Since the 11th century when Islam was introduced to Nigeria and the 15th century when the first Portuguese friars introduced Christianity to Nigeria, most of the people who have run the affairs of Nigeria even before it was amalgamated up to independence, till date, are Christians and Muslims. How much of the heaven that these sects preach, have they replicated in Nigeria?
Everything we complain about not working in Nigeria today is headed by either a Christian or a Muslim. The President and his Vice, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and all the 36 state chief judges, all the governors, all the 774 LGA chairmen, all the 468 NASS members, all the 1,229 members in the 36 State Houses of Assemblies, all the 8,806 councilors, all the heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of government, all the bank MDs, all the security heads, the INEC Chairman etc., are either Christians or Muslims. Yet, our country is reeling in squalor and penury, with pretentious religionists who only use religion for social identification, control, and validation.
It is not enough to keep bragging that you are a Christian or a Muslim, it is more important now to show what kind of society Christians and Muslims have contributed to building. Has our faith in God that you preach yielded benefit for the society? Is Nigeria today reflective of a country governed by God-fearing Christians and Muslims? The people who have destroyed Nigeria to its knees and are still doing so did not breach our borders and barge in from somewhere. They are Christians and Muslims who are Nigerians.
If this stock truly has a conscience, they should ask themselves how their preachments have transformed our people into transparent and honest citizens who are genuinely interested in nation-building. In our acclaimed piety, if we cannot build a self-reliant country on Earth, in so many years, we will surely mess up heaven, if we ever get there.
I am saying this against the background that; even with the preponderance of properly documented and verifiable history of an Africa that birthed civilization, built the pyramids of Giza, and started the first university on Earth, these foreign religions successfully convinced majority of an entire generation of Africans that, the continent was replete with barbarians before their arrival. Why has a continent that had thriving empires, whose development was only truncated by intrusion, become incapable of governing its people, even after fully embracing Islam and Christianity?
What is the impact of your message if the citizens are not transforming for good? Will our society ever benefit from their wholesome commitment to Christianity and Islam, or are the adherents just going to be told perpetually to keep preparing for paradise? These are just some of the issues tormenting the carapace of my mind this morning.
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
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