Vera Wisdom-Bassey
The Prelate of Methodist Church of Nigeria Dr. Uche Chukwuemeka Kanu has called on politicians to begin realignments as a prelude to enthroning good governance at all levels in 2023.
Speaking with Saturday Sun, the clergyman lamented the absence of basic amenities in various communities in the country. He said: “Go to villages, there are no good roads; no electricity, there is hunger everywhere, some communities do not have hospitals. Whatever amenity you have on ground is substandard. To a large extent, the right thing is not done. It is against this background that I urge our politicians to realign politically as a way of ushering good governance for our people to begin to enjoy dividends of democracy.
“We need to learn a lot. If you look at advanced democracies, it took them many years to arrive at where they are now. Our current democracy is 21 years, and almost 60 years as an independent country; so, we have not passed through some metamorphosis like other advanced democracies; we have not known how to love our nation, how to be selfless and patriotic.
“Our people see democracy as if it were for privileged people and their families. It is not so. Some of them don’t obey the rule of law; the sanctity of judiciary is not respected. Are we not practising militocracy? We need to reorder our priorities. How good are our representatives? We have to go back to the drawing board and practise the real democracy.”
The prelate noted, however, that all the politicians are not bad, but majority, he said are bad; they are wolves in sheep clothing. “Some of them are not there for what they can offer, but for what they can get,” he said.
Real alignment, he stressed, has to begin for 2023, adding that, “I am not condemning our leaders, but calling on them to build the country and give in their best. As a church, if we don’t do our best, our conscience will judge us.”