Normal things do not happen normally in Nigeria. There must always be a “spiritual” side to everything. This is why a dissipated man would wake up from a frightening dream, and then start to “cast and bind” the devil with psychotic inanities.

I have read a volume of reactions to the unfortunate motorbike accident of Yusuf Buhari, son of President Muhammadu Buhari. I must say, most of the reactions lack compassion; some had a sense of schad en freude to them, while a few were utterly ridiculous.

The reactions I considered looniest were those giving a spiritual bent to the incident. To religious shareholders, Aso Rock is a pub for blood-thirsty demons; hence any resident of the place must be spiritually fortified. According to this group, the incident is a spiritual attack on the first family.

Reuben Abati’s “the Spiritual Side of Aso Rock” is not helping matters because his article is often cited as the Magna Carta of spiritual warfare at the Presidential Villa.

Abati, who was a tenant in Aso Rock under former President Goodluck Jonathan, claimed that the seat of power was in the grip of malevolent supernatural forces. I did not believe this then; I still do not believe it now.

To inveterate cynics, the President is getting his comeuppance for his “crime” against a section of the country. According to this group, karma has come for the President. This is really disturbing. It says a lot about our humanity.

In all of these, I hope the Presidency does not succumb to suggestions and shadow whispers of targeted spiritual attacks on the President’s family. Life happens. Aso Rock should not return to the days of lordship by 500 marabouts and 1,000 prayer warriors, please.

Let me end this article with this post on “religion”.

“The deadly intercourse of religion and ignorance will keep Nigeria where it is at the moment – in the mud. There cannot be any progress as long as these two potent evils remain in bed.

China pulled more than 500 millions of its citizens out of poverty between 1981 and 2012. The poverty rate fell from 88 percent to 6.5 percent! Note, more than half of China's population is irreligious.

In Nigeria, more than 90 percent of the population is religious. As of 2016, 112 million Nigerians were living in stage-four poverty! The cause of this depressing figure is the matrimony of religion and ignorance. And more Nigerians will plunge further into poverty.”

•Fredrick is a journalist. You can reach him on: Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo, Facebook: Fredrick Nwabufo

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