By Vivian Onyebukwa
The Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos and the Episcopal Vicar of Ikeja Region, Monsignor John Aniagwu has called on the judiciary to right the wrongs done to the Nigerian people in the February 25, 2023 general election.
According to him, “some people are saying let us accept what has happened and move on because something has not gone right.
“It must be corrected, we cannot move on without justice and fairness. Peace without justice is peace of the graveyard.”
Monsignor Aniagwu spoke during and interactive session with journalists to mark the 57th World Communication Day ceremonies in Lagos insisting that Nigeria cannot move forward except the wrongs meted out on Nigerians are corrected.
He lamented that Nigeria has become a nation where the innocent has become the guilty and the guilty proclaimed innocent, adding that, “If we are to enjoy the truth of this land, we must communicate and be open to the truth of the land as admonished by the Pope.
“We cannot continue to sweep everything under the carpet while the nation continues to suffer and slide down the scale of development. Some people have invested in the failure of this nation, and such people are happy that Nigeria should fail and not rise. That is what we are facing in this country”
The Vicar General, urged all right-thinking persons in Nigeria to stand up and reject the status quo, saying the legitimacy of the incoming is in doubt.
“They should convince Nigerians of their legitimacy and that they truly deserve to be where they are. Until they do that, everything else that they do would be illegitimate. I want to believe that the Nigerian judicial system still has the honour to do what is right.
“The truth must be told. In doing so we must not sacrifice charity and brotherly love, we must tell the truth in love and respect for our fellow men and women and treat people as children of God no matter where they come from or the language they speak. Speaking the truth in love is something that we urgently need in today’s Nigeria,” he said.
He further decried the present situation in the country regarding the just concluded general elections saying, “The event of the past months have shown that we Nigerians are un-serious people. We are a nation of clowns and comedians, proven by the kind of leaders who are steering the affairs of our nation. A very un-serious people who toy with everything- insecurity, economy, people’s lives, and we toy with a very serious matter of succession. How some people should be elected to run the affairs of the country, we make joke of it unlike other countries.
“It is only in Nigeria that a case is still pending and we are going ahead with swearing in, that is one of the ways we display our un-seriousness.”
Monsignor Aniagwu, while speaking on the theme of the 57th World Communication Day, which is “Speaking with the Heart, the Truth in Love,” said the truth must be told in love, which is the way to win the heart of listeners.
He said: “In our nation today, we have been divided along tribal, religious and party lines so much so that we are no more ready to speak and accept the truth in love. We have become a nation where the innocent has become guilty and guilty proclaimed innocent. If we are to enjoy the truth of this land, we must communicate and be open to the truth of the land as admonished by the Pope”.