Are we really surprised by the Father Anelus?

You may have heard about this story, the latest in what can be called a bad case of Igbo phobia. Last Sunday, Reverend Father James Anelu (a priest in charge of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Ewu-Owa, Ikorodu, Lagos State) reportedly shouted down worshippers who were singing an Igbo song during the second offering at the service. One of his reasons is that he wasn’t allowed to officiate a funeral service because he didn’t speak Igbo: “I was in Awo-Omama (Imo State) to go and bury someone, they said I can’t say Mass because I can’t speak Igbo, but when I now told them that the woman or that corpse will kill the Reverend Father before the Reverend Father now allowed me to use English.”

Forget the superstitious voodoo-ish tone of this for a moment. How does a priest officiating in a largely homogenous community that speaks mainly Igbo compare to an Igbo song being sung during offering? I doubt that only Igbo songs were going to be sung throughout the duration of that service. And although it wasn’t mentioned I can bet there was a sizable population of Igbos in that church. But there’s more, Fr. Anelu continued: “We are here to evangelise everybody; we are not here to dominate and to suppress (emphasis mine). If you sing Igbo, will the Yoruba person come to this church? Will other tribes come to this church? If all other tribes start to sing their song, how many people will remain in church?” It doesn’t look like Father Anelu has been to many churches around Nigeria because every church I’ve attended, especially in a Pentecostal church in big cities like Lagos and Abuja, members try to sing Wazobia songs. Plus, a sprinkling of songs from whichever gospel artist is making waves. Wazobia represents Nigeria’s three tribes: Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo and it’s the word ‘come,’ in each of these tribes.

The question I have asked is: Are we really surprised that a priest like Rev. Fr. Anelu could say something that horrible inside a church? Although I asked this question, I must say that I’m (still) genuinely shocked. Not because the church in Nigeria doesn’t have tribal tendencies. There are churches, especially Pentecostal churches, where it’s an unwritten rule that if you belong to the ‘wrong’ tribe, you can only get to a certain point in the church’s leadership. Still, I’m shocked at Fr. Anelu’s boldness and his not caring who else knew what he thought of some members of his church simply for being Igbos. I suppose the blood of Jesus does not cover some things. But then again, am I really surprised? There have been enough incidents in the past for one to wonder: Why Are We Surprised By the Father Anelus?

At the beginning of 2022, perhaps in his very first service, the Senior Pastor of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, COZA, Biodun Fatoyinbo, was reported as saying that Igbos were very stingy especially with regards to donating to churches and the work of God. “The Igbo believe in God. It takes God for an Igbo guy to give. They have a large heart but -they believe you shouldn’t work their mind. Igbos are 90 percent Christians but no megachurch. You need to tear backgrounds to enter some testimonies. No Church with a Yoruba pastor takes more Igbo songs than COZA. Hustle is a curse! Are you a hustler? Some people find it hard to give because they hustled to get that money. In the name of Jesus, the hustle has ceased in your life”. This can be likened to a ‘stray bullet’. Igbo people were ‘jejely’ minding their business when Fatoyinbo shot his arrow of a tribal dart. What did innocent Christian Igbos do to receive this kind of New Year’s gift from Fatoyinbo?  Again, did you see the reference to Igbo songs? Is it that men of God are no longer hearing from their God and have nothing to tell their members or why use such anointed platforms to spread stereotypical hatred? 

Let’s come out of the church. The other day, Ibrahim Babazango, a deputy commissioner of Police, was reported to have threatened violent action against Vincent Umeh who had bought a house next to his own. Babazango was incensed because in his words: “We’re a homogeneous community, I don’t want you; you can’t be my next-door neighbour, I swear. What sort of insult is this? Can any northerner move now to the South-East, say Onitsha and just bump into any neighborhood to buy a property; just like that?” This man is the deputy commissioner of the Nigeria Police Force. With this kind of mindset, can you imagine how he’ll behave if he’s posted to the South East?

Sometime in March 2021, there was a viral video of Danladi Umar (Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT) assaulting a security man at a shopping plaza in Abuja. An uproar greeted this barbaric act from a government official. Perhaps because of this, Umar thought it wise to respond through his spokesperson, Ibraheem Al-Hassan. In a badly written and error-laden press release, Umar tried to clear himself of any wrongdoing: “The Maitama police station personnel also came as the few policemen in the complex were apparently overwhelmed by the mobs, consisting of BIAFRAN BOYS throwing matches and shape object to his car, which led to deep cut and dislocation in one of his fingers, causing damage to his car, and smashing his windscreen. At a point he attempted to leave the scene, these same miscreants, BIAFRAN BOYS, ordered for (sic) the closure of the gate thereby assaulting him before the arrival of the police team from Maitama police station.”  Saying Biafran boys is the same as saying Igbo boys. This issue didn’t have to escalate further or be turned into an Igbo-bashing. Most people recognised the dog whistle that it was. But the point remains that when it comes to the hatred of Igbos, other Nigerians are ready to put aside their differences. In June last year, President Buhari was reported as saying the South-Eastern states were like a dot in a circle or words to that effect. Let’s not mention Senator Remi Tinubu harassing Igbo voters in Lagos during the last elections.