Eje: For Blood & Country

Description

Warning: This book is rated 18+ and not suited for young children. Kindly censor it as much as needed.

I started work on this collection of stories before 2018 but I had published it at the time and gotten quite a cool number of readers. However, I wanted it to be more so I put in more time, more love, more thought, and more spice.

I wrote this book introduction/blurb in 2018 so read it like you are in that year with me.

It’s been a year since I arrived in South Africa. The first thing I noticed was that the black worshipers earnestly seek religion. The whites/Afrikaners who attend church seem quite detached, not necessarily fervent. Like Trevor Noah describes in “Born a Crime,” the Black Church is a totally different experience from the White Church in South Africa. This is similar to how Nigerians are divided along denominational lines and practices. The first church I attended in South Africa, had me arrive at the door as the final prayer was said. The Pastor asked me if I was a Christian and if I was baptized in the Holy Spirit.

I am already used to getting these questions in every church gathering. So, I told him I am a Christian. I have my personal convictions but I don’t necessarily think I should go about telling people if I speak in tongues. I believe the tongues should just come up when it is needed to serve some purpose. Maybe the gifts help someone when they are needed, or else there’s no point in me reeling off my curriculum vitae about all the tongues I have mastered.

One of my friends, Akan Imoh, is running for a political post in Lagos State. He is young and he is a Christian, most people don’t think faith-based qualities should be found in Nigerian politics or even African politics. I think faith wouldn’t survive without politics.

I, painfully like many other Nigerians, have to watch on as ideologies continue to shackle our minds, our economy, and our people. Religion has become bondage rather than a stimulant for better lives and living standards.

We have so many prophets and pastors in Africa but so little drive for us to grow into vibrant communities that live healthy lives. So I wrote this collection. I hope you love them and encourage your friends to buy this book too. Please don’t transfer this book. Direct your friends to jonathanoladeji.com so they can buy their copies. It’s the least you could do to reward what this book represents for me and all of those who should read it. Some of these stories have been published in international journals like “The Naked Convos.”

My writing has come with awards and literary commendations like winning the Biopage Writing Contest in August 2018. What would be more fulfilling is if you could share your review of this collection with your friends and on my website. Please do me this honour. Thanks for reading.