Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave (Mathew 20:25-27). This statement of Christ does not merely repeat a well-known fact for emphasis. This is not a case of poetry in which the meaning of the first clause is exactly duplicated in the second. The full meaning appears when the pyramidal quality of Gentile government is observed. Their Great Ones are situated at the peak of the pyramid, followed by the Rulers of the Gentiles and the Gentiles.
In this three-tier of authority, the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over the Gentiles, and their great ones exercise authority upon the rulers of the Gentiles. Christ categorically denied any such pyramidal system of government any place and wherever in his kingdom. He says, “All of you are brethren” (Matthew 23:8). He adds a fresh perspective to the concept of greatness, emphasizing, true greatness lies not in office but in service. Jesus very wisely identified such oppressive governments as “Gentile,” thus indicating their rejection in his kingdom of love and service, rather than of strutting power. That such Gentile forms of power exist in so-called Christian religions today does not nor cannot make it right.
Leadership in Africa and especially in Nigeria has become a big problem, our leaders have not treated us with respect and love, our elected officials have not realize that they are our servants. In many cases, our leaders forget they are there to respond to the needs and aspirations of the people whom they serve. Saint Pope John Paul II and many other Popes, among their many titles; have added: ServusServorum Dei. Servant of the servants of God . No servant of the people should feel threatened by the voice of the people and their aspirations. All through the scriptures God raised prophets that were concerned with the social situation of the people. Notable among them was the Prophet Amos. Other prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel were all equally worried about the plight of the people whose future was mortgaged by unjust systems.
Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was a Brazilian educationist and one of the most significant 20th century scholars. Freire initiated a national literacy programme for peasants and slum dwellers in the 1950s and 60s. Through this work in the field, he discovered that poor and working class Brazilians believed it was impossible to change their individual circumstances and were resigned to their situation in society. Freire realized that this acceptance is due to the kind of education which perpetuates an oppressive structure as too often, education is like ‘banking’ where the educator makes ‘deposits’, i.e. information, knowledge, status quo, in the educated.
Therefore, Freire’s developed an efficient pedagogy for adults, and to raise the social consciousness of the Brazilian working class. In this process, he advanced an approach to dialogue that is emancipatory, at the heart of which is the recognition of the need for the ‘oppressed’ to move from an object position in society (being acted upon) to a subject position where one can act proactively to transform one’s life and the society ones lives in. This theory is summarized in his seminal book entitled ‘the Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Friere’s maintains that humans are limited by social, economic, political and other conditions. The purpose of education is to enable people to become conscious of such conditioning in order to go beyond it. Thus pedagogy must focus on helping individuals develop critical capacities and critical attitude through dialogue. By cultivating these capacities, dialogue enables people to reflect on their experience in the world with a view to transform it. For over sixty years, spiritual leaders and scholars in Nigeria, have been reflecting on the social; moral spiritual condition of the people.
These reflections have raised a consciousness in the hearts and minds of the people. And there is a unanimity of voice in the fact that all is not well with our dear country. At least Muslims and Christians; North and South are all in this conclusion. The method of resolving it remains part of the issue. The last approach we don’t want to see in resolving our problem is violence. For the past three weeks now, we have been seeing the emergence of a peaceful protest that has suddenly turned violent; the height of it happening at the Lekki toll gate on Tuesday the 20th of October 2020. Eye witnesses saw Nigerian Soldiers shooting at peaceful protesters who were singing the national anthem. We condemn the burning of the police stations in Edo State and the freeing of over 1,993 inmates in Benin Correctional Centers, the burning of the Obas Palace in Lagos. Certainly these are not part of the demands listed by the ENDSARS movement. It is painful to watch national assets set ablaze, TVC stations in Lagos.
In Freire’s view dialogue should encourage solidarity. Which can lead to the total emancipation of the oppressive systems in Africa and especially Nigeria; without a repeat of the Lekki toll gate saga, we urge our government to sit on the dialogue table with the young people of this country and to be patient to listen to the numerous demands of the ENDSARS protesters. It was Usman Dan fodio the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate who once said; “A society can leave with a ruler who is not a believer, but a society cannot tolerate a ruler who is unjust.”
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Fr Stephen Ojapah is a priest of the Missionary Society of St Paul. He is equally the director for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism for the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, a member of IDFP. He is also a KAICIID Fellow. ([email protected])
