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18/03/2024
“Speaking with the heart, the truth in love”
“The place of uncompromising truth in nation building and development: The unstoppable role of communication”
WHERE LIES THE TRUTH?
A REFLECTION ON WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY 2023
The world is fraught with lies, deceit, insincerity, fraud, hypocrite, sycophancy and all sorts of moral perversions. Truth, as it is said is bitter. According to the holy book, it is only that bitter pill that can set someone free. Many people believe and inadvertently prefer to lick and swallow sweet pills of lies and remain in perpetual bo***ge than endure the healing bitterness of truth to gain enduring freedom. Most people would prefer to mortgage their conscience in exchange for a piece of sugary cake. Little wonder one social media enthusiast once opined that there is no morality in the world but fear.
The surprising and disheartening part is that even those looked on to as embodiment of truthfulness for the propagation and preservation of uprightness have compromised.
Being truthful and honest is a virtue which many find difficult to sustain, especially when they see that it could jeopardize their means of livelihood. This mostly resulted from the fact that the people who ought to provide enabling environment for citizens to earn decent living had turned against the people and weaponized hunger and poverty to denigrate and subject the people to beggarly living. Who and how many have the will to remain truthful when monetary option in the face of hunger and need is available. Some do not care whose ox is gored, so long as their dire needs would be taken care of.
The people have lost their conscience and become demoralized before the stack reality staring at them – hardship occasioned by the mismanagement of natural resources by those who by hooks or crooks find their feet on the power threshold. Who is to blame?
The foundation of Nigeria as a country (I have ceased to see Nigeria as a nation) was shrouded in lies, fraud and corruption to the extent that forgery had become endemic in the fabrics of this sovereign space called ‘Nigeria’. One of the most celebrated black writers, Chinua Achebe in his last publication There was a Country, highlighted the intensity of the foundational rot when he noted that the election that ushered Nigeria into self rule was stage-managed by a British political mercenary in favour of a particular section of the country.
What is obtainable in the civil/public service, which is the highest employer of labour in the country, has gone a long way to demonstrate that Nigeria’s operational system does not exist without inadvertent corrupt practices.
There is no gainsaying that greater percentage of the civil servants lied at the point of entry into the service. This was done and still being done so as to gain more years of active service. Even when job opportunities are publicised, a caveat would be placed on the age requirement. Most people damn the moral consequences and falsify their ages in order to fit into the required age limits.
The system is so corrupt that the lies obtained from the Court – in the name of affidavit is considered as being more authentic than baptismal certificate issued by a Church, which is believed to be the citadel of uprightness. Even where there is birth certificate issued by a relevant government institution, the applicant would, in order to secure a job, shelve it and would go to court to falsify his or her age. What a world?
The holy book says let your yes be yes, and your no be no (Mathew 5:37; Jas 5:12). That is to say that truth is truth and lie is lie. There is nothing like truth or half truth. The magnitude of lies that prevailed during the 2023 elections has shown that Nigeria is far from being free, if really the truth can set free. Unfortunately, different sectors has euphemistic name for lie. For instance, in judiciary it is called technicality. In politics, it is called propaganda.
Hardly would you see a politician who would after he gets into power keeps to the promises made during electioneering campaigns. That is what has been termed political talks/political promises.
During campaigns, they would use sweet-coated tongues to whip the electorates emotionally that they find it difficult not to belief whatever would be promised. They would employ all sorts of lies (propaganda) just to decimate the chances of the rivals.
In about one year ago, during the build up to the Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections earlier scheduled for Saturday, 11 March 2023, there were series of accusations and counter accusations flying across the social media. It was not unexpected because politics (especially in Nigeria) is fraught with propagandas aimed at denigrating the opponents and distracting the people in order to gain political advantage.
However, the trend took different dimension when the Catholic Church in Enugu Diocese dived into the tricky, slippery and mucky political terrain.
It filtered in like rumour until it became obvious that the church had become partisan. I say that the Church became partisan because no leader or priest of the church could authoritatively dish out any instruction from the pulpit without the consent of the Local Ordinary who is the supreme head of the Church in any diocese and he – the local ordinary, which is the bishop has the authority of the church.
Precisely during Masses on Sunday, 5 March 2023, things fell apart as priests in most parishes engaged in divisive and parochial campaign of calumny. It was least expected from the Church most especially the Catholic Church, which has over the decades propagated ecumenism and decency in politics.
What was witnessed at the Church I attended, I was made to understand was replicated in many other parishes, even with stronger emphasis. What exactly was the ‘fart that dispersed the birds away from the Iroko tree?’
Towards the end of the Sunday Mass, the priest commended the congregation for trooping out en masse during the previous week’s general election – for the president and the national assembly, where they voted massively for the candidates of Labour Party. He went further to urge them to replicate the gesture on the day of election for the gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly, but with a caveat.
According to him, “we should vote for Labour Party candidates for the House of Assembly and for the Enugu East Senatorial Zone, which was rescheduled because of the gruesome murder of the former candidate whose younger brother has been nominated as replacement by the party. But for the Governorship, we are voting the candidate of the PDP”. What were the reasons?
Firstly, he (the priest) said that since 1999, power has rotated among the three districts in Enugu State, starting with the Enugu East Senatorial District each serving for eight years. “In the spirit of justice, equity and fairness, it is the turn of Nkanu East Local Government Area to produce the next governor of Enugu State as Nsukka which produced the outgoing governor would not be allowed to govern for another eight years”. What an ignoramus elenchi? I thought as my blood was up.
Secondly, he further stated that the faithful should not vote the Labour Party candidate so as to protect the faith. Catholicism must be protected.
According to the priest, the candidate went around telling people that it was the turn of the Anglican to govern Enugu State. Later on another angle of the faith came up; that the Labour Party governorship candidate said that he would desecrate the Government House Chapel by removing the Blessed Sacrament when he becomes the governor.
Hardly had he finished when the congregation erupted in anger and confusion. The reaction that greeted that pastoral directive was unprecedented and never expected. Many did not care for the final blessings from the priest as they grumbled and walked out from the inside of the church. While that scenario was being experienced in some local churches, it was reported through viral video clips that the grand rejection of that pastoral directive was experienced at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, Ugwu-Di-Nso Eke.
That was the day members of the Enugu Diocesan Catholic Youth Organisation of Nigeria (CYON) were at the Centre for Lenten Retreat. The “preferred” candidate of the Diocese showed up to solicit the vote of the youth, with the usual promise ‘to create job for the youth’. The youth being non oblivious of the antecedent of the candidate in public space (which he may have ignorantly or willingly played in one of the past governments in the State) vehemently, publicly and violently expressed their minds.
According to what was shown or was seen on the video clips, it was the worst ignominy any aspirant or candidate, as much as I know, had ever experienced in Enugu State. After the display, image laundering approach was applied by the leadership of the youth but they had bared their minds. Medicine after death.
Another clip surfaced where the priest in charge of the Centre was emphasising why the Church preferred the candidate. First was that he presented ‘well-articulated’ campaign manifesto; stressing that he was the best candidate to beat as the Church was convinced that he would be accessible for guidance and assistance should he deviate from his campaign promises.
Now let us take the allegations one after another.
First, when had the church or its oligarchs become the implementer and interpreter of the constitution to have ruled that one component of Enugu East Senatorial District is now part of Enugu North?
It is not unclear that prior to the creation of the current electoral districts in Nigeria, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area had been part of Nsukka Senatorial Zone. The zones that existed after the creation of Enugu State in 1991 were Abakaliki Zone, Enugu Zone and Nsukka Zone. Then Isi-Uzo Local Government Area was made up of the present Isi-Uzo and Udenu Local Governments Areas.
When Abakaliki was granted statehood with some part of old Abia State to form Ebonyi State, there was need to partition the remaining two districts to get three districts just as required by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the new dispensation then. That was when the nomenclature was changed to be common with the name of States, hence Enugu North, Enugu East and Enugu West.
It is noteworthy that during the discussion to delineate the new Enugu State into three comparatively equal senatorial districts, none of the Isi-Uzo people was so influential politically to be consulted before annexing them into Enugu East Senatorial zone. I mentioned influential because other parts of Enugu State would have suffered the same fate if not because they had some bigwigs who stood firm to reject their annexation into strange or new political bloc.
When the pronouncement was made on Network News of the Radio Nigeria at seven o’clock on October 1, 1996 during the independence broadcast of the then head of state, General Sani Abacha, Isi-Uzo people had no choice. They accepted their fate in consolation that they have little cultural affinity with the Nkanu and Nike clan. Little did they know that they had entered one-chance wagon. To straighten the misconception of many who do not follow history, the annexation of Isi-Uzo into Enugu East (to beef up the population of Nkanuland) predated the coming of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani into political limelight
The mind-burgling question at this point is; when has Enugu East Senatorial District been Nkanunized to exclude some of its constituents when it comes to vying for elective positions? What kind of justice and equity was the Church in Enugu Diocese propagating? Now, if Isi-Uzo was no longer part of Enugu East Senatorial District, as the Nkanu political class and all those who believe them peddle it then there is every need to arrest and prosecute all those politicians that have represented the area for the past two decades for double and false representation because they represented two different districts at the same time.
On the issue of protecting the Catholic faith, where, when and how has it ever been proven that the Catholics are better or more christianly than other Christian sects?
What protection in God's name was he (they) talking about? If the Catholic Church could urge her faithful not to vote a candidate because he or she belonged to another Christian denomination, it then means that the church was shooting herself on the leg. That is what she might call heretical teaching. It is quite hypocritical for the Church to preach and propagate ecumenism and at same time admonish segregation within the Christian fold. Besides, I doubt if the Church has the exclusive right make any magisterial pronouncement on any state affairs that go against the wish of the people of God. She can only exercise her Magisterium on the Sanctuary when it comes to proclaiming the message and teachings of Christ.
The church had been known to propagate the gospel of ecumenism which rhymed with the fervent wish of Jesus Christ (John 17:20-21) prayed to his Father for the unity of his flock. If the Catholic Church faithful were to adhere to the instruction of their leaders to vote only their own, what happens to thousands of other Christian denominations and non-Christians in the State? That was parochial and primitive.
The question that could be pricking intelligent minds would be why couldn’t the Church authorities in the state invite the candidate to verify or at least investigate before rushing into conclusion knowing full well that the person in question is a worthy knight of the Anglican Communion who is also an in-law to a family of Catholic Knights? The Church in all her divine wisdom failed.
I am not worthy to advise or condemn the Church, far from that. I am only airing my views on issues that perturbed me for months. The beauty of democracy is the right of choice.
Any right-thinking Nigerian should not be in doubt that campaign manifestoes are just mere sweet-coated and utopian speeches/documents meant to sentimentally whip the electorates into acquiescence, because hardly do Nigerian politicians remember or consider their manifestoes as social contract that should be implemented immediately they secured the political positions they were contesting. They would give millions of reasons why they could not fulfil their campaign promises. Trading blames.
As things stand now, who could show the world part of the manifesto that mentioned Cattle Ranches or Colonies as part of the manifesto that was presented to the people?
It has been proven from past experiences that a government that will do well in Nigeria cannot be determined by the sweetness of its speeches or manifesto. Most of these documents contain bogus projects that will never address the basic needs of the people. This is because most of the intended projects were never intended to address socio-economic challenges of the people. Most times, the candidates do not even know the terrain of the areas they proposed a project or projects. I believe that the best approach would be to interface with the people first to ascertain what exactly the citizens’ priority needs were. Democracy can never thrive without the involvement of the people.
I really do not care who the majority of the people choose, but what bothers me is the process that led to the declaration of a winner. Was it fair? Was it credible? And that was why the presidential candidate of the Labour Party said that he was not challenging Bola Tinubu but the process that gave him the said victory.
During that electioneering, many Christian leaders at different times vowed that they would not live to see Muslim-Muslim presidency. What finally happened? Even as bishops were forged, everything forge-forge, the leaders of the CAN still went and blessed and had continued to pray for the success of the illegality imposed on the Nigerian citizens by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The aim of this write-up is not to criticise the Church or denigrate anyone. It is meant to keep the record straight. It is for the records because our people do not like to learn from history. It is always difficult for the mouth or the pen to say everything that goes on in the mind.
