Idowu-Fearon: Clerics are embedded in Nigeria’s crises

The Bishop also said, “Religious leaders need to refer to their conscience and make bold, non-sensational and informed pronouncements, knowing full well that their followers depend on them for guidance” while giving their members the right of choice backed by facts. He said, “They have the responsibility to rapidly access accurate facts especially on the […]

The Bishop also said, “Religious leaders need to refer to their conscience and make bold, non-sensational and informed pronouncements, knowing full well that their followers depend on them for guidance” while giving their members the right of choice backed by facts. He said, “They have the responsibility to rapidly access accurate facts especially on the election process and disseminate them appropriately through different fora within their administrative set ups. In this vein, they must organise their members who have relative strength in the knowledge of the election process to use their skills to enlighten other members.” He stressed that religious organisations must create platforms for collating enquiries, complaints and engaging in advocacy.
Bishop Idowu-Fearon said the inflammatory campaign utterances of politicians were reinforced by the preaching of divisive sermons of hate and hostility in mosques and churches across the country. “Some Christian and Muslim leaders incited their followers not to vote for candidates of the other religion,” he said. Chronicling history, he said religious bigotry (based on selfish interpretation of selected scriptural texts) influenced many. “Its impact was demonstrated in the violent reaction that followed the collation and announcement of the 2011 Presidential Election result where those believed to have voted for the candidate declared the winner by INEC, irrespective of their religious profession became targets,” he said.
According to him, “our religious leaders should not only teach the fear of God, they are to demonstrate it by telling politicians the truth; they are to educate their members on the truth about religions and abstain from partisan politics! Religious leaders must retract from the promotion of one religion or candidate over and above the others.”
The bishop, a former soldier who holds Masters and doctorate degrees in Islamic and Christian Studies, also said, “Religious leaders must put a stop to deceiving their followers that the Muslim community is not worshipping the only One God but worshipping an idol.” Similarly, he advised Muslim clerics to “stop teaching their members that the Christians are worshipping three gods!” Both major religious worship the same one and supreme God, he said.
Also chiding traditional rulers and institutions, the bishop said, “The partisanship of some traditional rulers was a major factor responsible not only for the violence that accompanied 2011 elections but also for the inability of the traditional institution to either nip it in the bud or contain it.” This is because there was loss of confidence by the youths in traditional institutions that was believed to have been compromised.
On the part of voters, Fearon said that their decisions must be information driven while voters must focus on the common good of all Nigerians as the point of reference for national unity. He said, “A narrow focus on the differences that exist among the citizens would only result in instability.” He therefore reiterated that voters must use their assessment of candidates’ capacity to design programmes that will improve human welfare as the basis of their choice of candidates rather than considering differences such as languages, religions and ethnic origins.
“Voters need to have access to facts that will enable them to have the ability to make informed choices. The government mass mobilisation machinery is limited in capacity and appropriate messages. Community based organisations including neighbourhood associations must help their members to access information,” he said. According to him, expectations are that the electorate is encouraged to resist any acts that are contrary to their religious duties: rioting, stealing, intimidation, vandalism, lying, character assassination, vote rigging in any form.
“Whatever God hates, voters must shun! Remember, no religious leader or politician will stand-in for you on the Day of Judgment. Everyone will give his/her own account before God,” he said. In order to make Nigeria the winner in the 2015 elections, he also said the media must avoid inciting news captions created in an attempt to generate high patronage. Saying the media has a social responsibility beyond their commercial interest to facilitate and enhance the election process through user-friendly messages, Fearon said: “If they fail in this responsibility we may all fail given their important role in information dissemination and the negative implication of their poor performance in this regard.”  
He emphasized that false or malicious reporting of national issues, particularly of a sensitive nature is inexcusable and appropriate legal weapons ought to be deployed against it whenever it occurs unless it can be demonstrated that the false reporting was a genuine mistake and due effort was made to obtain the facts; or where due apology and retraction was promptly made. He said, “Where the reporting is based on facts but considered to be sensitive, the matter is more straightforward although opinions will usually differ on what constitutes ‘sensitive’, depending on who has or have been offended by the particular publication,” adding that “The law of libel covers this.”
The Anglican bishop, known for his tireless advocacy for peace, said “judges must exhibit the strength of character that insulates them from the vagaries of politics. If all stakeholders play their roles effectively, the burden on the judiciary in the election process will be light and the role of the institution would be merely supplemental.”