Election Petitions: Cardinal Onaiyekan Advises Judges To Uphold Justice 

The Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has advised judges in Nigeria to uphold justice at the ongoing election petitions.

Cardinal Onaiyekan gave the charge while addressing journalists shortly after a special Mass to commemorate the 2023 World Communications Day (WCD) by the Universal Church on Sunday at St Gabriel Chaplaincy, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja, the nation’s capital.

His Eminence further reiterated the need for transparency in the process.

“It is in the interest of the judiciary to allow this thing to be done.

“All these issues about there are witnesses whom should not be made public. For goodness sake, why are they hiding?

“If you have anything that people should not know, you shouldn’t be saying it. So I pray that the Justices will find a way even though they have not been doing it before; they should be ready to do it now.

“All eyes are on the court. We tried our best to vote; we were told to go to court. We are now in court. All eyes are on the court.

“We have trust in the court that they finish the job that INEC did halfway.

“Voters don’t have the locus standi in court to challenge election outcomes. The matter is left to the candidates. That’s why it’s important that the court proceedings are seen live on TV,” he said.

While speaking on the theme for the 2023 WCD “SPEAKING WITH THE HEART, THE TRUTH IN LOVE” taken from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15, Cardinal Onaiyekan urged media practitioners to abide by the ethics of the profession and engage in communication that will foster unity amongst the citizenry.

He also advised them to leverage on modern technologies which has come to stay saying “the social media has come into the picture. You cannot ignore it anymore. But the fact still remains that communication is meant to build, not to destroy; to unite and not divide; to entertain, not to make people sad, and Jesus Christ said the Truth will make you free, which means if you don’t have the Truth, you will never be free,” he remarked.

Also, the National Director of Social Communications, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Very Rev. Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh, further explained that the Church is an extension of the mission of Christ, hence the reason it is necessarily COMMUNICATION.

Fr Umoh noted that the Church is a concrete sign of God’s presence in the world: 

“We know that signs can be weak or effective. Thus, we need to improve our process of knowing God and the process of showing God to the world –  that is the essence of all our effort through the communication week we have celebrated.

“It has been to call our attention to the need to be aware of the quality of the sign we are as a Church and as individuals. It means we seek to improve upon the quality of our communication as Christians and as a Church.

“Every Christian must consciously strive to develop the skill of being an effective communicator after the model Jesus, the perfect Communicator.

“Jesus could only report to the Father on the success of his mission of showing the Father to the world because he was effective in his communication style.

“It is not enough to communicate; it is also as important that we communicate effectively.”

The National Director of Social Communications further spoke on the efforts of the Church to promote effective communication:

“Any Campaign Programme that can effectively engage even ten thousand people in a week dedicated to media literacy is a big success already. So that is the Church’s way also of enhancing media awareness and media literacy in the society.

“Pope Paul 6 was aware of this great need; thus in 1967, he established the World Communication Day Celebration as an annual event during which Catholics all over the world reflect on a theme which focuses on media and communication. Since then, 57 years now, successive Popes have maintained the tradition.” 

The Universal Church sets aside World Communications Day to celebrate the achievements of Media and Communications and its effectiveness as tools to promote gospel values.