Losing souls for Christ!

 

Xtian wristbands

Colourful, plastic Christian wristbands worn these days by Christians, old and young, esp. of the RCCG fold are becoming more acceptable especially in the urban centres. It is originally a good idea. It enables people identify publicly with their faith and possibly win a soul or two for Christ.

I understand people have given testimonies at the Redemption Camp as to how the bracelets were used as a reinforcer  of faith in challenging times and they overcame. It’s all very good.

However, of late, I’m wondering if the bracelets are a bright idea after all. Two quick incidents:

Less than a month ago, I was at The Guardian to see someone. Parking space was a problem, as usual, so I waited for a while until a man was ready to go out. I positioned myself to take his space. The gentleman was however having difficulties driving out, so the guards asked me to move further away to let him through. The moment he drove out and I was backing to enter the space, a lady who was just coming rushed in, and tried to enter, but the guards blocked her way and explained to her somebody else had been waiting for the space.

From where I sat, I was hearing her noise, asking the guards to move away as she was determined to take the space whatever they said. After holding out a little more, the guards gave in to her because she practically made it impossible for everyone else to move in or out and had some part of her car on the road. The guards appealed to me to let her go in and promised to look for another space for me. Lucky for me, somebody else moved out and I parked.

At the reception, I saw the lady, signing the visitor’s register, and prominently on her left hand was the colourful Christian wristband. Were I not a Christian, what would I have thought?

Some two weeks ago, I was at LASUTH when a patient who had been long in a ward was discussing with a new arrival and said: “All the nurses in this ward are really nice, except two. In no time, the two nurses she referenced showed up for their duties. In a few hours they had claimed their title of being the most unfeeling, most impersonal and rude nurses in the ward.

By some weird coincidence, they each wore a plastic bracelet which had Christian messages emblazoned on them.

Lest you jump to conclusions, it was all very simply a coincidence.  This is not about RCCG or any church. But the point is, people who elect to publicly advertise God need to be extra careful the way they conduct themselves in public. What many of them end up doing unknowingly is demarketing the faith they are so very willing to publicly profess . It’s just like when you have a Winner’s sticker on your windscreen and you are driving like a maniac, running people off the road and giving them fuck you sign when they complain. You are not winning souls. You are losing them.

Naval Hospital Ojo should be probed for attempted murder

Stabbed in the neck by a 'toaster': Mariam Abubakar Credit: Punch

Medical staff at the Naval Hospital, Ojo, Lagos, who refused to treat the teenager stabbed in a night club last week should be tried for attempted murder.

Well, yes, because it can very well be argued that they were complicit as their action very nearly helped the assailant complete his heinous crime.

 According to the Punch, the poor lady had been stabbed at a night club in FESTAC and she was rushed to the Naval Hospital, where she was reportedly refused treatment because there was no police report!

It is unbelievable that this sort of stories still creep out from time to time in Nigeria in the 21^st century. And it is particularly astounding that it happened this time not in a mushroom private hospital, but a Naval Hospital.

Mariam Abubakar who had gone to Pearl Harbour Night Club in Rochester Garden Hotel, Festac on October 26 to “catch weekend fun” would have been dead by now but for the spirited efforts of the health officials at Ajeromi General Hospital.

She was stabbed in a critical place, the neck, and she was bleeding profusely, according to the sympathisers who rushed her to the hospital.

She had allegedly been stabbed by a former councillor of Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, Onimole Babatunde, for refusing his advances.

The saving grace of the victim was that police officers at Area E Command were contacted. It was the police who now took it upon themselves to take her to Ajeromi General Hospital. By that time she had lost 20 percent of her blood, and had slipped into coma.

For how long will this atavistic practice of demanding for a police report before saving a dying person persist? High ranking police officers including the IG have said many times that hospitals should not make police report a precondition for treating anyone.

It is high time medical practitioners were prosecuted for refusing or neglecting to save lives on account of police report.

Elsewhere in the world doctors would do all it takes to save a man’s life first and foremost. Questions will be asked later or the police could be contacted. Even prisoners on death row are entitled to medical treatment until their execution is due.

This nonsense must stop.