Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Bauchi, Rt. Rev.Monsignor Hilary Nanman Dachelem, in this interview with David Adenuga talks about his journey into priesthood. He also bares his mind on restructuring and neglect of youths in the country
TELL us about your childhood experience
I was born on June 3 1966 in Makurdi , Benue State to the family of late retired Superintendent of Police, Mr. Simon Sarka and Mrs Philomina Shakumlongep of Moedakwalla in Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State, as the second of seven children (five boys, and two girls)
My love for knowledge and desire to impact on people’s lives led me to take up a teaching appointment with the Roman Catholic Mission ( RCM) Primary School Miket , Qua’an Pan where I taught for some time while nurturing the desire to serve God in the presbyteral order.
Call to priesthood
I have always wanted to serve God and serve him in the capacity of the priesthood. Since I was born , my parents brought me up in the Catholic tradition. In my growing up as a little child, It didn’t seem to dominate my thought, but it was after my secondary school, the whole thing started coming to me to be a priest.
Having gone to St. Peter Secondary school where I met the Catholic priests, the holy ghost fathers precisely, I was moved by the degree of their sacrifice and lifestyle and I liked it so that made me to start thinking of that lifestyle, of sacrifice and of commitment to God.
That was how I started developing It but It was when I finished my secondary school and attempted a few of those things that it dawn on me that I should look inward.
So I started making attempt to join any religious group of the Catholic priesthood. There I heard about the Declaration Missionaries through a convent I visited, ( where the sisters are) through an Irish sister called sister Magdalene , she gave me a little booklet and that booklet has the addresses of all religious institutions in the Catholic church and I applied.
The one that gave me a favourable reply happens to be the present order I find myself, that’s the Declaration Missionary order, the order started in Spain through St Anthony that declarate close to 200 years ago, he was the Archbishop of Cuba.
They started that group and we were supposed to be missionaries that will go to anywhere sent to work. I applied, they took me and I saw the life. In 1986 I started my journey with them. Since then I have never regretted being a declaration priest. I see the priesthood as a call to sacrifice for others. I see this as an opportunity to touch more lives, to impact on people so I see my calling as an opportunity to do that
In 1986, I began my journey to the priesthood when I gained admission into the Claretian Institute of Philosophy Nekede where I had my Postulancy and Philosophy studies.
How would you describe your 25 years anniversary as a priest which you recently celebrated while also launching a book titled ‘ Youth Companion’ to mark it.
The last 25 years has been occasioned by humanity plus divinity in the sense that I am an ordinary human trying to live a godly and spiritual life and you know, It has not being easy but it’s all about the grace of God. It has being wonderful years of event, different things happening but in all I give thanks to God.
Many have accused religious leaders of being part of the rot in society for failing to give good advice to those in government? Do you agree with this?
Yes. but the thing is I don’t like pointing fingers because we all have our responsibilities . We have all failed collectively.
As a journalist, you know the ethics of your job, and as a priest I know the ethics too but I would say , we all have failed collectively in the project Nigeria, religious leaders are not exceptional. In different ways we have all contributed to the problems of this country.
Anytime you fail to do your task, you will see the consequences but people feel it’s only the priest that should tell the truth but the truth is every person’s responsibility.
When you cover what’s not supposed to be covered , it means you’re subduing the truth and we all do that and some of us as religious leaders come from homes that have covered this things.
What do you have to say about the state of insecurity in the country?
It’s not about sitting down and playing the reaction role. I see the security issue as an issue that requires more of the proactive approach rather than the reactive approach.
We should imagine that some people way of living is to destabilize the system but we should always find a way of aborting that . There is no room for relaxation. Like they say security is every man’s business , you must be ahead as you can not sleep with the two eyes closed if we have to talk about security.
And the funny thing about security is that the same system you allow to crumble, and you didn’t pay attention to will also swallow you up one day.
The IGP recently ordered the withdrawal of police escorts from religious leaders, eminent politicians and other important persons What is your take on this?
Yes . I agree with that. No life is more important than the other. The life of everybody going by the rule of law is important.
Let’s create a Nigeria where everyone can move freely and peacefully whether you’re in power or not. The escort culture is rooted in fear and intimidation. Let’s create a system that works irrespective of who is in power. Let’s create a Nigeria where everyone can move freely.
How would you rate the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari ‘s administration in the areas of security, job creation and infrastructure so far.
Mr President has being doing his best but we have lost more lives in Buhari’s administration than any other past Presidents in Nigeria, let’s say the truth. We wouldn’t say he is the cause but that depicts the complexity of the society we have.
That also tells us that when we are looking for a President in future, we should take into cognisance the complexity of Nigeria, the new Nigeria and not the old Nigeria.
The present Nigeria is full of bloodbath, exploitation, and all manner of fraudulent acts like yahoo plus. I don’t believe Buhari at 80 something will have the dynamism to really get the intrigues that’s involved.
His health challenges has slowed him down, let us be fair to him . The Buhari we knew before was faster and smarter than now. Another thing is to know when to quit, it’s a sign of good leadership. Many lives has being lost in this government but that doesn’t mean no live was lost in past administrations but we keep losing more in Buhari’s tenure.
Both Christians and Muslims are dying, security operatives are also constantly losing personnel as if it has become a tradition. We must find a way to put an end to this death culture.
A government has to protect its citizens. Governance is all about the coming together to establish a policy that will protect me and you and so much need to be done by this administration in the area of insecurity.
I know he has a goodwill for the country but the issue is how can he really navigate from the analogue to the digital Nigeria. The country he ruled years before is not the same country he is facing now.
What should be done to unite Nigerians now further divided across religious and ethnic groups?
A lot needs to be done and I don’t know where to start.
Previously , they have had some constitutional conferences and serious opinions were sounded but It is like most of the resolutions reached have being swept under the carpet.
I think it’s high time to dust those ideas because those things were done when Nigeria was saner than how it’s now.
This question of justice, fairness and the rule of law must be addressed, dialogue is a serious weapon and the the Government need to put aside sentiments. There should be an inclusive government where all ethnic groups are well represented.
There have being persistent agitations for restructuring in some quarters, do you think, this is the right way to go?
I have always had my opinion about restructuring but I feel we have to restructure our mind first, our attitude, our approach to national issues. When you talk of restructuring, what comes to people’s mind is the federation having lesser power while the states having more power, These are some of the understanding of people but even if we disintegrate , there will be war because our minds is not restructured.
We have to be mentally prepared for good governance.
The constitutional conference we had then may still have a solution that we have not yet applied. We can’t get people all over the country sit together with so much resources spent and you just throw it away like that.
What clauses are you afraid of that cannot be addressed in the provisions.
Should priests go into politics or take up political appointments?
A priests have the right to vote and be voted for as citizens because the constitution give them the right but if you want my advice, I would say , the priest who want to further the kingdom of heaven should be at the background and not engage in partisan politics because it will affect the free flow of the work of God.
What are your thoughts about the hundreds of youths who took to the streets in protest against police brutality, calling for an end to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police?
That has long being overdue, I expected the youths to have protested long ago. The EndSARs is only a human rights aperture that happened to the youths , the youths have being grudging for long, let’s say the truth and they have being suppressed, neglected and strategically disregarded in our political plans .
There are pocket of policies here and there but we take them(youths) more of an appendage, we have not factorise the youths as an issue in the country and If we don’t invest in them today, they will surprise us tomorrow.
The EndSARs protest was only an opportunity for them to express their grievances but I don’t support violence from them. They must learn from our past nationalists who fought for Nigeria’s independence and never achieved that with violence. Though I am quite aware that the protest was hijacked by hoodlums.
Many Nigerians appear to be fed up with the current state of governance in the country. Do you think Nigerian leaders have failed the youths?
I won’t say in its entirety, The government may be trying their best but when it comes to the youths who are also stakeholders in the country there are lot of lapses.
For instance, the last youth policy that was done was in 2006 by Obasanjo’s regime , a concise articulated one, but it has not being implemented even halfway.
What we are saying is that a strategic plan and strategic implementation of policy for the young persons is important.
It’s only a nation ending towards doom that will take the youths for granted because that’s where you find the real energy to transform the nation. It’s an important stage you don’t toy with.
The youths issue must be given full attention. Until this is done, I encourage the youths to embark on more protests as a matter of fact but there must be no violence. It’s not enough for the President to say he has heard the youths loud and clear after the protest, he has to attend to their issues. The youths have not being fairly treated in this country. They should be called for a dialogue where they will tell us categorically what they really want.
Do you think the end SARS protest was meant to divide Nigeria as alleged in some quarters?
Not at all. The youths have being aggrieved long ago. They only wanted to be straightforward.
The only thing is that there are political gladiators who wanted to take advantage of it to smuggle their agents because I know there are some people eager to divide the country. Those trying to divide this country are not the young but the old people .
Some Nigerians fear that the problem of poverty may force the poor to rise against the rich, who are in the minority, if nothing is done to address it. What are your thoughts?
Yes. I keep saying Nigerians are never to be taken for granted. Somebody said something to me about God loving the poor people so much that he made them greater in number and as long as they keep suffering, time might come when they will say enough is enough. The earlier the aristocrats of our society take cognisance of this, the better for us because most revolution in the world started this way. We should be careful anything can happen.
Like a saying by Abraham Lincoln says , ‘You can fool some of the people some of the time, you can fool most of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time’ So I will say we should be all cautious.
