“….Poets, Priests and Politicians,
Have words to thank for their positions;
Words that scream for your submission,
And no one’s jamming their transmission….’
So wrote Sting (aka Gordon Sumners) of the Police fame in the early 80s and can we but agree with him, he being a poet himself!These three cadres of human endeavour, it may seem, control the airwaves, both physical and electronic. I would go aside to theorize that this first cadre, poets, are usually either priests or politicians in their own right.
Take the late Fela (Anikulapo Kuti) – a politician and a prophet; and also the late Bob Marley – a politician and a priest.
So what about the actual Priests and Politicians?
It is my belief that Religion and Politics are meant to be a vehicle for the betterment of the lot of a people, to determine the way in which a people should behave and interact with each other.
Christianity, for example, has been described as a way of life, its adherents to be Christlike in their behaviour, not merely following the rote of religious practice.
Churches are comfortably leading banks on the level of branch network, and some might say, income – there is no nook and cranny where you will not find a church, no matter how small.
This obtains in most parts of Western and Southern Nigeria, not leaving out the North, where their activities are gaining ground.
And is the behaviour of this teeming millions of Nigerians in anyway Christlike? I leave you to decide.
But we are talking about the priests, who seem more interested in the 10 percent and other offerings. So they lure innocents to their flock with promises of miracles for healing and financial prosperity.
On TV, on the radio, on billboards, on flyers; their transmission is certainly not being jammed. And what has the nation got to gain from it all? A pretty good ranking on the Most Corrupt Nations list.
This brings us to the Politicians. I could not but overhear a news report some many moons ago, telling us that a certain “first daughter(!)”, after wrangling her way out of corruption charges was given a rousing welcome by her colleagues, where there was backslapping as they exchanged stories about their days in detention or imprisonment. Alas, a sovereign nation being governed by ex-cons!
While all this is going on, the new breed of Poets, (Priests or Politicians) are bringing up their peers in the way they know.
The radio and TV are filled with what they have to offer. With no one jamming their transmission, they are actively promoting violence, criminal and promiscuous activity.
And the Priests and Politicians look on, or don’t see, as there are many issues of State of Church to deal with.
But the Armageddon comes. Regardless.
