Horrendous revelations of COVID-19 – Part 2

– Continued from yesterday

The great Foundation established by this great couple has touched and restored millions, if not billions, of lives around the world, especially in the ever disease-inflicted African continent. But the COVID-19 pandemic with its tragic revelations is threatening to paint the sublime philanthropy exemplified by this great secular humanist couple as not as altruistic and humanitarian as it had previously pretended to be. If this turns out to be true, what a tragedy it would be for this heroic couple and humanity at large.

The truth is the world needs people like Bill and Melinda Gates who are devoting whatever profit they make in the business world to saving lives. They represent a counterforce to the greed and selfishness that are turning the world into a den of suffering especially for the poor and the underdeveloped peoples of the world who cannot compete in today’s cannibalistic capitalism.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven not to be an exception. While the rest of the world is battling the pandemic with all its might, Africans are intent on making it a business and religious issue. While some individuals and even governments are claiming to have invented for-profit drugs that instantly kill the virus some criminal governments are cooking up figures of infection and death rates with the hope of attracting huge patronages from the international community. The truth is COVID-19 is finding it hard to gain traction in Africa. This may be due to so many factors that include the hot environment of the continent and a history of strong immunity that has for centuries battled malaria parasites and other viruses. As a result, the claim that the continent is being or about to be overrun by COVID-19 must be taken with a grain of salt.

But the most brazen revelation about Africa and COVID-19 comes from the activities of the ubiquitous fake but rich business pastors that litter the continent. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic appeared to have put their business of faking healings and swindling unsuspecting poor people in temporary disarray. Their “anointing oils” that are marketed as capable of healing or preventing every illness ran out of customers. Their place was taken over by sanitizers, soaps and regular hand washings. It appeared as if their business churches were headed to collapse. But trust the criminally creative pastors of Africa. While many of them haggled with the government, either by disobeying the lockdown rule and getting arrested for it, or demanding that the government rescind the lockdown order for them to continue their business crusades and tithe-paying fellowships, a few clever ones found their own scapegoat to blame in an alleged connection between the new communication invention called the 5G with COVID-19 pandemic.

Some street smart preachers like Chris Oyakilome of Christ Embassy fame quickly blamed 5G installation for everything going wrong in the world from the raging COVID-19 pandemic to the coming of the Antichrist and the creation of the new world order for which Bill and Melinda Gates are being persecuted on the social media. This is all Africa can offer the rest of the world. What a pity! However, one of the most shocking revelations so far on the African continent regarding the COVID-19 pandemic has to do with the apparent hypocrisy of some known personalities of the continent and their violent Islamist agenda. Take for instance Nigeria. For the past decade or so, Nigeria has been suffering the scourge of violent Islamic fundamentalism. This has claimed more than one hundred thousand innocent lives.

Nigeria has been at war with the Islamists for the past ten years. There are just too many of these violent Islamic sects wreaking havoc all across the nation. The ISS, ISWAP, Herders, Fulani terrorists, Boko Haram, El-ZakyZaky Shiites, etc, are all battling Nigeria from all corners of the nation. They are united in their goal to destroy Christianity in Nigeria and establish a strict fundamentalist Islamic religion. To accomplish their goal they are stockpiling arms at every nook and cranny in the nation and waiting for a signal to launch some multifaceted attacks in every part of the nation.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. And contrary to what is happening elsewhere in the Islamic world  like Yemen, where the fight against the virus is inspiring a sense of unity and ceasefire, in Nigeria it is providing a cover for the militants to move their weapons around and deploy themselves in several places in the nation as they ready themselves for attacks on the middle belt and the Christian south. But the shocking revelation of this period is that the haulage trucks of Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa and one of the most decent Muslims in Nigeria are alleged to be freighting these Islamist fighters down south and readying them to slaughter innocent Christians. The business mogul has refuted these widely reported allegations through an advertorial by his company.

Concluded.  

Rev. Fr. Ihenacho is of the Ahiara Diocese, Imo State.