“An original sin”: Cardinal in Nigeria Faults Politicians for Rigging Elections

Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Archdiocese faulted politicians for using politics as a way of escaping from poverty and stealing the country’s resources ‘legally’.

The Nigerian Cardinal said that the West African country may lag behind in development “as long as people see the meaning of politics as a way to escape from the trap of poverty.”

“We should stop deceiving ourselves. A society cannot grow that way,” Cardinal Onaiyekan said, adding that “politics is for people who want to serve the nation with their talents, with their experience so that the country will go well for the sake of the common good and especially for those who are the poorest of the poor.”

Cardinal Onaiyekan said, “When the political class are the richest in the country, something has definitely gone wrong.”

He went on to condemn what he described as a “sit -tight attitude” of African politicians on their quest for luxury and riches and not for national service. 

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“People like us condemned the decision of the Nigerian national assembly to buy for themselves the most expensive cars in the market. Are they representing us or not? But you cannot blame them because that is the idea with which they are entering politics and when they are there, obviously, they don’t want to come down,” the Cardinal said.

He added, “If not for the fact that the law said if you are a governor for eight years you have finished, many governors will never come down and many presidents will always remain there.”

“Politics in Nigeria will do Nigeria well if we change the idea from political power in order to get rich to politics of service to the nation,” Cardinal Onaiyekan told ACI Africa.

Abah Anthony John is a Nigerian Journalist with great enthusiasm and interest for Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication from Benue State University, Makurdi, Benue State Nigeria. He has vast experience in Print,  Electronic and Multi-Media Production.