I recently visited a famous CAC prayer mountain, popularly known as Ogbun Sogunje. Ori Oke Gbogunmi Sogunje (Pit that Swallows Life’s Problems), led by Prophet Oluwalana. It is located around Ibogun, Ifo, Ogun State.

Those rivers are supposed to be springs where people my bathe and fetch water that has miraculous powers. I’ve heard personal testimonies about the water.

I was impressed by what I saw, like devoted Christians who were serious with their spiritual activities and requirements. However, something strange is currently going on there.

When I was about to enter the church premises, I was searched and cleared by the police, stationed at the gate. I even showed them all the contents of my bag. I like carrying a bag wherever I go.

Having been cleared by the police (even there was a Bible in the bag), I entered the church premises, which is a big expanse of land. Another so-called, shabbily dressed security man stopped me and demanded that I drop my bag under a tree before I entered the church. A service was in progress.

There were some bags under a tree. I told him that I’d been searched and cleared by the police at the gate. Yet he insisted that I drop the bag.

“What if anything in it is stolen or the bag itself is stolen?” I asked.

“Remove anything that can be stolen in the bag.” He replied.

I obeyed him. But when I entered the church, I was disappointed to see that women in the church were carrying bags. I was highly disappointed. Why would they allow only women to take their bags into the church?

At the end of the service, a few of the men who left their bags outside claimed their bags were stolen. If my bag had been stolen, I swear that security man would have regretted it.

Why couldn’t I take my bag in after I’d been thoroughly searched? Stupidity number 1.

Why should only women carry their bags into the church? Stupidity number 2.

What a man can do, a woman can do better. There is no crime a man can commit that a woman isn’t capable of committing. Haven’t you heard of female suicide bombers, who looked harmless before a blow-off? Is there any assault rifle that no woman can use?

If everybody, including male and female had been banned from taking their bags into the church, I wouldn’t have complained. That shows pure discrimination in a house of God.

A man can leave his bag and remove the content he doesn’t want to be stolen. Stupidity number 3. This could include disguised contents that were really harmful.

Whoever enacted these rules clearly had a poor mentality. I believe Prophet Oluwalana himself might not be aware.

They may continue with the rule if they like.

THE FUTURE OF SOGUNJE SPRINGS
When I was very young, the springs and streams in our rural neighborhood were clean, clear, and pristine. We could swim in it, seeing fish swimming happily and with pure white sand in the beds of the springs.

The neighborhood is now heavily populated. The springs had been canalized, and full of dirt and waste products. The fish, crabs and snails are gone and the waters stink.

The now canalized rivulets, streams, fords, and springs around Ipaja, Cement, Agege, Ikotun, etc. etc. used to be clean, pristine, clear, drinkable and full of small creatures. Now, they are full of dark liquids, dirt and waste products. The fish, crabs and snails are gone and the waters stink.

Human beings destroy natural habitat and ruin the earth. They don’t take care of nature and they think nature would continue to take care of them.

The neighborhood around Sogunje springs is still very much rural, and that’s why the waters are still usable. In future, when the areas become heavily populated, you know what would happen, going by the paragraphs above.

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