OF PHARMACIES AND CHURCHES WAY BACK

I was 7 years old. I was very sick. It was far into the night. My father took me to the hospital. Some drugs were given. Some drugs had to be bought outside the hospital. We drove to a major pharmacy along the Warri- Sapele road. It was 2:35am by the clock on the wall of the pharmacy. We bought the drugs and left shortly. Pharmacies opened all night. That was 1966.

            We came to live in Benin City for a few years. We resided in a big family compound. My uncles would shuttle from one party to the other party especially weekends. They would come home at the break of day. This was in the late sixties up to mid eighties.

            Lagos 1975, crawlers as they were called would go partying all night. Most times, they would end up not having anywhere to sleep. Police stations do not close. Churches were ever open. CMS Church Marina, Lagos was an example. When you came to police stations to sleep, no one asked you incriminating questions. No one ‘suspected’ you to be a criminal. The police encouraged you to always come to them for safety. Churches were happy to receive you. The church believed you could encounter God and be saved seeking to rest from your labors in it. The church was a sanctuary. It was holy! No one took anything that belonged to it.

            I travelled around a bit in W/African sub-regions not too long ago. I found out that I could travel all night long. I could party all night long if I wanted to. I found out that life was as simple as we had experienced it in the sixties and seventies and eighties.

Fellow Countrymen, where have we all gone wrong?