“Some complain that God put thorns on roses; others give thanks that God put roses among thorns”- Anonymous
Whichever divide you belong on the above passage, one thing is very clear; we are living in a strange new reality. We are living in a panicky World dictated by virus called Corona and coded as COVID-19.
Nothing underscores the weight of the covid-19 pandemic more than that the Christendom will mark the Good Friday tomorrow without the physical presence of Worshippers in Churches even before the Pope. History is yet to tell whether it has ever happened globally before in the over 2020 years old of the killing of Jesus Christ by the Jews.
Coronavirus may not be the first or the worst plague in history in terms of fatality rate but it certainly stands out in glaring form for a lot of what it did to the spiritual World inventing a record that may take generations to break.
Today is Holy Thursday in Christian Calendar, a very significant day in the life of every believer in Jesus Christ as the lord and saviour. It marks the hatchet night, the turnaround night when the mouth that shouted Hosanna to Jesus as he triumphed into Jerusalem for the Passover feast made a quick U-turn to sing crucify him later.
It’s the night Judas Iscariot changed the human history by agreeing to be used to kill the messiah on paltry cash of 30 pieces of silver. Today is the night of the last Supper when the messiah having made up his mind to die for mankind told his greedy disciple to do whatever he wanted to do quickly. Today is the night preceding the huge sacrifice of Good Friday. It’s a night like no other in Christian faith.
But yet in 2020 it’s a night of strange happenings, when for the first time globally, worshippers cannot come together to celebrate this great event because a virus emerged six months earlier from a small town of Wuhan, China and set the World scampering in fear. In Musing this week we present some fallouts from this strange happenings.
The 5G brouhaha.
Obvious fallout from the COVID-19 is the international uproar over the 5G telecommunication device. What is 5G you may ask? It’s the 5th generation wireless communications technology in aide of cellular data network. It’s built by a Chinese firm HUAWEI to upgrade speed and most telecom providers are linking up their device to it.
But the arrival of COVID-19 is trying to distort the 5G as its effect on humans is being interrogated strangely by non-experts. While communication engineers and radiation experts continue to rule out any danger from 5G, political, religious leaders and social media buffs continue to attribute the Coronavirus to it. The only provable correlation so far is that the device shares the same origin from Wuhan town in China. Another related allegation yet unsubstantiated is that China is on a mission using COVID-19 to cage America by destroying its economy.
Vaccine Controversy.
Added fallout arising from COVID-19 is the controversy surrounding vaccine for the virus. The social media has been awash with various interpretations to the vaccine. Some say it’s intended to infect more people with the agenda of reducing the global population all based on superstitions arising out of fear.
But perhaps more weighty is a French doctor Jean-Paul Mira’s racist outburst suggesting that the new vaccine should be tried in Africa first. This sparked immediate outrage with two top Africa’s football legends, Didier Drogba and Sam Etoo leading the attack on the Doctor. The World Health Organisation, WHO Director General described the statement as appalling , and a comment borne out of colonial hang over in a 21st Century.
Ineffective Fuel price reduction.
Coming back home to the country, COVID-19 has come with a number of intriguing fallouts. President Muhammadu Buhari who has been quick at looking for how to tax Nigerians suddenly slashed the price of petrol from N145 to N125 and later N123 per litre. This is attributed to the drastic fall in the price of oil at international market. The action is even ineffective because the people are on a lockdown and cannot benefit from the price reduction.
Virtual Worshipping.
Obvious fallout from the COVID-19 is the inevitable resort to worshipping God digitally. Nigerian Worshippers have not been quick in embracing virtual worship because of their believe that to get God’s attention you must be either in the Church or Mosque. COVID-19 proved all that wrong as Pastors, Priests and Imams themselves had to encourage digital Worship for safety. Although some mercantile induced pastors still insisted on digital revenue collections as they profusely reminded worshippers not to forget to send their tithes online some even develop an app for it.
Gov. Jide Sanwo-Olu.
One man the coming of COVID-19 has been a huge blessing in disguise is Governor Babajide Sanwu-olu of Lagos state. Before COVID-19 Sanwu-olu’s performance rating among Lagosian was below par but today the governor’s rating is perhaps the best on the COVID-19 response. Although critical minds still wonder who will have such huge sum coming in donations from all corners and not perform. His case is akin to Governor Sam Ortom of Benue whose performance chart was too poor before the 2019 election and his second term was in jeopardy but everything changed when herdsmen attacked his people and he turned an instant warrior, defender of his people. It however remains to see how Lagos Governor will end up in accounting for the huge resources at his disposal.
Meanwhile the response of Nigeria’s rich men to the COVID-19 emergency has been very laudable. Even if you minus the fake addition from fraudulent social media adherents you still have impressive figures. But it appears most of the donations are business tied as all focus on giving Lagos while not looking at the other less viable states of the federation.
Él rufai and Public trust
Another shocking fallout from COVID-19 is the public distrust of some Nigerians on Governor Nasir El rufai who went as far as doubting if he really tested positive of the virus. The Governor himself announced that he tested positive of the virus but some Nigerians went on social media to doubt his sincerity. Some of them believe he was trying to seek media attention. That was the height of distrust which should worry the Governor when he scales through the virus hurdle.
N20, 000 Largesse.
One other curious fallout from the COVID-19 is the distribution of the N20, 000 largesse to poor Nigerians. Before Nigerians could say jack the federal Government says it has reached 2.6m poor families with 20,000 Naira. Shocked Nigerians have been asking whether the 2.6m people are in Mars or hear in Nigeria that nobody could identify them. The beneficiaries have become like some fake pastor’s miracles where the blinds see, lame walk but nobody sees the beneficiaries. Looks like there is going to be a COVID-19 corruption index after the pandemic especially with the burning down of the Accountant General’s office where the records are believed to be domiciled.
Mikel Obi’s ‘negative’ result
Nigeria’s former National team captain Mikel Obi lost his job with the Turkish first division for a needless COVID-19 outburst against the country’s football authorities. An outburst he was asked to pull down from his Facebook page but he refused leading to the termination of his contract with the Club. Mixed reactions greeted the development with many feeling that there was indiscretion on the side of Mikel.
Akindele ruinous birthday Party.
Clear incaution on use of phone by Nollywood star Funke Akindele and the husband landed them in hot soup. Holding a lavish birthday party for the husband at a time Lagos state and the country were observing social distancing rules was a enough bad judgement but the fallout disgrace would have been averted if they had not on their own poured salt into an open wound by publishing it in the social media. The rest is now history suffices to say that the couple and their guests are ending up as ex- convicts.
The sunny-sides of COVID-19
There are also many sunny sides of COVID-19 that has set social media agog.
The expected matrimonial consequences that may likely lead to more pregnancies. There was also the wedding of Jigawa Governor’s daughter with seven guests only in attendance thanks to COVID-19. Not to forget the daughter of the President who after self-isolation flaunted her re-joining the family embracing Mom, social media activists are asking why she didn’t embrace Dad also, whether there is anything she knows that we don’t know.
Then finally, is Enugu International Airport closure now a blessing in disguise, will the Covid-19 outbreak been this low in that region if it was operating? Stay safe, stay with God.