The Fear Of Being Killed By Somebody

Fear of Being Killed By Somebody

By

Agber TIM CUTTINGS

Death the absence of life in humans has being the most prominent thing that is undesirable to experience. Death is unavoidable, and it is not a respecter of persons; it is the greatest mystery of all and it has caused many people to fear its inescapable grip.

The number of graves in this nation is now gradually becoming more than the number of living houses. This is as a result of wars agitated by land disputes, HIV/AIDS and crimes – to say nothing of poverty and prevalent maladies – which result into the death of many people. Apparently, everyone is afraid to die, so but the fear of death itself is conversely not so great, as the fear of being killed by somebody.

The solemnity of this misconception has gone to a point that even when old persons die, it is not believed that it’s as a result of old age; arguments are made that there have been other people much older who are still living. In the same approach, it is believed that no one dies as the result of sickness, for there have certainly been other people who recovered from the same malady or never contracted it at all.

It has ever been a very serious issue; even in this modern age, that when a person dies, it is believed somebody killed him and for that very fact, the wheel of the fear of being killed by somebody is habitually gyrating. Sometimes past, villagers of Mamdapura, Aurad, in India were living in the fear of being killed by practitioners of “Banamati”, which they said was black magic.

The fear became an encumbrance of the highest order in the village, when three people suddenly died on October 11th 2005. Howbeit, some indigenous experts put forward that “Banamati” is a false belief that has not been proven. People claiming to be affected by “Banamati” may only be suffering from psychological disorders or may be trying to pretend being sick in order to gain sympathy.

I describe the fear of being killed by somebody as an antiprogress, antiunity, antilove and prohatred or projealousy factor that has bewildered nations especially the Tiv nation. It has become difficult for many people to give financial or any assistance to even their brother, provided that he comes from the village; they say that the person may become the sole cause of their death since he would use what is given to him to incantate against them.

In our villages, whoever is humiliated by poverty to become dirty and whoever is very old is deemed to be a wizard or witch and he or she becomes an object of suspicion.

For instance, in a village at Mbaduku, Vandeikya in Benue State, a young woman died and according to doctors’ report, she suffered HIV/AIDS and died. When she was to be buried – on June 26th, 1999 there was a serious argument that some elderly men killed the girl. The fallacy of the girl’s death caused a great deal of enmity between the people till date.

Again, in July 1989, a man – who oftentimes came to my father for counsel over certain issues and financial help – committed suicide in Ayati, Ukum in Benue State. The report of this unconventional event saturated the whole village in a short time, and according to the wife of the dead man, the husband was indebted to some people who daily perturbed him until he could not find a way to pay the debts; the he drank a draught of hemlock (Atapiapia) and died. When the villages converged, they argued that a magician performed some incantations against the man to make his heart a little worse than that of a mad man and that is why he drank poison and died.

The trite concerns of the natives were all about finding protective measures against the illusive wizard they claimed would kill them also. And to them (the villagers), it was a paradigm everyone was to imbibe in order to withstand the scourge of witches and survive, which seemed erroneous to me. That I deemed as an integral strategy to execute vengeance on individual enemies; and unfortunately, it was just a progress retarding permutation that brought the Tiv land at the threshold of total downfall.

Two anklets were found in the stomach of a crocodile shot by a European. The natives recognized the anklets as the property of two women who, sometime before had been devoured by a crocodile. At once the charge of witchcraft was raised, for this quite natural occurrence, which would never have aroused the suspicions of a European. It was given an unexpected interpretation in the light of one of those presuppositions. The native said that an unknown sorcerer had summoned the crocodile and had bidden it to bring him the two women. The crocodile had carried out the command; but what about the anklets in the beast’s stomach? The natives maintained that crocodiles never ate people unless bidden to do so. The crocodile had received the anklets from the sorcerer as a reward.

Death only took place, it was thought as the result of diabolical interventions. The concept of natural death has little or no place in the psychology of primitive man.

It is proper even to note that it’s not only with the primitive man but also with the modern man. The existence of witchcraft may not so flawlessly be discarded however; it is pitiful that even Christians are now stuck on the belief that when somebody dies, Satan or Demons must have killed him. Incidentally, the cardinal focus of prayers in churches now has swiveled from giving thanks to God and supplicating for repentance of infidels to binding and casting of devils; and at its best sloganning for prosperity.

The state has gone so far that even medical doctors are now beginning to be afraid that somebody, not sickness will someday kill them.

It is most unfortunate that the fear of being killed by somebody is a heretical negative phenomenon that has been passed down to a modern day Tiv man.

If I may be right that the fear of being killed by somebody has been passed down to this generation by the forefathers, then it must have certainly been as a result of the family orientation they gave to their offspring.

Most Tiv people give their families a very negative orientation. They make their children and close relatives to feel that the world exists and everybody is living at the mercies of witches and wizards.

For instance, there once lived a sojourner in Ayati whose name was Paregh Adaga. He was fond of often telling his people stories of how somebody died and it was another person who mystically or magically killed the dead person.

One day Mr. Adaga attended the burial of the son of one Ukari Manor Nyua and on coming back he alleged that Mr. Ukari was previously sick and the only condition to survive the sickness – given to him by witches – was to kill his son in his place.

The wife questioned that every man loves hjs cgjldren and can any man truly kill any of the children he loves? Yes, Mr. Adaga answered. Be it as it may, Paregh was soon to be sick.

After few years, the man Paregh Adaga was sick to the point of death. Shimenenge, Adaga’s wife told everbody in the house that Paregh is sick and he could kill any of them to sacrifice for witches to allow him more days on earth. Everyone in the house traveled out, waiting to hear news of Paregh’s death before they come back.

It was only Shimenenge, the wife who was left home with Adaga. However, she tried her possible best to avoid going close to her husband for the fear of being killed by the husband to survive his sickness. After few days, Mr. Paregh Adaga, an influential personality in that community died.

Paregh Adaga had many more years to live, but died prematurely as a result of the bad orientation he gave his family. His untimely death was because he had no body to take proper care of him when he was struck down by fever, which was the commonest treatable ailment both by western and traditional medicine.

People are still telling their children such stories that give them the ideal that if somebody dies, it must have been the father, mother, brother or some witches that killed the person.

With probably single exception of Muslim Hausas, many tribes with all the level of civilization even in this contemporary Nigeria still recognize death as the result of sickle-cell as the only natural death. Yet, other tribes do not even view death as a result of sickle-cell, death in battle, shot by armed robbers or hired killers, suicide, accident and sickness to be natural; with regard to the view that if someone dies even in a battle, a sorcerer is said to be responsible for the man’s death.

It is unambiguous that ideas like such are not so curbed to only primitive people alone but also modern man as earlier stated; especially in Nigerian tribes and unfortunately, this phantom is not in consonance with survival and development. In actual fact, provided that the enormous mass of Tiv, Igbo and Yoruba continue to believe the idealism that life is harnessed by witches, wizards or magicians, a broad-spectrum fear of being killed by somebody and the unknown will abide as a steady issue of every day life in Nigeria.

This type of fear can be controlled only if we all accredit death to God. For whatever cause and in whichever way a man dies, Muslim Hausas simply admit that, it is Allah and that makes them to rule out the fear of being killed by somebody.

If it is true that when somebody dies, a sorcerer or another person is responsible for it; and incidentally, people who are said to be the witches or sorcerers are most afraid that they would be killed by somebody, then they should stop killing their fellow human beings, seeing that it is painful to be killed by somebody.

No one can unmistakably point at somebody and say, “this is a witch or wizard” and of course, people who are often said to be witches deny with all traces of seriousness that they are not. May I be bold to ask: “You saw someone and you were able to know he is a witch or wizard; you also met him killing somebody mystically by witchcraft, why didn’t you report him to the Police or call others to help you see such brutality or at least ask him (the witch) to stop?

This rude idea should not be ossified completely. Whether or not it is true that when someone dies, another is responsible for his dying, death has to be deemed like hunger. Everyone is hungry but not everyone hungry at the same time. Therefore, death can only come to anyone at any time and when it comes, it should be taken that no one is responsible for it, thence we can survive or live better lives with one another.