bazaar, despite having done first fruit harvest and the commencement of the un-earthening of the new yam sometime in October/November.

This is against the back-drop that our “illustrious son” has dispossessed foreigners and struck it rich in the last year and investing a token in the community is not a crime. Many questionable characters will be awarded chieftaincy titles, whose meanings are as dubious as the recipients.

This exodus is worst among the Eastern inhabitants of Nigeria. Most of them believe that they are the Jews of Nigeria and at the end of each year, they must reenact their fore-fathers escape from Egypt. A political angle to this is the exodus as a result of the pogrom of 1963-1966, that cumulated into the Biafran war. The current Jos mayhem has added a taste of nostalgia.

With this mentality, the average Easterner sees Nigeria as a land to be plundered and not a home. After all, on the eve of the biblical Passover, God asked the Israelites to ask of their Egyptian neighbours of anything.”…and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for and like a victorious army, they plundered the Egyptians” (Exodus 12:35-36)

In this exodus, many die on the road to the River Niger. The dilapidated federal roads are worst in the eastern part of Nigeria. The Bini-Ore road that conveys the conquering Alaba, Idumota trader is a death trap. Even with their latest modern day chariots, they still don’t make it to the “Promised Land”. The Abuja-Lokoja-Auchi/Onitsha strip is another killer to the dreams of those bent on exodus. A sore that has refused to be healed despite the crocodile tears by the minister for transport, is the Lokoja/Ajokuta road that leads to 9^th Mile. May travelling this Xmas, will spend at least a night on the road.

Those fortunate to escape into the “promised land” find at their ancestral homes, disputes, intra-family bickering and the fear of being poisoned, rules the day. Most of these returnees, fence themselves in and hardly attend to the needy widow next door, some go all out to secure the protection of the Nigerian Police throughout the two weeks they will hibernate at home. Crime rate swings from all time low in the villages to a record proportion and I ask myself, is it worth it? The dispossessed, come back to the City (Babylon/Egypt) in January and start scavenging for a living, commencing a new circle of saving for another waste come December ending.

So better be careful when Okoro comes borrowing in January to pay his children school fees.

Is this not a season of celebration of he who was rich and for mankind, he made himself poor? A man whose father has all things yet he was born in the lowest of places? A man whose first midwife was a dispossessed bull, who grudgingly kept awake after a hard day’s work at the trashing floor, through the labour cry of Mary.

Why this craze for Christmas? The cost of everything has doubled. Even the transport fare to the east will reach the Iroko top. Why can’t these bus owners help their brothers who want to go home? Is this commercialization the essence of Christmas? Why can’t the Pope for once, postpone Christmas?  

 

 

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