The term ‘baduhu’ is borrowed from late Cyprian Ekwensi’s novel, The Burning Grass. Known in Igbo parlance as ‘Otumokpo’, baduhu is Hausa word for fetish charm, ‘the giver of darkness’ which is supposed to possess the power to put an opponent in a state of confusion and amnesia. To be able to determine the level of crudeness and depravity or mass enlightenment and maturity of any society, it is usually instructive to scrutinise the conduct of its political and economic affairs. Obviously, Nigerian politicians, at least a majority of them, can be described as patrons of fetishism and cultism.
An ex-gallant General and former head of state, Olusegun Obasanjo, once advised ANC leaders in the fight to end apartheid in South Africa, to use ‘Black Power’ as a part of their accoutrements. If the use of such stuff is not common in Pretoria, surely it is common in Nigeria, and moreso in the arena of politics. Fetish and cult activities are quite prevalent in Nigeria, cutting across all social classes, including the Ivory Towers, as portrayed by late Professor Chukwuemeka Ike, in his novel, Naked Gods.
Nigerians who are deeply perceptive would know that widespread practice of fetishism and cultism account for much of the downward slope of the country. Perhaps it may not be known to those involved in such rituals that the Nigerian environment is being engulfed deeper and deeper by very deleterious radiations. Consequently, not only those who stir up such currents are exposed to the havoc which they unleash, but the effect also spreads wider and places the entire nation in jeopardy. Thus, what we experience as a nation arise largely from the activities and volition of individuals and groups.
Ritual murders and other dark deeds undertaken for political and economic purposes are not fairy tales but realities whose details are unfathomable but gory. Predominance of such propensities and deeds in a society, arising largely from ignorance and extreme grossness, lead to the formation of sources of energy which infect the minds of several people as corrupting influences. Thus patrons of fetish and diabolical practices are not only strengthened and energised by the creations of their volition, but also become means of corrupting the wider society. Realms of such perverted energies can only dissolve gradually when more and more people of goodwill generate positive radiations to counter-balance what predominates at the moment.
Unfortunately, practitioners and patrons of diabolical use of ‘black power’ constantly dig and grope about in the realms of errors and darkness thereby keeping themselves and others in an environment of bondage. They rarely know about their pitiable position, neither can they detach themselves easily from the clutches of the dark forces which they unleash and patronise. Justice demands that those who deliberately stir up the beehive must experience the stings of the bees.
Right approach to the challenges and demands of life does not require the use of short-cuts and smart methods of avoiding costs, by resort to fetish sacrifices and rituals. To steal away and destroy without giving back anything of equivalent value, is to create a vacuum or imbalance which must be atoned for, with tears and agonies, much later. Those are true facts of life which everyone can talk about glibly but whose operational mechanism become lost to the patrons of fetish and diabolical rituals. To dig and grope about in the realm of perverted energies is to miss out the bounties available to those who strive diligently to know the laws of creation.
The Nigerian society has degenerated so deeply into the realm of dark and perverted energies, hence the growing predominance of fetish practices, secret cults, ritual murders, acts of terrorism, insecurity etc. Neither would resort to the use of fetish charms and gory sacrifices for the purpose of political and economic successes help matters. Greed, lust for material goals, and degeneration in value orientation are some of the factors responsible for the search for short-cuts to successes. But there is hardly any substitute to a diligent devotion to searching out the true purposes and meanings of life on Earth.
But where individuals miss out in the principal task of finding purposes and meanings in life, the resort to materialism and the use of sordid rituals for the purpose becomes the means of compensating for the loss of the vital issues of life. A part of the striving in the wrong direction takes the form of sharpening the resources of the brain in frantic efforts to cut corners, cheat, amass wealth and make ritual sacrifices rather than obey the laws of life. Many of those who fall into such traps are often those who long for political power, not to serve the masses and solve human problems, but to amass wealth.
The sad situation is that the temptations have become so overwhelming that even self-proclaimed servants and men of God, have joined the bandwagon of materialists, seeking first the kingdom of stomach infrastructure. Apart from politics and economic affairs, the virus of materialism has also infected marital relationship whereby the administration of sordid concoction to foster greater love has become common experiences. Love, in this case, translates into docility, malleability, and perhaps, inability to be rational in thinking. Thus, commercialism and materialism rule the world.
Irrational beliefs in the efficacy of and resort to ‘black power’ have become so widespread that even highly educated people sometimes get lured into patronising such means as solution to challenges. In most cases, it is the strong and convinced state of the mind of patrons of cult rituals, rather than the rituals themselves, which accounts for the efficacy and wonders attributed to fetish practices. The power of human volition is such that miracles arising from it have often been attributed to something else. What is known as ‘placebo-effect’ relates to what a strong faith and state of the mind can achieve.
Expectedly, religious organisations are in the forefront in the current scramble for miracles and wonders, whose efficacy derive more from faith rather than exorcism and rituals that accompany proceedings. We can also not deny the fact that there are votaries of various centres of energy or thought forms which can be contacted through certain rituals and whose effects can be quite efficacious. The snag is that the diabolical ones are easier to access than benevolent ones, largely because of the predominant frame of mind of the populace.
The ‘baduhu’ cult in Nigeria points towards an increasing vacuum between what man truly is, and what he has negligently made himself to become. Not even cults, rituals, fetish practices or sacrifices can bridge the vacuum. It will require utmost diligence, self-exertion and pains-taking devotion to details, to be able to regain what had been missed out. When politics becomes a cult affair, rituals follow.

By: By: Bright Amirize
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.