1:13 AM
*Warns against hasty judgment on clerics owning
jets *
Killings by Boko Haram, inexcusable
A retired Archbishop of Benin Catholic Archdiocese,
His Grace, Archbishop Patrick Ebosele Ekpu, recently,
marked 50th anniversary as a priest. Since his
retirement three years ago, the Uromi born cleric has
dedicated his life to praying for the Church. On
October 26, 2013, His Grace will be marking his 82
birthday. Sunday Vanguard met him last weekend for
this interview. He spoke on how he trained over 100
priests in school, the crisis in Benin Catholic
Archdiocese, insecurity in some northern states, the
acquisition of private jets by men of God, gay
priesthood and some national issues. Excerpts:
How is life in retirement?
We thank God it has been very pleasant, restful as I
will like it to be.
What motivated you into priesthood?
"It is God's grace. Only God calls and one responds
and it is also His help and inspiration that keeps one
going.
Are you not worried that the Catholic Church is losing
its followers to the Pentecostal churches?
We lose some faint hearted members but the
majority remains. If you look at the Catholic Church,
say in Benin- City, you will see that as some people
are dropping out, others are coming because the
number of the parishes is increasing which is a sign
that the Church is alive and growing stronger every
day.
While you were the bishop, many new parishes came
up. How did you achieve that?
"It was God at work, one tried to propagate the
gospel and people listened and accepted it.
How do you view the crisis in the Catholic Church in
Benin- City which has seen some persons calling for
the installation of a Benin bishop?
I have always told them that they should pray for a
good bishop no matter where he comes from
because, to me, the Catholic Church is like a
university. If you establish a university in a place,
what the university needs is the best brains available
to help to bring up the youths in the place not
whether he comes from there or not. It is worrisome
and I will say it is lack of faith; if you believe in God
and do what is right, the correct thing will come up,
not by our chosen but at God's own time.
But why is it that there has not been a Bini bishop
just like they are agitating? There is a similar case in
Mbaise, Imo State where the people said they want a
bishop from their area.
"Well, we are trying to politicize something that is
essentially spiritual. If you take the case of Mbaise for
example, was a Bini man sent there to be the bishop?
Or was he an Hausa man? Isn't it an Igbo man that
was sent there? But they said no, they want a
particular tribal or ethnic origin of the person, it is
lack of faith and that is why I said spiritual problems
have to be tackled with spiritual forces and what is
happening is a question of lack of faith. If they have
faith, they will not be agitating. If we accepted
somebody who is from Ireland, or from England to be
a bishop, why will you say you don't want a fellow
Nigerian as bishop? Don't you see that something is
wrong somewhere?
Archbishop Patrick Ebosele Ekpu
The way forward
I was active as a bishop in Benin Archdiocese. At that
time, the archdiocese encompassed the whole of Edo
State. Each time I wanted to translate the mass into
Bini language, I had only one Benin priest who was
able to assist me in the translation, all those who are
complaining, some of them cannot read and write
Bini language. And that is why I laugh each time they
try to politicize church activities.
Shouldn't the Church train more Bini priests for this
purpose?
"The Church will if you find the candidates. If the
candidates are not there, will I come and take your
child and make him go and speak Bini? But the
Church has always trained Binis who are interested
in priesthood and we will continue to do that.
What do you say about the Edo Liturgical Group that
is championing this cause?
In the Catholic Church, it is the bishop of a place that
is the head of the liturgy. Liturgy means public
worship, so the bishop is ultimately responsible for
the liturgy in the Church. Who appointed them as
Edo Liturgical Group or who authorized them? Such
people have no basis to arrogate to themselves a
position they do not have. They do not know the
principles of what they claim to represent. Who
guides them?
The Church is also facing the issue of gay marriage.
How do you react to that?
We all are responsible for the development and
better enlightenment of our citizens because we are
throwing our culture away; if you are a biologist,
have you ever heard where a male cow is going after
a male cow or a male camel going after a male
camel? If we saw a lot of that practice, then we might
say it is natural for a man to do that, but you know
that the issue of procreation is such that it is social, it
is the environment that affects people's behaviour
and if the social environment encourages what you
are doing, or promotes it, then one easily falls into
but if it does not, then it will not develop.
"Boko Haram
Even if you remove Christianity, does the African
culture promote the killing of your neighbor just
because you disagree? What are they using to kill
these Christians? Is it their own manufactured
ammunition or those manufactured by the very
Europeans you said you don't want their culture? The
dresses they wear, where are they from? The food
they eat, what is it served on? Is it not got from
western civilization? They are not sincere and they
have no love for their fellow Nigerians. And their
actions being politically motivated cannot be
eliminated. What they are doing is evil and is
inexcusable.
Are you satisfied with the Federal Government's
handling of the situation?
The security situation in the country could have been
better managed but, as it is said, who is
government? You and I are the people who elected
those representing us and managing the
government, therefore, to some extent, we the
populace are also liable for the defects we see in
government because when elections comes,
somebody comes and gives you money and you take
and go to vote for him, you forget your future and the
future of your children and children's children. Who is
to blame? Is it just those hungry for power or those of
us who accept bribes to vote for them?
We are all liable and co-responsible for whatever
deficiencies we may notice in society. I think
Nigerians should seek more of their fellow Nigerians
and of their future and therefore be circumspect in
whom they vote into power to represent them. Again
talking about governance, government should have
the political will to put the right persons in the right
positions. If somebody is found wanting in any of the
sectors, send the person packing and put the right
person there.
What is your view on the growing acquisition of
private jets by pastors in Nigeria?
If they bought private jets, how did they come about
the money? Félix Houphouët-Boigny built a basilica. I
remember visiting Abidjan and from there I went to
Yamoussoukro. It was the Nigerian ambassador to
Cote D'Ivoire who told us that the man built the
basilica from the resources of his family, that his
father had a large expanse of land and that they had
a lot of cocoa from which they made their wealth. But
an outsider will say that he used government money
to build it.
So if that pastor had also
bought a private jet and used
the resources of his family,
you probably will say he has
used his followers' money, but
if indeed he uses his followers'
money and his followers allow
him, then they have endorsed
what he is doing. It may not
be a good example he is
showing others, but he has
not abused his position or
somebody else's right. But if
he uses the Church's
resources, I will say he has some questions to answer
to his worshipping community and his God whom he
claims to serve. Churches are springing up every day
in Nigeria, but they don't seem to be able to check
corruption and immorality.
Why?
As you very well know, the Church does not have a
police force, a CID or FBI or CIA; it is lack of
commitment, lack of faith on the part of those who
claim to be Christians or Church goers but really are
not convinced or converted to the truth.
How do you see churches owning schools and tuition
fees are beyond the reach of many members?
The easiest approach would have been that you give
a peanut salary to the teachers and you know what
will happen, they will not do their work, they will not
be there; so if they are going to be retained and do
an honest day's work, they have to be paid good
salaries and since those churches or schools do not
receive subvention from government, well, I don't
know where you want them to get the money from to
pay good salaries to the teachers."So where does
that leave the children of the poor who are members
of that church?"If there are really deserving ones,
you give them scholarship. And how do you know
they are not giving them scholarship?
Even the Federal Government, with all the oil money
and all the taxes it collects, has it been able to give
scholarship to every citizen? It is not done anywhere,
nowhere, as they say in America, there is no free
lunch; somebody pays for it. In Nigeria, we want
every problem solved, but, as Christ himself said, the
poor will always be with you, you cannot be able to
answer all the needs of all the poor people in the
world at once, it has to be gradual and the more
people they train, people are more conscious of the
defects of their neighbors and those followers will be
able to take care of some of them and the Church
takes care of the rest and the government with its
social welfare programmes takes care of the others.
Marriage for Catholic priests
The position of the Church is that if you want to be a
Catholic priest in the Western right, you do not get
married, so, before you become a priest, you have a
long time to think about it, whether you want to
make the sacrifice or not. It is a sacrifice, not God's
law. Therefore, we should adhere to the tradition and
discipline of the Church. If you know you cannot
adhere to the rules, you have a choice to go into
other vocations. But the rule of the Church remains
the rule."
If you had not been a priest, what would you have
been?
I would have liked to be a lawyer and an
administrator. That is what appealed to me, that is a
profession you have to be free, even your parents
have no right to decide for you what you have to do,
they can advise but the ultimate decision lies with
you. I felt God was calling me to be a priest and that
is where I can make my own contribution to God's
glory and work out my own salvation. And I have no
regrets being a priest today.
What have been your most challenging and happiest
moments?
Challenging moment will be when you find the
people or leadership cadre that you have prepared
disappointing you and following a course that is
contrary to what you have prepared them to handle.
One of my happiest moments was when I ordained
14 priests at a time at the University of Benin chapel
in October 2, 1998. If you look at all the Nigerian
priests in Archdiocese of Benin City, Father Patrick
Osinbor and Theophilus Uwaifo are the only ones that
I did not ordain and train, any other one, by the grace
of God, passed through my hands.
It was very difficult because I had to look for money
to pay their fees and then it came to a time that, in
the seminary in Bodija, Ibadan, I had over a hundred
students whom I had to pay for and it was by no
means easy. I tried to harness all the resources
available and appealed to friends and members of
the Church who understood what my goal was and
they assisted. ASUU strike"I would humbly request
them to sit down and talk over their different
problems and when decisions are reached, they
should be followed. Government should honour
agreements they reached with ASUU.
How do you assess Oshiomhole's administration in
Edo State?
I hear many people praise him, I think he is a sincere
man, he had been on the other side of government,
he was a labour leader and therefore knows the
problems of the workers and I think he tries to
respond to them. He is doing very well, people are
not disappointed.
Message to Nigerians I say let us take some
moments off and think about what we think is best
for us and how we, together with government, can
move the nation forward. For the Catholics, I want
them to go back to the basics, renew their faith in
God, be loyal to God and be sincere in truth and in
spirit to follow our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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