The Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, says preachers have a responsibility to tell their congregation the truth to achieve societal transformation.
The respected cleric was a guest on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme on Channels Television.
According to him, greedy politicians select churches they attend and pastors they listen to because they don’t want anyone to challenge their corrupt nature.
“I have noticed in Nigeria that greedy people have a way of choosing the kind of churches they go to and which preachers they listen to. If they go to a church where they are constantly being challenged and made uncomfortable, they won’t come back next Sunday but we need more of that,” he said.
Cardinal Onaiyekan said it is not enough to build gigantic cathedrals filled with worshippers who aren’t being transformed for societal good.
He said, “The official religious institutions we have in Nigeria have a task to do self-evaluation. They should ask themselves: have we been projecting the right message of our faiths? If we have been doing it, we will not have this kind of outcome.
“The kind of corrupt and godly outcomes have shown that the kind of religiousness that we have is not leading anywhere.
“We cannot just be rejoicing that our churches are full, that we are building big churches. Very good but we still want to see where is godliness in all of these. And if religion does not lead to godliness, it is even worse than none at all.”
Cardinal Onaiyekan lamented that greedy and corrupt leaders have impoverished Nigeria through the mismanagement of the country’s enormous resources.
“There is so much impunity. People take a lot of things that don’t belong to them and nobody asks them. Whereas if a poor man steals a piece of yam in the village, they throw him in jail for six months or more. So, there is something wrong with the justice system,” he said.