The announcement of a certain person’s death two days before Easter was received with a blizzard of cheers and raw unadulterated jubilation. As the elders say, it is only when a frog dies that you can know its actual length! That is just the nature of frogs! Otherwise, we know frogs mainly by their annoying sounds of croaking and grunting. Whilst alive, frogs pull their limbs inside, as if permanently ready for a jump, and to hide in dark muddy corners!
I was shaken when I heard of the death of Mr Tony Obinako (not his real name of course). That night, I could not fall asleep. I stayed wide awake, contemplating about the deep meaning of life. For the next couple of days, I was dull, very quiet and reflective. It felt as if I was watching a lengthy horror Nigerian movie. As several scenes in the awkward narrative that culminated in Obinako’s death unfolded in the imaginary movie, I asked myself: What at all do human beings want earthly properties for?
OPEN EXPRESSIONS OF JOY
Whilst being quiet and shaken by Obinako’s death, I bore witness to very open, visible and loudly expressed joy that overwhelmed my understanding of the world. I pointed out to more than a dozen people that their expression of joy over someone’s death was very awkward and that it was even unnatural. Some said that I was weird to be surprised at their joy. The following were some of the remarks from people as they discussed Obinako’s death.
“Finally, God has done it! Glory be to God almighty!” “We thank God!” “Eh, God is really good ooh!” “We thought ghosts had lost their powers and no longer existed like in the olden days! These days, ghosts may delay in exacting vengeance but Obinako’s death is proof positive that ghosts still deliver!” “Didn’t I predict that he will die soon? You see! There was no way he would have survived the extent of wickedness he unleashed on many people!” “He got what he deserved! But it took too long for this death to occur!” “He did not deserve to live!” “His death calls for celebration! We better find a bottle of Champaign to cheer up!” “May that monster’s soul rest in hell so we can have peace! He should have gone sooner!”
Typically, it is assumed that as we grow older, we probably would have seen and experienced just about everything so cannot be surprised. But I had never heard or witnessed such a phenomenon all my life—of open expression of joy over the death of a person. How could such jubilation be explained?
HOW OBINAKO EARNED JUBILATION OVER HIS DEATH
The said Obinako was exhausting in many ways. On the exterior, he was a calm gentleman who you will not guess could hurt a fly. He was handsome with the looks to be a heart-throb for the daughters of Eve. But when you got up close and personal to him, he shocked you and caused you to doubt your ability to understand human beings. He was like a whirlpool that will rudely and violently turn your world upside down and inside out.
The alleged crimes Obinako had committed were the types for writing novels. It was suspected that he committed two murders. There were stories about him that suggested that he was a rapist. There were several evidence of him as a schemer, liar, grabber and insensitive; and generally as a very smooth operator. He was known to have cheated people out of properties, having sold two houses that had been bequeathed to children in a Will; and squandered the proceeds from the sales. He arranged for macho-men to seek out one of his sworn enemies for an attack.
There were attempts to get the criminal justice system to deal with him but he was so slippery that he somehow sneaked out. He was a pocket lawyer of some sort and was often seen around the court house in Accra chasing after one case or the other because he always had a number of people he had filed law suits against.
Last October, he was ordained as a pastor by one of the new breed charismatic churches. So instantly, he went under the cover of clerical protection and was spotted around town wearing a clerical collar around his neck. It was when he suddenly popped dead last week that I realized the extent to which he had hurt several people.
Without a doubt, his death has saddened his close family members and some friends, who are mourning him. But it is the sheer number of people who have reasons to rejoice over Obinako’s death that I find very striking and unusual.
OBINAKO’S LESSONS ABOUND
There are many lessons in this story of one man dying and many people jubilating. To the best of our ability, we must strive to live flawless lives. We should treat others well and not intentionally cause them pain. It is not for nothing that various versions of the Golden Rule is found in all major world religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism): “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.”
Man proposes; but God disposes. As I replayed the incidents that seemed to have finally led to the death of Obinako, I came to a much fuller realization that we human beings do not understand this life. We are here today; then gone tomorrow. Everything can end instantly even whilst we are busy making other plans. Life is truly fleeting! The aspects of life we do not see may be more extensive than what we see in tangible forms.
Whilst you are busy planning wicked moves against people, remember that your maker could decide on any day to take your life away and all your evil intentions will come to nothing. The day before Obinako died, he threatened some people and bragged that right after Easter, he will unleash terror on them. He did not know that he will not be alive to celebrate Easter! Whilst he was planning, the universe had other plans for him.
If Obinako could reincarnate, would he do things differently after eavesdropping on people’s outward expressions of joy over his death? But more specifically, what would you (dear reader) do if you were to live in the moment, with full realisation that you are not guaranteed tomorrow? How would you want to be remembered? Would you live life as a monster and wicked schemer like Obinako, over whom people will rejoice when they hear of your death and exclaim—“Good riddance”? Or you will live as a good, loving, kind, helpful person who will be greatly missed when your death is announced? Let the choice be the latter. We should all work toward attaining a progressive human-centred life.
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