The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, has washed his hands off media reports that he endorsed a Muslim-Muslim ticket announced by Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
In a statement by Very Rev. Tor Patrick Alumuku, the Diocesean Director of Social Sommunications, the Abuja Chief Shepherd never made any such statement.
Alumuku’s statements reads: “It has come to the notice of the Department of the Social Communications of the Archdiocese of Abuja 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝑷𝑪 𝑽𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆.
“This 𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 is coming after the nationwide outcry that graced the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) since Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s announced the former Governor of Borno, Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate in the 2023 presidential election, the loyalists of the ruling party have been at their wits end explaining to Nigerians the soundness of their choice.
“One of their antics to give credit to the much criticized choice, has been to use the good names of reputable Nigerians to 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 the image of Shettima.
“One of such futile attempts is 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐯 𝐈𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐊𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐚, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐣𝐚, 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐏𝐂. Recently, the social media was agog with the skewed news of such spurious endorsement.
“To set the records right, at no point has the venerable archbishop either in his personal capacity or as the Metropolitan of Abuja Ecclesiastical Province made such comments. Those familiar with the norms of the Catholic Church understand that 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝟮𝟴𝟱 § 𝟮 admonishes that “𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡, 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞.”
“Endorsing a candidate of a particular party by any cleric as purported is certainly foreign to the clerical state 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜. It is therefore unthinkable that Archbishop Kaigama who knows better the workings of the Church as 𝐚 top cleric in the Nigerian sphere, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 make such alleged endorsement. How could he when such posture contradicts the very essence of his episcopal ministry?
“The rumor peddlers depict that they are out of touch with ecclesiastical reality in Nigeria. Archbishop Kaigama ended his tenure as President of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) since 2018. After him, there have been two successors, yet the bearers of the false news 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 him now in 2022 as the President of CBCN, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬.
“The bigger question to be asked is: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? Why the futile attempt to put words in the mouth of the Archbishop?
“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 2016. 𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐁𝐂𝐍, 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐊𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐬, 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐢𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐢 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐊𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐈𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞.
“𝐀𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲, 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚. Archbishop Kaigama minced no words in reminding his listeners that the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria has prophetic voice. His words: “We are a voice for the people. Our voice is a prophetic voice. We see things where things are good, we say it so. Where things are bad, we say it so.”
“Coming from such premise, he of course commended some virtues he found in the governor as it relates to his working relationship with peoples of other faith.
“𝐒𝐢𝐱 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐛𝐮’𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞!
“The general public is hereby notified that Archbishop Kaigama has not and will not endorse any candidate as his flock cut across political parties and he would not prefer one candidate above the other. It is up to Nigerian voters to make their choice through the ballot box by electing the best candidates”.
Fr. Patrick Alumuku, PhD
Director of Communications
Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja.
