By Linus Aleke
As ripen low-hanging fruits attract attention to itself, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) invited a locust of social media warriors to the party by allegedly procuring allegedly ‘fake’ bishops and impostor Christian clerics to attend its unveiling of the former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate to Bola Tinubu for the 2023 general elections.
The leadership of the Christian body had vowed to mobilize against the Muslim/Muslim ticket, insisting that APC must be made to respect the sensibility of ethnicity and religion in Nigeria.
However, there is the saying that “in politics, the more you look the less you see.” Such saying gained momentary legitimacy when the pictures of some citizens in ecclesiastical robes flooded the internet purporting that they were bishops that endorsed the much opposed Muslim joint ticket of the APC by the body of Christ in Nigeria.
The attendance of these bishops, now alleged to have been procured from the black market after every move by the party’s candidate to prominent Christian leaders met a brick wall, also generated even more fierce criticism from social media users and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
The first attempt to whittle down the momentum of this opposition by the Christian community and moderate Muslims was the story by Tinubu’s media team that catholic bishops have endorsed the Muslim/Muslim ticket.
The Catholic secretariat did not wait a minute after the story broke to refute it and dissociate catholic bishops from it. A fact check by some online news portal, also revealed that the accompanying picture in the said fake story was an old picture taken over four years ago.
The unrelenting media team of the Tinubu campaign team again looked the way of the General Overseers of the Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG), they reported that the GO, Papa Adeboye endorsed Tinubu. The Church again, debunked the report in a swift reaction, insisting that Adeboye stands with the position of the Christian Association of Nigeria on the matter.
Nevertheless, not satisfied with the turn of events, the group according to the report improvised their bishops who attended the unveiling of Tinubu’s running mate.
Some of the respondents who spoke to ThisNigeria on the topic under scrutiny were divided on
the notion that APC procured fake bishops to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that the Muslim joint ticket is accepted across all ethnic and religious divides in the country.
It is, however, not strange to see politicians in Nigeria rent a crowd of supporters to attend political rallies. The civil society group also does the same to mobilise demonstrators in support or against government policies. But what is uncommon is renting of clerics to attend events.
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In every major city and local government area in Nigeria, there are known contractors whose job is to hire a crowd for politicians or civil society activists.
Also, police had in the past laboured very hard to restore order when these rented crowds take up arms against each other over unfair sharing of the money from attending such rallies or protests.
Some are paid as little as two thousand Naira to come out and protest or converge in a stadium for political rallies. What a low-paying job?
Asked whether the bishops that attended the unveiling of Kashim Shettima were procured from the black market as alleged in certain quarters, Mr. Gabriel Audu said that old habits die hard.
“I have no doubt, that they were procured. You are a Nigerian, which of them can you identify as a Christian cleric? If you as a journalist cannot identify them, how can ordinary Nigerian be able to identify them? I had read the analysis of the costume they wore to the event.
“They did not do their homework well. Pastors don’t move around in motorcycles, let alone bishops. The handlers of the APC candidate in a desperate move to make Nigerians believe that their choice is accepted across the board committed the greatest error of the century by paying the destitute to dress like bishops and come to the venue to score a cheap political point. Unfortunately, the whole thing boomeranged on them. The internet is awash with pictures.
“You cannot play with God and not be disgraced. Ahead of the 2015 general elections, the APC told Nigerians all manner of lies. They promised to pay unemployed Nigerians and the aged, N5, 000 each, every month, if voted into power.
“They also promised that they will end Boko Haram in one month. That is in addition to bringing naira at pal with US dollars. But instead, they added herdsmen killings, bandits, unknown gunmen, and kidnappers.
“Today, a dollar exchanges at N625 at the parallel market. That is why I said earlier that old habits die hard. APC cannot do without lies, but Nigerians are wiser now. What the party had done is not only deceitful, and blasphemous but wicked and criminal.
“Nigerians will certainly pay them in their coins in 2023. Even if they are given additional 100 years, they cannot return Nigeria to the state that former President Goodluck Jonathan left it in 2015. Look at the prices of rice and other food items today. Look at the prices of petroleum products.
“Bakers are on strike, ASSU is on strike, it was not long that resident doctors and health workers called off theirs. Labour has concluded plans to embark on a solidarity strike with ASSU. Nigeria is the capital of poor people on earth, which one will we talk about and which, would we leave out. How can any electorate in his right senses cast his vote for an APC candidate?
“We are waiting for the election date to vote APC out just as we voted them in in 2015 out of deceit.”
A cab driver, Mr Cyprian Nwankwo, said that it is quite obvious and glaring that those who attended the unveiling of Tinubu’s running mate were fake clerics.
“If they are true men of God, why was none of them introduced by the master of ceremony during the event in Abuja? Does it mean that they are pastoring only their families? What is the name of their churches or ministries?
“Is it possible to bring bishops to an event and not even have the courtesy to provide seats for them? Why did they refuse to speak to journalists during the event? Were they not proud of the cause of action they took? Were they induced to do what they did? Were they real Christian clerics? In my estimation no. Tinubu and his team showed how untidy they were in the planning of the disgraceful outing. The internet will forever remind the world of this shameful outing in the name of politics,” he posited.
Giving credence to the above views, the Vice President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in charge of 19 northern states and Abuja, who is also the chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of the body, Rev. Joseph Hayab, posited that the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was free to hire mechanics and other artisans and sew clerical garments for them.
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Hayab, who said this while fielding questions from newsmen in Abuja, also averred, “The people we saw at the unveiling of Shettima paraded as Bishops are people who did not have enough time to learn how to wear Bishop Garments. Take a closer look at their photo and you will see another Nollywood movie.
“CAN wonders why the desperation. First, a story was out claiming to have come from the chairman of CAN (in) Borno State only to be refuted. Secondly, there was another lie that BAT (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) and his running mate were on their way to meet CAN President one night. A meeting that was not true and that was on a night that the CAN President was in Alabama, USA, attending the Baptist World Alliance Conference of which he is the Vice President”.
The Cleric further explained that another desperation story was that they met Papa Adeboye which the RCCG later refuted, adding that if Christians are not important why the desperation?
“BAT is free to hire mechanics and other artisans and sew clerical garments for them. An effort that will only add to their many ropes when the political exercise is over but will not change the need for fairness and justice that CAN is calling for.
“CAN appreciate that we are in a democracy, no need to do funny and dubious things just to prove a point because it will in the end bounce back. BAT team should simply do what is right and stop the drama,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), differs from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), on the topic under scrutiny.
Director of MURIC, Ishaq Akintola, in a statement, picked holes in the criticism of the bishops that attended the unveiling, insisting that they are not fake.
According to him, “The identities of all the Christian clerics who attended the event have been revealed and none is fake. It is crystal clear from the above that CAN is not to be trusted. CAN disowns its members who are not ordinary Christians but knowledgeable bishops and pastors. This shows that a caucus within the leadership of CAN has unleashed the tyranny of the oligarchy on Christendom in Nigeria.
“The fact that several bishops and pastors dared CAN by attending the unveiling of the APC running mate despite directives by the umbrella Christian body to the contrary is also symptomatic of the hypocrisy and ineffectiveness of CAN’s noise over the Muslim-Muslim ticket.’’
“It is a toothless bulldog. CAN is long in rhetoric, and short in facts. It also proves that serious-minded and knowledgeable Christians who can differentiate between right and wrong no longer follow CAN’s instructions.”
The statement added that the attendance of the unveiling of Tinubu’s running mate two days ago and the attempt by CAN to paint the Christian clerics who attended the event as fake is another attempt by Nigeria’s Christian leaders to divide the country, whip up anti-Muslim sentiments and promote anarchy.
Defending its point of view with scriptural passages, MURIC said, “CAN has shot itself in the foot. It insists that no Christian should vote for Tinubu’s party but it forgot that at least a Christian cleric is the gubernatorial candidate in Benue State. CAN should permanently close this can of worms and never open it again.
“Whereas Paul says, ‘Do not lie to one another (Colossians 3:9-10), Christian leaders find it expedient to pour torrents of lies on their followers. CAN leaders wilfully ignore the warning in Proverbs, ‘…He who breathes out lies will perish (Proverbs 19:9). Christian leaders are adept at crying wolf where there is none. They raise a false alarm to confuse.”
On his part, a Canadian-based Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Adeniyi Olugbenga said that some internet warriors are blowing this whole issue out of proportion.
“Even if CAN had instructed their members not to support a joint Muslim ticket, they should not expect 100 per cent compliance. Those who strongly believed that the Muslim/Muslim ticket will deliver the dividend of democracy to Nigerians have exercised their rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
“CAN’s attempt to demonize them based on that is not only undemocratic but suspicious, to say the least. The bishops are not fake as the Christian body is labouring to make the world believe. CAN should eschew the politics of bitterness.
“Let us, Christians and Muslims, draw a lesson from our first National Anthem which said, “Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand”. It is a sad commentary that this kind of hate and vituperation is coming from a religious body like CAN,” he lamented.
It is, however, on the strength of the above that yours sincerely would love to conclude with the words of retired Professor of Political Science, University of Ibadan, Prof. Femi Otubanjo, who said, “Where we have options, there shouldn’t be bitterness over a joint Muslim ticket.”
