Anambra’s night of desecration Should a political campaign be conducted under the cover of darkness – quite unusually too in the wee hours of the night and within the precinct of a church of God where a multitude had gathered for a prayer vigil? This nocturnal campaign for votes in the house of God is the immoral dimension that Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State has introduced into electioneering campaign system of the country as his state prepares for the November 16 governorship election – at the expense of human lives that were wasted that night. Obviously out of desperation to ensure that his annointed candidate for the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) succeeds him, he devised this fatal ploy by turning the venue of people’s communion with their God into a land of the dead. Couldn’t this plot be deemed devilish since most things done under the cover of darkness are naturally considered evil? Yes, evil was what the APGA governor and his protégé inflicted on people of Uke, Idemili North Local Government Area in Anambra Central Senatorial district when 30 worshippers reportedly died in a church stampede. On Obi’s night of desecration, the APGA campaign train stormed the holy place of worship called Adoration Ground to canvass for votes. He and Willie Obiano, the party’s candidate in the coming Anambra governorship election, arrived at the venue unannounced at about 12.15am to address the congregation that had come for all-night prayers. He seized his unannounced opportunistic political visit to make some belated donations. For example, why the governor waited till such odd hours of the day before realising that there was gully erosion near the church to be contained is baffling. He promised a Greek gift – an amount of N5million to help the church in curbing the gully. He also reportedly made a donation of N2million to the Reverend Father who promptly rejected it by asking the governor to deploy the money to the use of the poor who are starving in the state. When most of the promises made by Obi in daylight had not been fulfilled, the congregation immediately realised that his nocturnal promises might definitely remain a pie in the sky. No wonder that some members of the congregation reportedly revolted against the governor’s conduct, which they perceived as an abuse of privilege accorded the governorship position that he occupies. It took Father Ebube Muonso quite some time before the governor could be allowed to address them. The governor’s security personnel read this to mean an affront on their boss; in their overzealousness, members of the congregation were manhandled. The ensuing melee led to an avoidable stampede. It worsened immediately the governor and his entourage made to leave. Unfortunately, it led to over 200 adherents sustaining injuries while not less than 30 of them died. In a laughable move, Obi reportedly plans to set up a Panel of Enquiry to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the tragedy that he deliberately caused in his bid to win power at all costs for his protégé. The law of equity principle: Audi alterem partem applies here. And again the questions: Why did he go to that holy place to go and campaign for his candidate in the first place? Is Adoration Ground a campaign venue? Is the place for prayer or politics? What kind of precedent is he setting not only in that state but in the entire country? The unfurling event points in one direction – that the APGA team is facing stiff opposition from the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige in the coming election. It is still very fresh in one’s memory the news report some few weeks back that the APGA campaign train’s bid to shut markets in Onitsha when they wanted to go there for campaign was stiffly rebuffed by traders. This is because Obi and his team are not injecting decency into their mission to ‘capture’ the state – ostensibly with tacit connivance of the presidency that is hell-bent on using the state under APGA to boost its deceitful electoral reforms profile before Nigerians and the world. Well, no one can deny the influence of religion on politics and vice versa, especially in a highly religious society like ours. This possibly was why the political science of religion otherwise referred to as politicology or politology of religion was established in Serbia in 1993 before it became embraced in other parts of the world. The discipline was formally established as an academic one in the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Belgrade, Serbia, that year. In 2006, Georgetown University established the Berkley Centre for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs as one of the first American university research centres devoted to issues surrounding the political science of religion. Now, the science is studied at almost all universities and political science departments in the United States. These examples are just to underscore the influence of religion on politics. However, the way and manner that Obi and his APGA team are going about the coming election could lead to further breach of peace as amply demonstrated on his night of desecration at the Adoration ground. He has not in this regard projected himself as a good Christian; not with this last open sacrilege that he committed in the Temple of God. How can this man that professes to be a good Catholic be found playing politics with the affairs of God? Does a true Christian need police protection while in the Temple of God where members of the congregation were harmless and vulnerable? One is cocksure that the Bible could not have taught the governor to be doing all that. But having overtly and covertly fraternised with the leadership of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that is renowned for do-or-die politics, one should not be surprised that Obi is actualising what he has learnt through that laughable fraternity. What the people of Anambra State need is not a desperate APGA that would sacrifice innocent souls to retain power. APGA’s desperation by desecrating divine land is definitely attracting the wrong attention and the world watches; so does our God of Justice. On November 16, the chicken will definitely come home to roost for Obi and his desperate cohorts.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 07:41:41 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015