Don’t sell your votes, Catholic Bishop admonishes Nigerians

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo

The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Osogbo, Most Rev. John Oyejola, said Nigerians are more powerful than politicians with their votes.

Bishop Oyejola stated this while speaking at the opening ceremony of the 1st Diocesan Synod of the Diocese, slated to hold between October 2 and 8, 2022 at Our Lady and St. Kizito Pastoral Centre, Oke-Gada, Ede, Osun State, with the theme: ‘You Will Be My Witnesses: Faithfulness to Christ and to Apostolic Tradition’.

The cleric noted that what Nigeria needed is selfless leaders and urged voters to scrutinize candidates well, hold them accountable to their promises and vote them out should they derail from their manifestos.

Delivering homily at the Holy Mass he celebrated, Bishop Oyejola charged participants including priests, lay faithful and religious leaders to be free, sincere, objective and open in their deliberations and discussions at the Synod sessions.

He described the Synod “as a journey of sharing and listening, through which the Holy Spirit can speak to the people.”

He noted that, the synod is the first one in the Catholic Diocese of Osogbo and it was expected to have impact on the people of God.

He said: “The significance of this synod is that we are making everybody, laity, clergy, religious leaders, to know and come to that deep believe that the Church is theirs.”

Speaking on the 62nd anniversary of the nation’s independence, Bishop Ojetola regretted that there is no future for the incoming generations.

“Even the generation of now doesn’t know where they belong. So, we need to pray, not just to pray, but to work because we have been praying and we are not working. If we pray only, nothing will happen, we need to pray and work because God will not do for us, what we can do for ourselves. God will hear our prayer but we need to work. 

“Selfless service is what we need in Nigeria and now that we are going to elections very soon, I beg everybody to go and register and if you have registered, get your PVC and if you have your PVC, make sure you go out to vote. 

“And if you have your PVC, don’t sell your votes; your vote is your power. You have the power, the politicians are our servants, they are begging us to send them on missions.

“They are looking for job, that’s why they beg us for votes and when we give them assignment to do, we must make sure that they stand by it and if they don’t perform well, choke then out with your votes,” he said.

Delivering a keynote address on the theme of the Synod, the first bishop of the diocese who is now the Archbishop of Ibadan, Most Rev. Gabriel Leke Abegunrin, urged delegates to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, reflect together and resolve to work together.

Earlier in his address of welcome, the Vicar-General of the Diocese who doubles as Chairman of the Synod Planning Committee, Very Rev Fr. Thaddeus Ajayi, said representatives of parishes in the diocese had gathered to brainstorm on how the diocese would forge ahead and make more impacts before another synod in the next ten years.