By Godwin Utuedoye,
LAGOS-NIGERIA- Catholic Archbishop of Lagos Archdiocese, His Grace, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins has said the entity called Nigeria needs urgent reconfiguration instead of living in self-induced deceit.
Archbishop Adewale Martins gave the charge during a media briefing held with selected journalists from all over Nigeria on Saturday, August 4, 2018 during the 6th anniversary celebration of his installation as the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos.
Most Rev. Adewale Martins who harped on the poor leadership experienced in Nigeria, noted that the church collaborative efforts over the years is designed to help promote the cause of good governance through instructive, objective, unbiased evaluation of events in the country in other to strengthened and encouraged, if truly the nation must be built.
He therefore called on the media which is the fourth estate of the realm, to remain resolute on the path of truth, unbiased and objective in their reportage of news and events as they are the conscience of the nation in a fledgling democracy.
While frowning at the attitudes of Nigerian politicians, the archbishop states, that Nigeria is passing through omnious and disturbing moment. Adding that, the polity is being heated up by political elites who have turned the nation to a play fields and fiefdoms that should should be exploited, balkanized and conquered for their selfish ends.
“We have been crying out against these injustices over the past years and we shall continue to say it loud and clear, that this nation belongs to all Nigerians”, he said. Archbishop Adewale Martins further upheld that it is wrong for any group or individuals, under any guise to arrogate to themselves the unwarranted role of deciding who gets what and does not get what in the country.
Condemning what he described as greed and selfishness, the archbishop said a situation were crimes are committed in the name of party politics whereby group of individuals scramble for, and selfishly allot to themselves and their cronies the wealth and resources of Nigeria, while leaving nothing for the masses. He said; majority of the people in Nigeria are impoverished, disempowered and floating about without dignified living conditions.
On the Not too young to run bill, the archbishop disclosed that he is surprised and watching with disbelief seeing the same old groups of individuals keep recycling themselves, and same groups and families keep shifting the goal post living the young, enterprising people with fresh ideas to bring in their wealth of experience to impact on the nation and its people.
With these he stressed, ” I have said many times in the past, the present structure of our country is incapable of giving Nigeria the best shot and meaningful growth and welfare of the masses of the nation”. He said Nigeria has been operating the present system of government that is built upon military command structure for so many years.
Lamenting the poor security system in the nation, the prelate stated that; human lives in this part of the world has become so cheap that human beings are killed like chickens on daily basis all over the nation, maintaining that the security system is incapable of taking care of citizens in the face of all these challenges of terrorists who masquerade as herdsmen.
Archbishop Adewale who was so bittered, noted that the problem of this country has long been identified as problem of leadership. He stated that Nigeria need a leader that is courageous enough to recognize the need for a radical reorganisation of the way Nigeria is governed and able to summon the will to make the required change.
On the 2019 elections, Most Rev. Adewale Martins charged INEC and all other Agencies concerned to ensure a credible and transparent election is held. He however fumed at the just concluded Ekiti state governorship election were stories of votes were openly traded like commodity put up for sale between voters and major political parties. He said it is a grave tragedy that such scenario was allowed to play unchecked at av time when ‘change’ in all ramification is the expectation of all and sundry.
Nigeria 58 Independent:
Speaking further, the Catholic prelate stated that in not more than two months from now, Nigeria will celebrate her 58th Independence day, but questioned if Nigeria is truly Independent. He noted that after 58 years Nigeria is still plagued by ethnic agitations, cries of marginalization and increasing numbers of militia groups arising from perceived nepotism and all kinds of injustices. To these, he said; no nation under the sun can guaranteed the good welfare of its citizens under such atmosphere. He urged leaders of the nation to re-examined especially as the 58th Independence anniversary draws closer, if we truly a Feral Republic or not.
Restructuring:
Speaking on the issue of restructuring which has recently dominated among solutions to better the nation, the archbishop unequivocally stressed that except this entity called Nigeria is restructured and done quickly, things may go even more awry. He however called on all religious leaders to always commit our country Nigeria to God in prayers and urged religious leader to lead with righteousness and integrity and never to take advantage of the credulity of the people and their natural disposition to faith and the practice of religion.
He called on Nigerians not to be carried way by the political intrigues that are playing out daily as new political alliances and cross-carperti g etc. He said such are capable of distracting people from seeing the bigger picture. He charged Nigerians to demand for their God given right of getting the best of the endowments of their nation which can come only from good leadership managing the country that is structured for the welfare of the people.
Immediately after the briefing, there were also questions and answer session where the archbishop touched different issues such as restructuring and overview of the President Buhari government.