IT Seems abominable to say that a Cardinal, a man of God, who towers above other men and is revered, has sinned. But then a Cardinal is not God, he is a man who was conceived and born in sin like other men. So, he can lie and tell tales like others since he is human. A Cardinal may be Spirit filled but most times, many of them allow the flesh to take over.
I respect all men of God, but I do not see them as infallible. Only God is. Cardinals are only different from us by their robe, the cassock. Remove the robe, and what you get will shock you. A man preaching holiness on the altar may be the exact opposite. It is easy to preach the word, but it is not easy to live by or be the doer of the word..
Cardinals know this very well and many of them have for years used this biblical injunction to brainwash congregants. I am not shocked when I see priests say one thing, and do another thing. I take it in my strides and move on. I have always believed that it takes the Spirit to do the job and not the flesh. In one word, know those to believe among priests because not all that wear the cassock are truly men of God.
The Bible warns us against such priests. It refers to them as wolves in sheep clothing. These men take delight in causing disquiet in society using their priestly office to mask their real intentions. This was the root of the crisis between the Church and the State in medieval Europe. The war between the State and the Church, it seems, may never end. We still witness it in one form or the other today. Nigeria is no exception in this regard. NigerianEntrepreneur Support
Though, a secular state, as enshrined in the Constitution, religion seems to take a central place in its affairs because its population of Muslims and Christians believe in shoving their faith in one another’s face at every given opportunity. They want to dictate to the government how to run the country rather than proffer advice and leave it at that. There are several Muslim and Christian associations operating in the country. Some of them are close to the authority and they use this privilege to their advantage.
In some cases, they have turned themselves into the alternative government which advise or suggestion must be taking, whether good or bad. Things do not work that way. This is why for days now, the visit of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) to President Bola Tinubu has been generating ripples. The visit itself was colourless. But the post-visit action of one of its members, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, changed that. It is a well known fact that Onaiyekan is no supporter of the President whose election he wrote off in 2023.
Before, during and after the 2023 presidential election, Onaiyekan never hid his disdain for Tinubu. He went as far as saying after the election that Tinubu should not be sworn in on May 29, 2023. Where he got that from, only he can say. To his chagrin, Tinubu was sworn in and Onaiyekan’s dander has kept rising since then. It may not be incorrect to say that if Onaiyekan has his way, Tinubu will no longer be in office today. But no man, no matter how big his cassock, is God. The Catholic Bishops have always been known to intervene in national affairs.
As a group, it has a record of doing that. But as individuals, many of its members have missed the way. Quite frankly, Onaiyekan is one of them. There was nothing to add to what transpired at the July 28 meeting with the President, which was well covered by the media. Everything the President said in response to the bishops’ demands was reported. If not for mischief and his aversion for the President, Onaiyekan would not have gone on air on July 31 to say all he said about the First Citizen and 2027.
What he said was his own reading of the President’s mind about the forthcoming election. As he did in 2023, he went out of his way in the television interview to paint Tinubu as a man who is desperate to cling to power! Did he say this to the President at the meeting? No.It is worthy to note that the President did not hide his intention to give the opposition a run for their money in 2027. “I will not give them a leash to tie me…”, he said, promising to fight it out with them at the polls. These are remarks that any politician can make.
If the opposition speaks the same way, will Onaiyekan hold it aginst them? I am sure, he will not. But he wants Tinubu because he is President to be a sitting duck and allow the opposition to overawe him. This way, the opposition, especially Peter Obi, Onaiyekan’s candidate in 2023, who he will certainly support again in 2027, will have a smooth ride.
I, therefore, beg to disagree with those arguing to the contrary. Onaiyekan was not reporting on the outcome of the July 28 meeting, he was expressing his opinion on Tinubu and 2027. It is obvious that he is, again, not for Tinubu. But he should not hide under the bishops’ conference visit to make his position known.
The bishops did not take Tinubu up on his 2027 reelection bid. All they asked of him was to ensure credible election and the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He responded that INEC “is free and neutral… they have never intimidated anyone. If the opposition is crying wolf, may be they are afraid of their own shadows and uncertainty in the companies they keep, not me”. Onaiyekan was apparently unimpressed by Tinubu’s response. His television interview became an outlet for him to give it back to the President.
Like every Nigerian, Onaiyekan is entitled to his opinion and is free to support any candidate of his choice, but he should draw a line between speaking as an individual and for the bishops’ conference. Onaiyekan acted for and as Onaiyekan and not on behalf of the bishops’ conference in that interview. He put himself in the President’s mind by claiming that “from what I saw on his face Tinubu is desperate to win the 2027 election by all means”. He alleged that the government has “a lot of means at its disposal and it is disposing all those means in a way that eventually even in a free and fair election the votes of the people may not count”.
Haha, Cardinal! I find it hard to believe that a priest is talking like this. But then, can you expect anything less from Onaiyekan where it concerns Tinubu? Tinubu has nothing to worry about since Onaiyekan is not God, the “only One who knows the hearts of all men”.
Onaiyekan spoke for himself, and not the CBCN. The group’s president, Maththew Cardinal Ndagoso, only came to his aid despite his faux pas to save CBCN’s’ face. What I do not understand is why take collective blame for an individual’s sin? Onaiyekan did not also speak for the Catholic community which the spent politician Rotimi Amaechi on Tuesday, in another television interview, wooed under the pretence of being a staunch Catholic for votes for the 2027 elections.
I wonder when Amaechi became the defender of the faith which population he put at 35 million! As for Onaiyekan, he cannot do more than he did in 2023. By now, with what happened then, he should realise that he does not have the Catholics’ votes in his robe. Catholic faithful will vote their conscience come 2027, just as they did in 2023, without following the promptings of a partisan Cardinal. Let no man play God ahead of the 2027 elections. Onaiyekan should learn from 2023.
NOTE: Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Theliberationnews
