August 29, (THEWILL) – A traditional African medical practitioner, Adeyinka Adebayo, in an interview with THEWILL, was full of praises for the curative power of ‘Imokoli,’ a wonder fruit he claims can treat various ailments, which might be difficult to treat with orthodox medicine.
According to him, the fruit is indeed one of the wonders of traditional African medicine (ATR). The latter is deeply rooted in the treatment of ailments with herbs known to only to the practitioner, who is often locally referred to as a herbalist.
But Dr Adebayo, as he prefers to be addressed, has a different opinion of what traditional medical practice in present-day Africa entails. He says, “A traditional medical practitioner is a person who prepares local herbs with a mix of modern medical standards. He or she uses plants and other natural substances to improve health, promote healing and prevent and treat ailments.”
Contrary to what some Nigerians think, he adds, herbal medicine is neither dangerous nor fetish. Unknown to them, herbal medicine, also called herbalism, botanical medicine or phytomedicine has been used for thousands of years.
China, South Korea and some other Asian countries are practical examples of nations who have long lived on traditional or herbal medicines. Ranging from food to cosmetic products and preventive/curative treatments, in particular China and Korea, they all consist of one herb or the other.
Adebayo also argues that while it is a question of what to put together for a particular ailment, herbal materials, herbal preparations and finished herbal products all contain parts of plants or other plant materials as active ingredients.
These plant materials include seeds, berries, roots, leaves, bark or flowers. Many drugs used in conventional medicine were originally derived from plants.
For instance, those string-like things that come out with maize that many people remove while eating the maize, according to Doctor Banji Filani of Sound Health Centre, possess curative properties and they are used to treat hypertension, diabetes and even oedema.
In orthodox medicines, salicylic acid is known to be a precursor of aspirin that was originally derived from white willow bark and the meadowsweet plant (Filipendula ulmaria (L.).
Filani, during one of his speeches on the safety of herbal concoctions, said that bitter leaf, a common and highly despised plant, can cure diabetes and cleanse the blood.
Dr Adebayo, whose experience in traditional African medicine spans 18 years, claims he has been able to successfully cure infertility, fibroid, leucorrhea, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and epilepsy with ‘Imokoli’, a plant he discovered in Guinea to have the capacity to cure diabetes, stroke, HIV/AIDS and able to control hypertension to the barest minimum.
Like most other herbalists, Adebayo acquired the knowledge of ATR from his father who also learnt from his own father. While speaking with THEWILL on the effectiveness of traditional medicine, he noted that the benefits of natural extracts cannot be overemphasised as that was what our ancestors lived on in the past.
He said while the importance of orthodox medication should not be downplayed, natural extracts from herbs and traditional treatments have over the centuries proven to be safer, effective and less expensive.
editorial
Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State recently called on residents of the state, especially those living in areas that are prone to attacks by bandits and kidnappers, to acquire arms and defend themselves.
He urged the residents to rise up to the challenge posed by insecurity in the state by fighting back to free themselves from the siege laid by bandits, who have virtually turned Katsina State into hell on earth.
Masari had argued that it was ‘morally’ wrong on the part of the people to submit themselves to the terrorists without a fight. Stressing that security should not be the sole responsibility of the government; he encouraged the residents to wake up to reality, go out, buy guns and defend themselves.
The governor’s call has since been received with mixed reactions from different people and groups across the country. While some, like the Coalition of Northern Group, have condemned it, describing it as absurd and demanded his immediate resignation, others see it as nothing but an admission of the reality on the ground.
Rising in defence of his boss, the Director of Media to the Governor, Abdullabaran Malumfashi, in a statement dismissed the calls for Masari’s resignation, describing them as ridiculous. Arguing that the fact that security is on the Exclusive list of the 1999 Constitution makes it exclusively a Federal Government affair, Malumfashi seemed to affirm the governor’s earlier claim that he is the chief security officer of Katsina State only in name and not, in reality, in control of security in the state.
We are of the opinion that the governor’s aide and his boss are both wrong, at least constitutionally. It is wrong for Masari to assume that matters relating to the provision of security in Katsina are the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari. On the contrary, Section 215, sub-section 4 of the 1999 Constitution clearly gives state governors the power to direct security agencies to act in a given security situation without having to consult the Federal Government. It states, “Subject to the provisions of this section, the Governor of a State or such Commissioner of the Government of the State as he may authorise in that behalf, may give to the Commissioner of Police of that State such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order within the State as he may consider necessary, and the Commissioner of Police shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with.”
There is no indication that the governor has exploited this provision of the constitution in his effort to ensure the security of lives and property. And there is no record to show that at the onset of banditry in Katsina he gave specific instructions to the Commissioner of Police that were not carried out. How then could he claim to be helpless and powerless to act to check the activities of the bandits currently terrorising the state?
The truth, we strongly believe, is that Masari took a wrong step towards solving the problem of insecurity in Katsina when he embarked on a much-publicised and extensive drive to negotiate with the bandits in 2019. The move was ill-advised and a blunder viewed by many Nigerians as an open demonstration of helplessness, totally unbecoming of the chief executive of a state, which clearly exposed his cluelessness and ineptitude.
Everywhere in the world, no leader worth his salt negotiates with terrorists, especially when the unlawful activities of the latter are not driven by a recognisable ideology but motivated by pure criminality. It was not surprising then that 2019 attempt at negotiating peace with the criminals kidnapping and killing the residents of Katsina failed. It was bound to fail and so did another attempt at negotiating with the bandits who kidnapped 333 pupils of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara.
Coming shortly after he informed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Farouk Yahaya, then on a courtesy visit to the state, that 10 out of the 34 local government areas in Katsina State were constantly under attacks by bandits, Masari’s call smacks of frustration, desperation and a total lack of capacity by his administration to contain the violence and criminality unleashed on the state by these terrorists.
By asking residents of Katsina to take up arms and defend themselves against rampaging terrorists, the governor has not only admitted the failure of his government to safeguard lives and properties, but also handed an open invitation to anarchy in the state. While we sympathise with him, given the festering insecurity across the country, we urge him to mind his utterances in the future as they are capable of worsening the prevailing insecurity in the state. We wish to remind him that it will not be in the best interest of the state to abdicate his primary responsibility, which is the provision of security, especially at this sensitive period in its history.
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