A PAPER PRESENTED BY REV. FR. KENNETH
EVURULOBI AT THE TENTH LAITY WEEK PROGRAMME OF THE CHRIST THE KING CATHEDRAL
PARISH ABA ON 14TH OF MARCH, 2003.
1. INTRODUCTION
I wish to congratulate the organizers of the Laity
Week programme of the Cathedral Parish for their efforts as well as their
courage to put me on the list they considered worthy to deliver a lecture to an
audience of this kind.
I have to observe immediately that the topic of today
“The Social Justice Imperative of The Laity In Nigeria Today” is not only
appropriate and timely but also challenging, demanding and risky. The facts
that justify this position will emerge as the lecture unfolds.
Suffice it,
however, to say that for a long time, our country has been in the throes of
stifling regression brought about by many factors. Even Christians and the
Church at large are not spared the tragic consequences of this kind of system.
Any positive action put in place for the achievement of an improved living
condition and a better society is priceless.
1.1. Statement of the Problem:
In one of the numerous lecturers delivered in 1932
titled “Democracy: Its Presumptions and Realities”, Learned Hand observed that “Democracy
is a means of continuity, a principle of stability, a relief from the
paralyzing terror of revolution”. He however did not waste time to confess that
he (had) been where this was not true; in lands where one felt the pervasive
foreboarding of violence; of armed suppression; the inability of minorities to
exert just those peaceful pressures that seem to us so vicious; where government
is conducted, not by compromise, but by coup d’état’.
In my estimation today, I
think the land that fits Hand’s description of the rape of democracy is Nigeria.
And the consequences are everywhere.
In fact, as Archbishop of Lagos has correctly pointed
out, “Nigeria has created a queer record in the art of governance to the extent
that many countries of the world continue to show considerable interest in the
succeeding unfolding of political events in the nation…. The relatively short
period of democratic rule became the light at the end of the tunnel mainly
because of the preference accorded to democratic governance globally”.
Unfortunately, four years have elapsed since the advent of democracy, and a
little impact is made both at the national level and grassroots.
On the
other hand, as Obiora Ike pointed out, we see largely a growing population of
desperately emasculated and suppressed populace. Yet beside them, we also see
the rich and powerful living in scandalous luxury; we see the emergent
aristocracy of emergency contractors and kick-back millionaires making an
unrestrained and extravagant display of their often ill-gotten wealth; we see
high rising buildings springing up daily - dotting our landscape like little
pockets of water in a vast desert land mass”.
That is to say that national
life, as Okogie observes, is still characterized by the paradox of excruciating
poverty in the midst of stupendous plenty born out of an expertly organized
fraud and robbery. Our abundant
resources are managed by incompetent hands and squandered by some
self-acclaimed godfathers. Flagrant differences in wage and gross inequality in
the status quo, in alliance with economic hardships, has led to disease, lack
of education, drop outs from educational institutions, street life and instability of marriage,
family life and healthcare. The inescapable atmosphere of insecurity, violence,
armed robbery, murder, thuggery, corruption, religious profanity, bigotry and syncretism
in socio-cultural and religious life etc, created by these is caught up in a
viscous circle. Human life, virtues, traditional values and the commandments of
God are confronted with a threat of total extinction, or at best remain natural
and religious utopias which dot the external borders of human experience and
existence.
The church is not spared this embarrassment. In
fact need it be said that today, our churches - Catholic, Protestant and
Pentecostal - have been converted to malignant political zones, socio-cultural
clubs and economic pipelines in the hands of ecclesiastical touts, pretentious
pastors/evangelists and frustrated healers whose roots are deep in occultism
and syncretism. The result is greater oppression in a place and from the hands
that are supposed to protect us.
METHODOLOGY:
In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by
the United Nations’ General Assembly, Articles 1,2,3,4 without prejudice to the
other articles, acknowledge the importance of social justice and gave it the
first position in the scheme of events. Also article 18 asserted that “Everyone
has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion: this right
includes – freedom to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice,
worship and observance. Article 19 states: Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers.
On another note, it is important to observe that
the theologian’s task is to study or reflect on, guided by faith, the contents
of divine revelation as it affects him and his community. Theology is a
practical reflection on the realities of a believing community
through the eyes of faith. This task of the theologian
today does not lie in formulating new theologies (such a theology will be alien
and distanced from Christ and will not be the faith of the church, but rather a
pious opinion) in attempt to provide new answers to contemporary questions but
in taking daring steps, guided by the scripture, tradition and the magisterium,
to open the secret vaults of knowledge which the Holy Spirit has built into the
church so as to discover therein the hidden answers and explanations which God
has for such questions and realities. Such discovered answers and explanations
might be needed to be used to impregnate doctrines or enrich existing
doctrines, rites and rubrics, or even chart a new course in living experience.
This, I think, is the method I have adopted in this paper.
AIM
AND ARGUMENT
In the introduction to his book “Option for the
Poor,” Donal Dorr spelt out the aim of his book as “an examination of the
extent to which the official teaching of the church was in defense of the poor
and powerless in the society and an encouragement to them in the struggle for
justice”.
My very aim in this lecture is to bring Donal Dorr’s own aim to a
contextual practical application. That is, to examine the practical steps taken
by the laity in the struggle for social justice in Aba Diocese and in Abia in
particular and in Nigeria at large. Faith must be matched by meaningful
positive Christian action. Internal disposition most match external rubrics.
Otherwise, the picture painted is that of Jewish Pharasaism which inevitably came
under the gospel hammers. (cf. Mtt 17).
I am keenly interested in seeing a Laity that is
driven by the impulse of social justice to a responsive programme for a
betterment of the society and for an upgrade in the relevance of the church in
development as a way of incarnating the gospel in our culture.
Such an exercise according to Obiora Ike will
awaken us to the urgent and common task of addressing the present situation of
abuse, poverty, corruption, injustices, and the trampling of human rights very
prevalent in our societies.
During the heartless exploitation of working class
people in the wake of the 17th C Industrial Revolution, the Church
took a definitive stand on the side of the oppressed and unjustly deprived
workers, urging just wages and humane conditions of work. In a practical
demonstration, the encyclical “Rerum
Novarum” of Leo XIII was born.
Successive Pontiffs, as Obiora Ike noted, have used the occasions of its
anniversaries to widen and deepen its teachings and to reflect on various
issues of socio-political, economic and contemporary relevance. Today, many
encyclicals have sprung up in support and advance of the proposals put forward
by Rerum
Novarum. For example, Quadragesima
Anno, Mater et Magistra, Octegessima Adveniens, Laborem Exercen etc.
It was the same spirit that inspired Vatican II’s
document “Gaudium et Spes”. All these bear ample testimony to the Church’s
solidarity with the needy and suffering humanity and her unflagging solicitude
for men’s temporary and spiritual welfare”.
Today, Liberation theology is considered to be one
that is tailored to the African condition and the Third World countries. Recent
developments in this area have come in the form of a strong challenge to a
purposeful tangible Christian action against oppression and injustice and that
is, if we mean to realize our dreams for social justice.
In South Africa, along with Archbishop Desmond
Tutu and Rev. Alan Boesak, Mr. Steve Bantu Biko was one of the first black
young men to attempt to wrestle with the problems of Christianity and African
liberation. In 1977, Biko was killed by the South African Apartheid Government
which claimed to have been democratic while still excluding a major part of the
citizenry in its government. The realities of our political life today are the
same as it was of the then Apartheid South Africa. In a sermon delivered at the
funeral of Mr. Biko, Tutu said:
We thank and praise God for giving us such a
magnificent gift in Steve Biko, and for his sake and the sake
of ourselves, black and white together, let us dedicate ourselves to the struggle for the liberation of
our beloved land. If God is on our side, who can be against
us? What can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or hardship? We are being treated like sheep for the
slaughter and yet in spite of it all, overwhelming victory
is ours through him who loved us.
In a talk titled: “We Drink Water to Fill our Stomachs,”
Tutu appealed to the churches to show more concrete evidence of their
solidarity with the poor.
Also the Pope’s visit to his communist homeland,
Poland, and the publication of his encyclical Laboren Exercens endowed
notable polish Christians like Rev. Fr. Jerzzy and Mr. Lech Walesa with a new
and practical vision as regards positive Christian actions. “Solidarity”
(a liberation movement in Poland) was formed in 1983. Mr. Walesa’s wining of
the Noble
Peace Price encouraged him the more even though he had to remain
jobless. Walesa followed strictly a statement made by Fr. Jerzzy in one of the
sermons he preached as if it was the eleventh commandment. Fr. Jerzzy had said
that:
If we lack freedom, it is because we submit to
falsehood. It is because we don’t expose it, don’t dispute it,
each and everyday. We don’t try to rectify it. We remain
silent, pretending to accept it. That’s how we come to
live in falsehood.
I think
Fr. Jerzzy is correct. There is a towering mountain of falsehood and a
besieging pretentious attitude about many of us - our lives, religion, e.t.c.
coupled with an attendant embarrassing complacency. The first step towards the
achievement of social justice is taken when a bold and sincere attempt is made
to eschew selfishness and falsehood - if you like, pretense - from our lives,
individually or collectively.
Interior
liberation of the human person is a condition for liberation from social
bondage, economic oppression, alienation, colonialism etc. This could be
achieved by allowing the self be affected by the inner life of the Blessed
Trinity through the reading of the Word of God, by frequenting the sacraments
especially the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist, and by entering into real
encounter with God, with fellow human beings and with the entire creation.
There is a gross insincerity in the life
of many of us. For instance, when anyone hikes prices or creates unnecessary
monopoly that has caused people suffering, or in one way or the other, produces
low standard/quality products, or cheats somebody – customer - that person is
an oppressor. When one comes late to one’s work place or office as an employee,
go home before the agreed time, show fraudulent attitudes by stealing in the
name of “appreco”, such a person is an oppressor. When the owner
of a company refuses to pay the workers adequate salary, and on time, he is an
oppressor. When you practice “I.M” and
tribalism or refuse to pay your rents to your Landlord for no just cause, you
are an oppressor. When a husband or wife as the case may be refuses to do
his/her duty in the family or you yourself refuse to do your duty to the church
and society to which you or he/she belongs – that person is creating conditions
that are inhuman. When a child is disobeying his/her parents thereby causing
the parents much headache or suffering, no matter how just the cause, that child
is an oppressor. When government, groups and individuals who should speak up
fail to do so out of fear or helpless acceptance of unacceptable standards or
simply for the reason of what to gain, those individuals, groups, societies etc
are oppressors.
In our personal lives, many have built
structure of injustices and become road blocks to social justice by engaging in
one or any of these vices that are prevalent in society today. How many
husbands, wives, friends etc feel neglected, abandoned and oppressed? Many are
depressed, distressed, worn out, wounded, and helpless because of our attitudes,
behaviors and approaches to their situations and manners of perception. How
many have given up in life because we pass them by unnoticed. Many people are
suffering today because of a word spoken to them, perhaps unconsciously,
sometimes reflecting on their person and history. Many more feel depressed
because of our inability to forgive.
In his message on the 2002 World Day of
Peace, the Holy Father emphasized its three times that: “No peace without justice,
and no justice without forgiveness”. With this verse in view, I maintain that
the positive Christian action would involve, in the correct estimation of Donal
Dorr that:
(i)
Commitment by
church leaders and other well placed members of the hierarchy not to collude with oppressive regimes but to
campaign actively for structural justice in society and to take the risk of
throwing the authority of the official church behind efforts to resist
oppression and exploitation. I am convinced, writes John Paul II that Christians and Islamic religious leaders
must now take the lead in publicly denouncing terrorism and in denying terrorists any
form of religious or moral legitimacy. On
strength of this, Fr. Mbaka must be supported.
(ii)
A belief that
the key agents in bringing about such change must be the oppressed and the
marginalized themselves and therefore a commitment to work for and with those
groups, actively supporting and empowering them.
(iii)
There must be a
commitment to make the church itself more just, more alive and appreciative of
the conditions of the poor and oppressed groups and individuals. In this
way, their dignity and value can be recognized by being listened to, and they
can have a practical experience of being empowered by participating in decision
making.
And so today, if you ask me what the Social Justice
Imperative of the Laity is in Aba Diocese,
and in Abia State, I will boldly, courageously, fearlessly, prayerfully
and with a deep sense of duty towards the liberation and emancipation of the
overwhelming suffering masses of this state (a duty which my priestly vocation
and patriotic zeal have imposed on me) say that it is at two levels - at the
individual level and at the collective level. At the individual level, it is a
forceful exhortation, if you like, a warning to everyone to eschew all forms of
selfishness and falsehood, and to be wholly and attentively committed to our
Christian/ecclesial vocation and civil duty and as well establish a dialogical
encounter with our neighbor, with creation and ultimately with God.
Each member
of the laity is challenged to develop himself or herself. Honest, selfless and
sincere commitment to our different states of life is a social justice
imperative. Occult involvements deny us the basic concepts of love, justice and
equity and indeed build up oppressive systems. We have to become our brother’s
keeper today.
At the collective level it is to draw and execute
programmes or contribute to form a government that is committed to the
improvement and development of the human person. This has to be done, even if
in undertaking such a step, one runs the risk of being labeled a dissident, or
a rebel, or an opposition.
According to the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, it
is in bearing common witness to the truth that “the deliberate murder of the
innocent is a grave evil, always, everywhere and without exception, that the
world’s religious leaders will help to form the morally sound public opinion
that is essential for building an international civil society capable of
pursuing the tranquility of order, justice and freedom.
A sincere appraisal of our diocesan life reveals
that the meager resources of the diocese that have been harnessed so far, have
made little impact on structural development. Also, even with a mass of our
clergy outside of the shores of the country, minimal success is recorded in the
field of the development of manpower. Pious societies and parishes have assumed
the status of “asocial monads” less concerned with the general lot of the
diocese.
I seem to think that it is because of the death of many priests in our
diocese and the need to accord their corpses a certain dignity that is, over
and above all other considerations, the reason for building a mortuary at this
point in time. This is however, an unfortunate surrender to a deplorable
psychological derogation brought about by lack of social justice in the church.
A positive Christian action would have taken an opposite direction. It would
have sent us looking out for means of sustainable engagements geared towards
the preservation of rights and correcting the havocs cause by lack of social
justice – better living conditions put in place as a deterrent to untimely death of priests, the building of
Motherless Babies Home, equipment of our empty hospitals – were irresistible
allurements in the opposite direction. These and many more are issues of social
justice. However, though the CWO projects have been bruised by some sycophantic
elements that did not consider the suffering women in their midst, they
challenge all the parishes and pious societies when placed in their proper
perspectives. Other pious societies and parishes should follow and improve on
the example of the CWO in the diocese. Thus, while I insist that a functional
apology be rendered to those women who have been over burdened by the scheme of
events in the diocesan CWO, I will not fail to congratulate the initiators of
the CWO projects for their zeal even if these missed their targets.
The
lump of responsibility for the issues of social justice raised in this diocese
may have only a very weak grip on the neck of the Local Ordinary. Instead, it
is a lump that beckons on the attention of the Laity for proper adjustments and
utilization that demand, first of all, a confiscation of these resources from
the hands of ecclesiastical touts and a purposeful exclusion of diocesan
sycophants on the other hand, and the development of a theory of management
that is impregnated by vision and mission. And of course, this must be
expedient. These steps must be embraced by all facets of our diocesan life – parishes,
societies and organizations.
At
this point, it is imperative to listen to Lenard Hand who had exhorted that no
one should overlook to rebuke always those whose convictions are due to the unrestricted bias of their interests. Motives have easily accredited the
credentials of questionable proposals. Orji Kalu’s programmes and projects have
been scandalously and notoriously cosmetic and hypocritical. To love truth
sincerely means to pursue it with an earnest, conscientious, unflagging zeal.
It means to be prepared to follow the light of evidence even to the most
unwelcome conclusions; to labor earnestly to emancipate the mind from early
prejudices; to resist the current of desires and the refracting influence of
the passions; to proportion, on all occasions, conviction to evidence and to be
ready, if need be, to exchange the calm assurance for all the suffering of a
perplexed and disturbed mind. To do this is very difficult and very painful,
but it is clearly involved in the notion of earnest love of truth.
What is needed
in Abia State - a need that pokes its fingers on the nose of the laity of this
diocese, and on every Abia citizen - is a kind of functional rationalization, re-structuring
and stabilization that will have the
power to bring people down from the pinnacle of illusion and deception to which
this administration has occulticaly catapulted them to the scandalously
neglected realities in the moral, political, social-cultural, economic, ecclesial
and spiritual life.
And this administration, together with the operators
of its power buttons, must dearly pay for this kind of inhuman and oppressive
attitude visited on the humanity lump which Abia state represents. We need a
government that will begin a reversal, or if you like a total overhaul, of the
political machinery of Abia State. This is necessary before any meaningful
impact could be made by government on the suffering, dehumanized, mesmerized
and hyper-hypnotized Abians. Any government committed to this demands our
collective support. It is in fact an imperative on the part of the laity and
every Abian to support and help bring this kind of dream to a realization. Even
if there seems to be delay, our patience should be tasked. In this frame work,
things formerly valued in a decadent society may become targets of our
disapproval especially as we conquer the grips of ignorance, and become more
conscious of the effects of occultism, bribery, corruption, thuggery, etc. Positive
Christian involvements and actions built on the foundation of a certain gospel
radicalism is an allurement.
Taking
this collective dimension of the social justice imperative of the laity in Aba
diocese and Abia state to its practical appreciation, I strongly maintain, with
a prophetic accent, that it demands voting the present administration of
Orji-Uzor-Kalu out of government in the next election. This conclusion may seem
biased, hasty and, therefore, elicit a kind of resentment especially
considering the unaudited applause his government has worn. But a careful,
sincere and unbiased perusal of the following facts - even though their depth and
adverse effects may not be discussed in this paper -illuminated by certain
democratic principles, will violently but imperatively push us to the other
side of the block in search of arms.
1) To begin with, this administration of Orji Uzor
Kalu has converted our human and natural resources into a private property. And
worst still, it has persistently insulted us by giving us swollen peanuts from
the basket of goodies which democracy, at this stage of development, has made
available to us. The worst is that those peanuts have been claimed to be the
product of an unqualified magnanimity. By renaming everything after himself and
as his posters bear eloquent testimony, Orji Kalu has issued himself with a
certificate in deified humanism. Unfortunately, all of us know that he is a
graduate in international organized fraud, 419sm, occultism, murder and
thuggery. And that the prison walls here and abroad are yearning to have him as
its most important occupant. In Abia State, Orji is expertly doing what he
graduated in - 419sm.
2) The
present administration of Orji Kalu has denied Abians the security that they
needed all this while that armed robbery had menaced them by politicizing
Bakassi and converting it into an instrument for political thuggery and
witch-hunting through the assistance of a seven acclaimed godfathers of
criminals in Aba. It is embarrassing that a government should collude with
notorious criminals. Thanks to God for Obasanjo’s intervention in the Bakassi
issue.
3) The
administration has insulted our hopeful expectation for good roads, not only
through organized fraud, but also through a manipulation of our people. For
instance, how much was debited to the State Account as the cost of rebuilding
Port- Harcourt Road which has gone bad again after three years? How much did
the people living along that road contributed? Then compare it in quality with
the roads Mbakwe built since 1978.
4) This
administration has destroyed one of the most important traditional symbols in
Igbo land - the traditional stool. A meager and horrible sum of N60,000.00 has been put as a price tag
over integrity and security. And no wonder the quality of honesty in the land!
Today, many villages are on the necks of each other. The unfortunate thing is
that this arrangement is meant to serve as destabilizing factor in a political
zone considered to be in strong bonding – Ukwa-Ngwa. Thus, in this administration,
anything goes.
5) This
administration abused our vote which was hijacked from Vincent Ogbulafor
through a fraudulent political front “The Reality Organization” by paying
members of the State House of Assembly N5million
each for the impeachment of an innocent deputy Enyinnaya Abaribe for his
refusal to join in political banditry of an international and national repute.
He exchanges the fate/destiny of our God’s own State for an occult identity
through a witch - the so-called mother - whose kitchen has turned out to be a
shrine where the future destiny and fortunes of many men and women, our cities
and states are hatched in an occult incubator borrowed from the most highest
unimaginable chambers of satanic hierarchy. Our individual lives as well as the
fate of our trade unions, social groups, organizations, economy, tradition and
culture on the one hand, and our Christian vocation intimately tied to the
dioceses of Aba and Umuahia and the Anglican and Pentecostal churches and all
churches on the other hand - in short, the fate of Abia State is a complex one
and cannot be tied to a notorious ambition of an international and national gangster like Orji Kalu and his
kitchen cabinet.
It is on this note that I warn the so-called Aba Diocesan Political Awareness
Committee; the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) and the Rex
Newspaper to always be careful. In fact, I was disappointed some time
ago when I read in Rex Newspaper that St. Joseph’s parish, Aba has promised to
vote Orji Kalu back in the next election. In the light of this, I seize this
opportunity to warn the members of the parish council in this cathedral parish
and all the parishes in Aba Umuahia. And on the other side, I plead with the
hierarchy for caution to be exercised in the careless and ungraded support they
show to the hoodlums in the corridors of power and the acceptance of the crisp
Naira notes that insult and soil people’s hands through overtly generous
galore. This kind of attitude is a blunt confession of the pitiable lot of the
poor masses and an embarrassment to our faith especially as it relates to social
justice.
At this point I will not fail to thank the Catholic Bishop of Aba for
refusing to be drafted into the soiled agenda of the present administration.
May his footprint multiply itself in the sands of history. Mention has to made
of CBCN (Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria) who recently, through its
president, His Grace, Archbishop Onaikan, the Archbishop of Abuja, demonstrated
its stand before your presence in this our magnificent cathedral during the
Dedication last year. Archbishop Onaikan did not mince words to educate Orji
Kalu and all political actors in the country and every member of the Nigerian
community that our leaders have failed us, and that necessary and substantial
changes have to be made in the political Organigram of our country so as to
save our nascent democracy and keep the military back in their barracks. In
such gallant demonstration of solidarity with the poor and the marginalized
lies our hope for social justice in Abia State and in Nigeria at large.
As I
said, if the singular and purposeful solidarity demonstrated by CBCN in this
diocese through His Grace Archbishop Onaikan and the Masses said by the priests
in this diocese for a better Abia State, together with the prayers Against
Bribery and Corruption, and Prayer for Nigeria in Distress, which are programmes in which the clergy through CBCN
and the laity join their spiritual force - if all these is to be followed by a
purposeful selfless action by the laity, I think social justice could not have
eluded us. Fear and creed are actually man’s worst obstacles on the road to liberation
and development.
Change is an imperative in order for humanity to realize
itself. For social justice to obtain today, we need a change in our economics,
political and social life. In fact, knowing full well that the role which the
government plays in the integral development of a peoples’ life, combined with
the fact that the machinery put in place for this function in Abia State is not
only decayed and unproductive, cancerous and impotent but also illusive and
pretentious, I hereby submit that the greatest need for the poor masses and for
the church – a need that will revive our economic, social, spiritual life is a
political change. Obasanjo’s sincere programmes on the side of the alleviation
of gross poverty are sabotaged by the Orji Kalu’s administration through his
selfish ambition translated as “concern for Ndi Igbo”.
The church is dire need of a change of government as a prelude to a
change in economic, social and religious life. For the church to be complacent
in a period like this and refuse to be touched by the cry of the oppressed, the
hungry and poverty stricken faces of those who come to the 5:30am masses in our
different parishes, the inhuman conditions of life in the ghettoes of Aba and
rural areas, and instead be contented with a peanut from the hands of a
criminal and oppressive government for the building of our comfortable parish
houses and magnificent churches is to credit the conclusion drawn by Karl Marx
that “Religion is an opium”.
In fact the radical Lagos lawyer Gani Fawehmi,
quoting an author, said that those who make necessary changes impossible, make
violent change inevitable. And even as much as His Holiness Pope John II prices
and values dialogue, he says that “peace may not necessarily mean the absence
of war, it may mean its presence”. And of course, one cannot dialogue with the
fruits and agenda of Satan. Instead, the roots must be uprooted for Matt 15:13
says “every tree not planted by my father must be uprooted”.
CONCLUSION
Everybody has the inescapable task of initiating
and promoting the struggle for liberation and social justice. The laity should
be about this despite the cost on their lives. In fact, on the cost of social
justice on our personal lives or on its seemingly adverse effects lies the
meaning of Christian togetherness and solidarity. And at its root is the core
of the commandment of love.
In this era, the laity is challenged to be in
possession of a sound, forceful and authentically biblical theory of
development of the whole human person with special emphasis on social justice.
They should come out very strongly in defense of human rights, human worth and
human dignity through Christian actions in our homes and personal lives.
The
church should also evolve a real acculturative attempt so that the gospel may
become the matrix of action in families, homes, villages, offices, market
places, etc.
Before I finally draw the cotton on this lecture,
may you have the opportunity to read through this poem which together with two
others is the fruit of my meditations with regard to the general state of
affairs in the nation.
THE
BELOVED AND ADULTEROUS NIGERIA
Adulterous Nigeria!
Yet my homeland!!
Beloved Nigeria!
Is this you?
This scramble for your hips irritates!
Remand your
shameless rapists of the depth of their crime.
Decamp these vultures and dogs
That hang around you as customers and messiahs
For they are only ogres
With orgy appetite
For your costly blood
About your prodigal sons
Demand their alibi when the rapists
Bounced on you.
And give them a shovel to dig a grave
Deep enough to bury their debauchery.
But not like innocent coffins buried
In the outskirts of Aso Rock after the Ejigbo
crash
For we shall dig them up tomorrow to do some
autopsy.
Please do it.
Or then, pour your venom on their rich oily face.
Remember also the gold buried in paper
But stowed away in far away Switzerland.
Defrock yourself of these lurid idioms
And adorn the gorgeous wrapper and chieftaincy
dress
Like that worn by Mazi Mbonu Ojike
And then put on Nkrumah’s spectacle.
Now you will you rejoice
To see a mass of green pastures
That stretches out like ocean waters
With shy fumes rising from indigenous factories
Like westaria plant to betray the arrival
Of an indigenous technology.
You shall be stunned
At the staggering number of your refugees
Returning from concentration camps
In far distant lands irrigated by your blood and
sweat
And flowing with your milk and honey.