A piece of Mbaka

As I reflected on the Nigerian experience, it became apparent that, as a people, successive governments have cheated us. They have not served us well.When this young democracy came in 1999 the hopes and aspirations of each citizen was that Nigeria would mature into a fully functional State that promotes the welfare of its citizenry […]

As I reflected on the Nigerian experience, it became apparent that, as a people, successive governments have cheated us. They have not served us well.
When this young democracy came in 1999 the hopes and aspirations of each citizen was that Nigeria would mature into a fully functional State that promotes the welfare of its citizenry and become a symbol of hope to Africans everywhere. However, after 15 years of the democratic dispensation, Nigeria’s development can be aptly personified as that of a child in delayed puberty, and both political parties and the iconoclastic clergy should be held accountable for the role they have played in stifling the Nigerian dream.
But let me first make an attempt to mollify my readers who have called and rebuked me for leaving my column without notice last week. I was actually AWOL. I had been away in Scandinavia to witness Malala Yousoufzai receive her Nobel Prize in Oslo and then returned to Sweden to spend Christmas with my family. Christmas is usually fun, when it is white. And I was lucky it was and I am sorry I left you wondering.
 It was at one of those cold winter parties at a Nigerian friend’s home that Evangelist Ejike Mbaka pissed me off. A video was played of Ejike Mbaka at the house-partty and it became the topic of discussion. I refuse to call Mbaka pastor because what he does in his church abuses his flock. I say so because if you do a preview of Mbakas run-ins with the society and how he imperils Christianity you would have no reason to ordain him a priest. He is instead a jaundiced politician in the pulpit. In 2002 Mbakas sermons attracted gunmen to his arena causing a stampede that almost led to loss of lives. In 2006 he antagonized Chimaroke Nnamani and endangered the lives of about three of his church members, all of them orphans.
Last year he did the unthinkable. At the tail end of it, he praised President Jonathan to high heavens and even asked his congregation to give the President a carte blanche come 2015, for having done so well in office. Then at New years he made a complete turn around and poured invectives on the lucky president. I would have said that Mbaka was just moving with the flow, but Mbaka himself thinks he is venturing where devils fear to tread.
But I am not impressed with Mbaka. When one does a comparative study with other clerics that embarked on the noble ideal of self-adulation in the name of saying it as it is, I usually ask them where they were at the beginning when things were going terribly wrong? Why do they always wait until elections before playing to the gallery? Are religious people supposed to engage in double speak?
One cannot help but cry when you see the destruction that the clergy are doing to religion in general. They have bastardized the sacredness of their jurisdictions. Take for example Major Mahmood Abubakar Gumi, the one who aspires to be Sheikh like his dad is not been able to be a replica of Sheikh Abubakar Gumi the sage.  It would have been permissible if they did what they do without inflicting both physical, emotional and psychological pain on society, but the religious community in Nigeria has become injurious to the Nigerian dream and each religion is not without blemish because all the priests have a piece of Mbaka in them.
Unknown to them, their involvement in politics in the hope that they are trying to correct the ills in it is mere wishful thinking. The leadership of this country has goofed by not putting country above self, party and politics. They have eyes that don’t see; ears that don’t hear. As a result the country has sunk beneath the minnows of nationhood.
So what has happened to the Nigerian dream? Nigeria could have achieved greatness if it had progressive thinking and bold political leadership. But our leaders have segregated Nigeria into sectarian camps called APC and PDP, which represent, in the minds of many people, Islam and Christianity respectively.  Oblivious of the reality that a divided country can never achieve self-actualization, the religious priests have helped them by endorsing their delinquencies.
Priests are no longer asking in the synagogues and mosques why is it that individual and political party interests always supersede that of the country, once the governors and presidents give them money. God indeed is for sale.
Why can’t priests, as a people, stop being APC and PDP and just be Nigerians? I am aware that politics plays a very important role in any society, and there is a time and place when everyone needs to support the political party to which his/her interest is aligned. But why is it that Nigerian priests always seem to put narrow partisan interests above the well-being of the Nigerian, even though we are faced with so many crises, such as economic hardship, unemployment, failing health and educational systems, and criminal acts including terrorism.
Nigeria would have by now managed to achieve greatness on several areas of national life, such as education, health and the economy, but alas. As Nigerians, we are a threatened species. We are not threatened by external forces, but by criminality, unemployment, underperforming politicians, years of social and fiscal mismanagement, a devalued currency — that can only be described as Monopoly money — stress in trying to make ends meet, and bureaucracy that frustrates anyone who tries to do business with the government. If truth be told, Nigeria, the land we love, has become a difficult, dangerous place to live — a reality to which the political class seems to be absolutely oblivious.
For 2015, what Nigeria needs is a new cadre of religious leaders who will put national development above the next election, as if they were politicians themselves. We need people who are not afraid to tackle corrupt political leaders, irrespective of the cost to self and their faiths.  Only then can Nigeria, the land we love, become the prosperous country it was meant to be beyond 2015.