For Tony Anenih, to God be the Glory
Today is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad…. I guess many of you have many reasons to thank God. These reasons may vary from person to person. The Eucharistic Preface says, “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere, to give you thanks, Lord.” It is part of our Christian duty to give thanks to God everywhere and always. The Catholic understanding of thanksgiving implies that every season and every place are occasions for thanking God….
We are gathered here, today, to thank God for His steadfast love for Chief Tony Anenih… For all the achievements of Chief Anenih in over 80 years, we give thanks to God. Chief Anenih is a beneficiary of God’s mercies and healing power recently when he had a serious medical condition. The medical doctors’ prognosis was that Chief Anenih would not make it to this day. Well, the doctors did not add God to the equation; the doctors did not know of God’s steadfast love for Chief Anenih; they did not know about His endless mercies for him; they did not know that God’s love for him is new every morning; the doctors, my dear friends, did not know that the Lord is Chief Anenih’s portion; they did not know that Chief Anenih puts his entire hope in the Lord. This missing part of the equation in the doctors’ calculation is the reason we are here today to celebrate the life and achievements of Chief Anenih. This celebration is an acknowledgment of the immense power and blessings of God upon Chief Anenih. Therefore, we can all say Ad maio rem Dei Gloriam! To God be the glory and honour!
The first reading of today is taken from John 2:3-11. Saint John says: “Beloved, by this we may be sure that we know Jesus Christ, if we keep His commandments.” The other verses of the reading basically speak to this opening line of the reading….
…When we walk in the same way Christ walked, then we are sure that Christ abides in us. The infant Jesus is the true light that has come to disperse darkness away from our lives. If we want to abide in this Light, we must love our brothers and sisters like Christ loves them. John tells us “He who loves his brother abides in the light, and in it there is no cause for stumbling. But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
The Evangelist Luke in today’s passage (Luke 2:22-25) presents Christ as the Light to the Gentiles. The parents of Jesus brought him to the temple in Jerusalem to perform the customary thanksgiving for the first-born child. When they presented the Child to Simeon, he blessed the parents and acknowledged the infant Jesus as the expected Messiah….
We are here today to thank God for Chief Anenih who responds to God’s invitation to follow him every day. Our celebrant is a man who has always been proud to call himself a Catholic. He has remained in the Catholic Church in good times and in most challenging times. He has never changed his church. Semel Catholicus Sempel Catholicus - once a Catholic always a Catholic.
Chief Anenih is one of the most generous persons anybody will ever meet on this planet earth. Some may argue that he is wealthy; that is why he is generous. There are lots of wealthy people who are not generous even to their family members let alone give to others. Generosity is not about what you have; it is about your attitude to what you have. When we are attached to Christ we become detached from material wealth. If you are not attached to anything apart from God, then you enjoy true freedom greater than material wealth.
Dearly beloved in Christ, detachment and trust in God is what made our celebrant give a completed house to Archbishop Patrick Ekpu to serve as the residence of the bishop of Uromi when the Diocese was created; detachment and trust in God is what made Chief Anenih donate to many Church projects; detachment is what made him continuously support poor orphanages, detachment is what made him recently commit himself to personally pay for the re-building of the Cathedral in Uromi. Chief Dr. Anthony Anenih is ready to part with the diamond because he is not attached to material things.
The celebrant today has an autobiography recently published. The book is titled “My Life and the Nigerian Politics.” I am not here to do a book review; it is interesting to note that the book chronicles his entering into the Nigerian Police Force; his business adventures; his burst into the political scene, the battle for June 12; his activities during the interim National Government; the Abacha Regime, and the Fourth Republic. Section three of the book is what I would like to dwell on briefly. This section deals with the author’s legacy in his own words. In this book, he affirms his privileged position to help in the production of Presidents and Governors in Nigeria.
In this autobiography, there are some words that give the reader insights into the mindset of Chief Anenih. Some of what he said in this book shows his deep faith in and gratitude to God. I have read the book, but I will cite a few of his words to help us understand how his Catholic faith has been the compass that has guided his political decisions. In other words, the values of Chief Anenih flow from his Catholic belief. Our celebrant is a trustworthy person who never abandons his friends; even after death, he remains loyal. On page 148 of this book, speaking about his commitment to the late Musa Yar’Adua’s family, he writes: “I have taken it as a duty to see to the welfare of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua’s family as long as I live.” This is a strong commitment that has not immediate benefit. There is no political benefit either.
Chief Anenih, the Iyasele of Esan land, is a man you can trust his words. In another instance, he recognises that all he has comes from God. On page 159 he says: “I feel exceedingly grateful to God that He has always fought my battles and He is a Leader that does not fail, if only you trust Him! I will continue to trust Him; continue to thank Him for all that He has done for me in life.” These are words of a person who believes that God empowers him to work for him through his career. Chief Anenih explains the reasons he remains ever generous. On page 192 of this autobiography, and permit me to use his exact words again: “In all my life, I have always believed in the promotion of worthy causes and that it is better to give than to receive…. It is my belief also that generosity does not only consist in giving from the abundance of what we have but also in giving from the very little that we have. God has blessed me in several ways and I am grateful to Him for that which He has given me. On account of this, I try to give for worthy causes.” This is the spirit that should guide everyone who wants to donate for a cause he or she believes in….
The political influence of our celebrant is not in doubt. Both those who agree with him and those who disagree all strongly hold that in politics you never take Chief Anenih for granted in any election. What is interesting about his political influence is that he is ubiquitous. He is influential in every region in Nigeria. His influence is not in one region or section or ethnic block or one faith. He has been a political leader to people from diverse regions of Nigeria. It is rare to find such a political leader. It is rare to find a politician who is relevant to a President from the North, from the South West and from the South-South. Therefore, our celebrant belongs to few groups of people who have eschewed politics of ethnicity and religious bigotry….
I will like to use this forum to address a few words to our politicians and our faithful. Many people love the money of politicians but they don’t like how some of them get the money; many people want politicians as their political leaders but only few will accept politicians as the godparent or sponsors of their children; many people want politicians to attend their church for fund raising, for harvest, but they would not want the Priest to be too close to the politicians because they believe in their minds that politicians play a “dirty game.” Politics, many have tagged a dirty career. Do we have holy, saintly politicians? Do we have some politicians in heaven? Yes, there are politicians in heaven. In fact, Saint Thomas More, is the patron-saint of politicians. Thomas More himself was an active politician who never allowed anything to compromise his faith. It is, therefore, possible to go to heaven as a politician. I recommend that all our politicians read the life of this great British Politician who, today, is in heaven….
God has put a new song into our mouths and it is a song of praise to him for his abundant blessings. Chief Anenih sings a new song to God. I invite all of us to learn to sing a new song in 2017. A song that is full of gratitude to God, a song that is a prayer to God to bless Esan land and Edo State with influential men like our celebrant, Chief Anenih. Let our new song to the Lord express our hearts’ desires that political concession in election will become common in our land; let our new song express our petition to God that Edo will be peaceful in 2017; let our new song raise our petition to God that economic prosperity and job creation will be a reality in 2017; let our new song be addressed to God that there will be unity among the three-senatorial districts in Edo state in 2017.