Dennis Ogu
It is somehow becoming a tradition in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, that our leaders are now above criticism or above correction, even when it is glaringly clear that they are wrong or are heading in the wrong direction.
I don’t know where it is written anywhere that leaders know it all or that nobody should point out errors by leaders; and I find it very difficult to understand when presidents or heads of state and even states governors suddenly transformed themselves into gods that criticising them now becomes a sin or an abomination.
With recent happenings in the country, it is no longer in doubt that something has definitely gone wrong with the sense of reasoning of many Nigerians.
It is no longer news that Cardinal John Onaiyekan and other leaders of the Catholic Church in Nigeria had a meeting with Mr President on the state of the nation.
But the outrage that has greeted the cardinal’s media briefing on the discussion they had with the president is baffling. What is wrong with the issues they raised in the office of the president? Are the issues not what Nigerians are going through? What is wrong with telling Nigerians what they discussed with the president? Is there anything secret about their discussion with the president? Don’t Nigerians have the right to know what is said about them?
It came to a point where many supporters of Mr President hurled abuses at the prelate. While some criticise him for divulging what transpired between them and the president, others criticised him and the other bishops for speaking the truth to the president – for those critics, the church leaders were not kind to the president.
Some of them are even saying that Cardinal Onaiyekan hates President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while others say that he has never recognised him as president of Nigeria since 2023.
Sadly, a number of the clerics are part of this bandwagon that are hauling abuses on the prelates. So, some people can sink this deep in trying to impress the president? They can go this deep when they are well aware that the action of the prelates is in the best interest of all Nigerians? They can be so debased in their reasoning even when the action of the prelates are meant to address issues against humanity?
But come to think of it; whether Cardinal John Onaiyekan recognises Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president or not is immaterial. That does not deny the fact that he is the president of Nigeria. And the fact that they have gone to his office to discuss the issues they believe he needs to address which are issues affecting Nigerians generally. It means they recognise his status as the president of Nigeria; otherwise, no other person is in a position to address such issues except the president of Nigeria.
Again, the issues they discussed with the president are issues that demand urgent attention or state of emergency, as the situation is now dire and doesn’t need to be trivialised.
Everybody in this country is feeling the pains of hunger, insecurity, killings and the high inflation everywhere; unless otherwise there are those who benefit from this deplorable situation of things in the country.
We often end up promoting and increasing our problems by trying to buy the favour of those who are either afflicting us or have failed to help out but are in a position to do something.
Praise-singing and hero-worshipping and trying to curry the favour of our leaders at the expense of the general good and development of the country will only end up promoting nepotism and corruption and failure.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said that “the Church is the conscience of the society”. And the Church can only be and remain the conscience of the society by speaking the truth and standing by it at all times regardless of what may be the consequences.
If the law court should pass its judgement without regard to public opinion, why should the Church be afraid of the civil leaders when speaking the truth? They are the people the Church is meant to speak the truth in their face without fear or favour. Any day the Church ceases to speak the truth, she has failed her own conscience and therefore loses her moral standing to be the conscience of the society.
The Catholic prelates that spoke the truth to Tinubu and Nigerians have done what is required of them as ministers of Christ, because one African adage has it that “what kills an elder is failing to say things as he sees them and what kills the youth is failing to heed good advice from elders.”
The holy Bible says in the book of Matthew 9:37-38 that “the harvest is plenty but the workers are few….” The only way the Church can do great harvest for God is by her leaders to speak the truth and living lives worthy of emulation.
Speaking the truth always and setting good examples are the good fruits the Church must bear to show that she is of Christ and for Christ. And it is one way they can make people believe in Christ, because Christ himself said “I am the way, the truth and the life….”
Even under normal conditions, we need to ask salient questions as a people about what our leaders are doing about the problems that are standing on our way of progress. Prof. Niyi Osundare (the celebrated Nigerian poet) once said that “a society that asks questions is a living society”. Once we stop asking questions about the situations we find ourselves; once we stop asking our leaders the relevant questions about what they are doing to make our society better, that is the day we should be declared dead; because every living society often encounters situations that require them to ask questions, seek answers and solutions to their problems.
We are not supposed to worship our leaders but to be partners with them in shaping our future and in harnessing our common wealth. And being partners with them means that we should not fail to call them to order when they go wrong.
Effective followership does not translate to blindness or being mute or weak or docile. We should be able to say something when we see something. Otherwise, any society whose people lack the moral courage to ask relevant questions and take necessary actions always produces corrupt, inept and irresponsible leaders.
Ogu, a public affairs analyst writes from Sango Ota, Ogun state.
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