BY REV FR GERALD NWAFOR
In law school, we were told that truth is a defense. In moral theology we were made to know that truth is a virtue only the just will search for. In African traditional religion, ‘Truth is life but better or harder to accept’ (Eziokwu na adi ilu na ntimayaama bulu ndu). TRUTH must be said with charity for the welfare of the people. The Christian Magna Carta, the holy book (Bible), states that “The truth will set you free.” The social class said that “Truth has a copy while lies have many duplicates.” Socrates from Athens said, “Conscience is an open wound only truth can heal.” Finally, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the son of God, the son of Mary and Joseph, and the founding father of the Christian religion said, “I AM THE…TRUTH…”
I have listened to the interview granted by the Prince of the Church, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, to Arise TV. For 30 minutes,I did not see where the cardinal lied or tried to paint words to distort the facts. If anybody would lie on national television, it should not be a Catholic cardinal who is seen all over the world as the custodian of truth. The cardinal said that Nigeria is bleeding, and that was what they told the president in the colloquium they had with him.
I remember vividly when the ardinal told Goodluck Jonathanthat he should stop borrowing and cut corruption in his government. The cardinal also told President Buhari to stop appointing only people from his religion, ethnicity, and tribe. The cardinal has never kept quiet in the face of injustice that is ravaging Nigeria. Probably, there is a reason why the universal church found him worthy of the title and elevated him to that noble and humble position of a cardinal. The government has been attacking his appearance on Arise TV. But they have not said anything to contradict what the cardinal said. The cardinal asked the simple question about the statement of the president who said that, “In politics everything is fair.” The cardinal simply asked if that statement is true. So there is no rule of the game anymore. Those who listened to the cardinal with an open mind can agree that the cardinal did not say anything new in the interview. Nigerian INEC should provide a level playing ground for all the candidates contesting for election is not a new statement; the only difference is the person saying it.
The cardinal is from the same tribe as the president. They are from the same geopolitical zone in Nigeria, but the cardinal has outgrown tribe and politics; he is a man of truth and principle. If the cardinal cannot speak truth to power, I wonder who can do it in the Nigeria of today?
I pity the government attack-dogs who choose to respond to the cardinal by calling him names and making a mockery of him. They should remember that in Africa we respect our elders not only because they are our seniors but because we want to be an elder ourselves (Onye fee eze eze ero ya). The barrage of unprintable words from the young APC spokesperson like Mr. Daniel Bwala has repercussions. I am not standing in for the cardinal, but I wonder why the president himself did not comeout to say that the cardinal misrepresented the facts. Those people responding to the cardinal were not even in the room. So, how can you exhume the dead body if you were not around when it was buried?
The statement of the cardinal was not insulting or disrespectful to the president. But the presidential aides who had made all their money by lying to the public wanted the cardinal to join their bandwagon (bandwagon effect), to start coating the situation of Nigeria in no way. The special assistant to the governor of Edo State who went to a youth meeting and tried to sugarcoat the Nigerian situation by telling the hungry youth that the government of the APC has been the best thing that happened to Nigeria did not go back to his house in the same way he arrived at the meeting. If you say that Nigeria is not bleeding, please tell us what is happening to our beloved country now. One observer asked the cardinal to give him the indices on which he arrived at the conclusion that Nigeria is bleeding and that the economy is bad. I will try to answer him in layman’s language. Before the government of Tinubu, a bag of rice was 40,000, but today it is 90,000. A liter of fuel was 250, but today it is 1,300. We can go on and on, but I do not want this piece to be about the cost of food in the market. It is about the truth thatset fire in the government camp.
Finally, the cardinal encouraged the government to start doing good and alleviate the suffering of the people. He did not end all in gloom and doom; he encouraged the government to start walking towards positive changes. He reminded INEC that they should reject INEC commissioners who are known APC agents. Mr. Charles, who was interviewing the cardinal, was so professional that he did not prompt the cardinal in any way to malign the government of the day. The saying, “Clear conscience fears no accusation,” reminds me of the proverb that when you speak in parables, the evil men feel offended. When Jesus used a parable to explain the hypocritical behavior of the Pharisees, they immediately responded by saying to Jesus, “When you speak like this you insult us too.” Jesus did not stop;rather, he encouraged them to change.
If the government thinks that what the cardinal said is damaging to their government, the only alternative is to change for good. But insulting and abusing the cardinal will not work. The cardinal has everything going for him; he is a statesman, he is learned, he is well placed in society, in the church, and in the local community. He has been in charge of multiple dioceses and is well advanced in the history of Nigerian politics; finally, he is over 80 years; God’s blessing has been completed. Our prayer is for him to be alive to see a better Nigeria, which he prayed for during the Arise TV interview. APC can call him names, but we all saw the document presented to the president by Nigerian Bishops. What the Bishops said is in the public domain. Cardinal just repeated 99% of it, and the house of thegovernment went bonkers. More truth will be said in the coming days by the cardinal and well-meaning Nigerians, and the government pants will be on fire because the truth can be a bitter pill to swallow.
