Twisted logic of a warring cleric

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

That was all that was required for PDP stalwarts, their powerful and influential media, Pa Clark, and sympathetic Bishops and clerics from the southwest and southeast, where religion is heavily commercialized, to launch a war in support of the northern minority Muslim VP candidate.

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal, who lost his ward to the PDP but hoped to be chosen as VP candidate, says Tinubu’s choice of a “Muslim-Muslim ticket was a direct attack on Christians.” A section of CAN even issued a fatwa, saying, “When it comes time to vote, vote only in favor of the Church, not your party.” Any believer who sells out his faith in the name of politics is on his way to hell.”

Tragically for our country, this type of CAN member would forbid their Christian children from reading the Quran, just as some misguided Muslim parents would forbid their children from reading the Bible, failing to recognize that we are grooming them to run our society.

According to Fr. Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi and Rev. Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), “the unity of this country has, over the years, been maintained by a delicate balancing of the religious and the regional,” a claim that is not entirely true. Religion has always been a threat to our nation’s survival, with many claiming Islam is mentioned in more than a dozen places in the constitution as if Nigeria, a secular state dragged into the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) without consultation, is an Islamic state.

Former President Obasanjo claims that any attempt to run a Muslim/Muslim ticket is not only “insensitive of the highest order,” but also “very bad politics indeed.” I hope someone reminds him that it was under his Obasanjo/Atiku Christiaan/Muslim ticket that 13 northern governors established illegal Sharia, sent their youths to Sudan for indoctrination under Osama Bin Laden, and returned to form the nucleus of today’s insurgent groups. Shortly before a helicopter crash, General Aziza, President Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, told us that Obasanjo’s PDP was behind the formation of Boko Haram to serve as a balance of terror for political opponents.

With the facts stated above, it is difficult to argue that warring southern Christians who, instead of first removing the logs in their own eyes, are waging battle on behalf of northern minority Christians are PDP sympathizers.

According to George Will in his book “Statecraft as Soul Craft,” the only purpose religion has in common with politics is “the emancipation of the individual through the education of his passion.” If a section of CAN is nostalgic about their gains during the Obasanjo/Atiku and Jonathan years of the locust want to know how Christians can lead by example, they can look to Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis, who has a reputation of modesty and humility, eschewing trappings of office by living in an apartment where he made his own food and rode to work by busisted logic of rival clerics

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

Nigerian Christians, understandably, are concerned. Those who believe President Buhari has handled the threat of Fulani herdsmen killers and bandits with kid gloves have raised concerns about the country’s security situation. Unfortunately, he has done insufficient to refute his critics’ claims of a “Fulanisation and Islamisation agenda.” His agreement with Gumi’s thesis that rehabilitation and reabsorption of repentant killers into security services, rather than outright elimination of those who had visited violence on Nigerians, as strongly advocated by Kaduna’s Nasir El Rufai and Katsina’s Aminu Masari, was one indication of this. Today, herdsmen and bandits continue to attack trains, free prisoners from prisons, and keep their victims in the bush for as long as they want.

“The nation’s scourges are Fulani herdsmen terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers who hide behind religion to wage war against the nation, sacrilegiously torching churches.” And the chicken has only just come home to roost for the north, which has always used religion to manipulate the poor masses of their people in electoral warfare.

Without a doubt, religion plays an important role in modern society. The ‘promotion of good citizenship, dialogue among the people, and serving as a witness of truth and righteousness by speaking out against injustice’ is one aspect of this. Unfortunately for our country, rather than acting the gospel by promoting fellowship, trust, faith, and hope, a large segment of the church takes advantage of our people’s deepest fears and ignorance. In the east, the church has become an economic weapon, selling grace to the highest bidder, particularly their governors, much like the Catholic Church did 500 years before Martin Luther. Obasanjo, Jonathan, and Osinbajo squandered a lot of time in the southwest that could have been spent ministering to the people by keeping vigil at night while their ministers stole the country blind. Buhari’s inept management of the Fulani herdsmen and bandits’ onslaught on Nigerians, using attacks on Christian churches to divert attention away from their true goal – the lust for land – as an incentive for crooked pastors to further exploit our people’s ignorance by inflaming passion.

But Tinubu who insists religion is not our problem hopes to change the above narrative by proving Muslim-Muslim ticket is not antithetical to the interest of all adherents of various religions in Nigeria. But for the PDP and their media that are expected to reflect society or set agenda for society, it is an all-out war against Tinubu. Whipping up religious sentiments against his Muslim-Muslim ticket, they hope will enhance their chances in the 2023 election.

Since the ethnic irredentists in Buhari’s government are more favourably disposed to replicating the crisis in the south rather than find solution, the question today should be which of the three leading candidates are best prepared to achieve elite consensus that has defied the nation since the end of the civil war.

Both PDP and APC unfortunately suffer the same affliction. By its constitution, PDP presidential candidate ticket ought to have gone to a Southeast or South-south Christian, the two geo-political zones that have remained loyal to PDP since 1999. To this end, PDP and APC southern governors met in Asaba under Governor Okowa. Pa Edwin Clark cursed any southern leader that would accept VP slot from any northern PDP candidate. At the end, the hegemonic owners of PDP from the north, claiming they could not find an electable Christian candidate from the south, outwitted Wike, the leading candidate from the south and handed over their ticket to Atiku who had contested every presidential election under various parties since 1999. PDP and their today’s warring clerics kept their peace.

But for his grit and gut, Tinubu was not supposed to secure the APC presidential ticket already ceded by Adamu, former PDP stalwart and Buhari imposition as APC chairman, to Ahmed Lawan, another Fulani from the north. His steadfastness paid off when 11 predominantly northern Muslim governors rebelled against Adamu and took sides with Tinubu. And based on their advice, he settled for a Muslim-Muslim ticket as a strategy to win the election.
But Tinubu, who insists that religion is not our problem, hopes to change the above narrative by demonstrating that a Muslim-Muslim ticket is not in the best interests of all Nigerians. But it’s all out war against Tinubu for the PDP and their media, which are expected to reflect society or set the agenda for society. They hope to improve their chances in the 2023 election by inciting religious sentiments against his Muslim-Muslim ticket.

Because ethnic irredentists in Buhari’s government prefer to replicate the crisis in the south rather than find a solution, the question today should be which of the three leading candidates is best prepared to achieve elite consensus, which has eluded the nation since the end of the civil war.

Unfortunately, both the PDP and the APC are affected by the same disease. According to the party’s constitution, the presidential ticket should have gone to a Southeast or South-South Christian, the two geopolitical zones that have remained loyal to the PDP since 1999. To that end, the PDP and APC southern governors met in Asaba under the leadership of Governor Okowa. Pa Edwin Clark cursed any southern leader who accepted the vice presidency from any northern PDP candidate. Finally, the hegemonic owners of the PDP from the north outwitted Wike, the leading candidate from the south, and handed over their ticket to Atiku, who had contested every presidential election under various parties since 1999. PDP and today’s feuding clerics kept the peace.

But, despite his grit and guts, Tinubu was not expected to secure the APC presidential ticket, which had already been ceded to Ahmed Lawan, another Fulani from the north, by Adamu, a former PDP stalwart and Buhari imposition as APC chairman. When 11 predominantly northern Muslim governors rebelled against Adamu and sided with Tinubu, his tenacity paid off. And, on their advice, he settled for a Muslim-Muslim ticket as a winning strategy.
That was all that was required for PDP stalwarts, their powerful and influential media, Pa Clark, and sympathetic Bishops and clerics from the southwest and southeast, where religion is heavily commercialized, to launch a war in support of the northern minority Muslim VP candidate.

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal, who lost his ward to the PDP but hoped to be chosen as VP candidate, says Tinubu’s choice of a “Muslim-Muslim ticket was a direct attack on Christians.” A section of CAN even issued a fatwa, saying, “When it comes time to vote, vote only in favor of the Church, not your party.” Any believer who sells out his faith in the name of politics is on his way to hell.”

Tragically for our country, this type of CAN member would forbid their Christian children from reading the Quran, just as some misguided Muslim parents would forbid their children from reading the Bible, failing to recognize that we are grooming them to run our society.

According to Fr. Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi and Rev. Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), “the unity of this country has, over the years, been maintained by a delicate balancing of the religious and the regional,” a claim that is not entirely true. Religion has always been a threat to our nation’s survival, with many claiming Islam is mentioned in more than a dozen places in the constitution as if Nigeria, a secular state dragged into the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) without consultation, is an Islamic state.

Former President Obasanjo claims that any attempt to run a Muslim/Muslim ticket is not only “insensitive of the highest order,” but also “very bad politics indeed.” I hope someone reminds him that it was under his Obasanjo/Atiku Christiaan/Muslim ticket that 13 northern governors established illegal Sharia, sent their youths to Sudan for indoctrination under Osama Bin Laden, and returned to form the nucleus of today’s insurgent groups. Shortly before a helicopter crash, General Aziza, President Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, told us that Obasanjo’s PDP was behind the formation of Boko Haram to serve as a balance of terror for political opponents.

With the facts stated above, it is difficult to argue that warring southern Christians who, instead of first removing the logs in their own eyes, are waging battle on behalf of northern minority Christians are PDP sympathizers.

According to George Will in his book “Statecraft as Soul Craft,” the only purpose religion has in common with politics is “the emancipation of the individual through the education of his passion.” If a section of CAN is nostalgic about their gains during the Obasanjo/Atiku and Jonathan years of the locust want to know how Christians can lead by example, they can look to Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis, who has a reputation of modesty and humility, eschewing trappings of office by living in an apartment where he made his own food and rode to work by bus.