[ By: Charles Onyango-Obbo ]
The Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who attempted to blow up an American aeroplane with a bomb built into his underwear, was somewhat unAfrican.

Though so-called Sub-Saharan Africa has its fair share of terrorists, AbdulMutallab is one of the very few who has offered himself up as a suicide bomber. From the days of the slave trade, life has been so grim in Africa that we seem to have developed a strong keep-alive ethos that makes suicide unfashionable.

So how do we explain AbdulMutallab? One of the best attempts to shed light on why this young Nigerian, born into a rich middle class family and having received a very good education, became a would-be suicide bomber can be found on the Zeleza Post. The Zeleza Post is a high-minded blog on African affairs founded by Malawian historian, Dr Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, who is touted as the next big African intellectual.

A December 28 posting on the blog by Nigerian Pius Adesanni blames the AbdulMutallab phenomenon the lazy and parasitic “Feudo-Caliphal establishment in northern Nigeria,” which mass produces poverty and stokes radical Islam in order to maintain power.

However, it is not only Islamic extremism that is being pushed in Nigeria. Nigeria is also the epicentre of Christian extremism in Africa.

My favourite is the “Ministry of Sacrifice” led by Prophetess Felicia Okafor, which is dedicated to finishing the work that Adam and Eve left undone in the Garden of Eden. Members of the Ministry prayed naked, and husbands and wives were barred from having sex with one another. Instead, the church appointed a “brother” or “sister” for them. A female member of the Ministry found to be having sexual relations with her legitimate husband was considered to have committed adultery! By any standard of religious extremism, that was going way too far. Prophetess Okafor was busted after her flock couldn’t take it any more and squealed to the police.

What is happening in Nigeria is taking place all over Africa. Not only are Islamic and Christian fundamentalism on the rise, but also traditionalist extremism. In Uganda, for example, child sacrifice has hit an alarming high. Ironically, it is fuelled not by poverty, but by development and prosperity. A security official told the BBC that as Ugandans grow wealthier, they resort more and more to witchcraft to secure their wealth and to build on it…

In common, Islamic and Christian fundamentalism are growing because there is no competing secular cause. Public policy debate is dying in Africa, and what we have is homophobic fury in many countries. Political discourse has been replaced by ethnic hate rants.

We don’t need a great secular idea. Even an Africa-wide youth rebellion, demanding the right for young people to love, get high on marijuana, and party all night will unite the older folks to set them on the right path.

In the past, we united against imperialism, then against the IMF and World Bank. The biggest of them all was HIV-Aids. These issues were always much bigger than religion and superstition. Now the HIV-Aids has receded somewhat.

We need a new enemy; maybe a disease as fiery as HIV-Aids that will marginalise the merchants of religious extremism. If not, we should prepare for more AbdulMutallabs and child sacrifices.

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Motorcyclists in Nigeria have been wearing dried pumpkin shells on their heads to dodge new laws forcing them to wear helmets, authorities have said.

Officials in the northern city of Kano said they had stopped several people with “improvised helmets”, following this month’s introduction of the law.

Road safety officials said calabash-wearers would be prosecuted.

Thousands of motorbikes have been impounded around the country and drivers have staged protests.

Calabashes are dried pumpkin shells more commonly used to carry liquid.

Kano Federal Road Safety Commission commander Yusuf Garba told the BBC they were taking a hard line with people found using the improvised helmets.

“We are impounding their bikes and want to take them to court so they can explain why they think wearing a calabash is good enough for their safety,” he said.

Fifty motorbikes had been seized so far in Kano city alone, he added.

Menace

Motorcycle taxis, called “achaba” in the north of the country and “okada” in the south, are a cheap way for Nigerians to get around congested and chaotic city streets.

Many drivers of the motorcycle taxis are furious over the new law, which came into force on New Year’s Day.

In the city of Kaduna, drivers waved palm fronds and rode in convoy to protest at the price of helmets, which can cost up to $29 (20 British Pounds).

They say passengers often steal the helmets once they reach their destination.

Stories have also appeared in the local papers highlighting passengers’ fears that the helmets could be used by motorcyclists to cast spells on their clients, making it easy for them to be robbed.

“Some people can put juju inside the helmets and when they are worn the victim can either lose consciousness or be struck dumb,” passenger Kolawole Aremu told the Daily Trust newspaper.

Local government authorities often give motorbikes to jobless young men, saying it gives them a way to make a living.

But the BBC’s Andrew Walker in Abuja says handing out the vehicles does not address the underlying cause of Nigeria’s economic problems.

It is often an attempt to buy support for elections, our correspondent says.

The number of motorcycle taxis in big cities has exploded in recent years, causing concern about road safety.

Often untrained and illiterate, the drivers are considered a menace by many motorists.

Fatal accidents are common. Road safety authorities say almost every collision in Nigeria’s cities involves an okada.

More than 4,000 people die on Nigeria’s roads every year and 20,000 are injured, according to the Federal Road Safety Commission.

Story from BBC NEWS

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References:

1. Dog meat dinners prove popular in Nigeria: Sex lives improved, Juju and Malaria thwarted!

2. Ritual Killing and Pseudoscience in Nigeria — Nigeria is a society where most beliefs are still informed by unreason, dogmas, myth making, and magical thinking. In Nigeria, belief in ghosts, juju, charms, and witchcraft is prevalent and widespread. Nigerians believe that magical potions prepared with human heads, breasts, tongues, eyes, and sexual organs can enhance one’s political and financial fortunes; that juju, charms and amulets can protect individuals against business failures, sickness and diseases, accidents, and spiritual attacks. In fact, ritual-making is perceived as an act of spiritual fortification. …[Read More]
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A YouTube video surfaced Wednesday showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor cum witch-doctor, who prayed for her protection from “witchcraft” as she prepared to seek the governor’s office.

[Pastor Muthee Exorcised The Demons & Devils Out of Palin]

In the video Palin is standing before “Bishop” Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from “every form of witchcraft.”

[Thomas Muthee Prays For Sarah]

“Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan,” Muthee says as two attendants place their hands on Palin’s shoulders. “Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. … Use her to turn this nation the other way around.”

   [A Kiambu, Kenya WitchDoctor in Full Regalia]

Palin filed campaign papers a few months later, in October 2005, and was elected governor the next year.

LOL!

On a visit to the church in June 2008, Palin spoke fondly of the Kenyan pastor and told a group of young missionaries that Muthee’s prayers had helped her to become governor.

“Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he’s so bold,” she said. “And he was praying ‘Lord make a way, Lord make a way’ … He said, ‘Lord make a way and let her do this next step.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

The Rev. Zipporah Ndiritu, who studied under Muthee in the Kiambu, Kenya-based Word of Faith Church, said the bishop is revered among evangelicals there. In a phone interview from Mombasa, Kenya, she said church doctrine focuses on ridding the world of demons — and witches.

“Even in the days of Jesus Christ, according to the Bible there were witches who were manifesting through demonic forces,” she said. “You can seek from the Lord, and if you find demonic forces you cast them out.”

Ndiritu said she did not know Palin.

Muthee founded the Prayer Cave in 1989 in Kiambu, Kenya, after “God spoke” to him and his late wife, Margaret, and called him to the country, according to the church’s Web site.

| Read More Here |

Sarah Palin’s Alaskan Armageddon (Clips)

Notice how Palin nods in agreement with the pastor when he says Alaska will be a refuge state for the “lower 48” states just before and during Armageddon.

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NOTE:
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In Africa, witchcraft has played a role in rebellions, fighting wars, gaining independence and is often seen at election time.

Some people also consult witchdoctors to cure diseases or find a husband.

However, the practise has negative sides – mutilated bodies are often found in Africa, with their organs removed presumably for use in magic charms.

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   Witchcraft & Christianity