LAGOS – Nigerians on Monday descended on veteran journalist, Sam Omatseye over his attack on the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for opposing the Muslim-Muslim ticket by the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC).
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the APC had picked Senator Kashim Shetimma, a fellow Muslim as his running mate, a move that has been met with stiff opposition by some religious and political leaders who said a same-faith ticket will do Nigeria more harm than good.
However, in his weekly article In Touch titled From CAN to cant, Omatseye, the editorial board of chairman of The Nation newspaper accused the CAN leadership of hypocrisy and double standards, saying they have no right to determine for Christians who to vote for.
He wrote “From the effusions of the Christian Association of Nigeria, you would think we are living in a theocracy. They want to subvert Nigeria into God’s Own Country, a spoof of the United States’ self-congratulatory appropriation of the term. These self-styled Christian soldiers want to make this country a Bible belt without following the Bible scent. Nobody sent them from heaven”.
“They throw dirt. They reinvent hell. They make monsters of fellow mortals. They look askance at those who are not of our faith. They have, in their rhetoric and acts, created their own versions of Saint Augustine’s City of God…They forget that Nigeria is a secular state. Nigeria is not a Christian state. It is neither a Muslim state. So, skewing the Christian pulpit to impugn a political party flirts with the law. They are not supposed to endorse a party, or desecrate another as they are doing. A pastor violates the law when he asks his folks to vote one party against another”
“CAN is pharisaic. When the PDP chose a northern Muslim over a southern Christian, they said nothing. They were dead from the neck up. They also kept mum on the geo-political injustice. Now, they would rather have a northern Christian as number two, than a southern Christian as president and number one.
So, they ignored Wike, a southern Christian, when a Muslim pooh-poohed him. But they are crying like hyenas for a northern Christian to play second fiddle. CAN is discriminating against the southern Christian. That is why CAN is described as the political wing of the PDP”.
After posting the article on his official Facebook page, many Nigerians, many Nigerians, mostly journalists descended on Omatseye, accusing him of denigrating Christian faith leaders just because he was working for a media house owned by Tinubu.
The criticism was so much that Omatseye was forced to disable comments on his wall.
A veteran journalist, Moji Danisa wrote “With your master’s money, you live in luxury abroad. Nigeria can burn down for all you care. You are the s.l.a.v.e who sells out your brothers for the privilege of sleeping in the master’s dog house. There’s is such a thing as nemesis, Sam Omatseye. I have stopped reading your bile”.
Alex Ogundadegbe commented “Each time I see Sam Omatseye’s write up on politics, I feel sick. He writes to favor what he believes in, not necessarily the whole truth. That is alright except that when it comes to Tinubu, Sam has selective perception. He worships his Lord and master and sees every opponent and opposition as unworthy. Therefore he uses his literary prowess to defend his master and attack all opposition. We need to fear such people. Their twisted view of life can be dangerous and mind bending”.
Ayo Awe Joseph wrote “I’m non political, but this write up is satanic and an outright persecution of the Christian community in an attempt to gag their rights to free speech.
We should all remember that we shall one day stand before the judgement throne of God to give an account of our stewardship while on earth”.
Chuks Akunna commented “How are the mighty literary giants fallen! All for a morsel of agbado and cassava meal. God forbid I call I cow “aunty” cos of “olonga” for suya. What hunger can’t do doesn’t exist. Pity!
Anthony Udoka commented: “Ignoble, to say the least. This is what happens when a so called Christian has sold his soul to the devil for a morsel of bread. It’s such a pity that you seem learned and illiterate at the same time. I pity you”.
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