“God will return you someday”: Nigerian Catholic Archbishop to IDPs in Abuja

The Local Ordinary of Abuja Archdiocese has also expressed optimism that the Saturday, March 18 gubernatorial and state assembly elections in Nigeria will produce “leaders after the mind of God.”

“We hope that the gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections held yesterday will produce leaders after the mind of God; leaders with competence and capacity to serve the common good of all Nigerians. Wrong electoral choices, based on manipulation and rigging often produce leaders with very little to offer,” Archbishop Kaigama said March 19.

According to the Nigerian Catholic Archbishop, in restoring sight to the blind beggar in the Gospel of the Forth Sunday of Lent, Jesus desires to heal the people’s social blindness.

“Christ desires to do to us what He did for the blind man. The blind man represents each one of us, blinded by sin. We ask Jesus to open our spiritual eyes to see and love Him in others; we ask Him to heal our social blindness so that we may maintain harmonious relationships,” Archbishop Kaigama said.

He said that many Nigerians were living in abject poverty, and prayed for “sight” for politicians to turn around the situation of the suffering multitudes.

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The Catholic Archbishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in April 1995 as Bishop of Nigeria’s Jalingo Diocese said that for the longest time, Nigerians had been blinded by ethnic and religious politics and were always ending up with bad leaders every election period.

“We could be blind in our choice of leaders, either because they play ethnic or religious politics, or throw money around or even come to power by force or by manipulating their way,” he said.

Archbishop Kaigama however, lauded the youths in Nigeria for choosing to fight for good governance and saying no to corrupt leaders.

“The one thing that has become obvious to many in our country is that many Nigerians, especially the youth, are no longer interested in letting political power rotate among corrupt politicians with no vision or those who bribe their way to power,” the Catholic Archbishop said.

He added, “We hope the system put in place for elections will no longer be compromised. Compromised elections only produce leaders like King Saul, who despite winning many battles had proven unfaithful to God, and the Lord rejected him as king of Israel in favor of David the shepherd boy.”

Meanwhile, Archbishop Kaigama has appealed to the people of God in Nigeria to remain fervent in prayers for God to intervene in the situation of the West African country.

“Let us remain united in prayers as we ask God to give us a clear vision of faith. We ask God to open the eyes of our emerging political leaders to see the values to stand for and the right direction to take. We must never be relenting in our fervent prayers to experience the intervention of God in our national journey,” the 64-year-old Archbishop said.

He added, “Something has started, a quiet revolution, not based on religious bigotry or ethnic parochialism, but on truth and the common good.”

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.