Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Catholic Church has called on Nigerian politicians to listen to Nigerians to know their plight and know how to govern them positively.
The director of Social Communications of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Very Rev. Fr. Mike Umoh, made this known at the 2022 World Communications Day Mass organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), in Abuja where media practitioners working tools were blessed by the Bishop of Lafia Diocese, Most Rev. David Ajang, who is also CBCN chairman on Social Communications.
Umoh while speaking with journalists after the mass, explained that listening as human action is indispensable to democracy, adding that the reality is obvious because what is going on presently with the primaries can be 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 wrest that power away from the oppressor,” he said.
According to the Catholic priest, the way things are going presently in Nigeria, many Nigerians are suffering because they are still allowing politicians to play bread and N1000 politics with them.
“We have seen a lot happening with these delegates, where dollars upon dollars are 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,” he said.
