It was in the cool evening of the day when the Ijaw Nation paid a visit to my consulting space. I had seen her at several occasions but I could tell this time around that she looked more pale and her expression was one of deep gloom. In fact, I suspected that her situation (whatever it is) had made her to look more older than her real age as wrinkles were tattooed all over her once angelic face and the color of her skin sauntered by the unnatural hot rays of the sun causing scatting blemishes on her once shining skin.

"When a man visit the gods, it is not the place of the gods to entertain him," I reminded the Ijaw Nation, who nodded in agreement and offered her oblations. After the necessary entertainment rites had been performed, I then asked her the purpose of her sudden visit. The Ijaw Nation began to recount the tales of her woes that prompted her visit. As she spoke, it was like she was struggling like a drowning man trying to make it to the seashore. For every word she uttered, it seems like she let them out with the whole of her strength. I quickly noticed that the Ijaw Nation was dying!

"Wise one, my home is no longer a home. My children are all scattered even though they are all under my roof. Strangely, they are speaking in different mother tongues that are not my own. As such, I no longer understand a thing they say. Daily, they nag and fight amongst themselves over crumbs of bread while strangers go away with the bread belonging to them. They cast dignity to the ground as almost everyone have neglected our tradition of humility as a people. They once lived in peace and in joy, supporting one another until the stranger came into their midst with the bread of crude oil. Now, my children, having tasted this bread have become greedy for quick wealth. Today, their inheritance is squandered and I'm not sure any would be left for the next generation. Maybe I have offended the gods and need to make sacrifices to appease them. Wise one, what do I do?" she asked, ending her lamentations in hot tears that kept rolling down her cheeks.

I shook my head and felt pity for her plight. Moreover, I could feel her pains as a mother; it was the agony of a pregnant woman in labour. However, pitying her is not the solution. As I began to speak to the Ijaw Nation in response, she looked apprehensive like a man dying of thirst but who was about to be presented with water.

"You need no sacrifices to appease no gods. Your problems are self-inflicted and not the cause of any supernatural forces or gods but of your own making because your children have refused to abide by the laws of nature. When a child refuse to heed corrections and warnings, it is said that her end is near. Strangely, your children are stiff necked people. But if they would heed the laws handed down to them which are always before them, then their predicaments would disappear. For clarity, I will tell you seven of these natural laws the Ijaw Nation should abide by to ensure her unity and prosperity.

"First, is the LAW OF TRUTH. The Ijaw Nation has betrayed TRUTH. Your children have all forgotten that Ijaw means TRUTH. Your calamity springs from the act of trading lies. When a nation embraces lies, calamity is sure to come knocking on the door. Majority of your children have lost the dignity of TRUTH, both the honoured and the lowly among you, all in the quest to make quick riches. Where there is TRUTH, there will be trust and unity, but where lies reign supreme, there will be DISTRUST and DISUNITY!

"Second, is the LAW OF LOVE. There was a time the Ijaw Nation was known as a people that were ever loving and accommodating because of this law. Can there be love without sacrifice? While out of love the Ijaw Nation sacrifices for the entire Niger Delta region, but within your folds the Ijaw Nation holds no love. Why won't there be infighting among you? Instead of love, you use hate to pull each other down. Awaken your love or else your children would soon start a bloody war amongst themselves. It is close. When you break the law of love, HATRED which destroys peace and unity will reign supreme!

"Third, is the LAW OF JUSTICE. When you take what is meant for the majority to give to a few among you, is that justice? The Ijaw Nation must do away with oppression. When have you began to segregate yourselves? The bread of crude oil has become a basis to ostracise your own brothers and sisters because you alone want to enjoy the gift that is meant for all which the gods bestowed upon your lands. How cursed some of your children have become! You now form cliques, helping only those in your circle as if you are no longer children from the same ancestral parents. When the law of justice is broken, it will breed nothing but VIOLENCE!

"Fourth, is the LAW OF WORSHIP. The Ijaw Nation should fear their Temewei. He blessed you among all the other tribes with a land flowing with milk and honey, but yet the children of the Ijaw Nation have turned some of the natural gifts into gods that they now either worship or put their absolute trust in! They now run after dead gods and device their own religion of darkness. And so, Temewei has placed their wealth in the hands of strangers to rule over them. Are you surprised that the children of the Ijaw Nation are fighting amongst themselves over crumbs of bread while they clap hands for strangers who cart away their bread? In your own palace you have become slaves because you will not bow before your Creator and Maker. When the law of worship is broken, nature itself will fight against you and POLLUTE your lands!

"Fifth, is the LAW OF BLOOD. The children of the Ijaw Nation has broken this oath and have forgotten the consequences of their actions. They plot evil in their hearts in their desires to gain power and wealth; they betray and kill their own fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, hence the land is polluted with the sacrilegious blood of their own kind. It is a taboo to shed the blood of your fellow being. What a taboo! Like Cain killed Abel, so too the children of the Ijaw Nation are shedding the blood of the innocent. When this law of blood is broken, a nation becomes CURSED!

"Sixth, is the LAW OF FORGIVENESS. The children of the Ijaw Nation should allow the Spirit of forgiveness to reign over their souls. Without forgiveness, the Ijaw Nation will not heal. Majority of you hold grievances against your own, and yet you want Temewei to pardon your misdeeds. Some of the children of the Ijaw Nation show no mercy and their hearts are hardened like that of Pharaoh of Egypt. Where the law of forgiveness is broken, VIOLENCE through the act of vengeance will take lead and the fruit thereof will be nothing but giving room to CURSE!

"Seventh, is the LAW OF OBEDIENCE. From all that have been said so far, it is clear that the children of the Ijaw Nation have been disobedient. Evil came into the world through the act of disobedience and the world has not been able to recover from that act. Temewei is asking, ‘Will my people who are called by my name (TRUTH), obey Me by abiding by My laws?’ He is saying that if only they would, the Ijaw Nation would have prospered and be more united. These days, some of you have turned His Word and misinterpreted them to suit your greedy and selfish lifestyles. You can't eat your cake and have it. Where the law of obedience is broken, you LOSE YOUR INHERITANCE to peace, prosperity, and life!"

All the time that I was delivering the message, all that the Ijaw Nation could do was to shake her head which was bowed to the ground. She then raised herself and asked, "Will my children ever listen? Maybe an evil Spirit has possessed their hearts and they need to be cleansed from its powerful influence. Surely, Temewei could do something."

"Yes!" I responded, "but it is not the place of God to force men to do His will. The Ijaw Nation should call her children together and speak all these laws unto them. For those who would listen, Temewei will bless; but for those who would not, they will become like ashes blown away by the wind. The Ijaw Nation are a special people. When you were oppressed, Temewei raised His rod among you to fight and defend you. He elevated you to the corridors of power to rule the other nations. He opened the Heavens of the government and established ministries and commissions to take care of your needs. Your children were sponsored abroad to acquire advanced knowledge. He caused strangers operating in your midst to bow down to your wishes; and so on. But what did the children of the Ijaw Nation do? Instead, you saw all these as your own efforts and not that of Temewei; you began to worship and obey material things. You thought it was by your power? Now, Temewei has withdrawn His hand and left you to your affairs. Now, you are lamenting. Except you abide by these seven laws, the unity and prosperity of the Ijaw Nation will not come!"

Photo source: Hometown

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