The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has said God will be ashamed of religious leaders in the country who abused their call by preaching hatred instead of love.
While the presidential spokesman wasn't exactly finger pointing at a particular individual, it is however, not far from the likes Oyedepo, Enenche, Adeboye, among others who expressed support for the #EndSARS protest across the country.
He said the concerns raised by the protesters at first were clear and understood by the president who already swept into action to begin implementing the advocated reforms, but certain individuals according to him, took advantage of the legitimate struggle to further their personal agenda against the Buhari administration.
Adesina who said this in an article titled, ‘If Nigeria Dies, Hatred KiIIed Her’, said all those working against the Buhari government, are working against Nigeria. He said at the end of the day, it is everyone who will suffer the consequences.
Adesina wrote, “The EndSARS campaign began as an agitation against police brutaIity, in which there was unanimity of purpose. And suddenly, it became a vehicle of hate. Against leadership, against national cohesion, an opportunity to settle political scores, and equally prepare for power grab in 2023. Hatred came into the mix.
“When things boil over in graphic demonstration of hatred, it is a culmination of negative sentiments and tendencies. They come in persistent negative postings on social media, which generate and stimulate hate.
“From hateful messages from the pulpit, as if that was the message of love Jesus Christ handed over to his followers. From unduly critical messages during jumat services. From radio and television programs, in which bile is spewed. From talk shows which become a harangue of government, newspaper articles and columns tailored to instigate and generate dissent, and the like.
“Eventually, all cumulate in hatred, which finds expression in genuine causes like the EndSARS campaign. When things boil over, they leave sorrow, tears and blood in their wake, as we have seen. And who suffers? The whole country. Who bleeds? Nigeria.”
Adesina also lashed at the opposition party whom he described as losers, saying they took advantage of the protest to further their political agenda ahead of the 2023 election.
He added that separatists came under the umbrella and began to advance their cause, working for the dismemberment of the country.
“Those beaten black and blue in the 2015 and 2019 elections also crept in, and asked for their pound of flesh, while also plotting for a return to power in 2023,” the President’s aide said.
Taking another swipe at religious institutions, he wrote, “Hatred is evinced from many quarters for Nigeria, and for its government and people at any given time. It comes from churches, mosques, professional activists and agitators, interest groups, some elements in the media, so-called analysts who never see anything good, and so on and so forth.”
He added, “The President told me how much he had been impressed with Arase, and how he regretted that the man spent just about a year with him. He then told me of the police of his dreams, and how he wished he got someone who would translate the dream into reality.
“So, when the President said in a speech to the protesters last week that comprehensive police reform was coming, I knew what he had in mind. If only we would be patient and let him implement the five-point demand of the protesters, which he had accepted. But alas, the protest took another hue and nature, different from the original concept and focus. Hatred crept in, nurtured by all sorts of tendencies.”