Church Desecration: Sparks by Fanatics

“I believe you are a Catholic Christian just like I am. Just yesterday (earlier hours of Saturday 3rd August and 3rd day of hunger protest), we woke up with the news that one of our parishes, an exile parish being accommodated in the old church building of Our Lady of Fatima Cathedral Kano, was desecrated.

Some hoodlums in the name of protest or whatever broke into the church and broke the tabernacle and carted away with the ciborium and concentrated hosts and littered them all over the surrounding vicinity”

The above was sent to me by a friend.

As sad as it seems and appears, that is the ugly reality we have to deal with, the infiltration of a good course by miscreants, criminals , bigots and fanatics.

Immediately I read the message, what came to my mind was *Tripartite Protestation! The Gains, the Woes and the shame* since the protest started we have gained mileage in shaking the confidence , nonchalant and overbearing dispositions of our political leaders. We have equally experienced woes of looting of the goods of innocent Nigerians unprovoked and the shameful desecration of religious houses unprovoked too.

However awry it sounds, the truth is, things largely come in threes. Though there could be exceptions, which also validates the rule of the three sides of things ( Tripartite)

God comes in three ways ( Father, Son and Holy) Man also comes in three parts ( body, mind and spirit) Water comes in three parts ( Liguid, Gaseous and Solid) Government operates equally in three parts ( Executives, legislative and Judiciary) life also goes in the circle of three hoods ( childhood, adulthood and old-agehood)

Talk about the digestive circle of human system same tripartite of ( masticate, digestion and excretion)

One can go on and one with instances of the three sides of things, of course not excluding protest which has its three sides of genuiness, woes and bigotry

Few days ago the # Endbadgovernment protest began across all the States of the Federation except in few isolated cases. Many thought it wouldn’t happen.

Even if it did, it won’t get the kind of attention, traction and momentum that would shake the system and makes our political leaders panic.

What informed such view could not be far from the alleged monetary inducement from above to some traditional and religious leaders who would speak against the protest and possibly organise anti protest squad, shamefully they did.

Of course all these played out in a very shameful manner. The truth is, Nigeria leaders presently, have show great capacity in using the tool of bribery ingratiation and divide and rule to drive their masses unfriendly policies, sadly too, some of our traditional and religious leaders have made themselves willing tools and claws of the cat for chestnuts in the furnace

Yesterday I had a discussion with an estate member who felt that the protest wasn’t as successful as it should. Of course that isn’t true. He also felt that those out there protesting are those who are hungry, again he was wrong, rather they are the real Nigerians whose sense of patriotism is deep and unwavering, though one wouldn’t remove possible infiltration by criminals and bigots.

This brings me to the three levels or types of protesters; the genuine, the criminal and the bigot protesters.

Each of them has their motives clearly cut out in their minds, having same platform to discharge and bring them to play.

The desecration of the church as reported above was not done by genuine protesters. It was not of course perpetrated by criminals. It was done by bigots, fanatics etc whose intention was to ride on the back of protest to unleash a well planed and thought out animosity, hatred and disaffection, pent up for a while.

One wonders the connection between #Endbadgovernmemt protest and the vandalization and desecration of a church building.

Nigeria is eminently sitting on a dry gun powder of religious fanaticism and tribal bigotry. These two have divided us so well, even when good and sustainable governance is achieved eventually, the war generated by such bigotry and fanaticism would still be raging and dividing us the more.

Many were out there protesting against bad governance, of all the places they could go for their own protest was the church, invading the tabernacle and scattering the hosts. This is very absurd and in the least unreasonably idiotic.

The church should as a matter of urgency rise and be deliberate in forestalling a future occurance. Though it was unprovoked and very much unanticipated, the truth, very reassuring is that , God of vengeance would certainly visit the desecrators at his own time and in the very best way by him.

To all the parishioners of the affected church, don’t be discouraged. Our God neither sleeps nor slumbers. Vengeance is his. At his time he will certainly fight for his name. The battle is his, and he loses no battle and wouldn’t lose this.

“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord”. (Rm 12.19)

Jarlath Uche Opara Jarlathuche@gmail.com