NNAMDI KANU AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BIAFRALAND

As it stands today, it is anathema for any priest of the Catholic Church especially in Biafraland to discuss IPOB openly or to have anything to do with Nnamdi Kanu, in much the same way that it is anathema for a Roman Catholic to be the President of the United States of America.

When John F Kennedy turned down his Roman Catholicism a bit and managed to convince the American populace to vote him into the presidency of the US in the 60s, he was playing with fire. When the chips were down, the free society of the United States proved to Kennedy that they will have nothing to do with a Popish President who still believed in the slavish dogmas of the Roman Church. When the time was 'right' the modern American Ku Klux Klan assassinated Kennedy.

And it is to the American disdain of Papal control that Kennedy has remained the only Catholic President in the 243 years history of the United States. His reign also was the shortest. More recently and for the same reason, in 1992, Al Gore lost in the US presidential elections. When the Republican candidate highlighted his Roman Catholicism, his liberal-protestant Democratic opponent, Bill Clinton won a landslide victory.

American founding fathers fought so hard to build a free secular State and Americans will not fold their arms to see their freedom undermined by some zealous religious leaders in the name of Christian morality in public places. They do not care even if the religious leader bears the title of Pope.

A discerning mind will already guess the trajectory of this argument.  When it became clear to the leaders of the Catholic Church in Biafraland that Nnamdi Kanu was combining his quest for political freedom with his affinity to the Judaic religion, they began to suspect a foul play.

And just before the now infamous Operation Python Dance in 2017 these leaders liaised with John Nnia Nwodo, the leader of Ohaneze Ndigbo and issued a disclaimer of Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB which was supposed to be read publicly in all the Catholic Churches within the South East.

Thus, by the whims of the bishops, Nnamdi Kanu's IPOB was reduced to the 'Torahaic' untouchability of the leprous. Some of us who dared to mingle with these 'unclean people' are in one way or another still paying the price for our "SIN". While we were considered heroes by the IPOB and the true lovers of Biafra freedom, the leadership of the Catholic Church considered us insane and a people who were not properly trained in the seminary. Such is life.

Like I said earlier, Kanu's crime is his affinity towards Judaism, a position which out of sheer naivety, many priests and leaders of the church and even the lay faithful believe will undermine the popularity and the faith of the Catholic Church, especially in the South-East. Like the American populace, the bishops believe that it is their duty to protect and preserve the faith of the Catholic Church which the early Missionaries fought so hard to transmit. I think that the bishops are as correct in their positions as the Americans are in theirs.

Kanu is also hated within the Catholic leadership circle for his unrelenting criticism and his boundary-less attack on anything evil, even when it has to do with bishops. He had even dare to talk about filthy political affiliations and lewd moral life of Popes in the past. His boldness was both intimidating and mesmerizing. But Someone should have reminded Kanu that the canon of the Catholic Church in No.1404 clearly states that no one judges the Pope. But we can forgive his non-Catholic background.

Now while the leaders of the Church attack Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB, the real owners of Nigerian are laying exclusive claim to the estate of their great grandfather Usman Dan Fodio.

It is thus ironic that while the leaders of the Church in the Biafraland try to appease and romance with the deceptive and murderous leaders of Nigerian, these principally Hausa-Fulani Islamic Jihadi feudalists take instructions from Saudi Arabia on the Islamic conquest of Nigerian. Clearly one or the other in this matrix is unwittingly foolish.

For all of us priests and lay people in Biafraland politically speaking, there are only two options. it is clear that the midway which we sought in the Atiku-Peter Obi ticket is a deception. Therefore, if Hausa-Fulani and the Caliphate is an evil on the one hand and Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB is another evil on the other hand, there is definitely the lesser evil. You be the judge.

Written by:

Fr. Smart Nwosu

For: Biafra State Media

Edited by:

Oby Mboma

For: Biafra State Media

Published by:

Chibuike John Nebeokike

For: Biafra State Media