APC Bishops: Hired or Real ?

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Politicking is one of the most interesting things that lightens our collective daily hardship in Nigeria. Many hungry and angry Nigerians find Nigerian politics amnestic in the sense that it momentarily helps forget the existential threat, insecurity and poverty that combinably defines our national life.

The meme in the town—or rather in the Nigerian political village square—is the news of ‘Bishops’ that were sighted at the unveiling of All Progressives Congress’ running mate, Sen. Kashim Shattima. Though I am not a comedy addict, comedy thrills me. When I first read the news I soliloquized: “Hmm, Nigerian politicians.” But when I saw the pics of the so-called Bishops, I burst into a hysterical laughter such that I forgot that I, and my other colleagues in the universities, have not been paid salaries for five months.

I must confess, this ungoverned APC-led government’s campaign strategy is tantalizingly rib-tickling. I cannot but thank the Party on behalf of other Nigerians like me for this comic relief. I expect to see more of it in the forthcoming months prior to the 2023 general elections. The parade of these ‘Bishops’ is apparently meant to give credence to Muslim-Muslim ticket. But is anything wrong with Muslim-Muslim ticket? I have avoided discussing this ‘issue’ on the pages of newspaper. But in this article, I will. I will come to it later.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and many other Christians in Nigeria have been very vocal in their rejection of APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket. It is, therefore, incredulous to see some ‘Bishops’ at the unveiling ceremony of a Muslim running mate they have vehemently rejected and despised as if it spells doom and Hell.
This prompts one to question the reality of these Bishops. Are they hired or iconoclastic or fake? Here ‘hired’ is only used to euphemize ‘bribe’ for I don’t expect Bishops to be bribed. If they were hired to grace the unveiling ceremony, it means there are hypocrites among the rank and file of Nigerian Christian priests. For, you cannot reject an idea and embrace it simultaneously.

I should think these Bishops are Iconoclasts who do not see any sense in rejecting Muslim-Muslim ticket. After all, a Christian-Christian ticket won a recent election in Osun State without anyone raising an eyebrow. If this is the case, one should expect them to, without hesitation, confidently explain their position in a radical manner like true iconoclasts.

Disappointedly, however, they neither granted interview nor responded to questions when asked by journalists who were eager to understand their raison d’être for being present at the unveiling ceremony.

The last possibility is that they are fake Bishops. That is to say, they were invited as script actors. At the moment, this seems to be a plausible explanation. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has dissociated itself from the ‘Bishops.’ It said, according to its Vice President, “The people we saw at the unveiling of Shettima paraded as Bishops are people who did not have enough time to learn how to wear Bishop Garments. Take a closer look at their photo and you will see another Nollywood movie.” This seems to be true. The ‘Bishops’ looked like bad imitators in their cassocks. Also, the reactions of some of these Bishops to reporters’ questions make the scene very similar to a movie.
An Archbishop considers APC’s shenanigans as an absolute disregard for God. He asked in wonderment; “Why did they not chose to embarrass Muslim leaders by hiring Imams in their regalia to such events?” Until APC satisfactorily responds to the challenge of CAN which tasks it to mention the names of those Bishops if they were not fake, it is safe to conclude that they were actually phantom Bishops.

Back to Muslim-Muslim ticket. Is anything wrong with it? Honestly, I find its rejection very embarrassingly unfortunate. This is democracy. We operate a multi-party system. We have many political parties with presidential aspirants and running mates which cut across ethnic and religious divides. Why problematizing the APC’s considered choice? This problematization is itself problematic. What is very clear is that APC has not acted against the Constitution or the Electoral Act by pairing a Muslim with Tinubu. Enough of this noise.
Those who are pained by APC’s Muslim running mate behave as if Nigeria practices a one party system. They, by their rejection, place APC (a nascent political party of only eight years of existence) on a very high pedestal. They over bloat the shrinking image of the Party as if it has decidedly won the 2023 presidential election. What kind of people are we? If you are not at ease with APC, you can opt for another party with Christian-Muslim, Christian-Christian or Muslim-Christian ticket. APC is not a religion. Thus, leaving it or voting against it doesn’t make one an apostate.

Nevertheless, I find Muslim-Muslim combination of APC divisive, insensitive to our religiously induced mutual distrust and against the unwritten convention of our national politics which has been prominently religionized. But I insist; APC has constitutionally done no wrong. If it thinks its religious insensitiveness is a strategy to achieve victory, why not? After all, politics is a contest for power where any means that leads to that end is justifiable provided it (the means) does not go against any extant law.

Obviously, APC is desperate for power. This is not also wrong either if it is within limit. However, I advise the Party to stop exposing itself to ridicule. This hiring of fake Bishops as widely alleged is strategically aimed at repackaging itself, will only further dent its image as a shameless party. What is even more denting was one Tinubu Support Organization which, in defence of APC’s faux pas vis-à-vis the alleged fake or hired Bishops, immaturely claimed the Bishops are not known in Christendom. With this explanation, would anyone controvert the fact that APC needs urgent redemption?
Though not my preferred party, yet I feel ashamed that a ruling party could stoop this low just for the sake of retaining power—a power it has flagrantly abused. I think some pretentious loyalists are actually working against the Party to bring it down and send it packing.

Everything about Tinubu, its presidential aspirant, is said to be fake. While he, in collaboration with his party, should struggle to establish his originality and shame his traducers, I cannot understand why APC is strategizing through fake campaign by hiring ‘Bishops’. Sen. Kashim Shettima is generally adjudged to be a nice guy and we all know what nice guys do; he should advise the Party and its campaign strategists wisely. We cannot afford a fake government in 2023. May we get it right.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
@salahuddeenAbd

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