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“The emperor has no clothes” is a famous phrase from Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. In the story, two fake tailors promise an emperor a special new suit. According to the tailors, the new suit is invisible to stupid people and those unfit for their job. Because they fear to look foolish, the emperor and his workers pretend they can see the clothes. People cheer him as he walks through town naked. Reality dawns on everyone when a small child shouts that the emperor is wearing nothing at all.
Nigeria is populated by many con artists who tell the king that he is wearing new fantastic clothes even when he is totally naked. On July 20, 2022, some men in clerical robes, later referred to as fake bishops, appeared during the unveiling of Kashim Shettima as Bola Tinubu’s running mate at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja. This was apparently to fake Christian endorsement of the ruling party’s Muslim-Muslim ticket. The Tinubu Campaign Organisation claimed the men were genuine, upcoming clergymen from some local ministries. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) did not waste time to disown the clerics, saying they were not recognised church leaders.
A few months to the 2027 general election, Tinubu and his advisers and cronies apparently wanted to amend the 2022 gimmick by meeting with the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in Aso Villa, Abuja.
Unfortunately for the presidency, Catholic bishops are not known to hide truth from power. They are like the innocent child who tells the king that he is naked even when everyone else is hiding the truth from him. They have no choice because they have the moral authority to speak for millions of people who depend on them for guidance.
So, the bishops were in their element when they told the President recently that the country was bleeding due to severe economic hardship, worsening insecurity, and hunger ravaging ordinary citizens. The bishops further demanded a level-playing field and absolute neutrality for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the 2027 general election.
The presidency felt betrayed and disturbed. The President reportedly said his administration’s reforms had put the country on the path to prosperity and that the economy was doing fine. His Special Adviser on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, took a direct jab at the revered Cardinal John Onaiyekan. The cardinal had granted an interview to Arise TV where he opened up on what the Catholic bishops discussed with Tinubu. Bwala said the cardinal spoke only for Catholics, not the entire Christians and that he was being more political than spiritual.
I have no time to waste on Bwala because his antecedents as an unserious character are well known. He has already got enough rebuke from many Nigerians. The Northern Christian Association (NCA), for instance, cautioned him over his divisive politics capable of undermining Christian unity. According to the group, the Catholic bishops spoke on issues affecting not only Catholics but also Christians and Nigerians in general.
The group said the message of the bishops revolved around national interest, humanity and good governance. “Any voice of greed, propaganda or disconnect with the citizens by any government appointee like Bwala should be seen as those destroying the country for their selfish interest, not minding the larger population,” the chairman of the NCA, Reverend Joseph John Hayab, noted in a statement.
In any case, what the bishops spoke about is universal truth. It has nothing to do with being Catholic or Christian or even Muslim. Insecurity affects everybody. Hunger and hardship affect the majority of the people. The price of bread is not cheaper for Muslims than it is for Christians. All of us suffer from the burden of being ruled by incompetent, greedy, and corrupt leaders. But the few people who benefit from the rotten system want us to think and believe that the emperor is wearing new suit. Pathetic!
Criticism is the lubricant with which serious leaders repair their bad political machinery. That is why in government houses, spokespersons go through different news items every day and draw their principals’ attention to the feelings of the people. A sensible, democratic leader goes through the news or comments and tries as much as possible to meet the demands of his people.
But in Nigeria, some spokespersons try to twist facts and tell their principals what they want to hear. Such people thrive here because our system condones lies, insincerity, fraud, corruption, forgery and many other criminal tendencies.
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Sane societies don’t spare such people. Just last month, the United Kingdom’s Maidstone Crown Court jailed 40-year-old Amran Hussain from Westerham, Kent, four years for using a forged Oxford University degree and other fake credentials to secure 13 senior non-clinical jobs within the National Health Service (NHS). He defrauded the NHS of nearly £170,000.
Perhaps, the Bwalas of this world wanted Cardinal Onaiyekan to lie on national TV when asked about the bishops’ meeting with the President. Or to keep mute when the majority of Nigerians suffer untold hardship in a country they call theirs.
Elsewhere, the clergy have even galvanized people to change inept governments. In the Philippines, Catholic bishops, especially the late Manila Archbishop, Jaime Cardinal Sin, played a pivotal role in ending the authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos. They released official pastoral statements, condemned electoral fraud, and directly galvanized public resistance that culminated in the 1986 People Power Revolution that ended the Marcos regime.
During the dictatorship of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Catholic bishops did not shy away from telling him that the country was drifting. Even in 2014, the bishops, led by Cardinal Onaiyekan, told the then President Goodluck Jonathan in Aso Rock that all was not well with Nigeria. The APC, which was in the opposition then, hailed the church for its intervention. Today, the tide has turned against the ruling party-led administration. And the bishops have suddenly become partisans.
It is still a puzzle why the President and his acolytes are often intolerant of criticisms and the opposition. Tinubu had pretended to be a democrat. But his taste of power has exposed his real being. He knows he has trampled on the toes of many Nigerians. He knows that the 2027 general election is around the corner and that he could be thrown out of office if care is not taken.
So, the best thing for them is to hide the truth and try to deceive Nigerians that all is well. They often parrot macro-economic gains this administration has achieved as if that is all there is to a robust economy. Government sympathizers will always want us to know that Tinubu embarked on bold reforms for the betterment of Nigeria. They say he removed fuel subsidy, which was a drainpipe on the resources of the country; that he harmonized the exchange rate; and that the non-oil sector has never had it so good.
But macro-economic gains that do not trickle down to the masses mean nothing to the citizens. Before Tinubu came to power, the price of fuel was less than N200 a litre. Today, it is over N1,250 a litre. The prices of many other essential commodities also skyrocketed since Tinubu assumed office.
Meanwhile, minimum wage has remained N70,000 a month. This can hardly buy a bag of rice today. Commendably, the president has approved an increase in the salary of military personnel. In July, the salary of a private in the army was raised from N49,000 to N100,000 a month. Early August, the President again raised the salary to between 30 and 80 per cent. It takes effect from September 1, 2026, and will benefit 250,000 military personnel across all ranks. Brigadier-Generals, Major-Generals, Lt.-Generals and Generals got theirs increased by 30 per cent while colonels down to warrant officers will get a 50 per cent increase. Privates to staff sergeants will get 80 per cent. Other workers deserve a raise in their salaries as well.
Nigerian government can pay workers well if the economy is well managed. But ours is a system where the people in power siphon much of the country’s resources and leave very little for the masses. That is why politicians kill themselves to grab power. Once in power, they occupy their minds with how to acquire the latest exotic vehicles, build state-of-the-art houses and stack foreign currencies abroad for their children and generations yet unborn.
We must remain vigilant as the 2027 general election approaches. The only power we have as citizens is our vote. We cannot misuse it in this critical period. In 2023, they tried to deceive us with all manner of tricks, including fake bishops. Now that we know better, they tried using real bishops. Since it appears not to have worked, it will not be a surprise if they try to use some other bishops to counter Catholic bishops. Nothing is beyond this government.
All that Nigerians ask for in 2027 is free, fair and credible elections. It is not too much of a demand to make. A government that claims to have made impact in the lives of the people; a President who has almost got all the state governors to endorse him; a ruling party that boasts of having no opposition in 2027 will easily accede to this demand. But they can’t because they know they will be totally floored. We must keep our hopes alive because nothing is impossible before God.
