There are moments in the life of a people when politics must borrow the gravity of the pulpit. Not to preach dogma, but to awaken conscience. Igalaland has reached such a moment. As 2027 approaches, our politics will grow with high tension of promises yet thin in morality, crowded with actors yet empty of stewards. What is required now is not another rally, but a homily. I mean a hard word spoken in love, directed at the soul of a nation within a nation.
Every homily begins with confession. Ours is uncomfortable but necessary: we have normalized betrayal. We clap for defectors, sanctify opportunism, and reward those who eat alone while preaching unity. We have mistaken cleverness for wisdom and proximity to power for service. In doing so, we have trained our children to believe that politics is a market where conscience is negotiable and memory is short. No society survives such catechism for long.
Power, in Igala history, was once understood as burden before it was privilege. Authority carried consequence; leadership demanded sacrifice. Today, power has been desacralized. It is pursued as loot, defended as entitlement, and justified as inevitability. When power loses its moral weight, it becomes predatory. And predatory power, left unchecked, does not govern—it consumes.
This homily must also name the silent sin of our age: selective outrage. We rage when excluded but go quiet when included. We protest injustice until it favours us, then baptize it with excuses. This is how systems rot from within; by enemies at the gate, but by citizens who outsource their conscience to convenience.
Yet a homily without hope is mere indictment. Igalaland is not condemned to repeat its errors. Repentance, in political terms, is reform. It is a turning away from the habits that have diminished us. It is the courage to demand programs over personalities, character over cash, process over shortcuts. It is the refusal to be mobilized by hate when vision is required.
The elders have a word to hear here. Silence, when truth is needed, is not neutrality; it is complicity. Respect for age must not become immunity from responsibility. To bless every ambition without discernment is to mortgage the future. Eldership is not about longevity; it is about guardianship.
The youth, too, are addressed. Anger is understandable, but rage without structure is easily hijacked. Do not trade your demographic power for digital applause or election-day stipends. Organize. Learn the rules. Build coalitions that outlast hashtags. The future you inherit will reflect the seriousness of the work you do now.
INEC and Political parties must be called to order. They cannot continue as vehicles for seasonal alliances and permanent impunity. Ideology matters. Internal democracy matters. Accountability matters. An INEC that cannot ensure transparency or a party that cannot govern itself cannot govern a people.
And then there is love; the most misunderstood force in politics. Love is not weakness. It is the discipline of refusing to dehumanize opponents, the strength to seek justice without vengeance, the wisdom to build bridges without erasing boundaries. Love is what prevents victory from becoming tyranny and opposition from becoming sabotage.
As 2027 nears, Igalaland must choose what kind of political faith it practices. One that worships power and sacrifices people, or one that serves people and disciplines power. The ballot is not just a civic tool; it is a moral instrument. How it is used will testify against or for us.
This homily ends where all true homilies end; with a call to action. Examine the leaders you celebrate. Question the narratives you repeat. Refuse the money that buys silence. Demand the truth that builds futures. If politics is the art of the possible, then conscience is its compass.
Without conscience, power wanders. With conscience, even small nations make history. Igalaland, the altar is before you. Choose wisely.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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