Caveat Emptor: Ripples is friendly to Osun Governor, Rauf Aregbesola’s causes. But that friendship, putting it with a dramatic metaphor, is not carnal.
It is rather based on shared ideals: politics of development, governance of vision, sheer courage of conviction, the grit to think and the passion to do.
But he is no enemy of The Punch newspaper. That, in any case, would be decidedly stupid: how could anyone wilfully block self from a rich spring of news and allied fare?
And vain: who is a mere columnist to contend with the all-mighty Punch, which editorial roar sends presidents diving, governors trembling and ministers grumbling?
But much more than admitted friendship or perceived enmity, Ripples is adamant on good faith, fairness, and decorum, even as the Fourth Estate takes on the other three estates of the realm — no easy chore, to be sure, as many on the other side are simply too stiff-necked, like the annoying Biblical Israelites — on burning national issues.
With profound humility, therefore, and with all due respect to its awesome mental power, The Punch did not manifest much of good faith, fairness or decorum in its latest tango with Governor Aregbesola, by its January 21 editorial: “Aregbesola’s misguided church project.”
Perhaps, the newspaper was well meaning. But by its bad temper, its puritanical air and its dismissive ire, it relegated itself from the majesty of correction in good faith to hectoring in bad faith.
Yet, The Punch was spot on, when it argued that Governor Aregbesola, if he commits public funds to building a Christian worship centre, could not in all good conscience demur if other religious blocs insist on similar treatment. That is a good point which the governor and his advisers would do well to ponder.
Still, there is evidence that The Punch did not fully understand the issue before entering the fray, thereby opening itself to legitimate charges of culpable bias, if not outright spite.
And by sheer ironic justice, look no farther, for this evidence, than Niyi Akinnaso, its own back page columnist, whose piece, “Aregbesola and the political economy of religion”, appeared on January 21, seven days after The Punch editorial.
Mr. Akinnaso demonstrated a more nuanced understanding of the Osun religious ecology and its trinity of faiths: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Worship, their age-old practices and their staunch adherents; the motive of turning the calling of Osun’s many prophets and pastors to stimulate a repressed local economy; and even a subtle imperative for equal opportunity access to the trinity, in the best tradition of Yoruba religious tolerance and best convention of a secular Constitution serving a multi-religious polity.
If the gods in The Punch Editorial suite would just climb down from their celestial plane, they just might hear the gentle rebuke in Mr. Akinnaso’s concluding sentence: “This puts a major burden on reporters to always look beyond the controversies surrounding well-intentioned projects and not allow their reports to merge with those of the opposition.”
With Mr. Akinnaso referring to previous controversies of an alleged Aregbesola Islamist agenda in Osun and the schools reclassification brouhaha, on which The Punch wrote nay-thundering editorials; and tracing the genesis of the Christian centre in the current excitement, the verdict was genteel but dire: newspaper editorials ought to be driven more by sobriety; less by controversy.
Still, it does not mean that The Punch was wrong in the present case and that Mr. Akinnaso was right — or vice versa. It only means that The Punch and Governor Aregbesola stand on two different pedestals regarding religion and the state.
The Punch — and for good reasons too, given the Nigerian contemporary experience — is short-fused at any state intervention in religious matters. That is legitimate and fair enough.
On the other side, Governor Aregbesola takes an activist view: everything — even religion — needs constructive engagement. That is hardly illegitimate and unfair!
In the case of the Hijra holiday, it is the state bowing to legitimate cravings by Muslims, who first of all are citizens. The same logic holds for the Isese public holiday. Traditional adherents too, the most repressed in Nigeria’s religious cosmos, are first of all citizens! Religious chauvinists could cringe from both holidays. Dogmatic media may thunder their opposition. But none can deny the holidays underscore citizens’ multi-faith rights in a secular republic.
In the tripartite praying sessions at state functions, it is equal access and equal opportunity to all faiths. In the present case of promoting a Christian worship centre, it is the economic motive of using religious activity to stimulate local business.
Indeed, the sheer label of “Christian” or “Muslim” or “pagan” (African religion is no paganism, except in the jaundiced eyes of Western colonisers) is a veritable scarecrow. But what if Osun targets a pot of Diaspora gold from cultural tourism (as indeed, it does); and that is hinged on a calendar of traditional festivals, worship and artefacts, does a parallel Christian or Muslim tourism not make a lot of sense?
And from such tourisms, if the economy takes a healthy jab in the arm and the locals reap the ensuing prosperity, what is wrong with a government making strategic investment in such ventures? The answer perhaps would still be a hideous controversy. But it does not negate the economic sense in strategic investment, even if its emotive face is “religion”.
So, the emotion of religion is sheer dynamite. But not so the reason of it. Therefore, even if The Punch’s radical opposition is hardly illegitimate, it borders on dogma: that penchant to promote a belief to an article of faith and flatly dismiss any contrary view. But history is full of unfair victims of orthodoxy, which nevertheless turned out no more than combative ignorance.
Take Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). In 1632, Galileo declared that the sun, not the earth, was at the centre of the universe. The papal court back then screamed heresy, and sent Galileo to papal Coventry until he died under house arrest in 1642.
But it so happened that Galileo was right and the Roman Catholic Church was wrong. That prompted a Pope John Paul II apology to Galileo in 1992 — three centuries later! But the irreparable harm was done.
The Punch may mean well in its Osun campaigns. But its seeming but disturbing default-setting of presuming Governor Aregbesola means ill by his policies, and rushing to pronounce dire judgment in the most arrogant of tones, even if its editorials betray lack of full understanding of the issues, can only open it to legitimate charges of Aregbe-phobia.
Aregbesola is not totally wrong any more than The Punch is totally right. Both sides can learn a lot from each other by mutual respect and proper understanding of issues.
But perhaps Ripples is too friendly to Aregbesola gubernatorial causes to appreciate the points The Punch espouses. But maybe too, the newspaper is too hostile to give the governor’s policies fair hearing!
