By Jude Atupulazi
The issue of religion is something I’m always very careful to avoid. If not for anything, I’ve got good friends in other religions and denominations and thus, will not want to hurt their feelings. This is because, religion, like politics, can inflame passions and has been known to divide even families. But then, there are times when one cannot avoid chipping in with some views, especially when and if there is need to clarify matters and save future rifts.
It is yet another Election Year in Anambra State and it is a time when all manner of opinions and drama are seen and read. One of them was what I read some days back when some politicians in the state were rooting for denominational zoning. According to them, Catholics had been dominating the governance of the state and there was need for them to step aside and allow others like Anglicans and Pentecostals to have their turn.
Although on the face of it, they appeared to be altruistic in their call, a closer scrutiny revealed that they were working for Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu who is contesting for governorship on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Indeed, of all the known aspirants in all the three major political parties in the state, the only one, Ukachukwu, is not a Catholic. In the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, is the incumbent Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, a Catholic. In Labour Party are three aspirants; all Catholics. They are: Mr John Nwosu, Engr Barth Nwibe and Mr George Moghalu. In the APC are the likes of Sir Paul Chukwuma, Prof Obiora Okonkwo, Hon Chukwuma Umeorji, and now, Mr Valentine Ozigbo. All of them are Catholics. Only Ukachukwu, also of APC, is a non-Catholic.
So, from the pool of a total of nine aspirants from all the major parties in the state, only one is not a Catholic. Thus, when the said group started calling for Catholics to step aside and allow someone of another denomination to be Governor, it didn’t seem like rocket science to assume that they were rooting for Ukachukwu, the only non-Catholic in the pool. But then, is it not plausible that a Catholic is likely to emerge from this pool at the end of the day, being that Catholics have eight aspirants?
This was why I responded to that call in one of my whatsapp groups that those behind this call should just say they were campaigning for Ukachukwu, who, obviously, thought that his only chance of winning was to play the religious card.
Indeed, I laugh when this talk of religious politics is played. As I said, the best candidates in every Guber Election in this state have always won. In the last election, if Soludo had been Pentecostal, he would probably still have won on the basis of his pedigree in the eyes of some people, not minding that the others were good; same as Obi in 2003 who was clearly the popular choice then.
Right now, the strongest candidates are known and they’re all from one denomination, bar one, (Ukachukwu), as I have earlier stated. This is why I said that it was very, very likely that a Catholic would win yet again come this year’s election.
Yet again, there is another thing I want to make clear. If really there was religious politics as always referenced, would Soludo have his greatest critic and “enemy” today in the form of a Catholic priest? (Fada Ebube Muonso)?
That would not have been the case because if the Catholic Church behaved as accused, even if Soludo was a devil, the Church would be supporting him because he is a member. But the Catholic Church is not wired that way. We can all still remember how another Catholic priest, Fr Mbaka, denigrated Peter Obi some years back, while seeming to support a man that was even a Muslim.
I hate to say this, but I remember, conversely, the scenario in 2007, when Andy Uba was imposed on the state by godfathers in broad daylight. Priests from his religious denomination flooded Government House on the day of his swearing in and laid hands on his head and prayed for him before he took over Obi’s seat.
As they prayed for him, I kept shaking my head at what religion had turned into, being that they knew like everybody how the man they were praying for came into office. In a sane setting, no one would have prayed for such a man but would have been condemning him for coming into office that way. But this is by the way.
Back to what I am discussing, I think the greatest harm to this state politically will be when the governance of the state becomes one of turn by turn on the basis of denomination other than zoning, which is even being debated, as other political parties see zoning as an APGA internal affair that is not binding on other parties.
Nevertheless, Zoning should be enough, as clamoured for at the national level. But even then, I personally will have no issue with a Muslim ruling Nigeria, if he’s the best and if under him, Nigeria will be better and Nigerians happier. It is actually because the North had been making it seem as if it was their birthright and consistently giving us their worst candidates that other parts of Nigeria began to clamour for zoning. It is safe to say that had the North been giving us their best, they probably would have become tired of ruling as no one would be bothered about who rules them.
Again, in the last Presidential Election, there was a clamour for zoning on the basis of geographical area and not religion and it happened that the South East presented who was clearly the best among the lot. Unfortunately, it went the way it did. But Obi, who was from the South East, was massively supported across Nigeria, not because of where he hailed from or what his religion or denomination was, but because they saw him as a breath of fresh air and the best among the lot.
So, my advice to those behind the charade about denominational zoning is to shop for the best aspirant first who will stand head and shoulders above the rest. In 2010, for instance, would any right thinking person have gone for Andy Uba over Obi or Soludo, given the unsavory antecedents of the Ubas in the politics of the state simply because he was Anglican? The answer is obvious and I challenge anyone to show me that non-Catholic that would have had the capacity to win election as Governor over others since 2003.
In 2003, a Governor was imposed on the state by, wait for it, an Anglican who was regarded as the godfather of Anambra politics at the time. One wonders therefore why anyone would protest and worry about ”the dominance’ of Catholics in the governance of the state when even, it was a non-Catholic that brought a Catholic through the back door in 2003.
In that 2003 Election, apart from the incumbent, the late Chinwoke Mbadinuju, an Anglican, whose regime is still deemed the most disastrous in the annals of governance in the state, other candidates were: Catholics and they were Peter Obi, George Moghalu and Chris Ngige. Being that Mbadinuju performed woefully, it was a no-brainer that he would not be returned as Governor, and as the other challengers were all Catholics, it was inevitable that a Catholic would replace him.
Then in 2010, the only Anglican challenging Catholic candidates was Andy Uba. The rest were the incumbent, Peter Obi, Chris Ngige and Chukwuma Soludo. The question is then asked: who among the other three could Uba have beaten, given the chaos brought upon the state by the Ubas before then? The answer is obvious: none!
Since then, the other notable Anglican candidate that contested against others from the Catholic Church was Godwin Ezeemo, a gentleman who, however, lacked the clout to have made any impact.
Thus, if anything, anyone desirous of having a non-Catholic Governor in the state should first produce a strong and credible candidate who can be considered the best or among the best. That way, it will be possible to have a non-Catholic Governor.
If no one from other denominations is brave enough to come out and if no one from those denominations is better than others from the other denomination, any talk about one church dominating others will remain an idle one, for fortune favours the brave. No one can stay in their house and expect the Governorship to be delivered on their door step.
I believe that Anambra, like any Igbo state, wants the best and goes for it. What everyone should be concerned about is good governance; be it a Governor from Church A or Church B. Chukwuemeka Ezeife was once the Governor of this state without being either Catholic or Anglican. He wasn’t even a Pentecostal. He was of Salvation Army, a clearly minority denomination; yet he was elected Governor. What does that tell you? He was considered the best and was elected. This alone renders any talk of a particular denomination dominating the politics of the state laughable.
The best candidate will always win; simplicita!
