duke-ellah pharmacy ltd

02/05/2026

Fada chidi unegbu

29/04/2026

Two hours after I dropped my 3-year-old son Leo off at my sister's house, I got an alarming phone call—his kidneys had been sold.

"Ma, please, you need to hurry. Your sister Chika is at the hospital right now. She’s trying to sell your son’s kidneys!" the nurse said frantically.

"Dear God!" Grace gasped, standing up immediately. "What are you talking about? Leo’s supposed to be with my sister for the holiday!"
"Get here now! The doctor is getting ready to take your son’s kidneys!" the nurse urged before hanging up.

Grace’s hands began to tremble. "How could my own sister, Chika, do this to my son?" she whispered, overcome with shock and fear.

She immediately tried calling her husband, but his phone wasn’t connecting. In a panic, she ran out the door and hailed a taxi.

"Please, hurry! Take me to Forever Hospital! My son’s in danger!" she cried desperately from the back seat.
Meanwhile, inside the operating room, Chika and her husband were quietly watching the doctor prepare for the procedure.

"In a few minutes, Leo’s kidneys will be removed and our son will be saved," Chika said, squeezing her husband’s hand.

"Exactly," her husband responded. "Then we’ll quickly go home, toss Leo in the pool, and tell Grace that he drowned while playing."

Chika nodded in approval. "Everything is set."
The nurse, who was outside the operating room, could hardly contain her dread. "I hope she gets here in time," she muttered to herself. "If not, it’ll be too late."

Back on the road, Grace was frantic, pleading with the driver. "Please, drive faster! I’ll pay anything! Just get me there fast!"

As the doctor was about to make the incision on Leo, the door suddenly flew open.
"Stop!" a voice yelled.
It was Grace.

She rushed in, shoving the doctor aside, and slapped Chika hard across the face.

"You want to kill my son, Chika? Your own sister’s child? How could you be so cruel? You’re not my sister anymore! You’re a monster!" Grace shouted through her tears, trying to reach Leo.

Before Grace could even get closer to Leo, Chika motioned for the doctor to continue.
Without warning, the doctor injected Grace with a needle.

In seconds, Grace’s body weakened, and she collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

"Perfect," Chika said coldly. "Doctor, let's continue. I don’t care if I have to destroy my sister and her son to save my child. He is all that matters."

However, as Chika spoke, the kind nurse snuck in through a side door, lifted Leo from the bed, and ran out as fast as she could.

She dashed through a dark alleyway, surrounded by thick bushes, refusing to stop despite the night air pressing down on her.
A few minutes later, Chika and the doctor realized Leo was gone.

"What? Where’s the child?" the doctor yelled in panic.
They ran outside and asked the security guard.
"A nurse took a child and ran that way," the guard replied.

Ignoring the still-unconscious Grace, they hurried out.
"Doctor, we need to catch up with her before it’s too late," Chika said, her voice quivering with anxiety.

"Yes," the doctor said, his voice low. "We can’t let this get out of hand. I’ll do whatever it takes to stop her."
He quickly sent three men to pursue the nurse.

The men started running, but the nurse was fast, her grip tight on Leo as she fled into the dark, isolated road.
As she ran, she heard footsteps closing in behind her. She quickly hid behind a tree, covering her mouth to stay silent.

The footsteps were nearly on top of her.
Leo suddenly started crying.

Can she escape?

F0l0 us for the next episode

08/04/2026

BRANCH BY BRANCH

23/03/2026

THE SACRED/HOLY WEEK

“He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week.

But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess.

Okonkwo's neighbours heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. Some of them came over to see for themselves. It was unheard of to beat somebody during the sacred week.

Before it was dusk Ezeani, who was the priest of the earth goddess, Ani, called on Okonkwo in his obi. Okonkwo brought out kola nut and placed it before the priest,

"Take away your kola nut. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods and ancestors." Okonkwo tried to explain to him what his wife had done, but Ezeani seemed to pay no attention. He held a short staff in his hand which he brought down on the floor to emphasize his points.

"Listen to me," he said when Okonkwo had spoken. "You are not a stranger in Umuofia. You know as well as I do that our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbour. We live in peace with our fellows to honour our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow. You have committed a great evil." He brought down his staff heavily on the floor. "Your wife was at fault, but even if you came into your obi and found her lover on top of her, you would still have committed a great evil to beat her." His staff came down again. "The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan. The earth goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase, and we shall all perish." His tone now changed from anger to command. "You will bring to the shrine of Ani tomorrow one she-goat, one hen, a length of cloth and a hundred cowries." He rose and left the hut. (Culled from Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Chapter 4).

That ancestral wisdom is striking.
Imagine how profoundly beautiful our Christian practice would be if traditions like the Igbo Sacred Week had been integrated into the celebration of the coming Holy Week, beginning on Palm Sunday 29th March, 2026.

Imagine a Christianity that consciously builds upon the moral values already present in our cultures: values of peace, restraint, community, reverence, and respect for the sacred.

It is not too late to do the right thing.
Culture should be pruned, not uprooted.
What is noble in our heritage can still enrich our faith.

As Holy Week approaches, let us, Christians, brothers, sisters, return to a kind of “factory setting” of the soul. Let us bury the habits that fight against love of God, love of neighbour, and love of self. Let us lay down anger, harshness, bitterness, and every small violence of the heart.
So that, when Easter dawns, we may rise with joy into the fullness of the celebration.

NB: Wrlitten in memory of Chinua Achebe who passed on this day 21st March 2013.

Fada Angelo Chidi Unegbu

19/03/2026

19/03/2026

I'm on the weekly engagement list for Easternproperties.ng and 3 others.still on Austine

17/03/2026

A HISTORICAL EVALUATION OF EGO AND RELIGION (CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE)

Angelo Chidi Unegbu (cangelo123@yahoo.com) 06/09/2021

1) Ego (in this context) is an exaggerated personality trait that puts oneself before and over everyone else. More often than not, this could result to the destruction of the property, identity, image, reputation or even life of another in order to satisfy one’s desires. The history of mankind has shown that each time humans want to display their ego, hate, fear or the ‘demon’ in them, they normally hide under the cover of a supposedly higher/superior moral authority to justify their be***al desires. Sadly, no other ideology had provided this cover in history more than religion.

2) In order to kill Socrates, the Greeks (his people) employed the cover of religion/morality. They accused him of corrupting the youths. The truth was that they were intimidated by his uncommon wisdom and growing popularity and consequently the fear of losing their political/societal influence. The Jews did not act differently. In order to kill Jesus, the scribes and the high priests used religion to fight for their diminishing societal influence.

3) During the time of the early Church, the Roman authorities also hiding under the cloak of religion feasted their be***al desires on the early believers. Many of them were brought in the amphitheatre and thrown into the fighting rings with hungry lions. Many were used to lighten up the streets at night by being burnt at the stake. Not a few were decapitated. All were done to the amusement of the onlookers whose ego and be***al desires were constantly satiated.

4) In the 4th century, the tide changed when Christianity became a legal religion with the coming of Emperor Constantine on board. Caught up by the same ego issue, Christians began to feed their own ego just as their persecutors did. They began to mo**st their members who held different interpretations to articles of their faith. Not even inventors and scientists were spared. Several wars were procured in the name of defending the faith. The fact was that the ecclesiastical power-brokers who had become very influential feared that discrediting an article of faith would reduce their power and influence among the people. It had perhaps little to do with protecting the faith, but more to do with ego and power.

5) By the 13th century, the hunt for witches was officially instituted. Many who were accused of witchcraft were executed. This was justified with Biblical quotations like: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” – Exodus 22:18. Most of those accused of witchcraft were people who exhibited extraordinary talents. The youngest of the victims was the 4 year old Dorothy Good whose testimony in 1692 was used to hang her mum as witch.

6) When a priest called John Hus (1370–1415) drew the attention of the Church to these ego-triggered abuses, he was silenced forever at the Council of Constance, Germany. Some 100 years later, John Hus “resurrected” in the person of Martin Luther. Luther listed 95 things he thought needed urgent reforms in the Church. But ego did not allow the Church authorities to give him the required audience, neither did same ego allow Luther to make some concessions. The result was that the Church had to split. Wars were cherished more than prayers. The sword replaced the cross. What a simple dialogue could have solved led to schism, bloodletting, arson and hatred on both sides.

7) Using the kiĺling and rejection of Jesus as an excuse, the antīsemītism (hātred for the Jěws) was given a christian colouration. By the 20th century the hatred for the Jęws had grown out of proportion. Ad0lf Hītļer decided to press the lethal button that led to the most horrible gen0cide in human history, the H0l0caust. According to Hīŧler, he was "fighting for the work of the Lord".

8) Based on the unfounded theory of Ham, the hatred of blacks, their history, culture and religion was given a theological or biblical backing. Ham was cursed with servitude by his father in Genesis 9: 20-27 for seeing his nakedness. This hypothesis claims that Ham was the ancestor of the black people and as such the blacks should in perpetuity live with the curse as slaves to the rest of humanity. Leaning on this incredible hypothesis, a whole continent was turned into a slave market for over 4 centuries! No one saw anything wrong with it! Here again, a supposedly higher authority was used to justify the desires of the ego, selfishness and hate.

9) The same ego and selfishness led to forceful conversion which was more evident as from the 11th centuries when the mission of the church rested in the hands of the kings of Portugal and Spain. Within this period, those kings solely appointed bishops and organised missions. As cities were being conquered, crosses and church bells were being raised. All in the name of fulfilling the gospel mandate: “Go ye and make disciples of all nations”. The kings were only trying to expand their territories, power and influence. Nothing but ego in display!

10) Before the launching of the 19th century missionary enterprise in Africa, one of the missionary giants Francis Libermann, a French-Jew, had the premonition that the missionaries could carry the prejudice of Afrophobia to Africa, told them to “be Black with the black people”. Neglecting his admonitions, the missionaries rather initiated attacks on African culture and heritage. Ego was in display.

11) Overwhelmed by the actions triggered by ego in the name of God, Pope John Paul II in 2000 had to make an apology on behalf of the Church. He said: “Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions…. We humbly ask forgiveness for the part which each of us has had in these evils by our own actions, thus helping to disfigure the face of the Church.” (Homily of the Holy Father, "Day of Pardon" Sunday, 12 March 2000).

12) The barbaric acts that were seen in most of our ancient world cultures, some of which linger till date, like the human sacrifices, killings of twins and tabooed children, caste system, classism, racism, religious discrimination and so on were/are all offshoots of unguarded ego.

13) This reflection is not in any way meant to be an attack on religion (especially Christianity). It is aimed to serve as guide for all of us, both believers and atheists, so that we will be able to detect when the ego in us is at play. Eckhart Tolle once said: “The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly no longer the ego but just an old, conditioned mind pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist.”

Written 06.09.2021.

Fada Angelo Chidi Unegbu