Bishop of Catholic Dioceses of Yola, Most Rev Stephen Mamza, bares his mind on the role of religious leaders in politics and the upcoming elections, among other issues, in this interview with HINDI LIVINUS
As the general elections approach, some religious leaders are being accused of playing partisan politics. What are your thoughts on this?
The problem we have is that some of our clerics are hungry religious leaders, those not there for the service of God but because of their pockets. If not, why should a religious leader allow politicians to control him. The cleric is supposed to be the leader of the politicians and not the other way round, as we see it. The clerics are the ones that are supposed to form the conscience of the politicians. Some have ceded this position because of material things. They have lost their credibility because of what they expect to get. I can give examples with the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has rules and regulations. But there are many other religious bodies that do not have guiding principles. These are the bodies that allow their leaders to go beyond the limit that is acceptable.
But Rev Father Ejike Mbaka is a Catholic cleric. Are his political statements in consonance with your church’s principles?
Rev Father Mbaka is an embarrassment to the Catholic Church and I wonder why he has yet to be sanctioned by the Bishop of his Diocese. This cannot happen in other dioceses. He should be sanctioned. There is no reason why he shouldn’t be sanctioned. Every priest is under the jurisdiction of their local ordinaire who is the bishop. If a priest commits a crime or does something wrong anywhere in the world, the person that acts on that priest is the bishop. Even Rome will not act just like that; it is your own bishop that will do that. I think we can say that his bishop should make sure he cautions Father Mbaka because he has really crossed his boundaries.
Nigeria, despite being a nation of religious people, is faced with moral decadence and corruption has continued to soar. Do you think religious bodies are doing enough?
I think something is wrong. In a situation where the religious leaders themselves are corrupt; a situation, where the religious leaders’ conscience is not properly formed, we should expect that the followers will do worse things. As a matter of fact, if you look at some of the religious leaders that we have, you actually wonder. Our major problem in this country is that of leadership. When we talk about leadership, it cuts across politics, religion and other segments of leadership you can conceive. It is not a problem of following.
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