The psychology of the wash

A bath or a shower

When I owned my own place, it is strange that the decision to buy my apartment could have hinged on the bathroom having a bathtub instead of the installed shower unit.

There were times during the negotiation process where that was a niggling thought at the back of my mind, the place became a stronghold, a refuge, a kind of security from the things that ravaged my life and worth many years later. I spent ten and a half wonderful years there before I sold up.

The shower was a special place, the feeling of water cascading down my body, the temperature of the water set to just about bearable, but very comfortable, the floor of the bathroom heated such that the cold of winter was barely noticeable.

The wash for something

Indeed, there was something about the wash; I could adjust the showerhead to deliver the spray as a soft rain through to a pulsing massaging hosing down.

The quest for cleanliness also offered a cubicle of meditation, but there were times when I spent much longer in the shower as if I could get rid of a dirty thought or a feeling of a grimy existence not cleansable with the shower gels scented for seaward ambience and greenish blue hues.

We all have a predilection for some sort of wash, especially we of African descent, whilst those of other cultures might have concoctions to drink and possibly ointments or powders to rub on our skins to provide protection, fortify us for the formidable or empower us from some nondescript daring-do, we have the wash.

The ritual of the soap

I have prayed over waters and bathed in the strangest places, using soaps that would not pass the science of reasonableness to be applied to the skin.

Yet, the soaps, black or any other colour purported to grant powers for the favour from all mankind or defence from the dark arts are well sought for by the many who publicly appear rational but privately can be found in grottos ministered to by shamanic priests, fetishists or witch doctors.

The wash is not limited to these events, Christianity talks of the wash too, the washing away of sins as much as it pertains to baptism as a sign of faith, the Mohammedans perform the wash of ablutions before their prayers as a sign of purification before approaching their deity in submission and supplication.

Ritual purification is a function of many belief systems as Hindus will wash in the River Ganges, and the River Jordan has significance to both Judaism and Christianity.

The wash is deeper than the skin

For the holiday, the wash is in a swimming pool or at sea, we have an affinity for water caressing our bodies with or without particular reason – we cannot deny that regardless of who we are, the wash is critical for our presentation and thereby it determines how we are accepted.

We find that the whole context of clean and being clean is defined by the wash, the health of the body, the mind and the spirit might we be affected by the wash too even though the water only really touches the body, but the effect is much deeper than what we see or feel.

Nigeria: The Grim Reaper in the police station

They kill with impunity

As incredible as it sounds, it is reported that Nigerians are not surprised [1] that the anyone in police custody gets killed, the explanation surrounding these misfortunes is the well worn story that the suspect was attempting escape.

The mind then boggles about how porous, ineffective and lax policing and custody facilities are in the Nigerian Police Force, it makes one wonder if the locks on the cell doors are really personnel with fingers on the trigger ready to shoot at any rustle before checking what might be happening.

Delivered alive and died in custody

The dispute currently going on [2] amongst the security forces is that the leader of the Boko Haram sect was captured alive by the army, he had an arm wound which was treated and was handed alive, hale and hearty to the police. Not long after, he ended up dead in custody, under the premise that he was attempting escape.

If that was not troublesome enough, the army also delivered alive to the hands of the police the suspected financier of the Boko Haram sect, Alhaji Buji Foi and he has also been shot dead [3] in custody.

A grudge settled?

This is beginning to look not like wanton lawlessness within the law but a grudge match of vengeful revenge where the loss of police lives in the heat of the skirmish is now been paid for in the comfort of the Police Headquarters by an executioner who might think justice is served by summarily killing the people who brought on the melee.

As the report goes, Alhaji Buji Foi was captured and had his hands bound behind him by the army as they took him first to the governor’s office and then to the police headquarters.

What I find incredible and I wonder if the correspondent attempted to review that write-up before publication is that someone delivered bound to the police ended up in a gun battle with the police using the double-barrelled he had acquired whilst he was a commissioner in an erstwhile regime.

As the announcer suggests, “The sect leader did not survive the injuries he sustained at the battle field, after he was picked up. He died Thursday afternoon.”

I suppose this is the battle field of the Police Force Headquarters because as far as the army was concerned the men delivered to the police were not in need of any hospital care else they would have been in hospital under guard receiving treatment.

Carelessness beyond words

It belies a level of gross incompetence and carelessness on the part of the police that these two events can happen and they can unashamedly concoct a cock and bull story that they expect Nigerians to swallow with question.

This is one time for the government of Nigeria to stand up and be counted on their Rule of Law mantra and get to the bottom of these atrocious acts of extrajudicial killings borne from negligence at least and collusion at worst.

One can become conspiratorial and suggest that the reason these people were eliminated was because they could provide links to even more senior members of society who condoned Boko Haram [4] and its activities since 2002.

Boko Haram is not dead

The spectre of Boko Haram however has not left Nigeria, their women and children have been fully indoctrinated in that philosophy as the matriarch said “All we want is to be re-united with our families so that we can continue with our faith. My children will not go to formal school because it is against our faith.”

One can expect in a decade or so the brood would be up in arms seeking revenge for the killing of their fathers who were not allowed the opportunity to state their case before a jury of their peers before they were killed off like animals, in police custody.

These crimes must not go unpunished.

Sources

[1] BBC NEWS | Africa | Brutal reality of Nigeria killing

[2] BBC NEWS | Africa | Nigeria row over militant killing

[3] Boko Haram Suspected Financier Executed | Nigerian Guardian Newspapers

[4] Boko Haram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia