Shouting a “Born-Again Amen” and Lagos anti-noise Laws

It is no more freedom of expression, now, it is burglary of personal quiet and ambient peace.

As if the writhe of entering these ‘Halloween locomotives’ called Yellow buses/Danfo is not enough, the typically combustive Lagos morning gets kinda worse when you eventually sit in a bus, and just suddenly, you hear “a loud voice calling from the wilderness”, right behind your seat, directly into your ears. This was my experience few weeks ago #eDeyPain!

Now, I am not against preaching the gospel or whatever a person claims to believe in. But, gosh! these guys who have decided to take their mostly self-ordained mandate to the streets of Lagos just shout at deafening decibels all in the guise of howling hallelujah ……kilode!

After harrowing us with his apostolic “noise” almost throughout the 30-35 minute drive, his hallowed eminence decided to round off with the cliched ‘your-enemy-must-peme’ kinda prayer, to which the people responded with a dignified low-tune ‘Amen’. But, check this out, our Oga’s response was classic…

“I don’t like that amen, ….oh no no no….brethren, that your amen is not born again….Say a better, and louder Amen so that my Father can hear you. Shout a born-again amen”.

At that point, I eventually forgot my ‘sorrow’ and laughed hard.. (couldn’t help it). #BornAgainAmen. At the same time though, it got me thinking.

Check out another Oga in the picture above and his “dolby ultrasurround” sound system nitori O’loun…wahala dey oh.

The former Governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Fashola, signed an noise pollution bill into law during his tenure. The bill outlaws the production of cacophonous sounds in the environment, especially from church and mosques speakers. So far, not so good, enforcement of this law has been poor, majorly because it isn’t seen binding on these religious jobbers dotting almost every roundabout and buses across Lagos.

Noise pollution is a “big deal”, actually and factually. It is reported to be part of the main causes of some pathologies, and has also been reported to be fatal to health of neonates. And, just clearly enough, there is a percentage of people (just like me) who can’t just deal with noise of any form, talk more this avoidable one. The present Lagos state government must act swift to enforce this law and save her people from this noisesome pestilence.

Well, I am awaiting the “miracle moment in Nigeria” when this harsh reality of our badly battered psyche will get a revolutionist reversal, where people start appreciating doing things by the terms of adaptable literacy and germane commonsense.

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