April 30, 2023
Greetings!
You’re welcome to the AfroCultural InfoTaining drama series on Afro-Scope. I am Harry Agina, the driver of the project. In the last episode, we left Kono’s father in a meeting with Kono’s funky pastor in the pastor’s church office. Not far from there, we had seen a sociologist angrily storming away from another Pentecostal Christian church called “Ambassadors of Christ.” His name is Michael, and he had been angered by the mega funky pastor of the church, who is called Daddy Gabriel by his flock.
Now, the drama of the realities of traditional religions, misguided Pentecostal Christianity in Africa, and the mischievous and ignorant destruction of the African Culture by Africans continues. It is all In God’s Name,” and this is episode 9. We are back to where we left Kono’s funky pastor and Kono’s father:
- INSIDE KONO’S PASTOR’S OFFICE RECEPTION ROOM; AT DUSK.
THE PASTOR IS STILL SITTING UP, PUZZLED. AND KONO’S FATHER IS STILL LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO THE PASTOR’S EYES, AS IF DARING HIM TO BLINK. THE PASTOR QUICKLY RECOVERS AND SMILES…
PASTOR (Smiles): Oh, please forgive my manners, sir. I am happy to welcome you to the ministry!
HE EXTENDS HIS HAND TO THE OLDER MAN FOR A SHAKE. KONO’S DAD GRABS THE HAND WITH A FIRM GRIP…
PASTOR: I should offer you something to drink. What would it be, sir?
KONO’S DAD: No, no, no please! Thank you. But it is already past my drinking time.
PASTOR: That’s okay, sir. Once again, I am happy to have you here. So uh…to what do I owe this august visit?
KONO’S DAD: Well, I like your going direct to the point.
PASTOR (Elated): Well, the period is for the Lord. I cannot toy with it by engaging in frivolities.
KONO’S FATHER: I can see that. And I appreciate that.
PASTOR: Thank you, sir. Uh…so…?
KONO’S DAD: Yes, so… I came to see you concerning something Kono brought to my attention. Ancestral curse.
PASTOR: Oh, that! Well, all gratitude belongs to the Lord. There was no need for you to come all the way to express any-
KONO’S DAD (Cuts in): Gratitude?!
PASTOR (Puzzled): Uh…thought you wanted to-
KONO’S DAD: Well, I think you thought wrong. What I came for is to-
SOUND OF THE PASTOR’S MOBILE PHONE RINGING FILTERS OUT FROM HIS OFFICE, CUTTING KONO’S DAD SHORT…
PASTOR (Rising): Excuse me please. It might be something urgent. May I…?
KONO’S DAD ONLY NODS. THE PASTOR WALKS INTO HIS OFFICE…
- EXTERNAL, IN SOCIOLOGIST MICHAEL’S HOME COMPOUND (YARD), AT DUSK
MICHAEL IS STORMING OUT OF HIS HOUSE ONTO HIS YARD. HIS WIFE, AWELE, IS ON HIS TAIL…
AWELE (Panting): Sweetheart, please wait, and cool down, pleeeaaaase!
HE ABRUPTLY STOPS, AND TURNS TO FACE HER…
MICHAEL: Let me tell you for the last time, woman! You may worship your foolish pastor all you want. But that’s as long as it does not affect me in any negative way!
AWELE: And I thank you for that freedom to worship my Lord as I choose. You’re a good man, sweety, and…
MICHAEL (Cuts in): Are you taking that goodness for weakness?
AWELE: God forbid! Sweety, I can’t…
MICHAEL (Cuts in): So why do you continue to try to make me to worship your pastor as you do?
AWELE: But sweety, I am not trying to do anything…
MICHAEL (Cuts in): So, what do you call that in there, huh?
HE BRISKLY WALKS AWAY. SHE CALLS OUT…
AWELE: But where are you going this late? Can’t we talk about it, please?
Cut…
- INT. PASTOR’S OFFICE. DUSK.
THE PHONE IS ON HIS DESK RINGING, SHOWING TIYA CALLING...THE PASTOR WALKS IN BRISKLY AND PICKS THE PHONE WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE SCREEN TO SEE THE CALLER…
PASTOR: Hello?
TIYA (Filtered): Hello, pastor. It is sister Tiya. I just left your place.
PASTOR: Oh, my dear sweet sister! Don’t tell me you already got home so soon!
TIYA (Filtered): Not yet home, pastor.
PASTOR: I thought as much. So where are you? Anything the matter? Do you need me to come? I can come right away!
INTER-CUT TO A BOUTIQUE. TIYA IS WITH HER HUSBAND AT HER DESK CUBICLE…
TIYA: Oh, how kind of you, pastor! But…not really. When I got back to my shop, my hubby was waiting and I told him everything. He would like to speak with you.
PASTOR (Filtered): Oh, that’s a relief. Please, hand him the phone.
TIYA: The phone is on speaker. He can hear you.
HUBBY: Hello, pastor
PASTOR (Filtered): Brother! Calvary greetings to you! How are you?
HUBBY: Very well, pastor. Uh…my wife just told me all you told her. So I wanted to ask if it is true that you told her all that.
PASTOR (Filtered): Well, yes, I did.
HUBBY: Wow! Really?
INTER-CUT TO PASTOR IN HIS OFFICE. HE PERCHES ON THE EDGE OF HIS DESK…
PASTOR: You see, brother, when the Lord wants to set a spiritual captive free, He reveals the captivity to His oracle. Brother, the fact that the Lord revealed this to me indicates that your wife is about to be set free.
SPLIT SCREEN TO ACCOMMODATE BOTH SCENES…
HUBBY: Actually, pastor, I am really shocked. Her Dad, her granddad, even her great granddad…they were all staunch Christians! So I wonder which of them-
PASROR (Cuts in): Listen my brother! The categorization of the word ancestors goes far, far up beyond great granddad! Our people did some terrible stuff long, long ago!
HUBBY: Anyway, if the Lord truly revealed it to you, then there might be some iota of truth in it.
PASTOR: Of course, it is wholly the truth! God does not and cannot lie! And that being the case, I, His oracle, cannot lie too.
HUBBY: Alright, pastor. So we are ready right away! What do we need to do?
PASTOR: You will both need to come for us to discuss. I will tell what is to be done and how. You know I am always here.
HUBBY: Okay, pastor. Thank you.
PASTOR: It is all glory to the Lord.
TIYA: Goodbye pastor!
PASTOR (Smiles): No, not goodbye. I don’t like the finality in that word. Let’s make it “later.”
THEY ALL CHUCKLE AND THEN REPEAT “LATER.” NOW SOLO, THE PASTOR CUTS THE CALL, REMAINS PERCHED, THINKS FOR A FEW SECONDS, PUTS THE MOBILE ON HIS DESK, THEN RISES AND WALKS OUT…
- INT. RECEPTION. DUSK.
KONO’S DAD IS STILL RELAXED, WAITING. THE PASTOR WALKS OUT TO HIM AND SITS…
PASTOR: Sorry again. But in my position and calling, my time is hardly mine. Even at midnight, I get calls that summon me out to pray and all that.
KONO’S DAD: I quite understand.
PASTOR: Thank you, sir. So…let’s get back to what we were-
KONO’S DAD: Yes, I was going to say that what I came here for is to ask where ancestral curse could have come to my son from. You see, in my family, we marry and have children early.
PASTOR: Oh, I see.
KONO’S DAD: Yes, very early. And longevity also runs in my family like hereditary.
PASTOR: Wow! Congratulations, I should say.
KONO’S DAD: Well, thank you. So I personally knew my grandparents up to 3 generations up. And those I didn’t know, my father or grandfather told me about.
PASTOR: That is good.
KONO’S DAD: Yes, I know. And both myself and my father are carrying on the same tradition with Kono, passing same sort of information about his genealogy to him. He knows that in our family, we don’t lay curses on even outsiders, let alone members of the family. So, where oh where could this ancestral curse have come from?
PASTOR (Flustered): I cannot say, sir. I only told bother Kono what the Lord revealed to me over which I already embarked on a week of rigorous prayer and fasting. And now, it is broken. But as to where it came from, I don’t know, sir.
KONO’S DAD: Well, you have to, pastor. That same Lord that revealed it to you…get back in touch with him. I am sure he will reveal the source of the ancestral curse to you. I will leave now.
KONO’S DAD RISES, LOOKS AT THE PASTOR WITHOUT EMOTIONS FOR A WHILE, SHAKES HIS HEAD, AND WALKS OUT. THE PASTOR SITS THERE AND WATCHES THE OLDER MAN WALK OUT, OBVIOUSLY DISORIENTED.
Crossfade…
- INTERNAL, IN SOCIOLOGIST MICHAEL’S LIVING ROOM; NEXT MORNING
MICHAEL IS RECEIVING A MALE VISITOR, TANDA, IN HIS SITTING ROOM, WHO IS JUST ARRIVING. THEY ARE STILL BOTH STANDING…
MICHAEL (Gesturing to a seat): Please, take a seat. Again, you’re welcome.
TANDA (Sitting): Thank you very much. So sorry to bother you so early, but I have a problem that didn’t allow me to catch a wink of sleep last night.
MICHAEL (Sitting): Oh, stop apologizing. That’s what friends are for. Let’s share your concerns.
TANDA (Sighs): Mike, I am losing my wife.
MICHAEL (Surprised): Losing your wife? How?
TANDA: I’m losing her to her pastor and…
MICHAEL (Alert): You, too?!
TANDA (Purzzled): What do you mean, me too? Are you…
MICHAEL: I told you that Awele and I have not been talking for a couple of days now; right?
TANDA: Well, yeah, but…
MICHAEL: It’s about the same new-wave Pentecostal Christian pastors.
TANDA: At first, I didn’t take it seriously with my wife. You know that, like you, I have always been very liberal with my wife about those things…
MICHAEL: I am beginning to wonder if being so liberal is the right thing to do with our wives and those pastors. After my recent discussions with Awele, she’s beginning to worry me silly.
TAMDA: Really? What happened?
MICHAEL: An ignorant fool who they call Daddy Gabriel happened, that’s what!
TANDA (Scuffs): Oh, that one? I know him.
MICHAEL: My wife practically dragged me to his so-called “Embassy of Christ” Church, and I left there so annoyed.
TANDA: So, what did their “Daddy Gabriel” do again this time?
MICHAEL LOOKS AT HIS FRIEND AND SHAKES HIS HEAD FROM SIDE TO SIDE…
END
Written by Michael Shaibu and Harry Agina
LINK TO EPISODE 10:
AFROCULTURAL DRAMAS ON RELIGIONS AND CULTURE, “IN GOD’S NAME,” EPISODE 10