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Inside Afokang Prison in Calabar, the place I spent my time the most was in the welfare department where we make phone calls, receive counseling and where the prison library is. I was always borrowing their books. I had a favorite counselor, Madam Nancy. A wonderful Ikom woman that was so kind and generous to me.
Different NGOs and religious organizations used to come with different welfare packages including cooked food for us inmates. Having spent quite some time in the facility, I started interacting with several of them freely. Many of the Christian preachers who came for evangelism also came purposely to preach to me after hearing about my incarceration in the news. They were genuinely concerned.
I made friends with a couple of them. One day, one of the regular Pastors who was coming with a particular prison ministry from a popular church engaged me in the welfare department and one thing led to the other and he told me how he hasn’t gone home for over two decades because of the wickedness of his family people.
He told me about the many wicked acts his family people had wrecked on him, including killing his younger brother and how he swore never to have anything to do with them. He revealed with relish, how happy he is anytime he hears that the family members are dying one by one and quoted a scripture to buttress his point, ‘suffer not a witch to die.’
There is no privacy in the welfare department. There are correction officers around and they are constantly eavesdropping on all the inmates. So Madam Nancy was keeping tabs on us. She is still in the yard. I remember interjecting the Pastor at a point and asking a question that got him into a conundrum. What was the question?
“Man of God, you appear to harbor so much hate against your family members for unproven allegations of witchcraft and even killing your brother. You are happy that they are dying in penury one after the other, according to you. Yet you cook and come to prison every week to give to people who have committed the most heinous crimes? There are people in CC (condemned cell), who murdered and butchered several human beings who eat the food you bring here. Yet you cannot treat your own family members who have wronged you with the same love? What is the color of the God you serve?”
He was dumbstruck. And Madam Nancy had a good laugh. Topic changed. Now, look at yourself. Do some introspection and ruminate on your recent actions. Are you like that Pastor?
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo.
Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Agba Jalingo and does not represent TheLumineNews, its agent or the organization the author works for.
