The unusual epidemic of ‘stolen organs’

Apparently, there is an epidemic of ‘stolen organs’ in Naija. No, this isn’t about organ harvesting from unsuspecting victims; this epidemic is both more laughable and more incredulous. Folks are going around accusing others of using juju to steal specific parts of their bodies. The most recent case happened in Asaba.  A 19-year-old accused a 60-plus-year-old woman with whom he shared a ride of stealing his private part, and that accusation alone was enough for the woman to be stripped and beaten by a mob. The young man had no proof that anything was stolen from him, and when he was asked to confirm that he still had his ‘thing,’ he confirmed that it was back. There is so much wrong with this. 

First of all, no one should be believing that it is possible for anyone to touch you or look at you for your ‘organs’ to magically disappear. If anyone purports that this has happened or is happening to them, the best thing to do is to encourage that person to see a doctor.

I believe that so many mental health patients aren’t getting the help they need because their crisis isn’t recognised for what it is. We still tend to think of mental illness as only afflicting a certain kind of person, and of manifesting only in certain ways – mad people eating from the bin, sleeping under bridges and walking around naked. We do not realise that there are many different types, many different manifestations of mental illness and so sufferers amongst us go untreated.  

If this “epidemic” is rising, as a report I read states, then we have a mental health epidemic in our country. Add that to the number of people that hear voices, that see things that aren’t there, that imagine that hacking off the heads and body parts of their loved ones will bring them untold wealth, and you see that we need re-education and medical intervention.  

It is bad enough that the supposed victim in the Asaba case believed that he had been robbed of his male organ. The fact that others believed it enough to mete out ‘justice’ to the accused is disturbing. Do we never learn? So many of us are old enough to remember the lynching of four UNIPORT students in an incident that rocked the country. Accused of theft they were innocent of by someone who owed them money but would not pay (if memory serves me well), they were burned to death by a mob that believed they were serving justice. By the time the mob learned the truth, it was too late. How do you begin to punish someone for a crime for which no proof exists?

In this Asaba case, did not a single person in that mob think to ask the young man to prove that his ‘organ’ was missing before proceeding to beat the woman? This would have been easy enough to prove/disprove. If you’re going to participate in mob justice, don’t you owe it to yourself at least to make sure that a crime has been committed? The poor woman would have been killed if not for the intervention of an officer. Na wah!

It’s said that all is well that ends well, but this should never have happened at all. I can’t even begin to imagine how the woman must be suffering now, the nightmares. To go from just minding your business to being stripped and almost beaten to death for the theft of a stranger’s “manhood” must induce trauma on a serious level. I hope she heals completely. And as for mob justice, unless you’re beating up the politicians whose corruption is the main cause of all the pent-up rage folks are walking around with, do not take justice into your hands. 

Finally, as a society, we really should be doing more to encourage mental wellness checks, and to move into the 21st century with the rest of the world. No one is walking around stealing your breasts and other private parts by touching you, by looking at you or by asking you for N50 for bread or whatever. And if someone says any part of their body is missing, ask them to show you before going to seek justice. And if you really care for that person, encourage them to speak to a health care worker. That’s how you can be helpful.