Religion: Hot issue for 2015 [2] -By Basil Ezegbu

There is little doubt that in the weeks leading to the election, a number of attempts would be made to scrub Buhari’s anti-Christian image and build of him an image of one who is incorruptible. As to the former, it depends on how they go about it. Their best approach is to be truthful about it. To begin by saying he was never anti-Christian will give the impression of an unserious project and an insult to millions of Nigeria’s Christians. Buhari has never apologized for his deeply negative stance against Christians. He must find a way to begin not by asking others to do it for him but by doing it himself. Yet it is too late because many would think he is only acting. It is like death-bed repentance of hardened sinner who if he were to be restored to health would as soon return to his old sinful ways. As for this incorruptible image which some try to associate him with, one must be careful. He has run for three times for the highest office and lost. There was corruption then to be rooted out. Why did this quality not help him? Buhari’s first stint at military dictatorship was very short. The WAI which became his footprint in our governance history was strictly speaking Idiagbon’s baby and the regime’s best way to win acceptance after overthrow of an elected democracy. Now he wants to rule in a democracy. That stint with Idiagbon does not prove he is incorruptible. At best it portrays him as rash and wicked; as someone who can be very impatient with processes of democratic rule. He had a chance to prove incorruptibility as Chairman of the PTF. Since leaving that position, he has funded three high profile presidential campaigns and fought very expensive legal battles. He has funded three different political parties and is now funding a fourth presidential campaign. Where did all that money come from?

The recent effort to use Fr. Mbaka to launder Buhari’s image shows how desperate the elect-Buhari campaign has become. Fr. Mbaka’s Adoration Ministry holds every week and the media never covers it. But this time, it did. In both the Guardian ( Jan3,2015)’ and Sun(Jan4) reports, Fr. Mbaka was claimed to have absolved Buhari of any anti-Christian posture and condemned Jonathan before his congregation. According to these reports, Buhari’s past utterances do not portray him as someone who would like to Islamize Nigeria. Fr. Mbaka went on to say that it was IBB who dragged Nigeria into the OIC. If Fr. Mbaka was reported correctly, he was openly calling on his congregation to vote for Buhari. But the same report quoted him as saying that he is not partisan! His denial of partisanship when he clearly was, going by what was credited to him as having said and which he has not denied, casts a shadow on the integrity of his comments. His comments went against the grain of Catholic obedience which prohibits him as sacerdotal from being partisan in his public statements. The one who fails to submit to this obedience his thoughts and desires chooses to submit them to the caprices of men rather than to the obedience of Christ. And once one in such an exalted vocation as the Catholic priesthood falls flat on this superior act of the Will, the other counsels of purity and poverty are in danger. Fr. Mbaka reviled the President, the intention being to dishonor him. He taunted him, giving him a new name: ‘Badluck’ Jonathan. His contempt for the President could not be better shown. Then he boasted of his wealth while imputing impure motives to those who visit the President for spiritual reasons. This bothers on rash suspicion and rash judgment. Fr. Mbaka ought to look deeply into himself to find out if he is really announcing Christ to his congregation or announcing himself.

Yes, the country is sick. Anyone who is just realizing this must be sick too. It has been sick for over three decades. The leader that will rescue it is still being awaited. Someone who is no longer interested in personal aggrandizement, one who is ready to sweat at no personal gain for Nigeria as Peter Obi sweated for Anambra State. Someone who will begin to give truth its special place in our polity. For when truth counts for nothing, justice for all becomes impossible. The leader we are waiting for will not attempt, as had been the practice to try to build justice and peace by using whatever instruments that are available to power. Jonathan is doing his job as President better than his predecessors who did not have to grapple with the menace of terrorism. He had a chance to shape our history forever with the 2014 National Conference and now the only hope of implementing its outcome lies in his winning this election. Implementing the decisions of the CONFAB would be the first logical step toward giving truth an exalted place in our polity and national life. Yes, he may not be the one but he has a chance of being a forerunner. It is not Buhari, either. One is not saying that he cannot win. But he is not the one. Any aspirer to this exalted office that will not consider as top on a priority list or manifesto a national discussion of the type held in 2014 is only interested in plunder. In fact such should be the logical first step in any sincere battle against corruption.