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No Voters Card, No . . . . By Ifedigbo Nze Sylva
University of Nigeria
The murmurs and silent grumbles among the congregation that followed the announcement helped to re-assure me that I was not the only one that disagreed with the new law. At that time it was only a threat which any one who knew the Bishop of the Nsukka Catholic Diocese could be sure would become law giving the mans antecedence for issuing draconian laws abi dogma’s to his flock and seeing to its full implementation. It was he who some time ago decreed that the white/church wedding superceded the age long traditional wine carrying ceremony and thus should hold first in that order. Any couple who though otherwise had themselves to blame.
So when His Grace issued this new dogma as announced in the St. Peters Chapel University of Nigeria Nsukka this Sunday morning decreeing that every Catholic in the diocese who failed to obtain a voters card before the 7th of February was annihilating him/her self from the church and was to in addition be denied the sacraments of the church, it caused quite a steer.
As is natural for Catholics, such laws are hardly questioned, so the disapproval did not go beyond the murmurs that soon died down as the officiating priest stood up to end the Mass. For me they didn’t however. Beyond the instant irritation the announcement generated in me, I through out the rest of the day failed to see any rationale or any justification moral or social for the new law. While it is no doubt a civic responsibility for every well meaning Nigerian who had attained the voting age to get registered, it went out of the realms of rationality to make it compulsory when even the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria did not make it so.
It is bad enough that civil servants are put under threat of loosing their monthly take home pay if they did not register, an act so many lawyer and civil right societies have described as most unconstitutional and a breech of the rights of these involved. For the church to have plunged herself into the whole foray seems to be most irrational, ill advised and ill intentioned.
The new law to me is an attempt by the Bishop to put the church in reverse gear to the autocratic pre-Vatican II days. It beats my imagination that the reception of the sacraments of God, which are supposed to be as, free as the air we breath. We are aware that our Lord Jesus during his lifetime continued to make efforts both in words and actions to bring down barriers so that His people could have easier access to the Father and thus receive salvation without trouble. Throughout the period of my catechism, we were though over and over again that only Sin could keep us away from God and the sacraments, I then begin to wonder when not registering to vote became a sin.
I don’t know if His Grace ever took into account the full implication of his declaration. I wonder if it doesn’t occur to him that any one of his flock that is lost due to the new law is entirely his responsibility to account for. I wonder what formula he used in equating the importance of a voter’s card to the Holy body and blood of our Lord in communion. I can’t help but imagine why I can’t have access to the forgiveness of my sins in confession just because I don’t have a voter’s card even when forgiveness of sin and repentance is the main crux of the teachings of Jesus. It doesn’t make sense that the “state of Grace” which is usually the prerequisite for receiving communion and indeed other sacraments such as baptism, confirmation, penance and matrimony has been reduced to be procession of a flimsy piece of paper.
Does the Bishop think that coercing his flock to register meant that they would turnout to vote during the elections? For most of the people who in reaction to his law went to register, the card hardly means anything to them but something they have to have to continue to enjoy their worship. The election, those contesting or the parties involved hardly means anything to them nor has being forced to registered generated any interest in them. This kind of situation makes it obvious that, the whole process has failed to achieve any aim except the denial of people their rightful entitlements as members of God’s family.
Instead of stampeding people into registering, one would have thought that the church through it various machineries would rather have carried out massive voter education, convincing the people on why it was necessary for them to participate in the registration as well as in the election of credible leaders.
For those who doubt the potency of the Bishop’s threats, I wish to assure you that the law is already taking effect. One wonders what the Vatican would think of this. For me, I think it is important to say it out that no matter the silent submission of the people to the church’s authority; they are totally disappointed and unhappy at the development. Ifedigbo Nze Sylva
University of Nigeria |