The Church and Democracy: a Case Study of Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu of Benue State Nigeria

Abstract

On 2nd January 1992, there emerged a Catholic Priest in the person of Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu as the Executive Governor of Benue State, Nigeria. This was the very first time such history was recorded in the life of Nigeria and her political democratic advancements. People were dismayed when the Catholic Church excommunicated the Reverend gentleman. It is the curiosity that surrounded the events that sharpened the researcher’s interest to go into findings, because the Church as a major stakeholder in the spiritual, social, cultural, religious and even in the political life goals of man, would naturally uphold genuine efforts of a member to bring about the realization of democracy in more practical terms. Through the use of library, questionnaire, oral interview and participatory observation, we collected facts which we presented in this work. We have in the course of the study discovered the ugly experience the Church had with the Emperors during the nascent stage of the Church. From the study also it was clear that pagan emperors painted the concept and practice of politics black. Fr. Adasu, however, showed that the time was ripe for Catholics to understand that politics can be put to good use by introducing the light of Christ into it. Hitherto the Church had maintained, that priests ought to treat everybody with the greatest kindness, they should unite their efforts with those of the lay faithful and conduct themselves among the laity after the example of their master, who came amongst men not be to served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many. Considering the fact that the church is not a perfect society, the canon law upon which the administration of the church revolves can be shortsighted according to the prevailing situations of a given time, we therefore recommended that, since political science deals with the study of the polity, its constitution, management and leadership, and since the Church encourages science, the Church should take part in partisan politics to purify it from all possible stains. Furthermore, Change is the only thing that is permanent and as such, the canonical and ecclesiastical laws affecting the involvement of clerics with the partisan politics should be reviewed to be more inclusive. Through this the Church will both select and monitor the activities of her personnel, just as it is easier for a Bishop to control his priest who is a governor or president than to control a Muslim president.