The Line

When it comes to our politics, there must be a line that we must all collectively draw, irrespective of tribe, religion, or political affiliation. There was a Levite who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem. The concubine deceived him and the lady went back to her father’s house. The young man rose to get her concubine back, he loved her and he wanted her.

He went to his in-law’s house to sweet talk his baby back into his home and ask for her hand formally from her house, the moment he arrived there, his father-in-law enjoyed his company and wouldn’t want him to leave as the husband had scheduled. Finally, the husband decided to leave late one day after the usual gimmicks of his father-in-law’s tactical delay. He saddled his donkeys, placed his wife on one, and he rode on the other. He had his servant in his company.

It was late when they got to Jerusalem, at the time, Jebusites were still in Jerusalem, and the husband felt it was not safe to stay with foreigners, he would rather stay with his countrymen. It was late, yet they proceeded to where his countrymen lived. They got to Gibeah, the land of the Benjamites, his countrymen, they turned him down. These were his countrymen, with whom he thought he would be safe, but no one took him in. A man who was from the tribe of Ephraim but residing in Gibeah. He took his family and his entourage in. Then, tragically, gay men in the city wanted to rape the husband; it was an abomination because they must have read what happened in the Israelite camp when such a thing was done. It will always be a calamity. The host said they can sleep with his virgin daughter since the men were violent and will not double down, they would do anything to have their way. They turned down the offer, then the husband said his wife. They took his wife and all of them raped her until the point of death. The man rose in the morning and took his wife and when he got home, he sent a message to all tribes of Israel to come to his aid by dividing the corpse of his wife into 12 parts and sent it to them. The elders were shocked when they learned of the event. They gathered before the Lord at Mizpah, which the Benjamites ignored. They called the tribe of Benjamin into meetings, the Benjamites were determined to cover up evil and presented a united front in support of the evil because the culprits were from their tribe. The other 11 tribes also presented a united front against the evil that had been done, it is something that should be nipped in the bud and not allowed in the lands of the Israelites.

They asked the Lord if they should go fight the tribe, and the Lord gave them a yes. They went into battle. The Benjamite were ready to fight and summoned their soldiers. The numbers were against them, more so, the Lord had sanctioned the move and they were doomed to fail. The battle took a while with heavy killings on both sides but the Benjamites were almost wiped out, the Israelites had to leave a handful of them to preserve the tribe.

There is a dangerous trend in the biggest modern war going on in Europe, the country of war is being used as testing grounds for different kinds of weapons of warfare that have been developed over time but have not been tested on the battlefield. They are deployed to the battlefield in form of support to both countries involved in the war. The countries that developed these weapons and defence mechanisms are studying the field performance of these instruments of war and would make adjustments to their designs when they see the strengths and failures. The victims of the war are at the receiving end of these political machinations. Millionaires have been turned into refugees overnight. Vice Chancellors are now beggars in refugee camps. Big business owners are now paupers. The poor are still finding it difficult to live. The pastor of one the largest church in Europe fled and was on the road for weeks amidst dangers. Glorious destinies have been truncated. Yet, they come to the media to lay accusing fingers and none of them would bulge, shift ground and make peace. This is what war does. The beast finds expression. Countries especially ‘’powerful ones’’ are moved by interests. When they present help, ensure it is a win-win and not one that put you at disadvantage. Libya is at war and yet its natural resources and especially oil is being extracted daily. Can you see it?

I am writing to Nigerians, please, support your candidate in peace, and do not fan the embers of war. Be careful with your utterances and the information or news you share. Be mindful of selfish interests within and outside the country. It is your country and no one loves it as you do. If notice malpractice, take it to the court. Court has been able to take the bull by the horn in recent years but we can be better. Do everything to achieve peace.
I saw a video last month of a political rally, a guy was caught with a knife, and one of the people interrogating him started speaking a particular tribe language to him because he had a bias that the tribe want to hunt down his candidate, it was later revealed that the boy in question is from the tribe where the rally is held and does not understand the language of the other tribe being spoken to him. It was later discovered that the boy was there in the company of one of his candidate’s supporters, but the clarification never flew as widely as the false narrative about how insecure their candidate was. This is a line we must never cross. There is a front we must all present, irrespective of tribe, language, tongue, religion, or political affiliation. We must all be Nigeria first and think about a win-win for our country when dealing with issues or foreign influence. We must all unite for peace no matter how aggrieved we are.

If you are hell-bent on violence, you will be the only one to be consumed. This country is bigger than you and whatever you are scheming.

I declare an end to human sacrifices, especially infant sacrifices. I declare hidden secrets and schemes that could send this country into turmoil be revealed within 7 days. All efforts of evil-doers are in vain by the power of the Holy Spirit.

With love
Paul Ademujimi