By Emeka Odogwu
The Communicator, Anglican Diocese of Yola, Rev. Canon Chidiebere Onyiagha, has reviewed the imbroglio between a Nigerian Minister and a Nigerian soldier. Excerpts.
‘The recent conduct of the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, towards a military personnel had drawn strong reactions from Nigerians. The response was immediate because the military uniform carries meaning—authority, sacrifice, discipline, and national service. When you demean a soldier, you touch an institution that protects the nation.
Yet the same society that quickly rises in defence of a soldier often keeps quiet, or even participates, when pastors are insulted, mocked, or spoken to without honour. Among many influential individuals, it has become common to treat pastors as people who must accept humiliation quietly.
But when we look closely, the work of a pastor is not lesser than that of a soldier. Both roles share weight and responsibility, and both deserve respect.
A soldier serves the nation through physical defence.
A pastor serves the community through spiritual guidance.
One guards the borders:
The other guards the hearts, homes, and values of the people.
Both sacrifice comfort:
Both face battles—one with weapons, the other with prayers.
A soldier’s camouflage represents discipline, order, and loyalty to the nation. A pastor’s collar, or calling, represents dedication, sacrifice, and loyalty to God.
The uniform draws respect in public:
The pastoral calling deserves honour in the community.
In times of conflict, soldiers stand at the frontline of physical danger.
In times of crisis—family issues, grief, personal struggles—pastors stand at the frontline of emotional and spiritual battles.
Soldiers bury their fallen.
Pastors comfort the broken.
Soldiers defend the land.
Pastors defend the values that keep the land standing.
A nation without soldiers loses physical security.
A nation without pastors loses spiritual and moral direction.
A country stands strong when both its defence and its conscience are intact. Remove either, and society becomes unstable.
A Call for Balance and Honour
If disrespect toward a soldier can provoke national outrage, then disrespect toward a pastor should trouble our conscience as well.
The soldier confronts enemies we can see; the pastor confronts battles we cannot. The soldier protects territory; the pastor protects the soul.
The soldier trains with weapons; the pastor trains with the Word.
Neither role needs to be placed above the other.
They serve on different battlefields, but both are necessary.
Respect should not be selective—it should be consistent. A nation that honours its soldiers but ridicules its pastors is not fully secure. A nation that honours both becomes stronger in body, mind, and spirit.
Rev. Canon Chidiebere Onyiagha, is a Communicator, Diocese of Yola.
