…and she was murdered.
This makes an unusual headline but it was one sometime ago in most Nigerian local newspapers. There was a woman, old woman, naked, burnt, beaten to pulp and half dead circled around by an angry mob in Oshodi, Lagos.
The woman was confused, her speech did not make much sense but she was clearly in distress. Her problem started when she fell from a height (probably from one of the many storey building houses built next to an electrical table in Oshodi, Lagos). Luckily for her she did not die from the electric shock, she just had burn injuries but a few minutes later am sure she would have wished she had died.
So what happened. After the old woman landed on the ground, a man said earlier he had seen a black bird flying over the sky at Oshodi. He claimed the bird fell and struck the electrical cable and transformed into this woman. In a nutshell, by Nigerian standard, she is a 4-star witch, the type that sits next to Satan. But if she was this powerful wouldn’t she have turned back to a bird and flown away? Kill the mob with superpowers? Become invincible? Sorry, am just thinking out loud now.
At this point, an angry mob gathers ready to kill. If any relative had wanted to run downstairs to see what happened to grandma seeing that mob, they would freeze and melt away. If they don’t do that, they will be accused of being in the same cult as the woman and killed too. The mob is poor and frustrated by poverty and diseases and since the politicians responsible for these are untouchable, indirectly, it is people like this grandma that bear the brunt.
I understand the thinking of the people; I am one from them. All cultural and religious sentiments in Nigeria and perhaps Africa believe and promote this kind of narrative. It doesn’t make sense but sense isn’t necessarily a useful thing these days.
I remember in one of my MPH classes, a colleague asked why there are more cases of Alzheimer’s dementia in America than Africa? The professor answered it was perhaps because Africa lacked the ability to perform diagnostic tests like MRI. ‘I don’t think that is the case sir’ I chipped in, we just don’t have the statistics in Africa. Our cultural and spiritual beliefs coupled with sheer ignorance has robbed us of these statistics’.
My grandpa had Alzheimer disease, I saw him forget my name and later who I was. I remember the day he was lost and the day he distributed a year worth of savings to people on the street. He was kept at home till he died. I was a kid then but boy, I am glad he didn’t end up like this woman who fell probably from one of the stairs in Oshodi.
Alzheimer is a progressive; irreversible brain disorder whose incidence rises with advancing age. It has no known cause or cure and there is no way of preventing it. While it runs in families, sporadic cases are the majority of cases. It is higher in women too.
If you live in one of the developing countries and an old woman/man confesses to crazy things like flying or eating kids, please see a doctor first. There are reversible causes like hypothyroidism and B12 deficiency. Depression should also be ruled out. It is a serious burden on family but please support your older ones remember – you will be old one day too!
