Nigeria desperately needs the discipline of the Templar Knights order to end vanity and develop her infrastructure

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) I am a big fan of the Knights Templar, that Catholic military order founded in 1119. The world owes them a debt of gratitude as they spearheaded the new age of enlightenment that spread across Europe at the time, opening up new frontiers in an unprecedented manner. I first fell in love with them when I read Da Vinci Code. They have fascinated me ever since

(2) In their day, the Templars became the favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. They were prominent in Christian finance. Non-combatant members of the order, who made up as much as 90% of them, managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, developing innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking, building its own network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land. Arguably, they also formed the world's first multinational corporation

(3) Also, Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Just imagine if we had them to let loose on Boko Haram today

(4) However, when the Holy Land was lost to Salaaudeen, support for the order faded. That is where it’s demise began and it has never recovered until today

(5) Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust and King Philip IV of France, who was deeply in debt to the order, took advantage of this distrust to destroy them and erase his debt. In 1307, he had many of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions and burned at the stake. Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312 under pressure from King Philip

(6) I particularly like the discipline the Templars imposed on themselves. They had a code of conduct known to modern historians as the Latin Rule. Its 72 clauses laid down the details of the knights' way of life, including the types of garments they were to wear and how many horses they could have. Knights were to take their meals in silence, eat meat no more than three times per week and not have physical contact of any kind with women, even members of their own family

(7) Under their rules, knights were to wear the white mantle at all times. They were even forbidden to eat or drink unless wearing it. The red cross that the Templars wore on their robes was a symbol of martyrdom and to die in combat was considered a great honour that assured them of a place in heaven

(8) New members had to willingly sign over all of their wealth and goods to the order and take vows of poverty, chastity, piety and obedience

(9) Do you know that the Templars provided security for pilgrims? After Europeans in the First Crusade recaptured Jerusalem from Muslim conquerors in 1099, many Christians made pilgrimages to various sacred sites in the Holy Land. Although the city of Jerusalem was relatively secure under Christian control, the rest of Outremer was not. Bandits and marauding highwaymen preyed upon these Christian pilgrims, who were routinely slaughtered, sometimes by the hundreds, as they attempted to make the journey from the coastline at Jaffa through to the interior of the Holy Land. The Templars soon sorted this out. Maybe we should let them loose on our armed herdsmen

(10) Templar Order members were sworn to individual poverty. Now this for me is the aspect of their lives Nigeria most needs. If every public servant is sworn to poverty, the issue of corruption does not arise. Templar knights were ready to lay down their lives for their cause, wanting nothing in return. It is that which is desperately lacking in the Nigeria of today