Abuja Goes to Washington — Hallelujah!
By Jerry Adesewo
At this point, it’s safe to say that our Senate has turned the art of misplaced priorities into a national sport. Just when Nigerians were beginning to wonder what fresh spectacle could possibly emerge from that red chamber, behold — a delegation is now packing its agbadas and diplomatic handbags for a pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., to “clarify” Senator Ted Cruz’s accusation of Christian persecution in Nigeria.
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Oh yes, you heard right. In the middle of economic distress, banditry, unpaid wages, and fuel prices that could roast a camel, our lawmakers have found their calling — not in lawmaking, not in oversight, but in public relations.
Apparently, the solution to insecurity and religious tension is not security reform or interfaith dialogue — it’s a trip to America.
A Flight of Fancy
While millions of Nigerians pray daily for power supply longer than a senator’s speech, the National Assembly thinks the best use of public funds is to charter a “fact-finding” mission to the United States. Their mission? To tell Senator Ted that Nigerians love one another — Muslims, Christians, and everyone in between.
You almost want to applaud their courage. After all, it takes remarkable boldness to defend a country’s religious tolerance abroad when churches are still guarded by armed men and mosques are sometimes collateral in the fight against terror.
Perhaps the senators intend to show PowerPoint slides: “Slide 1 – We Don’t Persecute Christians; Slide 2 – We Only Forget to Protect Them.”
Diplomatic Damage Control or Political Tourism?
If this is not political tourism, what is? Instead of fixing the perception problem with evidence of governance, they are boarding a flight to fix it with grammar. One imagines the senators rehearsing in flight:
“Distinguished Senator Cruz, we came all the way from Abuja to assure you that Nigeria is a peaceful country where everyone is free to worship, as long as they can survive the economy.”
The tragedy is that this trip will achieve absolutely nothing beyond hotel bills, shopping receipts, and a few press releases. The Americans will nod politely, the Nigerian delegation will issue a communiqué full of big words like “strategic engagement,” and the citizens back home will continue to wonder how a nation that cannot fix its refineries suddenly has the energy to fix its image.
Faith, Politics, and Public Relations
Let’s be honest, if there is persecution in Nigeria, it’s not only of Christians. It’s of the poor, the jobless, the displaced, the voiceless, and the forgotten. Poverty does not check your baptismal certificate before striking. Bandits do not ask for your denomination before collecting ransom.
So why is our Senate so eager to defend one faith’s persecution abroad, when all faiths suffer neglect at home?
This sudden sanctified diplomacy smells less like conviction and more like convenience — a calculated attempt to score moral points on the international stage while failing to deliver moral governance on the domestic one.
When PR Replaces Policy
The senators claim they are going to “clear Nigeria’s name.” But Nigeria’s name doesn’t need clearing in Washington — it needs cleansing in Abuja. It needs cleansing in our policies, in our justice system, and in the conscience of our leaders.
No foreign trip can fix a credibility problem rooted in hypocrisy. You can’t photo-op your way out of a moral deficit.
The Final Benediction
So, bon voyage, distinguished pilgrims. May your stay in Washington be as illuminating as your silence has been on the real issues that plague the nation. And when you return, after the shopping, sightseeing, and selfies by the White House, perhaps remember this:
The only “persecution” Nigerians want you to address is the persecution of hunger, unemployment, and hopelessness.
Until then, we remain faithfully persecuted — not by our religion, but by our representation.
Abuja Goes to Washington — Hallelujah!