By Tonnie Iredia

In these days of religious tension in Nigeria occasioned by a number of avoidable killings, many persons in leadership positions have been making inflammatory statements. The most disturbing of them is the call by some Christian leaders to their members to embark on killing Muslims against the perception that they are the ones killing Christians here and there.

The killings are obviously senseless. But considering that such a tit-for-tat posture is ungodly, how come it is becoming an attractive stance for some of our men of God?  It was thus refreshing to be an eye-witness at an event last Tuesday where the Catholic Archbishop of Benin City Metropolitan See, His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Augustine Obiora Akubeze condemned the posture.

The Archbishop spoke at the commissioning of a church hall at Eguaeholor-Isi, one of the many undeveloped neighbouring villages of the Edo State Capital. Akubeze who called for peace and tolerance among our people was thus substantially far away from our numerous exuberant Church leaders who are oblivious of the fact that no one – small, big, old, young, Christian, Muslim, Church or Mosque can survival in a dismembered Nigeria.

Akubeze’s persuasive sermon is right in many respects as it teaches several lessons. First, the Archbishop unlike other commentators did not condemn the entire Fulani race or all its herdsmen as he recognized that there are no doubt peace loving citizens among them. One obvious advantage of avoiding generalizations is the difficulty of proving them.

For instance, the argument that the killer herdsmen are not Nigerians is not true in all cases because of the 17 suspects involved in the southern Kaduna crisis arrested by the Police some 4 days back, there were some natives. As the Police says it is set to charge them to court, the common accusation that government has taken no action on Fulani lawlessness is inaccurate. Second, the Akubeze position shows that not all Christian leaders are making reckless statements.

For example, Chukwuemeka Kanu, the Primate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria was on the same page on the subject during his condolence visit on Governor El Rufai of Kaduna State, on the recent killings in the State, in which case, the call by some Nigerians that hate preachers should be prosecuted can only be rightly directed at those who in this tense period are unwilling to let go their inclination towards divisiness.

Against this backdrop, the argument against the law of sedition in Nigeria needs to be better articulated. It will be recalled that the Seditious Offences Ordinance was enacted by the British colonial government in 1909 to disallow anyone from bringing into hatred or exciting disaffection against the President or a State Governor as well as the administration of Justice in Nigeria.

Those who think that the law has since outlived its usefulness in a democracy which guarantees freedom of speech have a point but we can hardly throw away every aspect of the law. This is because hate preachers should be made to face the aspect which seeks to stop people from raising discontent among different people in the country by promoting sectional and ethno-religious ill-feelings. As history has shown, heterogeneous societies must accommodate a multiplicity of centrifugal forces.

This is particularly true of Nigeria where the fabric of solidarity which binds the society together is not only fragile but tends to tear apart at the slightest provocation.  What this suggests is that Nigerians must heed the wise counsel of Archbishop Akubeze.

Those who might think the sermon was not well served because the Archbishop spoke at a small hinterland community are wrong because Akubeze is not just a strategic leader, he is quite conscious of the power of the media and when to use them.

The locals may not have heard or understood him but congregation at the commissioning had many media professionals who came at the instance of one them who happened to be the donor of the hall. It was therefore a good venue for a news conference. Accordingly, the archbishop used the opportunity to encourage the media to patronize good news.

While reminding us of the importance of our agenda setting role and watch dog status, he called for responsible journalism based on development communication that can promote the centripetal factors of our nation. Again, the Archbishop got it right as the nation is in dire need of courageous media professionals who can say things as they are through investigative journalism. We cannot but agree.

However, Nigerians must in unionism condemn the politicisation of every sector of the country. As the only thing that seems to matter today is politics. An uneducated politician earns higher pay and allowances than medical doctors etc. The nation’s recession was caused by the political class but while the rest of us are admonished to tighten our belts, the scarce resources we have, are still being wasted on political luxuries although many states have not paid workers’ salaries for months.

Only last Thursday, the Bayelsa State House of Assembly approved a N3 billion loan request from the state government to purchase cars for legislators and other political office holders in the State. The Speaker of the House, Kombowei Benson, who confirmed this to journalists in Yenagoa, said the decision was taken at a closed door session of the House.

Bayelsa is not alone in this. In Edo State where Dr Akubeze serves as the number one catholic leader, the House of Assembly some 3 months ago approved a pension benefit for a residential building worth N200million and N100 million for the immediate past governor of the state and his deputy respectively.

The House also amended the Pension Rights Law of 2007 to enable the former governor enjoy pension for life at a rate equivalent to 100 percent of his last annual salary as well as the power to pick any officer not above grade level 12 as Special assistant and a personal secretary not below grade level 10 from the public service of the state. Amidst these inexplicable squandermania, what should journalists report and what happens to those who have the courage to function appropriately as the watch dog of society? Will they and our nation survive?