Wike’s Easter worship reversal, Masari’s gaffe and Ugwuanyi’s unwavering stand

BY UCHENNA NWATU

Vindication couldn’t be any starker than it has been for the Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, in the last 48 hours. In that period, he has demonstrated through his actions the importance of standing resolutely on convictions than pandering to populist sentiments. And within those margins lies the true hallmark of leadership.

Apparently emboldened by Governor Aminu Bello Masari’s order that okayed jumaat service and Easter Sunday service in Katsina State, there were subtle and overt pressure from sundry religious leaders and faithful on Governor Ugwuanyi to similarly relax the earlier directive on social-distancing over Covid-19, that had put paid to religious gatherings in the state.

But he wouldn’t be swayed; not even after governors of states like Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia, Ebonyi, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ondo and Kogi succumbed to the weight of political correctness and relaxed restrictions for the Easter service. His reluctance may have seemed unreasonable to some then, but the embarrassing volte face made by those governors brought swift vindication.

The death of a Covid-19 index case in Katsina State, and the report that three relatives of the deceased had also tested positive for the virus may not have been a direct fallout of Governor Masari’s indiscretion, yet it still highlights how citizens’ lives could be so easily imperiled by the whimsical decisions of their leaders.

The spread of Covid-19 to states without previously reported cases amplified the dangers of populism in the face of existential crisis. It seemed like the bitter spur those governors required to be nudged back to reality; to the understanding that it is better to err on the side of caution than make life-threatening errors in a bid to earn the public’s rather fleeting plaudits.

This is consistent with the point the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, had been emphasizing.
“We need to pay a short term price for a long term goal and physical distancing is probably the most important tool,” he said, last week.

Indeed, nothing lays bare the wrong-headedness of those governors populist decision to sanction public religious worship like the courteous spurn, by Bishop Camillus Etokudoh, of Governor Nyesom Wike’s lockdown ease for Easter worship.

“We deeply appreciate the state-wide broadcast of the Governor of Rivers State, during which he temporarily relaxed the restrictions on large religious gatherings for Moslems on Friday, April 10, 2020, for their prayers and for Christians on Sunday, April 12, 2020 to have their full congregation for Easter celebrations,” Bishop Etokudoh stated in a memo to Catholic priests in his Port Harcourt diocese.

“However, in the face of the threats of COVID-19 and having prayerfully considered the implications of the Risks to our expected crowded congregation on normal Easter Sunday celebrations, we hereby request you our priests and lay faithful to continue to keep to the CBCN and our Diocesan Pastoral directives/guidelines for the celebrations of Holy Week including Easter Sunday till further notice.”

It is such understanding that shapes Ugwuanyi’s insistence on non-congregational worship across the state. True leadership entails the supplanting of one’s personal interest for the collective good. The absence of this attribute has been the bane of our society.

As a devout Catholic (the dominant faith in Enugu State), he would certainly have earned some acclaim among fellow Christian faithful had he relaxed the restrictions on religious gatherings. But there is no doubt also that the ensuing opprobrium will drown out whatever applause he may have received if anyone contracts the virus from this hypothetical scenario.

It is gratifying that nearly all the governors of those aforementioned states later recanted and reintroduced the restrictions. The hope is that it doesn’t – as events unfold in the coming days – become more or less akin to shutting the stable after the horse had fled. Another very strong hope is that their earlier folly serves as a vital leadership lesson.

It’s credit to Governor Ugwuanyi that he rose above the base religious sentiments that informed the whimsical decisions of those governors.

Nwatu wrote from Enugu.