AZUKA ONWUKA FROM PUNCH
The recent death of a young man named Ugochukwu Okpani in Afikpo, Ebonyi State rekindled the demonisation of the so-called “village people.” Media reports emphasised that a young man who was to depart for his M.Sc. overseas died the night before he was to depart.
It kept tongues wagging about how “village people” are always plotting to destroy those who show signs of progress, and why people should never announce any of their plans, to avoid being targeted by these people who are credited with supernatural, diabolical powers.
In the Nigerian context, whenever the expression “village people” is mentioned, it refers to one’s relatives and neighbours in one’s ancestral village who are believed to plan evil against the progress of others. These people who live in one’s hometown are regarded as witches and wizards and poisoners who destroy people and their destinies. They cause accidents and suck the blood of those who show signs of career progress. They inflict cancer, diabetes, heart attack, insanity, imbecility, blindness, childlessness, lack of marriage, business failure, job loss, drug addiction, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, etc, on those they envy. When these village people don’t succeed in using supernatural means to inflict harm on people, they resort to the use of physical poison which they drop in the drink or food of their victims.
New-generation churches popularised and accentuated this belief, instilling fear into their members. There are regular messages and prayers conducted in most churches against village people and all enemies of progress. Members are warned not to visit their hometown or accept gifts from their folks at home or allow such village people to touch them. If they have to visit their hometown, they need to come for special prayers or travel with some holy water or a holy cross that they have to “sow a seed” or “give an offering of thanksgiving” to obtain.
The death of Okpani reignited all the demonisation of village people. What caused it was that a day before he died, Okpani made a post which read: “It’s a wrap, blessed be God forever
22.00Hrs 2go, in omnia paratus, Put my name on that wall. MSc mode fully activated. #International_Relations.”
He Illustrated the post with four photographs of himself. In the first photo, he was hanging his photo on a wall. In the second, he was looking at himself in the mirror. In the third, he looked ahead with his wristwatch in focus. In the last photo, he was looking at his wardrobe.
The police are investigating the matter. But some individuals also chose to investigate it. This has brought some issues to the limelight. The first was that Ugochukwu Okpani did not complete his political science degree course at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State. If he didn’t complete his course and has no degree certificate, how can a UK university offer him an admission for an M.Sc?
The second question mark was that for someone purportedly planning to travel that same day to a foreign land, there was no sign of packed bags. Given that he was living with his family, including his mother, a lot of food items would have been dried and packed in bags for his trip.
The other point was that for a person planning to leave Nigeria that day, the likelihood of the person still being in Afikpo was low. He would either have left for Lagos or Abuja. And even if he planned to travel via Enugu airport, he would have moved over to Enugu, so as to be near the airport.
In addition, there was no sign of a flight ticket for the trip. Another point was that the passport he posted earlier was a picture lifted from the Internet. A person who wanted to flaunt his passport and a valid visa would have displayed himself with the passport rather than lifting a passport photo from the Internet. Furthermore, nobody was aware of when he travelled to Abuja or Lagos for his visa appointment.
Investigations also show that the University of Wolverhampton which he claimed offered him full scholarship does not run M.Sc. International Relations. The university has international relations as an undergraduate course.
Another point was that most European universities are on summer holiday now (May) and will resume in September. Even if he planned to travel much earlier (which makes no financial sense, given that he was not from a wealthy family), none of his friends, townspeople, or associates in the UK confirmed that he communicated with them about his arrival, for them to help pick him up at the airport and help him settle in quickly in a foreign land.
