The decision of the Bishop to suspend me was, to my mind, as ill motivated as it was unscriptural. If looked at through the lens of objectivity, this was also doing God’s work, albeit in another dimension. I mean, I love God, and how best can I demonstrate my love for God if I do not give myself over to the service of God through the instrumentality of politics? My view remains unchanged: Politics is not dirty; however, some of its players can play dirty and my objective here is to prove to the whole world using my microcosm, Adaka State, that politics is not and should not be the exclusive preserve of the morally bankrupt. And I am making giant strides in this regard.
I, Father Bakayoko, by the grace of God accepted the call of my people to run, first for the primaries of The Democratic Party, after which I will proceed to the run in the general elections itself. My victory at the primaries, serves as a glowing testimony of a deer need for moral giants to take over the landscape of politics and the economy and the media and every other sector that feeds into the value system of our people. Only by this can we create a society where the rich are protected and the poor are supported. As would be expected of a servant in the temple of God, I didn’t bribe any delegate to get this nomination. If anything, given the situation where farmers can no longer go to their farms in our communities due to rampaging bandits taking over their farms, and my advocacy against this, both on the pulpit and in the media, I gained the reputation for being the moral leader of the oppressed farmers who constitute at least 55% of the work force of our State’s population, to the extent that the delegates to the party convention considered me as having unassailable electoral value for the general gubernatorial election.
I didn’t bet the farm. I didn’t throw away all that I have built for Jesus Christ. Rather, I still answer my calling to serve God by serving the people, after all, the saying goes that the voice of God is the voice of the people. I have no wife, as this is an abiding principle of priesthood in our denomination. Also, I have no material possession, as such, the desire to accumulate filthy lucre is nonexistent in my mind.
To be sure, the opposition against my candidature didn’t just begin. On the contrary, I first felt the heat of my desire to save my people from poverty and depravation from supposedly party leaders who wanted to foist their man friday on the party. Their objective was far from noble and it goes thus: Install a yes-man as governor, and whose preoccupation would be to serve as a conduit to syphon funds from the coffers of the state to private pockets. But alas, the progressive segment of the Democratic party carried the day.
Still, the greatest pain I feel is from my very constituency, the church, my church, my Catholic church. Why will the Bishop not even consider giving me a leave of absence for at most eight years but choose to suspend me? But if this is the price that I must pay for serving God by serving my people, then so be it.
COLLOQUIUM