Any regular follower of my posts on this platform, would readily agree with me that the above caption is a little digression from my usual targets (I mean the areas that predominate my interest).

While this is unquestionably true, I feel persuaded by a philosophy which says that no knowledge is a waste, be it good or bad, more so when an unfathomable mystery has precipitated this apparent deviation. 

Having done with the preamble, it's now time to hit the nail on the head: A friend of mine recently confided in me, that he suspects one of his children to be a witch, who has been responsible for the family's interminable and multifarious misfortunes over the years. 

According to him, this child who is a girl of over 20 years of age is a student in one of the federal universities in the country. 

She is said to be of average academic brilliance, and has a queer character of keeping her room untidy, with books and clothes scattered all over the place.

Hardly does she assist in any domestic chores, without the mother shouting herself hoarse, during which she would boldly snapp at the mother with embarrassing culture of impunity, telling her that she hasn't even tidied her own room, let alone any other thing.

But that isn't even the issue. This girl has a questionable habit of locking herself up in the rest room at odd hours, usually from about 1.00am.

Accompanied by a fully charged android phone, she would quietly remain in this place for hours, listening to the recorded audio clips of only God-knows conversation, which volume is usually regulated to barely audible level, to avoid arousing the sleeping parents.

As time went on, her insubordination and weird behavioural patterns appeared to have attained a crescendo, as she became almost uncontrollable. 

Even the father whom she hitherto treated with utmost respect, eventually became nobody in her sight. She could do anything untoward (at will) and defiantly get away with it. 

Mysteriously, my friend's business started dwindling drastically at such an alarming rate. And in less than 18 months, or thereabouts, the erstwhile business empire had collapsed, and the once bustling premises became a ghost of its former self.

Consequently, my friend can no longer pay for his 3-bed room apartment including his shop rent. Even to feed his family has now become a Herculean task. 

And here comes the last straw that broke the camel's back. As this situation continued to deteriorate on a daily basis (according to this narrative), my friend decided to seek financial assistance from friends and relations, if only for existentialism. 

Fortunately for him, a family friend of his who lives abroad strongly promised to assist him with a substantial amount of money, not only to sustain the family, but also to resuscitate his business. 

His euphoria was however short-lived, as this girl (through inexplicable means), got wind of this promise. Secretly, she sent a text message immediately to the man abroad, telling him that her parents had connived to defraud him. 

She explained to the flabbergasted man that all her parents told him were lies, reassuring him that the father's business was still very much afloat and flourishing.

To prove how dangerous and diabolical this daughter of Lucifer is, she instructed the dejected man to delete her message after reading it, so that the wife would not see it. 

This was a promise which was made in August last year, which ordinarily shouldn't have  taken more than two weeks to fulfil, considering the impeccable integrity of the man who made this promise. 

As would be expected, up till this moment (according to my friend), this promise has remained unfulfilled, while my friend has completely lost hope in that direction. Wonders indeed shall never cease!

As if that was not enough, my friend also narrated how this girl equally frustrated another strong promise for financial assistance by a close family relation.

According to him, he had told this relation that he owed his landlord two years rent arrears, totalling #800,000 which this relation promised to send to him soonest. 

Characteristic of this devil-incarnate, whose means of knowing what transpired between her father and someone is shrouded in mystery, she immediately reached this man and told him that her father was indebted to only one year rent which is #400,000, and not two years as her father claimed. Of course that was the end of that promise till date. 

At times this girl would boast that she is not even interested in getting married or having children as (according to her), not everyone is created to have children in this world. 

She keeps saying that her main concern is to make money and become very wealthy, so that others would serve her, and not to be inconvenienced with childbearing and such stuff.

My despondent friend said that based on all these abnormal behaviours and aberrant utterances, he once confronted her and demanded to know whether or not she is a witch.

Laughing raucously in a manner that is suggestive of witchcraft, this girl bragged that in their school, she had been approached many times by various groups of high-profile witchcraft, but she was yet to make up her mind.

She told her bewildered father, that joining an association of witchcraft was no big deal, as a simple dial on her phone would immediately get her registered, without any further protocol.

With this statement, the father was further stupefied, as his age-long suspicion and pessimism now seem to have been indirectly confirmed.

Over the years, my friend had persevered to cope with the daughter's unparalleled stubbornness and recalcitrance which now seem to have assumed legendary proportions, but to no avail.

Presently, he is planning to retire to the village with his family, due to his inability to pay his bills and take care of the family.

My question as captioned above remains; do witches and wizards really exist? How does one identify them? Or is it just a figment of one's imagination? 

Secondly, how does this friend of mine cope with this witch of a daughter, before she sends him to his untimely grave. Your candid advice would be profoundly appreciated.

Since the outbreak of the ubiquitous coronavirus pandemic otherwise known as COVID-19 in the country, our medical experts have continued to tell us that there is no cure for this deadly virus.

The best which these experts could offer, were precautionary measures to contain this virus which include; regular hand washing with soap under running water, application of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, wearing of face masks, avoid shaking hands and maintaining social (physical) distancing, among others.

Many thanks to our indefatigable Radio and Television stations which monotonously drum these precautionary measures into our ears, using various languages, multifarious dialects and other serio-comic expressions, to reach the citizenry. 

Interestingly, even our nonagenarians and centenarians in the remotest localities, are very conversant with these proactive measures. 

Amazingly, each time one visits the hinterland and tries to lecture any of them on these preventive measures, he/she would greet your "gospel" with triumphant smiles, and beckon on you to change the topic to something else, as he/she is already very familiar with your message.

This is why our electronic media (including even the local town-criers), should be highly commended for the unprecedented sensitization of the public on this invisible enemy called COVID-19.

Having said this, let me quickly come to the crux of the matter which actually spurred this write-up. On a daily basis, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), updates the nation with the number of the Confirmed cases, Deaths and Recoveries.

Now, my question is this; since no drug or vaccine has been discovered to cure this global pandemic, how come many of the patients are said to be recovering on a daily basis?

Which drug was used in curing them? What is the magic or mystery behind these recoveries? What is it that the authorities are hiding away from members of the public which they don't want to disclose?

It is on this barrage of rhetorical questions that I have to draw the curtain here, as every edition does not call for a lengthy epistle or thesis. An answer (s) to these agitating questions would be profoundly appreciated.