Gbenro Adesina
The authority of the Catholic Church in Nigeria has pointed out that General Muhammadu Buhari is presiding over a country that has lost its very soul, stressing that the country is no longer a healthy entity.
The religious body also berated members of the National Assembly for failing to represent Nigerians, saying that rather than the legislators representing Nigerians, they had perfected the art of sabotaging the progress of their people.
These were parts of the resolutions the body made this week at a meeting held at the Domus Pastoral Institute, Igoba, Akure, Ondo State.
According to a communique issued and signed by Most Rev ‘Leke Gabriel Abegunrin and, Most Rev John Akin Oyejola by the Catholic Bishops of Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province, comprising Ibadan Archdiocese, Ilorin, Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti and Osogbo Dioceses, “The good health of any nation consists in its capacity to offer its citizens a territory, where they can feel at home, feel secure and enjoy the basic necessities of life”.
The communique reads, “This unfortunately, is no longer the case in our dear country, Nigeria, where, armed conflicts, armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom, insurgency, banditry and extra judicial killing persist as the order of the day. When a nation loses its soul, its people lose the cohesive elements of human relationship. A nation that has lost its soul is characterised by inept, uncaring leadership which functions by selective allocation of posts, privileges and resources and by selective application of justice. It is characterised by leaders who, rather than care for the citizens of the country, simply exploit and denigrate them. Such a nation takes food out of the mouths of its own citizens and watches them starve.
“It deploys its scarce resources to the advantage of the rich and powerful, while offering mere crumbs to the poor and weak. A nation that has lost its soul therefore breeds a citizenry where nobody cares for anybody else. Nigeria exhibits all of these traits, no doubt. Its constitutive principles of justice, equity and fair play have clearly fallen apart and the country is no longer at ease. No doubt, the very soul of Nigeria needs to be recovered”.
Speaking on the National Assembly, the communique reads, “The ongoing controversy surrounding the proceedings of the National Assembly gives ample evidence of the theatre of the absurd which democratic representation has become in Nigeria. Be it on the electoral reform, electronic transmission of electoral results, press freedom or the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB), the work of those who represent the people on the federal level in Nigeria does not seem to bring much satisfaction to the people for whose interest they were allegedly elected. With the National Assembly at various occasions prioritizing party and privileges over people’s rights and interest, relief and progress continue to elude Nigerians. Simply put, those who claim to represent the people seem to have perfected the art of sabotaging the progress of their same people. Indeed, the time may have come for Nigerians to no longer simply roll over and accept non-representative decisions of the assembly but to challenge them by all legitimate means”.
“We declare again, as we have done often in the past, that only the truth can set us free. Nigeria must allow this to happen! The attempt of the Nigerian National Assembly to silence the press and penalise journalists for merely doing their job is to be completely rejected. We hold that the freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, guaranteed by the constitution and cannot be alienated by any government least of all in a democracy. For the sake of our democracy, that right, exercised with responsibility, must be protected. We support Bishop Kukah in his effort to unveil the truth about the Nigerian situation in order to ameliorate things. We call on the Nigerian government to learn not to see criticism as an attack or a crime”, the communique added.
Urging Nigerians not to loss hope, the religious body said, “Ongoing electoral reforms give another opportunity for reviving the hopes of the people and confidence in the nation’s democracy. An important part of electoral reform, which is often ignored, is the education of the people who participate in building democracy. Only participation in the political process and adherence to the rule of law offer an enduring means of authentic change but people must be helped to understand this fact. We urge the media and civil society groups to sustain this education agenda so that Nigeria can reap the full benefits therefrom. We also urge our people to register and obtain their voters cards. Only this grants them the power to exercise their rights to determine who governs them from time to time. Our country will greatly benefit from this”.
According to the communique, the church expressed its deepest sympathies for the Nigerians who bear the brunt of Nigeria’s debilitating situation because of economic depression and hunger, armed robbery, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, unemployment and injustice.
“Many have died as it happened in Igangan in Oyo State and elsewhere, while so many are still dying. We call on all Nigerians to do all they can to help one another even in these hard times and work more assiduously to create a better society. To help the downtrodden and oppressed, it is not enough to provide relief materials. It is just as important to fight for justice and fairness and protect fundamental human rights”, the church charged.
The church encouraged Nigerians to be fervent in prayers saying that soon God’s would soon turn things for better in the country.
“To all our fellow Nigerians, we say “stand firm and never lose hope for God cannot be defeated”. We call on Nigerians to continue to pray and work for a better nation for we have no other country than this. If we do not give up doing good and believing in God’s promise, we shall see better days. “Behold, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall raise an upright Branch for David; he will reign as king and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country” (Jer. 23:5)”, the religious body concluded.
