Ahiara Diocese And The Tyranny Of Nigerian Bishops

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Let me say from the onset that I am very distraught over the treatment meted out to the Catholic faithful in Ahiara Diocese by Nigerian bishops. I am troubled because I am involved. The situation in the diocese is the classical tinderbox in wait for a match. Why would Nigerian bishops be the ones willing to spark the light?

*Francis Cardinal Arinze 

I have resisted joining the fray, at least not publicly, all these years because of two main reasons. First, I am aware that in most faith-based issues, reason is a casualty and the Ahiara Bishopric saga is no exception. Second, when it comes to Catholicism, I am old-fashioned, having been brought up to believe that the clergy are God’s direct representatives on earth who are beyond reproach. All things considered, that is illogical but as Karl Marx would say, religion is an opium.

What Does The President Carry In His Pocket?

By Banji Ojewale

There is this apocryphal tale that the president of the United States of America, said to be our planet’s most powerful country, travels carrying a bag that holds the key to war and peace in the world. It is claimed that the briefcase contains the code the US leader may unravel to release the huge atomic arsenal of God’s Own Country in the event of an attack.

*President Buhari

If he’s away from the US and he’s briefed on his hotline, all he does to enable a lethal hit-back is to go for the bag and probably a key in his pocket. But if he wants peace, he simply allows his pocket be at peace.

Early in 2016 however, sitting President Barack Obama spiked this story of one man playing  God, one man who upon a cryptic call thousands of kilometres from Washington, can decide the fate of billions of souls worldwide, can trigger a contest to destroy mankind. He told a YouTube interviewer that all he holds in the trousers pocket are harmless mementoes, none approximating a nuclear lock.

The gay broadcaster Ingrid Nilsen fired the question that laid all bare: what does President Obama carry in his pocket? The US leader dug into his right trouser pocket and out came an assortment of keepsakes: a rosary given to him by Pope Francis, a tiny Buddha, a metal poker chip he said he got from ‘a bald biker with weird mustache’ in 2007,a Coptic Cross from Ethiopia and a Hindu statuette of monkey god.

A strange collection for a head of state to carry! But he says when he feels tired or discouraged as he battles American and global headaches he reaches into the pocket for relief and mental refreshment. According to Obama, they inspire him and help him “get back to work”.

Now after thrilling myself with Obama’s revelation and observing the travels of our own President Muhammadu Buhari, I have begun to wonder what the Nigerian leader also takes along in the trousers under his flowing agbada. Surely Buhari, the leader of the world’s most populous black nation, would have run into numerous people and well-wishers who would deposit some gifts with him after each encounter.