As a lowly placed priest charged with a singular mission to bring people to Christ and guide their steps as they make efforts to go to heaven, I work among the people all the time and cannot but share in their joys, their anguish and their cries. There are many things people tell me, some of their tales of woe too painful to relate talk less of divulging here. The tales the country people tell me i shall relate but only the more upbeat ones, not the terribly bad cases.
Take a 65-year-old pensioner, who studied at the University of London, worked hard in the civil service and retired honourably, as a Director (his mates called him ‘Perm.Sec. minus opportunity’). At a time, he had not been paid his pension for 13 months. He struggled to build two flats in the village while in service, which he rented out. Although flats are cheap in the village, he could not collect rent on his property because the teachers who rented the flats were not paid salaries. His two children did not get good jobs after graduation so they still relied on their father to subsidise their rents in the cities whenever it was due. He has not been able to discharge his obligations to his church either.
A farmer told me he never had one day of school because his late father could not afford it and he was not brilliant enough to gain admission to a government secondary school at his time, where school fees were not paid. So, he was stuck with farm work. He told me last year his means of sustenance was ruined by cattle herders who descended on his fruits plantation and harvested all pineapples, bananas, plantains, etc., which he used to harvest during dry season. He decided to stay back on his plantation one day, in order to catch the thieves. He actually caught one of them, a young Fulani man who came to harvest his pineapples in the company of his two wives. As the thief harvested them in such a destructive manner, the wives collected them in sacks. He challenged the youth and he received a machete cut on his upper left arm for his trouble. He had not been able to discharge his obligations to his church, rather the church subsidises him now.
Regularly now, ministers of God meet people so distressed economically; homeless, hopeless and rudderless, one feels like building a shelter for them but where is the fund. This was not a feature of village life before. In the past families in the village sheltered and rehabilitated any of their own who fell on hard times. There are many tales the country told me. I am so moved that sometimes I feel like throwing in my cassock and taking up politics because my position as a priest has limited my participation inactive partisan politics. And politics as played in our country today where the winner takes all does not encourage one to stick a neck in that arena in order to be on the side of caution. However, where sacredness of the people is concerned, I am obliged both as a priest and a citizen, to try and play an intercessory role in order that those we claim to serve will not suffer for too long in the hands of the high and mighty.
Next to the position of God today in our country is the position of political office-holders. They are very sacred, indeed. Look at how much we pay on their personal security. Except local government councillors, I do not think that any other office holder in the country does not have 24-hour all round personal bodyguard. If I say a bodyguard, I am not talking of one with bare hands to defend his master by fighting kung-Fu, traditional wrestling, boxing or karate. I mean a well-equipped guard with sophisticated guns and tear gas canisters tied round their waists and handcuffs too, in case of eventualities. Many of them go as far as having two or more body guards depending on how high their ranks and how unsecured they feel. The position of such people with great security of this nature cannot but be considered as sacred. How did we come to such a pass that the people we elected and pay so highly to have them protected are so far away from us, the people, as if we are wild beasts.
Our state is endowed with hard-working and intelligent people and an abundance of mineral resources. There is no day that I don’t stand shoulder high and head filled with pride to be an indigene of Kogi State. I talk of the greatness of the country and more of my state when I have to talk in public. We have erudite scholars and political strategists. We have quality men in politics, in religion, in the academics. We have people who have been tried and trusted in honesty and integrity. These are men and women we are proud of that are in themselves very humble and unassuming. These are men who are known beyond the coast of this country. If Nigeria is said to be great today, these individuals of worth have contributed to the greatness of the nation without making noise about it. They have made industries notable. They have made their marks solidly as they move on quietly and gently in the way they live lives and contribute to the progress of humanity. They are great people who will not instigate fellow citizens to go against constituted authorities or use illegal means to protest their oppression, in order to fight for their rights. They are people who know and feel that getting ones right is not by violence but by negotiations and dialogue. They are themselves men and women of peace and cannot afford to fight for justice through violence.
They are people whose language at any time in life is non-violence. They are people who can tell you off-hand the enormity of the resources in this state that God has established in the middle belt of this great nation. How did we come to such a pass that the counsel of such experts are roughly shoved aside once our political leaders get hold of power. They are people of hope who know and think very strongly that one day things will be right and so there is no need to destroy the pillars over which the future will be built. The greatest pillar that our future is waiting to be built on is the unity and cohesiveness that we have as a people though we do not have the same language but we have the same objectives and developmental objectives.
– Loius Fowoyo is a Parish Priest
