Obi’s crocodile tears

Conflicting reports say he had already left the place when some people reportedly shouted fire, causing chaos and pandemonium. It was the ensuing melee that led to the deaths and the injuries. One question people might ask is how Willie Obiano, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA’s gubernatorial candidate counted among Governor Obi’s ‘siblings’. He […]

Conflicting reports say he had already left the place when some people reportedly shouted fire, causing chaos and pandemonium. It was the ensuing melee that led to the deaths and the injuries. One question people might ask is how Willie Obiano, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA’s gubernatorial candidate counted among Governor Obi’s ‘siblings’. He has been seen in several campaign rallies featuring Obi.
At the Adoration Ground, Obi promised to sponsor 20 pilgrims to Israel even though Christianity does not commend pilgrimage to its adherents as an act or religious obligation. While those who want to go have a right, there is a problem when state funds are used for such jamborees especially given the gaping needs of the people. This nonsense, which started at state level, recently received tacit presidential endorsement with President Jones co displaying presidential tomfoolery in far-away Jerusalem. In Anambra, as if roused from sleep to the needs of his fellow Christians after two full terms as governor, Obi promised to provide a more convenient place for the worshipers.
There are strident efforts to exonerate the governor from the deaths. It is common for our ruiners to resort to sentiments as cover for their leadership inadequacies. This in itself is sacrilegious subterfuge. A state without the provision of basic needs squandering its patronage on religious rites is the height of hypocrisy. A governor hiding under religion to milk his people dry is inviting wrath on his own head. Religion is not a substitute for bad governance.
There is this crazy idea of incumbents picking or anointing successors. Succession is the sovereign right of the people. This right is never surrendered to any governor. In a democracy, the electorate reserves the right to choose who best represent their interest. Shame that here a governor considered to be non-performing in his duty, is apparently also a religious bigot, who seems to cover his inefficiencies with his professed faith and blames his inefficiencies on imaginary enemies and opponents. Yet when it’s time to go, they insist on handpicking someone to cover their tracks. The moment the surrogate settles down, he begins to cut the apron strings on which he is tied and to make excuses for being distracted.
While this may not be practically the case in Anambra, it is high time those who claim the peoples mandate settle down to work rather than squandering such goodwill on subterfuge. It is time people start to demand answers from these half zealot and half robbers who feather their nest eggs where they are less known. The people deserve to ask where serving governors got cash to build malls even if they show up on pulpits to shed crocodile tears and subtly campaign. If the pastors cannot turn them down, the congregation should. It is high time to tell governors not to squander state money on religious frivolities but on tangible things. We all can pray in our church or mosque without state interference.
It’s a shame that young people all over the world are winning awards for advancing technology, but here, our governors are squandering resources on religious festivities. Poverty is not divinely ordained; it is a result of squandering of riches. Power belongs to the people, God does not foist on the people he gave power to vote a leadership that cares less about them. These governors don’t go to church or mosque when they have a headache; they turn to the best physicians at home and abroad. They do not wait for PHCN to supply electricity; they have provisions in the budget for standby generating sets. They do not wait for ASUU to call off strikes; no, they send their children to school abroad.
Our people should remove the veil of religion from their faces and face the stark reality they are forced to accept in spite of our enormous wealth. When governors show up in mosques and churches, the people should gather round them and ask questions, not jostle for position to shake their dirty hands. It is not even wrong to ban them from the worship centres until they finish their terms productively. The pulpit should be insulated from politics since politics has refused to insulate itself from religion.
Tragedy would have been averted if Governor Obi had, in the manner of the good Christian, gone to the adoration ground incognito; after all, the purpose of going there was to worship God. Public officers, including presidents, governors and others should respect the sanctity of religion and keep off the pulpit. They should stop playing God by seeking to anoint those who would inherit their office.