Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Catholic Church has urged politicians not to disappoint Nigerians but to listen to them and address their plight through godliness and good governance.
The Director of Social Communications of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Rev. Fr. Mike Umoh, made the plea on Sunday in Abuja at the 56th World Communications Day (ComWEEK) Mass organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN).
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The event held at the St. Gabriel Chaplaincy, Durumi Abuja, also witness the media practitioners working tools blessed by the Bishop of Lafia Diocese and CBCN Chairman on Social Communications, Most Rev. David Ajang.
Umoh speaking with reporters after the Mass, said that listening as human action is dispensable to democracy, and that the reality is obvious because what is going on presently with the nation’s political parties’ primaries is disheartening.
“The signs we have seen with the primaries simply still point to the fact that our politicians are not listening to the people, they keep drumming to themselves and dancing to the tune of their drums, not to the people.
“The signs of the primaries are very disheartening and worrisome. We just hope and pray that even if politicians refused to listen to the people, the people should try to listen to themselves and do the right thing. Because no politicians will succeed without using the same people they oppress.
“The oppressors can never relinquish powers to the oppressed, the oppressed should realize himself, his need, and his want and work to wrestle that power away from the oppressor,” Umoh said.
According to him, the way things are going presently in Nigeria, many Nigerians are suffering because they are still allowing politicians to play bread and butter of N1000 politics with them.
He said, “We have seen a lot happening with these delegates, where dollars upon dollars exchanging hands. The people are not choosing those that will help them, they are simply choosing those who will give them money, mortgaging the future and already terrible situation of the nation.
“So, it is worrisome, it calls for more prayers and more conscious effort by the populists and by the people to wrestle power and fight against this continuous oppression by the politicians in our nation who do not mean well for the people.”
Also speaking the Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Rev. Fr. Zacharia Samjumi, said that what bind humanity together is communication, as human communicate with one another.
“It is important that we pay attention at how we dialogue with one another and see that we are able to make meaning living together. So, it is important that we continue to communicate well with each other, so that others can learn from us and communicate well too with one another,” Samjumi said.
