16-10-1024.

Many of us believe in the integrity of our Islamic preachers and our Pastors in whatever Church we attend, despite their apparent bespoke appearances. Some of them look as smart as some sorts of models, smartly dressed in expensive Shadda or yard or in designer clothes of the season and accompanying accessories. Many of them also ride in brand new vehicles, including jeeps. Some of them even own personal aircrafts.

Many religious leaders (especially those belonging to the two dominant religions of Islam and Christianity) live life in the proverbial ‘fast lane’. Their sartorial appearances alone suggest as if they have no problems in their lives whatsoever.

But where did they get the means to afford such an expensive and envious lifestyle that even the certified business moguls, who pride themselves in bespoke attire and other accessories of fashion, would envy? Envy, because most of the religious leaders do nothing bringing hard money besides preaching to their followers.

According to one member of the House of Representatives in the National Assembly (NASS), the men and women of God secretly come to “greet” us. He asserted that the religious leaders went to see the politicians on the pretext of greetings, while in the actual sense were there to receive their share of the National Cake. And at the end of the ‘greeting’ visits, the things that exchanged hands from the politicians to their guests are always accepted.

The honourable member, who appeared in a television interview, further alleged that the clerics  never preached or advised their hosts to shun CORRUPTION and follow the straight path and help the country. “All they came for, and get, is for themselves”.

Now, that tells us where some of the preachers, with their ‘holier than though attitude’ get their worldly  goodies. But that is only half the story, in my thinking. The politicians are supposed to be in the calling to improve the country not themselves, which means that they do not have to wait for a preacher to tell them that corruption is against God and the country.

The politicians love to be praised for doing what is supposed to be their job, to the extent that they would dole out millions or even hundreds of millions of naira to praise singers. A politician in the NASS was said to have given two Hausa praise singers N350 million when he was ‘honoured’ with a chieftaincy tittle in his emirate recently. And the tittle would not add any value to the people he ‘represents’ at the NASS.

Why then did the ‘lawmaker’ decided to talk about the shenanigans of the clerics, but kept quiet about the huge amount of money and other expensive things that the politicians give to singers, especially the praising types? Perhaps, the praise singers advise them to be corrupt so as to give some of the wealth so acquired to them, too.

I am not encouraging anyone to encourage the use of religion for self enrichment, but it is totally wrong for anyone to prefer giving to singers than to the learned people of faith, who in my estimation, are more beneficial to the society. It may be that the singing is more edifying for politicians.

Nigeria is the only country known to yours sincerely where praise singers smile their way to the bank for just one outing, but professionals in other fields will hardly make such amount in their lifetime of hard toil. I may be not in the know, but I need to be educated of the such countries, if there are any.

With such attitude by our politicians, who incidentally are the leaders, it is little wonder that majority of the people in Nigeria are really not finding survival in the country funny at all. Things than are taken for granted in some climes, are considered and seen as luxuries, that are way out of the reach of most citizens. Such things include electricity, motor vehicles, good education, good health care and tap water, to name a few, despite the ‘inexhaustible’ wealth of the nation.

May God forgive us, and help us change our bad ways, so that in the very near future the country will have good leaders that would lead with His fear in their hearts.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.