If I had read the story of Bishop David Oyedepo’s interpretation of the Jubril of Sudan piece by Dr. Olatunji Dare, I would have sworn on the deepfake theory. Dare is a known satirist. A man of Oyedepo’s standing and influence should have Googled Dare before making a mockery of himself on the pulpit. Except that these gods-of-men are infallible to themselves and their followers, Oyedepo owes his sheep an apology. His wanton display of arrogant ignorance is capable of burning down the nation.
His ecclesiastical gaffe underscores the need to regulate preaching. The big question is – who would do the regulating. Oyedepo commands a flock of sheep that could burn down anything based on his body language. With wanton wealth, access to a fleet of airplanes, he could be several nautical miles from here before he could be asked to explain himself.
Religious leaders need to work on themselves before someone gets the cue and start working on them. But with the level of jealousy and guarded autonomy they all exhibit, someone would have to do it for them. While Oyedepo’s video was trending, Father Mbaka’s denouement was unfolding. Mbaka has given a tepid apology for his attack on Peter Obi, but it would not be his first.
Successive governments feed on the popularity of religious leaders for political gain. This gives every heretic in cassock a leeway. As we approach elections, nobody should be fooled into believing that religion would not play an important part in the electoral process. Freedom of worship or association should not be interpreted as freedom to peddle ideas that could turn the nation into a boiling cauldron.
France’s Gilet Jaunes
I am waiting for the first religious zealot to make the link between the gilet jaunes (yellow vest) protests in France to Emmanuel Macron’s promise to return Africa’s stolen artifacts back to the motherland. We are known for making bizarre links and coating stupidity in religious garbs.
We live in a continent where the governor of a state attributed the outbreak of a preventable disease to the excess sins of his people. We should expect preachers to predict doom and gloom to any country that would take back those ‘idols’. This is why I pity Machy Sall who has already built and launched a museum for such returned treasures. However, if the rains delayed a little in Senegal next year, he’ll be hard pressed to deny the link.
Never mind that the thieving nations that have been making money out of these artifacts continued to grow and develop such that our people now export themselves to perish at their ports in search of the fulfillment of their pipe dreams.
History reveals that religion has been used as a weapon for development. The Euro-Americans used it to justify slavery. Slave trade helped provide the needed free labour that sustained life before the industrial era. In the technological age, the gemstones required for are mined in Africa. But the land itself has remained poor, ravaged by war, famine and conflicts.
Sall took the bull by the horns by cashing in on a tourism goldmine. Some of us stopped going to museums because of the sustained subterfuge and injustice. Now that these arts and artifacts are back home, things might change. Let us hope that those who destroyed the Timbuktu library of written history would not gain access to these treasures and that selfish thieves would not break into the museum, steal and sell the treasures back into the vaults of private collectors.
Lessons from Canada
Canada’s senate appears to have over-estimated its popularity with the public. As it temporarily relocates from its chambers at the Parliament Building to allow for a ten-year renovation, senators were allocated an old but rather historic train station named Government Conference Centre as temporary chamber. But the senators won’t go silently. So, they passed a motion expressing the wish to have their temporary building named the Senate of Canada Building.
Canada’s main broadcaster, the CBC thought it should throw the challenge to the people whose taxes fund its unelected senate. While Canada operates a bicameral legislature, the House of Commons is elected by popular votes but the Senate is appointed by the Queen’s representative on the advise of the Prime Minister. Most Canadians seem to agree that an appointed chamber has no business exercising ‘democratic’ rights.
So, when CBC asked Canadians to find an exotic name for the temporary chambers, they came up with hilarious ones. In a tweet, Chris Harcourt asked that it be called the Senatorium. Dr. Jack Lawson punned on the train metaphor by asking it to be called ‘End of the Line’ while Bob wants it to be called the ‘Gravy Train.’ Peter Wall would’ve named it ‘The Temporary Terminus of Teetotallers’ while Maureen Farrington’s suggestion was the ‘Chamber of Snorers’. Peter Dobbins suggestion was simple, call it – Sleep Country Canada. Now that’s the name of a popular mattress retailer.
Methinks Bukola Saraki and his colleagues should watch the Canadian political space now that the House of Rebels is asking for a return to the parliamentary system. Are they saying the sinnate should be scrapped? What would you name the Naija sinnate?
