By Rev Fr Pat Amobi Chukwuma
The word ‘go’ means ‘leave, depart’. It is in the present tense. Its past tense is ‘went’ while the future tense is ‘will go.’ I remembered instantly my former Primary 4 classmate. Our English teacher in those days asked us to make ten sentences using ‘I will.’ He made ten sentences with ‘I will go to’ (Enugu, Lagos, Abuja, Aba, Jos, Kaduna, India, America, Japan, Germany). Our teacher, as punishment and an act of humiliation, took him round the classes singing, “I will go to” while the pupil in question was doing the dancing.
The present-continuous tense of ‘go’ is ‘going.’ When an exclamation mark is added, it takes the form of command, which is ‘Go!’ Just last year, as I was coming back from my hometown to my place of apostolate late in the evening, at a T-Junction, I came across four boys inside one car.
They were moving at a slow pace at the junction as if they were not certain of the direction to take. In the spirit of charity as a good Christian, I drove close to their car and asked them where they were going in order to direct them. One of them at the back seat wound down the glass and barked like a mad dog with red eyes, “Go!”
The adrenaline of fear in my system rose to the highest degree. My heart beat tripled. I zoomed off like an aircraft. After a short time, I glanced at the rear mirror of my car and saw their car following me slowly behind. Consequently, I peddled harder at the throttle. Then, I turned at the next junction without putting on the indicator.
At the junction of a newly constructed road, I turned right and increased the velocity. I looked in the rear mirror again and did not see the unknown car occupants. My breath normalized as I cruised into my residential quarters. I knelt down and thanked God for saving me from presumed lion’s den. Afterwards, I took a bottle of cold beer in order to cool off.
In Jos metropolis, the word ”going?” is associated with motorcycle transport. The riders cluster at designated places to look for passengers or they may be on transit, driving slowly while looking left and right for passengers. Whenever they see anyone passing or standing by, they beckon at him or her with hand signal asking, “Going?” Also when a standby sees a motorcycle rider moving alone, he or she waves and asks, “Going?” The last time I travelled to Jos, I saw an old friend standing by the roadside.
I went to him and offered him a warm embrace. Then, I asked him why he was standing there. He replied that he was looking for ”going?” I asked him as if I were a newcomer, “What do you mean by ”going”? He told me, “Watch and see.” In a twinkling of an eye, a commercial cyclist came across and shouted, “Going?” My friend speedily mounted behind and waved at me with infectious smiles. I took my own ”going” on foot because my destination was near.
The Germans normally welcome a foreigner with three vital questions: What is your name? (Wie heissen Sie oder Wie heisst du?), Where do you come from? (Woher kommen Sie oder Woher kommst du?) The third question is: When are you going back? (Wann kehren Sie zurueck? oder Wann kehrst du zurueck?) The last question is often irritating. A German asked me the last question just a day after my arrival in Germany for the first time. I murmured and replied, “I have just arrived. My going is not yet certain.”
Back home in my hometown, an unexpected visitor came to my house carrying a heavy bag. I expected him to go after lunch. He asked for a room to keep his bag and to rest. Question marks appeared all over my face. Hence, I asked him, “Please when are you going?” He replied, “I will stay for one month.” Instantly, I lied that I was travelling in one week’s time, so that he would cut short his stay.
After one week, I pretended to be travelling out for days. Therefore, I volunteered to take him where he would board a vehicle. He succumbed to my trick. I took him to a nearby motor-park. Cunningly, I returned to my house through another route. If a tortoise and another tortoise engage in a business, no one cheats the other.
The year 2025 is gradually going. We have entered the tenth month, which is October. The month of September started and ended before I could settle down. The ember months remind us that the year is about to end. It is going and will soon end. What have you achieved so far? It is time for stock taking. These four ember months are often clouded with the fear of the unknown.
They are regarded as accident prone months. But in actuality, they are not different from the other months. It is the quest to get rich quicker and careless driving that are the factors militating against the ember months. Let us drive to stay alive and cruise peacefully into the year 2026, if God wills. When you are driving, be sober and awake. Remember that someone is waiting for you at home. Commercial drivers should bear in mind that it is only the living that can enjoy the returns they make in the ember months. Are you going? Remember to return alive.
Many churches organize their thanksgiving harvest and bazaar towards the end of the year. It is a period of showing appreciation to God for good harvest and gift of life. Not all who began the year are alive to the end. Being alive is by the grace of God. Whatever we harvested in our various fields of endeavour is a special privilege.
It is not by might or by right. Therefore, we must make generous thanksgiving from bountiful harvested ‘crops’. Bear in mind that God loves a generous and honest giver, while He detests the harvest of an evil-hearted giver from the lineage of Cain. We must be watchful during auction sales because dubious persons come to amass the harvested crops without prospects of paying for them.
One of such bazaar debtors was accosted to pay for what he bought at the previous year’s bazaar. He brandished a sharp knife and shouted, “Get out from my house! I owe God and not any person.” Thus, the auctioneer and those concerned should be very careful at the count of ”Going? Going? Gone!” If it goes into dubious hands, then forget about payment. Make sure that the buyer is a worthy creditor before the shout of “Gone!”
Our country, Nigeria, has just clocked 65 years. It is 65 years of restlessness and uncertainties. What are the positive things we have achieved all these years? That we are still one today is not an achievement as such. Many minor African countries have overtaken us in terms of development.
Our democracy is still toddling. Bad governance has crippled us. Corruption has blindfolded all and sundry. Our electoral process is nothing to write home about. In fact, we are going towards a failed state. The rate of insecurity is worsening every day. Government officials go about with tight security while the ordinary citizens are left on their own. Travelling by land has become a nightmare.
Many of such travellers have been kidnapped, tortured, raped, extorted and killed while on transit. If I were the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I would declare serious emergency on insecurity. The poor masses are going through hell nowadays. Many have gone. Many are missing. Sorrowfully, I am going to bed. See you tomorrow, if I wake up alive! Going? Going? Gone!
