Richard Akinnola is disturbed by the reasons the Abia State Election Tribunal adduced to invalidate the election of Chief Theodore Orji, the incumbent governor of Abia State.

He strongly criticised the judgment in an article titled “Abia Tribunal and the Perversion of Justice” published on the back page of the Daily Sun of April 4, 2008. What seems to irk him the most is the tribunal accusing Chief Orji of membership of the Okija shrine that is alleged to be a secret society. According to him the Okija shrine is not a secret society but “only a centre of traditional religion just as people belong to the Christian or Moslem faith.”

However, while cleverly refusing to give the constitutional definition of secret society, he mischievously misinformed his readers that “the definition of what constitutes a secret society has been settled by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the AMORC case.”

He went further to fabulise that “the Supreme Court…affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal declaring AMORC a secret society.” I have thoroughly read all the Supreme Court judgments on this case and cannot find any such declaration. It is obvious to me that Akinnola’s attempt to pervert the truth by deliberately distorting the unambiguous judgment of our apex court is for the purpose of stigmatizing and persecuting AMORC and its members. My goal here is to try the little I can to remove the cobwebs of malicious lies spun by the local apostles of religious bigotry and sectarian violence.

Lets go back to the beginning of the story. Sometime in 1984, one Henry Awoniyi published a series of articles in an ECWA publication alleging AMORC is a secret society and satanic organization. After several attempts to persuade ECWA to redress itself had failed, the Registered Trustees of AMORC was compelled to sue the author and ECWA, the publishers, for libel.

At the trial at Calabar High Court, the only credible evidence ECWA produced to justify its calumniating of AMORC as a satanic organization were AMORC books and study materials that treated such diverse parapsychological subjects as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychometry and the human aura. According to them, since the Christian Bible disapproves of these subjects, they are consequently satanic.

Awoniyi told the court that for any person to venture into any sphere of knowledge “beyond that prescribed by the Bible was satanic and demonic.” When asked to cite the portion in the Bible where these subjects are expressly forbidden, he referred to John 8:44, 2 Corth.11:12-15 and Revelation 11:12-19. These utterances reminds one of the inquisitors and the horrors they perpetrated in the name of God against humanity and the advancement of civilization. It also aptly paints the picture of the psychology and quality of spiritual enlightenment of the characters trying so hard to besmirch AMORC.

On the matter of secret society, ECWA craftily pleaded that it was justified to describe AMORC as a secret society because in some of its ancient books, pamphlets and publications, which were tendered in evidence, the organization fondly addressed itself as such. Viewed against this background, when AMORC proclaimed, as it did in the 17th century public documents in Europe and books published and advertised in America between 1918 an 1960, that it is a secret society with its roots in ancient Egypt, it was understandably claiming a deserved esoteric, traditional and cultural heritage and calling the attention of the seekers of sublime revelation to the fact that it was in authorized custody of and morally obligated to disseminate to the modern world that liberating and regenerative gnosis of yore.

But the usage and meaning of English words and terms have changed over time. This problem of especially English language mutations has worried generations of the editors of the Christian Bible for, as they instructively noted in the preface to the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, “…The greatest problem, however, is that presented by the English words which are still in constant use but now convey a different meaning from that which they had in 1611…”

It is because the term secret society not only “now conveys a different meaning” but has lent itself to criminality, vulgarization and corruption, that AMORC, just as the editors of the Christian Bible did, jettisoned the shibboleth, preferring to be known in this era as an educational, mystical, philosophical and cultural organization still perpetuating the wisdom of the ancients. We stress here that AMORC sued ECWA because its lofty ideals and activities worldwide do not cut the grotesque and criminal picture that our constitution paints a secret society to be.

The High Court found ECWA guilty of libeling AMORC but the Court of Appeal upturned the verdict on the grounds that AMORC did not plead innuendo. Justice Uwaifo, who read the lead judgment, pointedly quoted the definition of secret society from “The Oxford Universal Dictionary Illustrated 1969,” and not the definition in the 1979 constitution, to strengthen his argument. The Supreme Court in 1994 simply agreed with the conclusions of the Court of Appeal.

Honourable Justice A. B. Wali JSC, who read the lead judgment, asserted that although the words complained of may be defamatory in their ordinary meaning, since innuendo was not “specifically pleaded to portray the plaintiff [AMORC] as a secret society in terms stated in section 39[4] of the 1979 constitution,” the Supreme Court aligns with the lower court. With this pronouncement, the AMORC appeal and ECWA cross appeal were dismissed.

How the above translates into a “declaration of AMORC as a secret society”, as Akinnola contends, is extremely difficult to grasp. But for many years after this judgment, the Richard Akinnolas fiendishly propagated the falsehood that the Supreme Court had declared AMORC a secret society. They repeated this falsehood so many times to themselves that they eventually believed it, just as their kind had believed other more corrosive and injurious falsehoods over the centuries.

The unthinking hordes in their fold were routinely proselytized to demonise AMORC, socially and politically discriminate against Rosicrucians. But the Good Lord always protects the innocent and righteous. And so it came to pass that after years of unrelenting persecution, the same people that championed the defilement of the image and reputation of AMORC are the instruments providence employed to decisively resolve the matter for all time.

As it was providentially designed, Wole Olufon, Akinnola’s friend, scurried to the Supreme Court in early December 1999 with the prayer that the court should order the proscription of AMORC in Nigeria and prosecute its officers and members. This incongruous demand was made because they believe the Supreme Court had in 1994 declared AMORC a secret society and since the 1999 constitution forbade such organizations, it should be banned. All the five Justices who sat on the case unanimously agreed that the Supreme Court did not declare AMORC a secret society in its judgment of 15th July, 1994. For the avoidance of any future distortions, we quote excerpts from the judgments of two of the Justices.

Ejiwunmi JSC, in his judgment said, inter alia “…It cannot be said that any declaration was made [by the Supreme Court] that the Registered Trustees of the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC [Nigeria] was satanic…For the applicants [ECWA] to succeed there must be brought to our attention a specific statement where AMORC was declared as satanic.

This, they have not done. And, in any event, I cannot see how they can produce such a declaration having regard to what was canvassed in that suit. The defendants [ECWA] did not counterclaim against the plaintiff [AMORC] that plaintiff was a secret society…” In the lead judgment delivered by Mohammed JSC, the Supreme Court clearly stated “…The issue which was determined in the High Court at Calabar was libel.

The decision of the High Court was set aside by the Court of Appeal. On appeal to this court the judgment of the Court of Appeal was affirmed. That was the end of the matter. We did not declare… ” AMORC a secret society or “…anything warranting enforcement of our judgment…I therefore agree with Mr. Akpamgbo, SAN, that the motion filed by the applicants is incompetent. It is accordingly struck out”. See pages 522-551 of NWLR Vol. 10 of 18 September 2000.