Friends splatter mud water on a new graduate to 'celebrate'
Many Nigerians are widely known to do some really crazy things whenever they are in a mood for serious celebration.
Over the years, Nigerians, regardless of where they are domiciled,
have earned a unique reputation for celebrating events in truly distinct
fashion. Apart from gracing such occasions decked in brilliant and
eye-catching outfits, the people have stopped at nothing to roll out the
drums at such periods, with tasty meals and assorted drinks to
complement usually in the line up. The celebration comes in different
forms and colour, in fact.
However, in recent times, with the advent of the social media
occasioned by the rise of information communication technology, the
trend appears to have changed, taking new and unimaginable turns by the
day.
For example, earlier in the week, Nigerian Internet users were
stunned by the video and photographs of a young lady washing her hands
and feet with bottles of a popular brand of champagne. According to
reports, the lady, who was said to have recently graduated from a
university in the country, celebrated the feat by popping over 100
bottles of the drink said to cost at least N3, 000 each in the open
market. Known with the handle name qualitybeddingnigeria on Instagram, a
social networking platform, the lady is said to be from a wealthy home.
The video and photographs attracted large views and divergent comments
from members of the public.
But unbelievable as it sounds, it is not the first time individuals
would be adopting ‘bizarre’ measures to celebrate an occasion in
Nigeria today.
Two weeks ago, photographs of a student of the Nnamdi Azikwe
University, Awka, Anambra State, known as Ifeanyi Ubah surfaced online;
gripping viewers with shock and surprise. The young man was captured
rolling inside mud water and eating bread and bean cake known as akara
in local parlance as friends celebrated his graduation from the
institution.
One of his buddies, Benedict Ejikeme, who wrote a caption along
with the photos in a Facebook post, said that the ‘humiliating
treatment’ was the best gift they could give him on such momentous
occasion.
“The joy of university days is complete when you graduate
alive, hale and hearty. We went down to celebrate with my own person in
the person of Comrade Ifeanyi Ubah, Emeritus President of the Department
of Cooperative Economics, Unizik, as he drops his pen today. Congrats
brother. We can’t celebrate you any better than this,” he said.
Perhaps a more hilarious version of the new trend in celebration
among Nigerians played out in North in March 2017 when a die-hard
supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari bought and distributed dried
spiced meat known as Kilishi in local parlance worth N200, 000 to people
to mark the arrival of the Nigerian leader, who had been away on
medical vacation in the United Kingdom for 51 days.
The excited man, whose name was not mentioned, would have a place
in the history books as far as this type of ‘weird’ behaviour is
concerned.
Two months before that time it was the photograph of a young man
named Jibola and his mother being drenched with water by his friends
during his graduation ceremony from the university that made the rounds
on the Internet. The young man, decked in suit and pants, held tightly
to his mother excitedly as the ‘artificial rain’ from his friends came
down on them. It was a sight that attracted all sorts of reactions from
online users.
In November 2016, photographs of three young women rolling in mud
water while their friends pelted them with raw eggs and tomatoes emerged
online as well. The ladies, like several others, had just graduated
from the university and so for them and their friends, it was the best
time to enact one of the ‘craziest celebrations’ ever seen. As part of
the ‘special treatment’ from their friends, the young women were also
drenched with water and forced to roll in it. Not many found the sight
amusing.
That same month in Benin, Edo State, another sight capable of
sending chill down the spine of many played out at a popular night club
in the city when images of several young men washing their hands and
heads with expensive bottles of champagne hit the Internet. Dubbed
‘showers of blessing’, the act is not just a show of class and wealth by
the actors but also a way of warding off poverty, according to their
claims. A bottle of the particular drink they ‘wasted’ cost around N18,
000 at the club. The guys were said to have bought around 20 units of
the champagne for the ‘bizarre’ celebration.
In August 2016, the trend took another twist when a video showing
three young men pouring several bottles of expensive champagne on a new
car a friend had just bought went viral on the Internet. According to
them, they were “washing away bad luck, accident and other evil things”.
But amusing and thrilling as these ‘weird’ acts are and or intended
to be, some, rather than attracting applause from members of the public
and give actors a feeling of satisfaction, have instead ended in
tragedy, leaving many scarred for life.
A lady washes her hands and legs with bottles of champagne
For instance, on March 29, 2017, a 14-year-old girl named Victoria
Emmanuel was mistakenly bathed with acid by her young friends, who,
following in the footsteps of the older ones, wanted to give her one of
the most unforgettable birthday celebrations ever. While many of them
splashed buckets of water on her, one of them – Moshood Yusuf – a
13-year-old, poured something more dreadful on Emmanuel. In the midst of
the excitement, the teenager had stormed into a nearby shop belonging
to a woman, grabbed a bottle containing liquid and emptied its content
on her. But he miscalculated. What he thought was water or at most
alcoholic drink, turned out to be a deadly chemical. The 14-year-old
girl, who resides in the Mafoluku area of Oshodi, a Lagos suburb, with
her parents, lives with the scars.
“I had gone to fetch water at the night market when my friends
stopped me on the road and started pouring the water on me to celebrate
my birthday,” Emmanuel, who has yet to recover from the burns and shock the incident left her, recalled. “Some
were pouring dirty water on me while others poured sand. Then all of a
sudden Moshood ran into a shop and brought out a container. There was
something inside and I told him not to pour it on me because we didn’t
know what was in it. He opened it and said it smelt like chemical. We
told him again that he shouldn’t pour it on me but he didn’t listen. As I
walked pass him, he poured the content on my body from behind. I
screamed and ran towards the tap but he got there before me and opened
it so that water would pour on my body.
“While I was under the tap, the woman who owned the place
chased us away that I was wasting her water. That was the last thing I
remembered. I was later told that I fainted and was rushed to the
hospital,” she added.
Mother to 13-year-old Yusuf, Mrs. Ganiyat, while stating that her
son never intended to cause his friend such grave harm, said that the
incident was a regrettable mistake which must never be allowed to happen
again.
“It was just a mistake,” she said. “In fact, Moshood also got
burnt by the acid on his chest and leg. He didn’t know the content of
the bottle and since they were jubilating, he poured it on her without
knowing.
“It’s a regrettable mistake. But what we want is for peace to
reign. We don’t want a situation where both families would start
fighting over it or the two children become enemies,” she added.
Another tragic case following this type of ‘bizarre’ tradition of
celebration by young Nigerians occurred in August 2016 when a student of
the Imo State University named only as Chisom, died after falling into a
soak away pit while trying to run from friends, who wanted to pour
dirty water on him after sitting for his final exams at the school.
Even though the practice is a norm among many students of the institution, the act ended on a sour note on this day.
One eyewitness and student of the institution at the time, Chris
Darlington Ifesi, confirmed the incident in a Facebook post minutes
after the tragedy.
“A fresh graduate of the Imo State University took his last
breath as students poured him water in jubilation of final year
completion.
“Everything turned to sorrow some minutes later when he fell
into a soak away pit and got drowned in the quest to dodge the dirty
water being poured on him by friends. Unfortunately a live wire had
fallen into the pit of water he fell into.
“Pouring of water has been banned in the school but some
students would not obey this. Many people through this unacceptable
celebration of final papers have been injured, poured acid and other
dangerous liquid sic while some others have died in the process. This
must stop,” he wrote.
This type of fatality occasioned by ‘weird’ celebration such as
this is not peculiar to IMSU, in other tertiary institutions across the
country; it is also becoming a popular practice.
A graduate of University of Benin, Samson Aigbe, while sharing his
experience with Saturday PUNCH earlier in the week, said that he
witnessed several tragic incidents during his time at the institution at
periods when students engaged in this ‘crazy’ form of celebration.
“I remember one time I was admitted at the University of Benin
Teaching Hospital, that night a girl was rushed in from the school after
she fell and hit her head on the ground while running from friends who
were pouring water on her during her birthday. She was in coma at the
time she was brought in but survived by the grace of God.
“But the next day, another student who had also hit her head on
the ground while running from friends trying to pour water on her after
completing her final paper was brought in dead. It was a very terrible
incident and experience for me,” he said.
Disturbing or amusing as the trend seems, it appears to also be
gaining momentum in other parts of Africa too. For example, to bid their
leader a befitting farewell, members of a group in Uganda known as Rich
Gang, poured expensive champagne and splashed money on his grave before
burial. The floor of the white and black tiles in the grave was filled
with various denominations of Ugandan shillings, South African Rands and
United States dollars.
In many African, European and Asian countries where Nigerians are
domiciled in large number; the practice of individuals emptying bottles
of expensive drinks on one another during certain celebration appears to
be gaining popularity as well. In Kenya, Ghana, Malaysia and some
European countries, sights such as this are now common especially at
night clubs and other social gatherings.
Sociologist, Boma Douglas, told Saturday PUNCH that the growing
trend among many young Nigerians today is as a result of not just the
fall in moral values but the inculcation of alien cultures.
She said that except concerted efforts are made to re-orientate
today’s youths on the need to desist from indulging in such undignifying
acts, more young people, thinking it is an acceptable way of doing
things, will continue to tow that path, lavishing cash and also putting
their lives on the line in the process.
“I have been trying to understand the rationale behind this new
practice of people pouring water or drinks on themselves while in
celebratory mood and I am yet to find a good reason for it because as an
individual, I dont know what the benefits are.
“People can celebrate anything without unnecessarily engaging
in such wasteful ventures such as spending huge amounts to bathe
themselves in expensive wines or even endanger their lives by rolling in
mud water and being pelted with all sorts of items.
“This growing trend merely captures how much our society has
crumbled in terms of loss of moral values and dignity for self. Many of
these things are alien practices but because we are a people who copy,
paste and digest wholeheartedly without editing or sifting to eliminate
harmful elements, we find ourselves developing all sorts of funny
behaviours.
“It’s a pity that the society is not paying enough attention to
this type of strange behaviour among the youths. For the younger ones
coming up, this would pass a wrong signal to them and further deepen the
situation. This is why some form of re-orientation must be done very
urgently by relevant government agencies and groups in the country,” she said.
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