We need to talk about our clerics

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness.”

So began Charles Dickens’ great novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set between London and Paris during the French Revolution. Though it was written in 1859, Charles Dickens could have been writing about Nigeria today.

The difference is that this is not the best of times for most Nigerians, but who will deny that we are in the epoch of belief and the epoch of incredulity? How else does one explain that Nigeria is probably one of the most religious countries in the world and still one of the most Godless? One in which gilded places of worship sprout into the high heavens at the same rate as slums, IDP camps, and criminal dens. This is why, among other things, we need to talk about our clerics.

You see, for a country full of self-styled God’s generals, it would appear that the much-vaunted triumph of good over evil is not playing according to the script. The battlefield is so cloudy and chaotic that it is often hard to tell good from evil. Too frequently, these “men of God” do things that astound; things that make even the Devil’s lieutenants stop and ponder.

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The immediate inspiration for this concern is the recent statements by the Jos-based cleric, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, whose head-scratching political commentary has caused consternation amongst Nigerians, Muslims, Christians, and the undeclared.

Sheikh Jingir bizarrely decided to rewrite Nigerian reality—the very same one we are all living witnesses to—to suit his narrative. He claimed, to a large gathering of his followers, that there was a clique intent on scuttling the “Muslim-Muslim” leadership of the country. This clique, he claimed, waited until President Tinubu travelled to China to “seek favours for Nigeria” when the clique unilaterally increased petrol pump price just so the “Muslim-Muslim” ticket would fail.

I cannot even begin to dissect how disingenuous these comments are. First, this was a method of deflection that had been used before, notably during the previous administration to absolve the former president of responsibility for the state of the country. Then, too, imams had preached in mosques that people the then president had handpicked and appointed and clung to with dear life throughout his administration, were the same people scuttling the president’s efforts. According to these clerics, everyone was to blame apart from the one person Nigerians actually voted to govern.

To make the same excuse now for Tinubu is an even worse travesty. For one, it is clear that this president is far more involved in governance and issuing by himself, sometimes unilaterally, policy statements such as the abrupt termination of the subsidy regime. Proofread Version: Anyone who knows anything about Nigeria knows that at the highest levels, religion is only used for cosmetic effects. Nigeria has been ruined by both its Muslim and Christian leaders, and sometimes they have done this collaboratively. So instead of making excuses for the leadership by conjuring fictional stories and cliques, one would think that clerics like this would instead expend their energies on preaching to the leadership to be better Muslims and better leaders to the people of the country.

Such proclamations often serve the purpose of deceiving people into accepting and defending things that no sensible people should condone, by holding up religion and tribe to excuse bad conduct. This has been the foundation of Nigeria’s ruination from the start, and it is a shame to see clerics in this age still trying to use these colonial methods to keep people divided while the nation bleeds out. It is not dissimilar to the methods used to ensure plantation subservience during the transatlantic slave trade.

This exploitation of the laity by the clerics is not limited to the political realm, or to Islam and workers in this faith’s vineyard. Christian clerics have also excelled in exploiting the gullibility of their congregants through unethical practices.

This week, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) warned Nigerians against buying “miracle water and soap” from one self-styled Prophet Jeremiah Fufeyin. Mr Fufeyin has been advertising his products as capable of curing barrenness, and claims that these products are licensed by the agency. This pastor sells varieties of “holy water” fetched from a pool at his Warri base, as well as other products like “miracle honey” for “spiritual mouth odour.” The prices are listed in dollars!

That is not all; Mr Fufeyin is also selling miracle stones, miracle fishes from his fish farm, and miracle ATM cards that will allegedly unlock wealth for 20 dollars! The products are advertised online with lightning-effect-filled Nollywood-style videos featuring epic battles between the pastor and a demon statue, as well as other ridiculous performances and C-movie-level acting.

In this “epoch of belief,” clerics have been known to stage miracles. Every day, these miracles become more outlandish, cartoonish, and illogical, even if the stock-in-trade of miracles is their defiance of logic. But the “miracles” that often require congregants to act or behave in ridiculous ways in service of their miracle choreographers, the clerics, are becoming more disingenuous by the day.

These scams and religious misconduct thrive on one thing—the deficit of common sense on the part of congregants who shout “Allahu Akbar” or “Hallelujah” while these shenanigans are played out. While many people take figures like Odumeje as entertainers, the individuals who attend his services do so as firm believers in his miracle services, which include wrestling-style body slams. The logic of it is baffling. A recent clip from his church showed a university student seeking Odumeje’s miraculous intervention. When he asked her what her problem was, she said, “I’m always falling sick.”

That simple sentence somehow confounded the “pastor.” In a dramatic and rather bizarre exchange, the young woman repeated that statement almost 10 times, and still, Odumeje could not understand what she was saying. He was genuinely confused by her words. He also mistook her course of study at the university, anatomy, for a tummy ailment.

And no, this was not an issue of a language challenge. Yes, English is not a measure of intelligence, and it is not a requirement for one to access God. But, at the very least, a preacher must understand the language of the text he is teaching. If he can’t comprehend “I’m always falling sick,” how does he understand the complexities of faith well enough to teach them to his followers? Odumeje is open about his lack of intelligence, but he is smart enough to recognise the naivety of his congregation and to lean on that.

While the recent exchanges between pastors Abel Damina and Paul Enenche over the toxic prosperity preaching that has replaced genuine preaching in churches, Muslim clerics also need to curb the budding miracle preachers in their ranks. But most crucially, they need to tone down the preaching of hate from the mimbar towards certain tribes and groups.

For instance, for some reason, one Sheikh Ibn Hazam Nijar courted controversy recently when a video surfaced in which he vehemently proclaimed that he would rather hug a sex worker (which is haram) than hug other Muslim clerics from different sects.

While the choice of who he hugs or doesn’t hug is his prerogative, what is concerning is the hate that he is preaching and the passion with which he was preaching it. His disposition is nothing like what one would expect from the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his companions, whom he professes to emulate.

Perhaps it would help if now and then, during their exploitative or hate-filled preachings, these men would pause and ponder what Jesus or Muhammad (peace be upon them both) would think if they were to see them today.

But the responsibility ultimately lies with the people to use their own senses and reasoning since the state has failed to regulate these practices. People must realise that in this epoch of faith and incredulity, being godly does not equate to being gullible.