By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo

We love to dump the blames on witches. In the last year, I have lost two friends. Both were young men who lived in my village. I became acquainted with them during the previous four years. They were solid and hard-working. They struggled to create a better future for their children.

One was a mason with a stylish sense of dress. The other hewed wood with his electric machine. Both men forsook the lure of yahoo-yahoo and narcotics ravaging the villages. Both espoused honesty and hard work.

Unfortunately, they died preventable deaths. They died the same way. Both deaths occurred through head injuries sustained from Okada accidents. Both uncanny deaths involved riding at night without headlamps and colliding with another okada on a road that can admit six car lanes. Both fatalities happened around 10 pm. Both accidents occurred on the same stretch of road.

The gregarious woodcutter died last year. Another okada rider ran into him and knocked him unconscious. The villagers couldn’t offer much help besides hysteria. They poured water on him and urged him to breathe. It took an hour before he was carried on a motorbike to a clinic. The clinic wasn’t the kind of clinic that could handle an accident victim. But sadly, he spent the night there.

The next day he was moved to another clinic. Then to another, all the while unconscious. Hopping from one ill-equipped clinic to another. All the while, incommunicado. It seemed people think that by being secretive in such circumstances, they would keep information away from enemies bent on seeing the accident victim dead.  

Once brimming with life and energy, once optimistic about the future and the world, the pleasant and kind man died avoidably.

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The hard-working and well-dressed mason had tried trading in Kafachan. He returned home to regain his balance after a storm. In the village, he became the youth leader. A consummate political organiser. His ambitions were to relocate to Europe or Asia to find fortune. Unlike the others, he was a contented and honest man.

On the night of the African nations cup final, he set out with his wife on his okada to a viewing centre to watch the match. Without headlamps, an oncoming okada ran headlong into him and knocked him unconscious. In his case, he was rushed to a well-equipped hospital in Owerri. But after a week, the flickers of hope subsided; he never recovered from the coma.

Death is a necessary end. But certain deaths shouldn’t happen in 2021 and 2022. If their okadas had functioning headlamps, the deaths of these young men would have been avoided. Both young men left many young children. In the immediate aftermath of the death of the woodcutter, his children dropped out of school.

They have returned to school, dependent on charity. The family of the mason will face challenges. The destinies of the children are in the hands of God, but it’s not difficult to foresee that their odds would have been better with them leaning on the shoulders of their industrious fathers.

Youngmen must manage their affairs conscious of the impact of their absence on the families. Both young men had sufficient money to buy brand new okadas. But they didn’t prioritise headlamps. We should have compelled them. Unfortunately, safety-first is now a cliche. 

We must prioritise functioning health clinics in rural areas. In the event of an accident or sudden ill health, the final outcome or prognosis might depend on the handling of the victims and the sick in the minutes following the accidents or emergencies. Emergency Care from a little but efficient clinic in the villages will improve the quality of life of the poor and the rich when they come home.

The rural spaces where the government is often absent should be occupied by the traditional rulership and village unions and development associations. They should make rules to promote health and security.

An enforced ban on riding okada without headlamps would have saved more than five lives in my village in the last five years. Rather than looking for blood-sucking witches and wizards consuming the youths and inflicting pain and misery on the village, the local authorities should research social problems and enact redeeming customs and regulations.

If the governments can’t establish and run rural clinics, businessmen should establish them and equip them. If individuals can build cathedrals in the home towns, they should remember to build clinics and schools in these cathedrals. The priests should tell them that God blesses those who build cathedrals with schools and hospitals more.

Chasing witches and wizards can be as thrilling as chasing shadows. We banish cheap deaths from our midst by being thoughtful.