Seek first advice from Prophet Makandiwa; only then can you win EU parliamentary elections!

Seek first the advice from Prophet Makandiwa, make a pilgrimage to Nigeria and seek audience with TB Joshua; only then are you going to win the European parliamentary elections; said the young Nigerian man. Contribute your tithes: whatever you can pay to the holy men of God to cleanse yourself from evil, he continued.

The European parliamentary elections are slowly heating up; they are due in May 26th 2019. Each and every parliamentary candidate is busy positioning him/herself to these highly competitive elections, a competition of ideas to sell to the electorate to get that mandate to execute those duties outlined in a document: the manifesto. Admittedly, the  EU parliamentary elections are challenging all of us, the debates levitate around migration of citizens in transition; curiously asylum seekers and migrants will prefer Germany as their destination. This put mainline political parties on the spot, have previously been casualties in times of the elections of their policies towards asylum seeking laws and those laws on migration.

It was a great privilege to be elected as EU parliamentary candidate on the Feminist Party: The Women. The second move was to present my own ideas about my candidacy: In Europe, politics is all about competition of sound ideas. I thought about migration politics like many other candidates on one hand, but on the other hand the German Federal Ministry for Cooperation and Development is dangling a Marshall Plan for Africa. As a woman of African descent, I thought it was more appealing to seek a mandate for the EU parliament entry articulating the Marshall Plan and how it can be a game changer for African women in rural communities, communities where women and children predominantly live.

It was my first introduction of my candidacy at the Bremen market; I was given a 10 minutes slot to talk. I cannot be modest my message was received just by lamenting the plight of women who make those perilous journeys in the Sahara desert some of which get raped, some die, some are taken as slaves in the North African market places. I also talked about women who seek asylum in Germany for reasons relating to gender- violence in their home countries. These are facts and not rhetoric that impressed the Bremer residents and together with a young man from Nigeria who listened attentively on the sidelines of the market dwellers.

Coming down from the platform slowly and at the same time enjoying the positive resonance of my first ever political speech at the Bremer market, the Nigerian young man came straight to me, shook hands his hands and was impressed, he said. A black woman seeking EU parliamentary seat in Strasburg, he quickly offered me assistance, he could be one of the campaign managers. "I am from Nigeria," he answered. At a first glace I had no reason to doubt his honesty and ability to be my campaign manager. I know quite a number decent Nigerians in Bremen, some medical doctors or lecturers nurses and teachers. I told him I needed to speak to him first and we work out how I can slot him in my campaign trail.

We met at the State & University Library Bremen, told him exactly the place he will find me waiting for him. He came 25 minutes late but that is normal by African standards. My worry was mostly on his body language, seemed not to appeal to me as someone of honesty and integrity, well I had to speak to him first to remove that first doubt. Before he could reply he tried to get the upper hand by arranging our sitting positions. It seemed he did not want other library visitors to eavesdrop our discussions. I respected that, but personally I had nothing to hide whatsoever in the topic we were discussing as the section we were in was for such interactions of people working together on whatever.

Without wasting time I asked what assistance he would offer me in my campaigns as campaign manager. It was the upper hand he wanted to command right from the start of the conversation: "what is your religion," he asked. I was taken aback but decided to be polite for once, he is a young man of African origin, respect and politeness was my first reaction. "I am Catholic: why, I am an atheist, I don't believe in God anymore. Christianity is redundant in my life. He was shocked to his bone marrow, a black woman to who openly speaks about being atheist!

I realized how he struggled to continue with his discussion, I threw him out of concept. But he tried again conformingly to the mood that was already predicating disaster, "do you know Prophet Makandiwa from Zimbabwe? I will assist your campaign at spiritual level. I want us to pray together so that you win the elections. You can win them if you place all your trust in God, he said." He took a piece of paper with drawings stating the supreme power in human kind come from recognizing that God is Man. Here on earth too you need a man on your side ever to win the European Union elections. I can offer you to "fast and pray" together.

I interjected and boldly told him that yes I do seek a mandate on a Feminist Party ticket. I asked him if he understood what Feminism is about and what we stand for as a party. I don't share spirituality with strangers, I said. He replied he made his homework, told me about my articles on internet. "Please remove all those articles on internet if you want to win elections. You need real prayers, TB Joshua can pray for you and you win elections but before you go to Nigeria you must have prayed with me, fasted with me and we engage spiritually in preparations for the pilgrimage to Nigeria.

I invite you to come to our church in Hemelingen-Bremen. You will find black people there, Christian brothers and sisters from African who will assist you in prayers to get elected in the European parliament. To emphasize that I can only win EU elections through his prayer and fasting was his budget account for me. He was sure I was going to be impressed. The power of the prayer was supposed to move me and soften up to him as the only solution to my desire to enter EU parliament.

I would have loved to say to him you are such a time waster. My motherly instinct did not allow me to be abrasive to this gullible young man. Gullible, I don't think so; he was a sleazy and contemptible young man, trying his own chance to an oldie of over 60 years old. I started packing my books and notes together, I thought about the 30 minutes I had already wasted with a street-man, a proper rogue, a crook. I realized I was dubbed. I, however, refused to climb down on my perception about Nigerian people. It was the first encounter with a dishonest person from Nigeria who uses religion to get his way with life here in Bremen. Surely you cannot paint all Nigerians with the same brush, it's not only political incorrect but not true.

"You cannot talk bad about TB Joshua" he discovered his throat again. Mrs. Winnie Mandela went to see TB Joshua and your President; Morgan Tsvangirai also went to see TB Joshua." I needed to lash out because I could not take it anymore. But those people are dead, I said. The young man was shocked. "They are with God in heaven," he answered almost chocking for breath. I asked him if he can prove it to me that they are in heaven with God for sure. If he proved it to me elegantly without doubt that those two prominent people are in heaven, I will join his church at once without any questions. A scientist believes in facts and not beliefs.

He laughed a defeated laugh at the same he was seething inside him; evidently he was losing the plot with this woman. "You are insulting God when you say that, sister. It is not good to be atheist, you know, sister. Take this paper and go through it again and phone me if you have given a thought about what we have talked about today. I am there for you sister, God is there; Jesus is alive; he will help you win the EU parliamentary elections. It was obvious that he was now paving his on exit point physically and leaves this beast of a black atheist woman: all African women are religious in one way or another, but this one! He seemed to say in his body language.
 
But the young man was desperate to get me to come to church at least. He tried his luck once more at least to come to their church; the rest will be done by prayers from elders in the church. "But, please sister, come to our church. The pastor and the congregation will be waiting for you, I told them you are coming. You will be allowed to give a speech, normally women are not allowed to give a speech but they will allow you because you are special, they will pray for you so that you are elected in EU parliament." He tried to be convincing verbally to school me to know the importance of a prayer in every aspect of daily life. The task seemed an impossible ne the more we exchanged questions back and forth. It was evident he never saw this coming.

I thought I had been motherly enough and the red line was crossed, I did what I know best: attack "what congregation is that, I asked. I was told it was a Pentecostal church. I burst out laughing. "You are inviting me to come and "kick and scream" together with you, what about those yelling and talking in tongues you are going to subject me into, that nonsense in my life, at my age. I would rather go back to the Catholic Church than to come and spend a minute with you. In that church men do the talking screaming and women do the crying and yelling. I can assure you now that I will not come, I said. Young man do you know who I am, I am an un-repented feminist.
 
As if it was not enough, on a Sunday morning the young man phoned me, he told me how he prays for me all the time. (Where did he get my telephone number?)  "Please sister, the congregation is waiting for you today, I will be happy if you came to day. You need to soften your heart and accept God as your saviour." I was mad, having been woken up from a deep Sunday morning sleep. I will report you to the police at once. You are stalking me I said. I reported him to the police: I told them about the dubious man who is interfering with my citizens' rights as a Bremer. I gave his name and telephone number to the criminal police. I did not hear from him again. I do time and again bump into him at market places: He walks away as quickly as possible so that we do not speak, not even greetings.

My mind and thoughts go to young women who have been duped in their lives for various reasons and get trapped in sinister activities by those men criminal men. To say Nigerians are criminals is not fair because this incident can happen anywhere in the world. I however learnt my lesson, it could be worse. I wonder still how I fell into this trap with all the intelligence and academic education I have. Somehow this story embarrasses me. I need to tell it so that young women learn from it.

Sharing this story with many other sisters out there could be of some form of assistance. Men with criminal minds will target those unsuspecting women and put them in serious situations sometimes it can cost lives. I take comfort myself by ever convincing and emphasizing it in my psych that he was interested in me as a woman, some Ben-10s who depend on old women to survive life challenges. The young man must have started dreaming of a life with this old woman in Strasbourg EU parliament buildings. The old woman will work and he will stay home and pray for her, the idea is not bad at all. It's as good as buying a state lottery ticket: win or you lose. The try was worth it. The EU parliamentary elections are yet to come; they will be contested heavily as is the trade in politics.