“TRUTH IS BITTER. IT MUST BE ATTENDED TO WITH BITTER PILLS TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO ISSUES.”
Since the last visit of the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Nigerian social environment and the media have been awash with widespread jubilation from lovers of truth, peace, and justice with divine conscience. There have also been some dissident voices from enemies of truth, justice, and peace with muddled consciences, criticizing the Bishops for their openness in carrying out their apostolic duties to God’s flock under them in the country called Nigeria.
There is a saying in Igboland that an elderly person cannot be in the house and the goat dies where it is tied. In interpretation: “OKENYE ANAGHI ANO N’ ULO EWU ANWUO N’ OBU/OGBURU” (elementary translation for everyone to understand the meaning).
It is, therefore, very imperative that all men and women of good conscience should rise in unison and applaud the Catholic Bishops for their uprightness, steadfastness, and for telling the government the obvious truth, which some individuals who are only looking for crumbs from the table have failed to speak out about, either out of fear of being sent out of office or as a result of being naïve or timid.
The Bishops/clergy are the conscience of the people in every society. The other groups are the media and the judiciary. However, we don’t talk of the National Assembly in Nigeria presently until we have one to reckon with. Ordinarily, that should be the next voice of society. Unfortunately, Nigeria’s judiciary has gone to the winds, especially the apex court.
It is the spiritual and moral duty of men of the pulpit to speak for the people without fear or favour. It is their obligatory duty, their divine mandate. Truth is bitter, and it must be taken with bitter pills to find immediate solutions to issues. Though it may be painful to some, it is better said to move the environment forward.
The Catholic Bishops have always spoken truth to power when things go wrong in this country and elsewhere. They have also commended governments when they do well. Unfortunately, in recent years, Nigerian governments have disappointed the citizens. They only think of their tribe, cronies, or associates rather than the interest of the generality of the people.
In doing this evil, they plant bigots, clueless, and shameless individuals to defend them by writing trash to suppress the truth and bring in tribal, clannish, and religious sentiments to deceive the gullible and uninformed members of society. Some of these elements can even sell members of their families in defence of evil, so long as some peanuts or crumbs are dropped on their tables. When challenged with facts, they secretly tell you it is politics.
A typical example can be seen from what the likes of David Bwala, Bayo Onanuga, and Femi Fani-Kayode wrote previously about Tinubu in the 1990s and early 2000s.
A government or a society without any iota of truth is doomed, and this is what is playing out in Nigeria. What disturbs a greater percentage of Nigerians is that over 95% of those who will rise to attack the Catholic Bishops were those who condemned what they called evil during the Goodluck Jonathan era. Some of them were men of the pulpit who even led protests on the streets of the country, calling on Jonathan to resign.
Today, evil waters have shut their mouths, and they have gone to their covens to hide and remain mum. Some of them denied their faith to have political positions, moving from Christianity to another religion. Some told their congregations and members that they were going to be the 16th President of Nigeria. Where are they today? They should speak either in favour of evil or truth.
Any person attacking Cardinal John Onaiyekan and the Bishops for speaking truth to power before Tinubu has no human brain and must have been born with a bedevilled mindset.
Cardinal Onaiyekan has been known worldwide as the voice of the masses, just like fearless clerics such as Archbishop A. J. V. Obinna of the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, Cardinal Anthony Okogie of the Lagos Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Matthew Kukah when he was a priest, the former Archbishop Kaigama of the Jos Archdiocese, Pastor Paul Enenche, Pastor David Oyedepo, Johnson Suleman, Apostle Joshua Selman, and Pastors Jerry Eze and Dami. These people have always stood for the truth.
It is senility to attach the Catholic Bishops’ visit to any political interest. Historians in this country can go to their archives to buttress my position. The Catholic Bishops don’t give a hoot who is concerned. Their particular interest is to advise governments on how to handle the feelings of the masses.
What does a Catholic priest want from government for him to be attached to politics other than the welfare of the country and the masses? To say the least, a Catholic priest is greater than any elected individual, even presidents of countries. Their office is permanent, or till death do them part, while elected positions are temporary.
When an elected official steps down, that is the end of his authority, and he can never perform the duties of a president or elected official again. So it is better for such a person to use his office judiciously to prove himself a good or bad leader, depending on how he wants to be remembered.
There is no gainsaying the fact that over 90% of Nigerians are passing through hell on earth. The suffering has overwhelmed them. Prices of commodities have risen beyond their reach. Insecurity is the order of the day, to the point that accusing fingers point at some leaders in various political positions as being responsible for it.
Travelling from one community to another has become a nightmare or a herculean task, such that one carries one’s heart in one’s hands. Many find it difficult to have one meal a day.
The governors, in their states, are not helping matters. All of them want to be aircraft owners with public funds. Local governments in the country have been left moribund and isolated. There are no graded roads, let alone tarred roads, in the rural areas of most Nigerian communities.
Most pensioners are not paid their pensions or gratuities. Some still earn two thousand naira as monthly pension for many years. The governors only care about themselves, their cronies, and their families. They don’t even care to harmonize the pensions and gratuities of their retirees, as is done in many sane climes. Even when previous governments provided funds for such, they ended up embezzling them.
Most people will not believe it. Even the writer of this piece is owed 75 months’ pension arrears, 12 years’ salary arrears, and retirement gratuity since 2012. I decided to use myself as an example so that it will not appear as if I am speaking from the moon.
There are so many people in this situation across the country. Yet many political appointees brag about being very comfortable through our common wealth. Many Nigerians find it difficult to pay their house rent. This situation has led many families of six to ten people to squat in a 10ft by 10ft room because they cannot afford what to eat before seeking comfort.
It is my simple advice to the President that instead of allowing political hawks to deceive him into believing that all is well in the country, contrary to what the Catholic Bishops told him, he should take the speech of the Catholic Bishops very seriously and consider it an honest document that reveals the true position of things in the country.
He should work with it with passion, focused attention, and outright precision. Their speech should be treated as an urgent matter of national emergency.
