This is in line with the divine law that says what you sow is what you will reap.
The people of Plateau State have suffered severally from
ethno-religious crisis and it is understandable how they view with
suspicion everyone that is not of their faith or similarity in ethnic
minority status, but they should not allow their feeling of hurt and
desolation to cause their love for God and love for neighbours and
enemies alike to wither. It is the commandment of Christ, and adherence
to His commandments is the only thing that can guarantee our safety and
lack of disappointments. It is because God knows that love without
finitude is what nourishes and upholds salvation He gave us that
commandment, anything outside that means we are trusting in our own
devices and trusting in our own devices means we are trusting in the arm
of flesh, and any good Bible reader knows that trusting in the arm of
flesh is a curse! Proof of this is in the book of Prophet Jeremiah
chapter 17 verses 5 to 8.
All the crisis that have happened, or are still happening in Plateau
State should cause the people to go into truthful introspection, and
begin to ask whether Christ has long departed from the State or not, for
if God leaves He doesn’t announce His departure as experienced by
Samson in Judges chapter 16 verse 20, you only know through series and
series of unpleasant occurrences and a pervading sense of fear,
nakedness and hopelessness. Once upon a time, Jos, the state’s capital
city was known as Jesus Our Saviour (JOS) or Joy of Salvation (JOS), the
people should ask, has it now become Judas Our Saviour (JOS) or what?
How much of character in the state reflects Christ? Are the majority of
the indigenes known for drunkenness or not? How much of Christ have
their leaders demonstrated over time? And what has been the attitude of
the people against the corrupt practices of some of their leaders? And
the Christian clergy, the shepherds, what was their attitude to the
corrupt practices of some leaders of the state in the past?
When Governor Joshua Dariye engaged in a looting spree of the state
and was arrested for money laundering in London, he jumped bail and fled
back to Nigeria where he had immunity from prosecution as governor, but
what was the reaction of the people? They engaged in series of
solidarity marches for him; barely was there even a whimper of
condemnation from any quarter in the state. In fact, one of the churches
with her national headquarters in the state went as far as doing their
handing over ceremony in the governor’s office, instead of the church,
in firm solidarity with him. To show how much they agreed with his
administrative style they finally sent him to be a lawmaker for four
years for Nigerians in the 2011 elections. Lawbreakers as lawmakers is
how low we have sunk as a nation and how low we have sunk in our
religious faith! In all sincerity, does anyone expect laws made by
lawbreakers to be honoured? What laws will they make considering how
they have not been respecters of laws? We seem to practice our religion
without its righteousness, for if not so our country will not have been
in her current mess.
The December 2011 Christmas day attack on the Jos branch of the
Mountain of Fire church and the suicide bombing of the St. Theresa
Catholic church, Madalla was in vengeance against the massacre of
Muslims at their praying ground during one of the Eids, as claimed by
the Boko Haram terror group.
In their statement of claim, the terrorists
alleged that the flesh of Muslims was cooked and eaten publicly in Jos
by the killers and that there was no condemnation of it by the Christian
leadership, neither was there anything done to apprehend those who
committed such barbarism. And if true, as claimed by Boko Haram that
this act was perpetrated by Christians, then it is another low in the
practice of Christianity, for it is unchristian, no matter the quest for
vengeance or provocation to surround some people at their prayer place
and kill them and then proceed to eat their flesh! This is strange! The
worst part is the silence of the church leadership over this as claimed
by the group. Like I said in as the Church Slept…., which was serialized by the
LEADERSHIP newspaper from 1st August to 5th and from 8th to 12th August
2011 the church needs a fresh revival to get her back on the path of
truth, righteousness and justice. If not, we shall continue to harvest
series and series of insecurity for God may have left us and we knew
not, as was the case of Samson. We need to have God’s presence restored
back to the church and then God will fight for His church. The people
and the church in the Plateau must put off the garb of Judas Our Saviour
and put back Jesus Our Saviour, shed off bitterness and hurt and have
themselves filled with love and stand and fight for the cause of truth
and justice and see what God will do for them.
I don’t know if the leadership of the Christian Association of
Nigeria (C.A.N.) has realized by now that she has goofed big time by
endorsing the candidature of President Jonathan at the 2011 general
elections, considering that his election has not helped the cause of the
church in whatever way since then, and also considering that there is
an overwhelming sense of regret among majority of those who voted for
him and not the P.D.P., the popular refrain then, due to the fact that
since his election till now the fortunes of this nation have not
advanced any better, rather both the economy and social life have
continued to tank, and there seem to be no radical and visionary drive
to alter the standard of living of Nigerians for the better, instead it
is the same old system of corruption that is being promoted in every
sphere. I believe that if a group, a body or institution endorse any
person to run for political office it is with the hope and belief that
the person so endorsed shares the belief system, philosophy and ideology
of the group or institution concerned. Also, it is expected that such
endorsement, upon the victory of the endorsed, will boost the collective
interest of the endorser, be it economic, security, education or
whatever. But when the C.A.N. leadership, on a visit to President
Jonathan on 28th December 2011 after the Boko Haram bombing of the St.
Theresa Catholic church in Madalla, said “The Christian community in
Nigeria is deeply sorrowed over the deteriorating state of insecurity in
the country and apparent inability of the government to protect and
guarantee lives, churches and properties of our members…..
The concern
of the Christian community is further heightened by the admittance by
government itself that it has knowledge of the perpetrators of these
crimes. Unfortunately, there are no convincing high profile arrests to
assuage public anxiety over this matter…… The Christian community is
fast losing confidence in government’s ability to protect our rights to
religious liberties and life. The consensus is that the Christian
community nationwide would be left with no other option than to respond
appropriately if there are any further attacks on our members, churches
and properties….”, and in reaction to the suicide bomb attack on the
COCIN church headquarters in Jos on Sunday, 26th February 2012 the Sun
newspaper of Wednesday, March 7, 2012 on page 8 quoted the C.A.N.
leadership saying “….the greatest danger was that government had failed
to confront the nature of the threat Nigerians were dealing with.”, it
became clear that President Jonathan has failed to live up to the
expectation of C.A.N. for whatever reason they “anointed” him except if
that “reason” is yet to begin bearing fruits. But if the fruits being
awaited are good fruits, then, from the look of things we are all due
for a very long, long, long wait, for nothing currently going on now in
governance suggests anything genuine and concrete is being done to make
Nigerians live better and worthwhile lives.
Nothing in President Jonathan’s past and present suggests he is a
presidential material that should be endorsed by any serious body talk
less of the church. It is no longer a hidden thing that the only reason
they endorsed him was the thinking that he is a Christian and the
strange belief in his legendary luck, which seem to have run out now and
in doing so the ever gullible and susceptible “fish and bread
multitude” in the church were not told President Jonathan’s Christian
testimony. No one said whether he was or is born again, and if so, when?
When was he baptized? And if baptized, what manner of baptism? What are
his views on marriage? Does he believe in the Christian marriage
principle of monogamy? Which service unit in his church does he serve
God in?
Does he firmly and truthfully believe in national unity? Does he
have a proven compassion for the poor? What are his anti-corruption
credentials in his previous public service sojourn? Does he drink
alcohol? Sadly the answer to this last question was missed or cleverly
avoided by the Christian clergy in The NEWS magazine of 22nd November,
2010 captioned, The Untold Story of JONATHAN. The last paragraph on page
29 has the magazine reporting that “The President is also said to be a
sociable man. He drinks moderately. His favourite drink? Brandy.”
Now, to casual Christians and liberals drinking alcohol is no problem
to them, which is why most alcohol drinkers in bars and other joints
are supposed Christians. But the Holy Bible, which is the compendium of
the Words, guidance and instructions of God Almighty, has a strong
rebuke against the consumption of alcohol, whether in excess or
moderate. After all, what measure of consumption even constitutes
moderate? The Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse 6 that “Your
glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump?” There is no quantity of consumption of alcohol that is
acceptable to God, no matter how small or by whom.
Proverbs chapter 31 verses 3 to 7 are very instructive concerning
human relationship with alcohol. Verse 3 says, “Give not thy strength
unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.” And what is it
that destroys kings? Verse 4 gives us the answer thus: “It is not for
kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes
strong drink:” And why shouldn’t they drink strong drinks? Verse 5 gives
us the answer that, “Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert
the judgment of any of the afflicted.”
So, we know that if kings drink
alcohol they will completely forget the rule of law and will embark on a
project of the perversion of judgments and justice such that even the
simple principle of honouring agreements will be anathema and principled
judges who have chosen to insist on delivery of justice will be hounded
like felons out of office and policies that will not ease the lives of
people afflicted by poverty will be pursued with committed unpatriotic
determination. Such a king could, because his sense of reasoning is
numbed by strong drinks, assume his subjects are well fed and therefore
appropriate for himself huge chunks of money to feed on designer foods.
To such kings debauchery is nothing but a game to be cherished. But
curiously, in what seems to be a contradiction of sort, verses 6 and 7
seem to allow for the consumption of alcohol. It says “Give strong drink
unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy
hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery
no more.” The Bible only permits those that want to perish to consume
alcohol and when they perish they can forget their poverty of spirit,
compassion and dignity. However, they will have to contend with the
hereafter judgment.
The C.A.N. leadership, in endorsing President Jonathan, did not
provide Nigerians with answers to the questions posed above, for the
answers could have helped the multitudes of ignorant church goers and
Nigerians generally make sound voting choice. Recognizing the
possibility of people becoming victims of satanic deceptions the Bible
encourages us in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 to “…..prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Decisions made without
data or information to influence the process of making those decisions
could render the decision faulty. To endorse politicians, I believe the
advice given us by the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 6 verse 4 that
“But let every man prove his own work” should always be the template for
endorsement. And for a weighty matter as the choice of national
leadership a well informed decision cannot be taken lightly, because an
error could cause the whole nation to come under the crushing weight of a
morally and ethically bankrupt leadership and God will have a good
laugh as He is having over the Nigerian church now.
Yes, it is true, God does laugh over the calamity of people that
have, in pursuit of selfish and foolish desires, forsaken love over
sentiments; forsaken truth over falsehood; forsaken justice over
injustice; forsaken the poor and needy over the thieves oppressing the
poor and needy. When the C.A.N. leadership began talking of Christians
“fast losing confidence in government’s ability to protect our rights to
religious liberties and life” because of the increased wave of attacks
against Christians and church buildings the Lord God began a very hearty
laugh in a “I thought you should have listened to me very well” kind of
fashion.
The Lord God Almighty, speaking in Proverbs chapter 1 verses 25 to 33
said, “But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my
reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh
as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.” Can you see
that? It sounds strange, but God does enjoy Himself when a people are
visited with the consequences of their hate-filled decision; decisions
not made based on the love of God and man but on inane sentimental
reasons. But can prayer save them from such calamity? No, said God
Almighty. Continuing from verse 28 He said, “Then shall they call upon
me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not
find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of
the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled
with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay
them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso
hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of
evil.”
It is a tragedy of monumental proportions if God, to Whom prayers are
said, says He will not answer the prayers of the people under calamity
and siege! His reasons are that they hated to seek for appropriate
knowledge that could have helped them make informed decisions, and
because their decisions are not based on His knowledge they have aligned
themselves with ungodly rulers who dislike the fear of God, rulers
whose only quest for political power is to steal, to kill and to destroy
in fulfillment of the three fold ministry of their lord and god, the
devil. By this they have allowed fools to prosper and this same
prosperity of fools will destroy them! Isn’t this what is happening in
Nigeria now, that persons who should be in jail because of corruption
and electoral thefts are the ones being festooned with honour medals and
making policies and decisions on behalf of all citizens and perhaps
even discreetly funding some groups that are attacking churches? God has
labeled them as fools but the church has, by self commission, allowed
them to continue in their acts of foolishness and thereby making Nigeria
a foolish nation.
Well, God has said the church shall eat the fruits of
her own ways. Like I said earlier no one abdicates responsibility
without getting stung by the result of that act of irresponsibility.
Some of the fruits of excellent corruption - the Nigerian type - are
violence and insecurity and there is no way the church being an
institution ordained to fight corruption and injustice can escape eating
the fruits having turned her head away from her ordained mission. God will continue His hearty laugh against the church until she
traces her steps back to her salt and light of the world status. As long
as she remains in her current state of inertia towards corruption and
social injustice no amount of prayer or prophetic declaration can save
or deliver her. God cannot establish peace in an atmosphere or climate
of excellent corruption, fraud, debauchery, deception and all manner of
immorality such as in Nigeria, for it will amount to putting a seal of
approval by Him on such a chaotic, disorderly and stinking environment.
The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 32 verse 17 that “….the work of
righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness
and assurance forever.” And Psalm 85 verse 10 says “Mercy and truth are
met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” These two
Scriptures have established an unbreakable link between righteousness
and peace, which means each time there is unabating violence against a
people their righteousness meter should be checked and if it is reading
low then they should “work” on raising it to achieve peace, which means
it is possible not to pray for peace if the people in a nation are
engaged actively in the works of righteousness by way of promoting
social justice, fighting the cause of the poor and needy and a constant,
unwavering fight against corruption.
After the Sunday, February 26, 2012 terrorist attack on the Church of
Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) headquarters in Jos the LEADERSHIP newspaper
the following day reported the President of the church, Rev. Soja
Bewarang saying, “Only God knows why He allowed it to happen because we
have always done our best to secure the place.” Let me submit here that
man’s best could not be God’s best. If we as Christians diligently and
wholeheartedly follow God’s principles and pursue, without relenting,
His designs and purpose for our nation then we wouldn’t have to embark
on our own best to secure ourselves, rather His own best security will
be our hedge and canopy. And under no circumstance are we even expected
to trust in our own devices or ways to secure us. It is this kind of
attitude that makes the church put their hope and trust in corrupt,
thieving politicians instead of on God and His proper counsel. Psalm 125
verses 1 and 2 say “They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion,
which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” This Scripture is as
clear as God’s transparency and can be banked on at all times. So, if
the trust of the church is in God, and not in some corrupt politician,
she will not be moved or shaken by any circumstance, not even all the
terrorist organizations on planet earth can shake her, then verse 2
becomes her portion as long as she maintains that trust in God: “As the
mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his
people from henceforth even for ever.”
In the wake of the Jos COCIN terror attack THISDAY newspaper of
Thursday, March 1, 2012 reported the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria
(PCN) calling “for a national emergency prayer network of all Christians
to rise to the occasion, call on the God of Elijah, the Lord of Hosts,
to arise on our behalf and let our enemies be scattered.” I have also
read a national call to prayer by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria
(PFN) calling on Christians to fast and pray against the insecurity
ravaging the nation and for the dignity of Christendom. This is a good
step, but like I said earlier, drawing inspiration from Proverbs chapter
1 verses 28 to 32, no amount of prayer without a deliberate action
process against the causes of violence and insecurity in the nation will
move God to rise and scatter the enemies of peace. Psalm 34 verse 14
says “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” Here
again we are shown that the conscious work of departure from evil and
the pursuit of the good of all is the process to peace. As long as the
unsavoury social conditions that are breeding grounds for kidnappings,
armed robbery, drug pushing, prostitution, child trafficking, cultism,
drug abuse and terrorism are still prevailing and the church has no
action plan to fight them, then our prayers shall be in vain. Rather,
God, instead of answering us, will continue with His hearty laughter and
mockery! The social malaise that has given birth to the current
violence and bedlam in Nigeria is such that the violence and bedlam
cannot be just wished away by prayer or a seven days time-framed
prophecy without a conscious and repentant return to the duty post of
ensuring social justice and accountability. It cannot work.
The situation in Nigeria requires action from all genuine patriots
and the Nehemiahs and Phinehases in the church to restore sanity and
orderliness in the conduct of our national life. The DAILY SUN newspaper
of Friday, February 24, 2012 on page 8 reported the Women Wing of the
Christian Association of Nigeria (WOWICAN) calling for action to save
Nigeria. The newspaper quoted them saying that various heinous crimes
were being committed in Nigeria, which include armed robbery,
kidnapping, bribery and corruption and political thuggery, but the
“incidence of Boko Haram and terrorism in Nigeria has become such a
terrible menace to the existence of human beings in this country, that
we can no longer sit, watch, complain and pray.” I don’t know if in
their own thinking armed robbery, kidnapping, bribery and corruption and
political thuggery do not constitute a “terrible menace” which requires
action against, considering that they seem to have singled out Boko
Haram and terrorism as a terrible menace, but the salient point in their
statement is the assertion that “we can no longer sit, watch, complain
and pray.” The newspaper went on quoting the women as saying “it is
terribly awful beholding our young men slaughtering human beings like
goats and fowls, pregnant women cut into two alive, their wombs cut open
to kill even the babies in the womb, a mother forced to watch the
killing of her children one after the other in the name of Allah….”
As terribly unpleasant this picture presented by the women is, it is
instructive to once again be reminded of the Scripture read earlier:
“…..whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” And because the
hedge of protection was broken by the person or persons the hedge was
meant to protect the Lord God Almighty said, “I also will do this unto
you; I will even appoint over you terror….. And I will set my face
against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies….”
God can ordain
terrorists and terror to whip people into a line that will bring them
back to their duty posts. It is one of His means of wiping away
irresponsibility from people He has made and ordained to be responsible,
and in the course of that He spares no one, not even children. The Lord
Jesus Christ, while warning the churches against shifting focus from
the purpose of their ordination, in Revelation chapter 2 verse 23 said
this very, very scary thing: “And I will kill her children with death;
and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins
and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your
works.” Christ Himself has said it all – that He will kill the children
of Christians! Check out the casualties of recent terror attacks
against churches, among them are children just like the Christian women
have lamented. All these killings should be soberly and repentantly
viewed by Christians as reward for forsaking love and truth and siding
with hate and falsehood. God summed it up in Isaiah chapter 5 verses 20
where He said, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that
put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter!” The role majority of churches and
Christians have been playing in our body polity over the years is a firm
attestation to this Scripture and harvest time has come.
Well, the DAILY SUN newspaper finally reported the women as saying
that “with a mother’s soft heart, they call for action by those who
could help in the situation and bring peace to Nigeria.” This call for
action is apt and timely. It is time to act to restore sanity in every
facet of our national life. But who are those to act to bring peace to
Nigeria as the women have demanded? The church cannot escape the reality
that she has the corporate responsibility to remove Nigeria and any
other nation where there is a church from the bondage of corruption and
its consequences, which are terrorism and every other violent crime the
nation is bedeviled with at the moment. The Bible has made it very
transparently clear in Romans chapter 8 verse 19 that “….the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God.” All of creation is tired sick of all the evil going on around
them just like the Christian women are.
But somehow there seem to be an
inner knowing among the creature that it will take the deliberate action
of persons that have cultivated godly virtues to liberate them, that is
why they are hungrily and passionately expecting such persons – the
sons of God – to manifest. Verse 21 captures it succinctly saying,
“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” That
means the children of God should be in a state of liberty from the
bondage of corruption to be able to liberate all other creature. But in
Nigeria the children of God seem deeply enmeshed in that bondage, so who
does the liberation? The same children of God in bondage should and
must do the liberation. I have said earlier in this treatise that the
church in Nigeria should soberly and repentantly return to her duty post
of ensuring accountability if she wants to enjoy liberty from the
consequences of irresponsibility. This has been my battle cry in all the
As the Church Slept series.
Let the church take a cue from the children of Israel. In Judges
chapter 6 verse 1, the Bible says “And the children of Israel did evil
in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of
Midian seven years.” If you read the story further you will see how that
this delivery into the hands of their enemies brought a lot of hardship
on them, such that they often had to run and hide in caves. Their
enemies would often come and destroy their crops and property and leave
them bare. But verse 6 says, “……and the children of Israel cried unto
the LORD.” That cry was the cry of repentance from the evil that was the
root of their calamity. The short of the story was that at the end of
it all God raised for them a genuinely meek and humble man called Gideon
who fought and defeated all their enemies with just three hundred men.
This highlights another wonderful dimension of God, of not placing much
capital on large or low numbers to achieve a certain task but rather on
the willingness and obedience of the consignee of the task, no matter
how small or little the consignee may be. David’s fight and victory over
Goliath is a good example here. On this note it was needless of the
C.A.N. leadership to have engaged on any argument with any religious
group over which religious group in Nigeria has the largest population.
In a response to an earlier claim by the Muslim leadership, the J.N.I.
that “our love for peace must not be mistaken as a licence to make us
second class citizens in a country where we constitute a majority.”, the
C.A.N. leadership, in response through an advertorial signed by Sunday
Oibe, her Public Relations Officer, said “The Islamic body also claimed
that they constitute a majority in Nigeria. This self-conceited and
phoney claim by the JNI is another attempt to heat the polity. Where is
the figure that placed the population of Muslims in Nigeria above that
of Christians? How did JNI come about the Muslim majority status? It is a
mark of our unwavering confidence that we (Christians) are more in
population than Muslims that Christians insisted then that religion and
ethnicity should be reflected in the last census in order to settle the
status of each religion…… In any case, empirical evidences from several
researches conducted have shown that there is nowhere in the world where
those inhabiting desert areas of a country are more than the people in
the mangrove regions….. We state, unequivocally, that this illusion by
the JNI of being more in population is false and that Christians in
Nigeria remain, unquestionably, more in population than Muslims.”
I don’t know how the C.A.N. leadership may feel about this, but, if
it is true as they claim that Christians constitute a majority in
Nigeria then it is a shame that this majority has not been beneficial to
the nation considering the kind of darkness, wilderness and desert
Nigeria has been turned into by corruption and her derivatives.
Christians have the divine mandate of being the light and salt of the
world, but going by the monumental corruption, joblessness, economic
collapse, educational collapse, infrastructural collapse, deafening
immorality and systemic poverty that have pervaded the nation it is apt
then to say this light is no light one bit, just as the Lord Jesus
Christ said in Matthew chapter 6 verse 23 that “…. If therefore the
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Any keen
observer will not miss the fact that the bulk of those that have given
Nigeria a bad name locally and internationally are Christians. Let any
investigative journalist check out Nigerians serving time in foreign
jails, they will find out they are majorly Christians from a particular
part of the country. Since the commencement of illicit drugs trade in
Nigeria the usual suspects often arrested and paraded through the media
are majorly Christians. What about electronic mail fraudsters? What
about local and international prostitutes with Nigerian passports? What
about the bulk of kidnappers and armed robbers operating in the country?
How about those perpetrating visa, passport and certificate forgeries?
It is this hypocritical Christianity practiced in Nigeria that makes
Christians to be blind to all the corruption going on in public offices
that Christians are part and parcel of. If Christians abhor corruption
then all the daily thefts of public funds going on couldn’t happen since
the processes to move such funds illicitly must pass through the desks
or noses of some Christians. I doubt if there is any federal public
agency in Nigeria today without Christians such that thefts could just
occur without their knowledge and consent.
While I don’t know the veracity of the claim by so called researchers
that mangrove areas are more populated than desert areas, to me I don’t
see how that has any bearing to fertility or whether it makes couples
in those areas more sexually active such that they can be breeding
children more frequently, but I would rather the believers of this claim
take notice of the fact that majority of non-Christians practice
polygamy. So instead of arguing on who is more populated than the other
the church should engage more aggressively in raising high quality
Christians in the fashion of David that can and will be ever willing to
slay the Goliaths of corruption and social injustice in Nigeria.
Another area of dispute between the J.N.I. and C.A.N. is on those
perpetrating terrorism against the church in Nigeria. The J.N.I., after a
three day retreat in Kaduna in February 2012 issued a communiqué as
reported by THISDAY newspaper of Friday, February 17, 2012, in which she
called on “Federal and affected state governments as well as all
security agents to, as a matter of urgency, investigate the several
reported cases of Christians who disguise as Muslims to burn churches.
JNI can no longer tolerate this double face attitude. Thorough
investigations must also be made to unveil the sponsors of those
Christian terrorists.” To this charge the C.A.N., through her
spokesperson, Mr. Sunday Oibe replied that “It is very irrational for
any right thinking person to say that a Christian could disguise as a
Muslim and go throw bomb at churches and kill people in places, like
Madalla, Jos, Maiduguri, Adamawa, Damaturu and other places….. Their
allegation that Christians disguise as Muslims to bomb churches is
baseless and senseless.” To this response I screamed within me, saying
“not so fast, C.A.N! Not so fast!” Just about the space of a week or so
after this heated debate came the Bauchi seven caught with explosive
devices allegedly on a mission to bomb the COCIN church at Miya Barkatai
same day the COCIN headquarters church in Jos was bombed by suicide
bombers. As it turned out the Bauchi seven were Christians and members
of that same COCIN church! But even before the discovery of the Bauchi
seven I had my reasons on why the C.A.N. leadership shouldn’t have
rushed at making that categorical denial. There are Scriptural basis as
to why the J.N.I. allegation could be true, which does not however
exculpate Muslims from being responsible for a lot of attacks against
the church in the far and recent past.
First, let the church reckon with the signs the Lord Jesus Christ
gave us as symptomatic of the end times. One of such is found in Matthew
chapter 24 verse 10 in which He said, “And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” Another,
which sounds like the clincher is what He said in Luke chapter 21 verse
16 that “And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and
kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to
death.” Now, if it is still not clear for you I think Christ made it
clearer in Mark chapter 13 verses 12 in which He said, “Now the brother
shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children
shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to
death.”
The recurring word in those three verses is betrayal. The Encarta
dictionary defines it as “to deliver somebody or something to an enemy”,
which means somebody not within your interest group or family cannot
betray you; it can only be from within. The action of Judas Iscariot
against the Lord Jesus Christ was termed betrayal because he was a part
of the twelve people closest to Christ. For the term to really answer
its name the mischief has to be carried out by somebody within. The
common phrase for it is “the enemy within.” Now let me establish some
examples of cases of betrayal within the church so that we can have a
good grasp of what Christ was prophesying about the end times.
Number one: Before the phrase Boko Haram was known up till now,
kidnappings and armed robberies have been taking place right inside
churches in southern Nigeria, and these nefarious activities are carried
out by church goers and because it’s a recurring thing it is safe to
say they have not yet repented. This is a case of Christians betraying
Christians and Christ.
Number two: Before the phrase Boko Haram was known up till now, a lot
of the hired killers traversing the length and breadth of the nation
are often people from supposed Christian areas, and if caught are found
to bear Christian names. It is also safe to say they are still in the
trade since the business is still on. This is betrayal of the faith.
Number three: Before the phrase Boko Haram was known up till now,
occultism by students and non-students is rampant in supposed Christian
areas and perpetrated by supposed Christians. It is also an ongoing
trade. This is betrayal of Christianity.
Number four: Before the advent of Boko Haram up till now, persons
bearing Christian names have been caught with large caches of arms. Some
are currently undergoing trial in Ghana. It begs the question, what are
people bearing Christian names doing importing large caches of arms and
ammunition? This is a betrayal of the tenets and honour of
Christianity.
Now, it is important to establish the motive behind all these immoral
and criminal acts. The love of money is their motive as revealed in the
Bible in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verses 10. The verse says “For the love
of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they
have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.”
If you look at the verse closely it talks about people of the same
faith of which some erred out of it because of the love for money. Now,
the Bible does not say money is the root of all evil; rather it is the
love of it. Those who love money above all else will do anything to get
it. That is why we hear of people killing their loved ones for money;
kidnapping their loved ones for money; organizing armed robbery
operations against their loved ones for money; organizing scam mails
against their loved ones to defraud them of money; organizing
international and local scams for money; becoming hired assassins for
money; becoming thugs for money; trafficking children and women for
money; doing local and international prostitution for money; trading
hard drugs for money; making fake pharmaceutical drugs for money; making
counterfeit money for money; doing ritual killings for money; rigging
elections for money and so on and so on.
Now, if we have church goers who do all of these things and even more
for money, what makes you think they will not receive money to burn or
bomb churches, even with worshippers inside bearing in mind that they
have committed robberies, murders and kidnappings right inside church
buildings? They will, without doubt, for to lovers of money the world to
them begins and ends with money. They covet after money and have
therefore erred from the faith just as the Scripture has said. Their
lust and love for money have become the hot iron with which they have
seared their conscience with. Since our Lord Jesus Christ has prophesied
that a brother shall betray a brother to death, fathers shall betray
their children to death and children shall rise up against parents and
cause them to be put to death, is it then reasonable or logical for any
Christian to outrightly deny the possible involvement of Christians in
the series of attacks and bombings against churches and Christians?
This now brings me to the opinion that has gained ground in northern
Nigeria that there are two Boko Harams – one founded by the late Yusuf
Mohammed who was murdered in cold blood by the police, perhaps
conveniently for those who didn’t want Nigerians to know the truths the
deceased could spill out during interrogation, and the other one is a
clone of the original, which is being used to further polarize northern
Christians from the Muslims so that a southern political hegemony could
gain root. The calculation seem to be, a united north will be a potent
threat to the agenda of the marginalization of the north politically and
economically by the south, for the experimentation of this division has
paid President Jonathan handsomely in the 2011 election, an election
empty of anything called honour.
Therefore, considering that it is now
clear that President Jonathan is not prepared to leave office by 2015 in
spite of his lackluster and uninspiring performance since he became
president in February 2010 till now, to continue to have the north
disunited, probably in his thinking, will help his cause. Evidence of
this thinking can be gleaned from Prince Tonye Princewill’s reply to
LEADERSHIP newspaper’s Hannatu Musawa’s back page column of Wednesday,
March 14, 2012 in which she questioned his claim that the south-south
may not give up power in 2015 as if the era of miscounting of votes and
cheap mediocrity over competence and honour will continue unabated. In
his right of reply published on the same back page on Wednesday, March
21, 2012, after flaunting his supposed belief in national unity by his
investments in some film productions (as if that’s not business for
financial gain) he still maintained his stance that President Jonathan,
his fellow Ijaw kinsman, may as well win the 2015 elections because,
among his reasons, “The north is not organized politically and, if they
start to now, the agenda will be seen from a mile. Added to this is
Jonathan’s loyal northern constituency, Niger Delta backing, increased
consolidation in the southeast (facilitated by Ojukwu’s burial) and the
influence of big money politics.”
Six inferences can be deduced from Princewill’s theory. Number one:
that the north is in disarray politically. Number two: that if the north
begins to get her act right the agenda will be seen from far, and that
means the agenda will be sabotaged. Number three: because the agenda to
further polarize the north along ethno-religious lines is an ongoing
thing President Jonathan has a loyal northern constituency which he can
bank on at any time any day. Number four: President Jonathan has Niger
Delta backing. Number five: because President Jonathan has given the
late retired Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu a state burial the
Igbos will be ever grateful to him as their problems have become solved
by that singular act. And on this, one Darlington Agomuo in an article
he wrote on page 43 of the DAILY SUN newspaper of Thursday, March 29,
2012 agrees with him. He wrote: “Those who are demonizing some of us for
supporting President Jonathan should come out and complain now, if they
can. They didn’t see what some of us saw.
Unless we want to deceive our
self, no Nigerian leader has benefitted the Igbos more than President
Jonathan. If President Jonathan did not support and approve all that
happened during Ojukwu’s death and burial, nobody would have known that
such a great man died. If Ojukwu had died Ten or 20 years ago, he
wouldn’t have been so honoured. The burial of Ojukwu has made the
Igbo-man proud, but if President Jonathan is not in power, who would
have done it for the Igbos? So while we are celebrating the burial of
Ojukwu which is unprecedented in the history of the world, those of us
who campaigned and supported President Jonathan to be in office, should
be appreciated too. There is a saying in Igbo land that when a corpse
start smelling, a friend that is better than a brother will disappear.”
That’s it.
Darlington and co saw that Ojukwu will pass away at this time
and among all the presidential contenders during the campaigns none
could give him a befitting state burial except Jonathan and having
achieved that they should be appreciated and not demonized, for the
Igbos are now proud Nigerians because of a burial and as such no leader
has ever benefitted them Igbos like Jonathan did. Hmmm, please, don’t
laugh; it’s a serious matter. Number six: even if all these other
inferences don’t pay off, rich man Jonathan Goodluck will spend his
enormous wealth to buy his way back to office just as was done in the
2011 elections. Truly we’ve seen this principle work well seeing how
some mouths and minds did flip flops on the contentious zoning issue of
the P.D.P. prior to the 2011 elections and isn’t this another evidence
of how the petrol subsidy money jumped from its usual range of two
hundred and fourty billion Naira to more than two trillion Naira in an
election year, an increase of about nine hundred percent without a
corresponding increase of nine hundred percent purchase of automobiles
by Nigerians, considering also that the economy during the period under
question did not perform to any level that could have made Nigerians
have such increase in cars and hence, petrol consumption.
It is worthy of note that Tonye Princewill did not say anything about
the southwest. Could it be that the “influence of big money politics”
will settle that side of the country? And was that what settled that
area in 2011 such that the pilot piloting the aircraft carrying Nuhu
Ribadu en route Abuja landed in Otuoke town in Bayelsa State with a
brief maintenance stop over in Osun State?
Well, the point I want to dwell on here is the other Boko Haram
northerners believe is being used to destroy their local economy and set
them against each other so that a “loyal constituency” can be preserved
for the masters of divide and rule. It is important we establish this
issue of betrayal beyond reasonable doubt so that the church – and here I
mean true Christians – will know that it is true what our Lord Jesus
Christ said that “behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.”
The reality of the existence of a faction of the Boko Haram came to
the fore when on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 the DAILY SUN newspaper on
page 3 carried a story titled, FG uncovers plot to bomb INEC, CBN
offices, which was reported by Murphy Ganagana from Abuja. The story
reads thus:
“Defence authorities have reportedly uncovered a plot to bomb the
national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“Also on attack in a fresh orgy of violence set to be unleashed on
Abuja, the federal capital, is a highbrow hotel in the heart of the city
(name withheld by us).
“However, detailed analysis of the plot, which was said to have been
picked by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) as well as the
Defence Intelligence, reportedly indicated that it had a political
undertone and was part of the fireworks over next month’s gubernatorial
elections in Adamawa and Bayelsa States.
“Military sources confided that the planned attack on the critical
facilities, if executed, would be blamed on the rampaging Islamist sect,
Boko Haram, but an analysis of information available to the military
intelligence authorities traced the plot to the machinations of
‘do-or-die politicians’.
“Specifically, the plot to bomb the INEC head office in Abuja is said
to be linked to the governorship polls slated for Adamawa and Bayelsa
States on February 4 and 11 respectively…….
“Intelligence sources said the bombings on the CBN headquarters and
the hotel had been planned to take place simultaneously to give an
indication of coordinated attacks on national assets with a pre-arranged
plan for a fake Boko Haram spokesman to announce through a foreign
media station that the sect was responsible for the attacks…..”
This story should have caused alarm bells among Nigerians that there
seem to be an active connivance of certain politicians from northern
and southern Nigeria to turn our national assets and the lives of people
who may be in those buildings expendable properties. The objective the
planners of those attempted destructions wanted to achieve by bombing
buildings crammed with people in Abuja over elections in Adamawa and
Bayelsa may only be known to the DMI and the DI, for the story did not
disclose that objective. But the point is, there is a counterfeit Boko
Haram, or we could say there have been terrorist attacks perpetrated by
certain persons and on each of those attacks someone had picked a phone
and claimed responsibility in the name of Boko Haram. It is instructive
to take into notice that this particular attack that was botched by the
DMI and DI may not have been an isolated case, for several may have been
done or are still being done by some other interests and a “Boko Haram”
spokesman will claim responsibility on behalf of the group.
Now, even though the DMI and DI did not disclose the identity of the
politicians involved in the planned bombings which would have been
attributed to Boko Haram they have attributed the plot to the
machinations of do-or-die politicians. Now, relax and think very well
and you will remember that do-or-die politics is a nefarious exercise
practiced by both Christian and Muslim politicians. The way heartless,
mindless and conscienceless politicians in the north sponsor killings
and rigging of elections so also do their heartless, mindless and
conscienceless counterparts in the south. And all of these kleptomaniacs
and megalomaniacs from both sides of the north-south divide will do
anything evil under the sun to maintain their firm grip on power for its
benefits to them but not for public service. In fact, the phrase
do-or-die was popularized by then President Obasanjo, a church goer, in
the run up to the 2007 general elections. The level of evil perpetrated
in the 2007 elections must have made Satan envious of the capacity of
man to surpass him in the conception and birthing of evil.
So, the DMI and DI said the planned bombings in Abuja were connected
to the governorship elections in Adamawa and Bayelsa states, which means
there was a collaboration of some kind by some politicians from the two
states to bomb places in Abuja, not minding the human casualties, just
to gain some advantage over their rivals in the race. This collaboration
does not have to be along party lines but could just as well be across
party lines, more so if there is some kind of shared belief or
philosophy, be it good or evil.
To me, I perceive that in the case of Adamawa State somebody may have
wanted to gain some psychological advantage and sympathy votes
considering the good mix of Christians and Muslims in the State while
the case of Bayelsa could be an attempt to paint someone important there
as an anarchist, but who that person is may not be known now.
But, why should Abuja be the theatre of the attack? Shouldn’t the
theatre of such organized violence be in those states concerned and not
in some far place? Well, in psychological warfare distance does not
matter, rather what matters is the effect the sponsored action is meant
to have on the targeted group. We have seen how certain occurrences in
the Middle East and elsewhere cause some kind of unpleasant reactions
here in Nigeria or in other places. So, in an election week in Adamawa
State a bomb or bombs going off in Abuja of which “Boko Haram” has
claimed responsibility could remind gullible and uninformed Christians
in the State of their “enemies”, the Muslims and would therefore “vote
according to faith” with even the possibility of gaining some sympathy
votes from “the enemy” camp, for it is hard to see how this bombing
could be of help to any Muslim candidate in the election. This
postulation may not be so, but it is based on the ability of the
Nigerian politician, whether Christian or Muslim, to pull off earth
shaking mischief, and it is also based on what the Lord Jesus Christ
said about betrayal. Just like in vengeful Plateau State now anybody
with the mind of Judas Iscariot could possibly take advantage of the
vengeful atmosphere and blow off some place of worship so that a certain
division can be maintained. Manipulation of religion by corrupt and
incompetent politicians in Nigeria is not a new thing and neither is it
going to stop soon until when the publics across the faiths become tired
of such manipulations and deceptions and their consequences.
So, without doubt there is Boko Haram which aims to establish,
according to them, a just social system of governance as they understand
it, which path to its establishment is strewn with violence and there
is a “Boko Haram” which uses the violence of the authentic sect as a
cover for its own violence aimed at psychological warfare, the need to
maintain the status quo of northern division and to, through massive
propaganda, cast a select set of northern leaders or politicians as
sponsors of terrorism “because they have lost political power.” Any
objective observer couldn’t have missed how through massive propaganda
certain northern politicians are being made to look like the sponsors of
the terror group because of their insistence on President Jonathan to
honour the zoning agreement of his party, the P.D.P., cleverly avoiding
the fact that the terror group’s existence preceded the zoning debate.
In fact, this deliberate misinformation and miseducation will benefit
more those who want to perpetuate the ethno-religious division in the
north as these select northern leaders are cast in the mould of the
Hausa/Fulani enemies of Christianity bent on enslaving or exterminating
the northern minority tribes to engender a Hausa/Fulani hegemony or
oligarchy. This latter “Boko Haram” could possibly be a mix of some
Christian and Muslim psychopaths who can do any work for money in the
same fashion as there are gangs of armed robbers with memberships
cutting across religious and ethnic lines.
Evidences of my claim are:
(1.) The reported arrest of the suspects that sprayed bullets on the
Gombe Deeper Life Church worshippers of which the suspects arrested were
alleged to be Igbos. Keen observers would remember that “Boko Haram”
claimed responsibility for that attack. Noteworthy also is the fact that
the arrested suspects were moved from Gombe to Abuja and since then
nothing has been heard about them.
(2.) Shortly after the Gombe Deeper Life Church massacre, following
quickly also after the Gombe township bombing fiesta two men, named
Hassan Ojudu and Samaila Yakubu, all of them Christians, were arrested
in the same Gombe town with a vehicle loaded with explosive devices and
ammunitions. If they were part of those who did the bombing fiesta
Christians should note that “Boko Haram” also claimed responsibility,
and if they were not a part of the bombing fiesta be assured that if
they had not been arrested and they succeeded in using their own
merchandise “Boko Haram” would have claimed responsibility. Curiously,
since they were moved to Abuja nothing has been heard about them.
(3.) If the eight COCIN church members arrested with explosive
devices at the Miya Barkatai branch of the church in Bauchi State had
succeeded in detonating what they were arrested with, be assured “Boko
Haram” would have claimed responsibility and since the village is near
Jos, Plateau State some brainwashed youths with hearts filled with hate
would begin to pounce on any available Hausa/Fulani on sight for
revenge.
(4.) If Miss Lydia Joseph had succeeded in burning down the St. John
Catholic church in Bauchi city be assured it would have been attributed
to Boko Haram or to Muslims.
(5.) If Emmanuel King, the guy who disguised as a Muslim wearing a
turban and kaftan, had succeeded in bombing down the Redeemed Christian
Church of God in Yenagoa the Bayelsa capital “Boko Haram” would have
claimed responsibility, and the intended desire for reprisal would have
further brought the real desire, which is polarization. It doesn’t
matter whether the guy is sane or insane as he was later touted to be.
Also, possibly in further pursuit of this polarization agenda some
persons were reported to have burnt down a worship centre of the Church
of God Mission International in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital
as reported by the LEADERSHIP newspaper of Sunday, January 15, 2012 on
page 9. Who did it may not be known now, but there is the possibility it
could have been meant to trigger some kind of attacks against some
undesirable elements with the added benefit of maintaining a national
division.
(6.) If Madam Ruth had succeeded in bombing down the ECWA church in
the Kalarin area of Kaltungo in Gombe State verily, verily I say unto
thee “Boko Haram” would have claimed responsibility notwithstanding
whether she was hypnotized or not as some may want to claim.
(7.) After the COCIN church headquarters bombing in Jos defence
authorities issued a statement disclaiming the man lynched while trying
to escape from the vicinity as not a soldier, whereas the man was
wearing military uniform and was later identified as a member of the
church. To lend credence to this possibility the Special Task Force
(STF) on security in Jos on Sunday, March 25, 2012 paraded one Mr. Alex
Danladi who was caught wearing army camouflage t-shirt, cap and boot
while parading himself as a soldier. He was paraded alongside one Mr.
Dung Bulus, a suspected fabricator of guns and some others whom the
authorities said are students of the University of Jos. Also on Tuesday,
March 27, 2012 the 2 Brigade, Nigeria Army, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt
paraded one Abba Ibrahim allegedly caught with military uniforms and
other gear including weeds suspected to be cannabis. He was said to be a
dismissed military personnel and hails from Billiri, a predominantly
Christian town in Gombe State and that at the time of his arrest he was
standing trial for another case of impersonation (see THE NATION
newspaper of Wednesday, March 28, 2012 page 57). Now, for a fee wouldn’t
this Alex Danladi, donning his military gear, ask some persons manning
some church entrance to open the gates and some paid murderers would
drive in and detonate their bomb laden car? Or wouldn’t this Abba
Ibrahim do the same for money?
(8.) On January 11, 2012 two Nigerians named, Sunday Eze from
Anambra State and Samuel Taiwo from Ogun State and some three Ghanaians
were arrested in Ghana with some heavy weaponry carefully concealed in a
truck, which was to be brought to Nigeria. Opposing bail for the
suspects in court on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 the Office of the
Attorney-General of the Republic of Ghana said “the arms and ammunitions
seized on transit to Nigeria were to be used to fuel terrorists’
activities in the country.” See the DAILY TRUST newspaper of Wednesday,
March 28, 2012 page 3. These Nigerian suspects are from southern Nigeria
and bear Christian names. So, on whose behalf were they bringing in
those arms of which the Ghanaian authorities said were to be used for
terrorism in Nigeria? And which terror group do they belong to?
(9.) On Tuesday, April 10, 2012 a 38 years old man named Monday Davou
was arrested while planting a timed Improvised Explosive Device (IED)
or time bomb, if you like, at the Makera weekly market in Riyom Local
Government Area, Plateau State. This was with intent to commit mass
murder, for that is what planting a bomb in a market will do. Now if
Monday Davou’s bomb had exploded be sure that a “Boko Haram”
spokesperson will have claimed responsibility and even before the
statement of claim comes Monday Davou’s kinsmen would have launched
“reprisal attacks” on any person that looked like Hausa/Fulani and their
properties, and would have probably roasted some of the Hausa/Fulanis
and eaten them like they did sometime in 2011.
(10.) The DAILY SUN newspaper of Monday, February 20, 2012 on page 12
reported the arrest in Akure, Ondo State of a gang of five armed
robbers led by one Evangelist Wale Adelu, “an evangelist of one of the
old generation churches, which has branches in the state capital…..and
they were said to be meeting in his church before they proceeded on any
robbery operation.” Wouldn’t this “evangelist” and his gang agree to
bomb churches for a good fee?
(11.) Similarly, the SATURDAY SUN newspaper of Saturday, March 10,
2012 on page 10 reported that 11 cartons of explosives imported from
South Africa and “carefully packaged to beat security checks” were
intercepted by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) at the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The consignments were said to be
for “Miero Marble Granite and Stones Limited in Kaduna State, with one
Mr. Michael Awara Ernest as the representative to collect the explosives
at the cargo terminal.” The Customs Area Controller in charge of the
airport, Mr. Charles Eporwei Edike while parading the suspect said “If
these items were released to him, they could have been used to cause
mayhem; we are now going to hand him and the items over to the police
for further investigations.” Well, since the handover to the police
nothing has been heard about it again. And let the Muslims bearing
Michael Awara Ernest step forward to the nearest police post for proper
identification and documentation, please.
(12.) The THISDAY newspaper of Friday, January 13, 2012 on page 6
culled a news report from the BBC in which a British-based arms dealer,
Gary Hyde was being prosecuted in a London court for unlawfully
arranging the shipment of about 80, 000 guns and 32 million rounds of
ammunition from China to Nigeria in 2007. But, the big question is, to
whom did he make his shipment? To Muslim radicals or to some church
going criminals?
(13.) On Sunday, February 19, 2012 four persons were arrested while
trying to detonate explosives at the St. Theresa’s Catholic Parish,
High-level in Makurdi the Benue State capital. The LEADERSHIP newspaper
of Wednesday, February 22, 2012 on page 10 reported the Police Public
Relations Officer (PPRO) of the state’s command, Mr. Alaribe Ejike as
saying those four persons arrested were Christians and not Boko Haram
members as speculated by members of the public. He said “We are still
trying to find out certain things about them, but we have not confirmed
whether they are Boko Haram members. It remains one thing, and as soon
as we find out, we shall inform you accordingly.” Up till now nothing
has been heard from the police. But, poor Alaribe Ejike may not have
known that there is a “Boko Haram” with members possibly cutting across
religious lines impersonating Boko Haram for some people’s strategic
interests.
These few examples are possible involvements of Christians in betraying the church and Christians and the nation.
Someone may ask then whether Christians can participate in suicide
attacks. Well, suicide attacks, whether by bombing or whatever, though
majorly associated with Muslim fundamentalists is not an exclusively
Muslim or Arab affair. In fact, the first part of the Wikipedia answer
to the question of who the first suicide bomber in history was reads
thus: “During the Crusades, the Knights Templar destroyed one of their
own ships, killing 140 Christians in order to kill ten times as many
Muslims. Another early example of suicide bombing occurred during the
Belgian Revolution, when the Dutch Lieutenant Jan van Speijk detonated
his own ship in the harbour of Antwerp to prevent being captured by the
Belgians.
“Modern suicide bombing as a political tool can be traced back to the
assassination of Czar Alexander II of Russia in 1881. Alexander fell
victim to a Nihilist plot. While driving on one of the central streets
of St. Petersburg, near the Winter Palace, he was mortally wounded by
the explosion of hand-made grenades and died a few hours afterwards. The
Czar was killed by the Pole Ignacy Hryniewiecki (1856-1881), who died
while intentionally exploding the bomb during the attack.
“The ritual act of self-sacrifice during combat appeared in a large
scale at the end of World War II with the Japanese kamikaze bombers…..
“In Northern Ireland, in the early 1990s, as part of the Provisional
IRA campaign 1969-1997, the IRA used the tactic it called the “proxy
bomb” – a sort of involuntary suicide bomb, where a victim was kidnapped
and forced to drive a car bomb into its target. In one infamous
operation in Derry in 1990, the PIRA chained a Catholic civilian to a
car laden with explosives, held his family hostage and forced him to
drive to a British Army checkpoint as a “human bomb” where the bomb
exploded, killing himself and five soldiers…..”
So, by these few instances out of many it is a fact that Christians,
or rather church goers have engaged in, or have been manipulated into
suicide attacks over a cause they thought they firmly believed in or
what their manipulators believed in. But the question now is, do
Christians in Nigeria have a cause over which they could engage in
suicide attacks to promote or defend? I don’t believe there is any cause
for that. However, since we have in our midst conscienceless and brutal
politicians who pretend to lift up “holy hands” in church on Sunday
mornings but go about corrupting every corruptible thing in our national
life every day including the Sundays then we must look at the
possibility of the “proxy bomb” theory.
The Niger Delta terrorists and criminals whom some tout as fighting
for a just cause introduced the crime of kidnapping in Nigeria when they
started kidnapping the white contractors contracted to develop
infrastructure in the area they claimed lacked infrastructural
development, which exposed the lie that they were fighting a just cause.
And when the white contractors stopped going anywhere near that area
they resorted to kidnapping their kith and kin of high means for huge
ransom payments, which again exposed the lie that they were fighting a
just cause. Since then till now there usually are allegations that some
of the kidnappings were politically motivated, and when you consider the
inexhaustible capacity of the typical Nigerian politician to be
mischievous you cannot disagree with their very possible involvement in
kidnappings.
So then, is it not possible that some desperate politicians in
collusion with some security contractors have understudied the
Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) “proxy bomb” model to
perpetrate the agenda of maintaining a loyal constituency and to also
feed fat on security contracts? Consider that the Defence Headquarters
(DHQ), not long after the COCIN church headquarters suicide bombing in
Jos identified Mr. Adams Joseph Ashaba, a member of the church “as the
Boko Haram suicide bomber” who allegedly masterminded the bombing. They
said, “During interrogation, it was discovered that the alleged suicide
bomber who was lynched by the worshippers and in military uniform was
the same Adams Joseph Ashaba. With this development, Reverend John D
Harung and two other clergymen from the COCIN Headquarters were invited
to HQ STF to ascertain that he was a member of their church and not a
soldier as alleged.”(See the DAILY SUN newspaper of Tuesday, March 6,
2012 page 5). Readers should remember that shortly after that bombing
some youths went on rampage attacking any person that looked like a
Hausa/Fulani and their properties in Jos!
Proxy bombing may have also been the tactic deployed in the 2012
Easter day bombing in Kaduna in which more than 40 lives were lost. The
account of the police command in Kaduna on the day of the bombing was
that a police officer was pursuing a couple of vehicles which
intelligence reports indicated were carrying bombs for attack and that
one of the bomb laden vehicles rammed into the other one and exploded,
making it look like a suicide attack. But the NATION newspaper of
Saturday, April 14, 2012 exclusively reported that “preliminary
investigations into the Easter Day blast in Kaduna confirmed that a time
bomb was actually planted in the car that killed over 40 people most of
whom were commercial motor-cyclists.” So, it makes it highly likely
that the person driving the bomb laden car may not have known that he
was driving himself to death. There also could have been another car
carrying someone with a remote control, keeping a safe distance from the
bomb laden car, which, at a predetermined place could trigger the
explosion from the handheld device.
In Nigeria and with Nigerian politicians anything evil is possible.
It is worthy of note that the identities of the alleged suicide bombers
we have had so far have not yet been officially established and
independently verified through their DNAs so that we can know whether
all of them were Muslims or not. And even if some or all of them were
Muslims the possibility that they and some of their loved ones could
have been kidnapped and blackmailed or threatened to drive bomb laden
vehicles to hit designated targets should not be ruled out, for to the
sponsors of such evil the end justifies the means. It is even possible
that voodoo is used as a means of controlling the assignee of such
attacks in that we live in a society where supposed Christian
politicians are known to take or demand some bloody oaths in some
satanic shrines.
Another means of manipulating persons to unwittingly commit suicide
attacks is by means of drugging them with some specially made LSD drug,
made specifically to control humans like they are robots. In an article
titled America’s destabilization plots against Nigeria: The Boko Haram
angle, which was written by Iliyasu Gadu on behalf of GREENWHITE
Coalition published on page 49 of the Weekly Trust newspaper of
Saturday, February 25, 2012 the group said, “For sure, Nigerians are not
unused to sectarian violence. But the ones we have witnessed in this
country have been predictable and the modus and fault lines have been
well known to the authorities who have always done well to keep them
within tolerable limits.
“The Boko Haram of Mohammed Yusuf which predated this new one can be
so categorized and was well known through its operations, leadership and
locations.
“But how did a rag-tag collection of largely half-literate
unsophisticated persons operating mostly on motorcycles transform almost
overnight into being a resistant army able to design, manufacture and
deploy bombs into buildings and vehicles, and carry out attacks in
several locations around the country? How have their reach grown from
just a corner of Nigeria to virtually everywhere in the country? For
them to be able to mount such a sophisticated operation, they must
necessarily have a well-structured command and control system which in
spite of their best efforts at concealment cannot remain undetected for
long. So how have they seemingly defied the best efforts of combined
security agencies in the country in detecting and foiling their
activities?
“The GreenWhite Coalition can reveal that the current Boko Haram
campaign is a covert operation organized by the American Central
Intelligence Agency, the CIA and is coordinated by the American Embassy
in Nigeria. For sometime now, the CIA has been running secret training
and indoctrination camps along the porous and vulnerable borderlands of
Niger, Chad and Cameroon. At these camps youths from poor, deprived and
disoriented backgrounds are recruited and trained to serve as
insurgents. The agents who supply these youths lure them with the
promise of a better life and doing the work of Allah as well as
indoctrinating them to believe they are working to install a just
Islamic order different from the ungodly one that currently holds sway
in Nigeria. The American CIA programme officers of this project
prudently remain in the background, leaving the day to day running of
the camps to supervisors of Middle Eastern origin, especially recruited
for this purpose…..” The article went on to narrate how they are trained
on weapons handling, survival tactics, surveillance and evasion
techniques and how the attacks are mounted and how they escape. But the
last part of the article was what caught my interest very well. It says
“….If on the one hand, the attack is to be carried out by a suicide
bomber, the person to carry it out would have been severely drugged with
CIA manufactured LSD to disorientation. In his state of mind he would
have no clue as to what he is programmed to do having been turned into a
veritable human robot.”
Now, I don’t know what tangible evidence the GreenWhite Coalition has
in her possession to actually link the insecurity in Nigeria with the
activities of the American CIA, but even if it is true it should shock
no one because of the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. If parents,
children and brothers can betray one another to death then it will not
be out of place for America, a supposed Christian nation to have a proxy
killing machine that could destroy churches and Christians if it could
create conditions favourable for her national interest. Moreover the
Armageddon war, which the nations of the earth will wage against the
nation of Israel, will be fought with Israel having no nation as an ally
on earth, because at that time all the powerful nations that are
currently seen as the backers of Israel will desert her in betrayal. So,
betrayal is a well documented and prophesied matter in the Bible.
Again, it should be recalled that in January this year, after an expose
by the BOSTON GLOBE newspaper the CIA came out openly to admit that the
former Liberian president, Mr. Charles Taylor was one of their agents.
So also it should not shock anybody if in due course we get to know that
some persons in government currently or in the past are or have been
CIA agents. It’s just a matter of time.
But the point I want to emphasize is the possible access to this LSD
drug by security contractors. If the CIA has an LSD drug which they
administer on an assignee to control him like a zombie to commit suicide
bombing then it is possible that such a drug can be accessed by some
security contractors in alliance with some unscrupulous politicians who
could use it to conscript certain persons under
Therefore, considering the discovery by the Directorate of Military
Intelligence (DMI) and the Directorate of Intelligence (DI) on the
attempt by some persons to sponsor the bombing of some targets in Abuja
in connection with elections in Adamawa and Bayelsa States of which a
fake Boko Haram spokesperson will claim responsibility for the group,
and also considering the analysis of the possibility of Christians
betraying fellow Christians to death it is not fair therefore to
categorically deny the possible involvement of Christians in the current
wave of attacks against the church and such a denial could, possibly
due to ignorance, be an attempt to present the prophecy of the Lord
Jesus Christ on children, brothers and parents betraying one another
even to death as untenable.
Surely, the actions of the first Boko Haram also borders on
psychological warfare but the difference between it and the latter type
is that the latter is purely being used by politicians and possibly
security contractors whose carrier must survive on ethno-religious
divisions and continuous insecurity respectively. Remember that the
Bible says “the love of money is the root of all evil” which has caused
some to err and deviate from the faith.
The possible existence of this latter “Boko Haram” could also be
gleaned from The Associated Press’s interview with the United States
Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Terence P. McCulley. Speaking on
Boko Haram in the interview he said “We’ve seen an increase in
sophistication; we’ve seen increased lethality. We saw at least a part
of the group has decided it’s in their interest to attack the
international community.” See the DAILY TRUST newspaper of Friday,
February 24, 2012, page 3. Sounding diplomatic, the Ambassador inferred
that “a part of the group”, not the whole group, has decided to attack
the international community, which shows the possibility that the U.S.
is aware of the existence of another Boko Haram more sophisticated and
lethal than the former irrespective of whether the claims and
accusations by the GreenWhite Coalition against the United States
herself is true or not.
The sponsors of this “Boko Haram”, due to their possible indefinite
interest of maintaining the division and pauperization of a given area
may not be inclined to the resolution of the Boko Haram conundrum. If
dialogue with the original Boko Haram succeeds and they lay down their
arms then the fake or latter “Boko Haram” will lose the raison d’être
for its existence, for they hide behind the veil of the former to
perpetrate their own manipulative agenda, which is to sustain a divided
north. That is why there appears to be a deliberate foot dragging or
outright sabotage of the dialogue with the Boko Haram. Tonye Princewill
still reiterated his view to newsmen in an interview that “The country
is now more divided than it had ever been and that trend is set to
continue. I don’t see anything stemming the tide. I think if anything at
all, the 2015 election will probably accelerate rather than dampen this
mood.” Along what lines is the country more divided than before and who
caused the division? And why is it that he thinks nothing will stem
that tide of disunity? And whose 2015 election agenda will further
accelerate this disunity and why? Tonye Princewill has not told us.
If Christians or any Christian still has any illusion about the
possibility of some Christians betraying other Christians even to death
then they should meditate carefully on 1st John chapter 2 verses 18 and
19 which say “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard
that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists;
whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us….” The
Bible warns in what you just read that as at now, this very moment you
are reading this, there are many antichrists in operation and they
operate from the church. So, think.
Just recently, a journalist named Ahmed Salkida reputed with good
links to the leadership of the late Mohammed Yusuf faction of the Boko
Haram and who was also alleged to be the facilitator for dialogue
between the group and government, petitioned the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) that he was being threatened with death through calls
“he believes are coming from government security agents” and that “They
said that as far as they are concerned, they will never allow anything
like negotiation. They said they have it on authority that I am the link
to the negotiation process. That I should desist; otherwise they will
descend on me.”
Again I must assert that only those who stand to gain from this
continuous insecurity perpetrated by Boko Haram and “Boko Haram” will
frustrate any dialogue aimed at resolving the Boko Haram issue. It
should be remembered how Sheik Datti Ahmed and his team whom Boko Haram
nominated to negotiate on her behalf recently walked away from the
negotiation process alleging deliberate leakages of the negotiations to
the media whereas it was agreed that the whole process should be
discreet. And when you add it up with this threat to Journalist Ahmed
Salkida you have a good picture of the sabotage.
In Nigeria where some people have developed a rabid hatred for the
north, hatred occasioned by what I think could be Hausa/Fulani phobia
and inferiority complex coupled with the fact that some people in power
could steal well about two trillion Naira without the blink of an eye
just to buy an election it will not be out of place to believe they will
have their eyes fixed on the about one trillion Naira they budgeted for
security in the year 2012 and to have the north politically divided
along ethno-religious lines for their long term political gain. Some
analysts have posited that the huge security budget amounts to spending
about 2.3 billion Naira daily. So, if there is no reason to spend this
huge amount the money will have to be accounted for. This could be the
reason, along with the strategic interest to have a divided north those
wet jobs operatives told the journalist that “as far as they are
concerned, they will never allow anything like negotiation.”
Sunday Njokede, in an article titled Boko Haram’s Terror Is
Jonathan’s Profit which he posted on saharareporters.com on March 26,
2012 said “The reason why government is acting like this is to use delay
tactics to prolong Boko Haram terrorism. The longer the mayhem last,
the better opportunity Jonathan has to tell off the huge money budgeted
for security. The sooner the bloodshed ends the more problematic to
explain away or corruptly corner the almost a trillion Naira security
money……”
Also, perhaps thinking along the same line, the ace newspaper
columnist, Chidi Amuta, writing on the back page of THISDAY newspaper of
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 said “Somebody or some groups are benefitting
from the perceived weakness of the Jonathan presidency. There seems to
be a correlation between these attacks and their ready and rehearsed
linkages to the weakness of the Jonathan presidency. And each time the
government is accused of weakness, its standard response is to increase
the financial allocation to internal security through new security
contracts. Is there any linkage between the security contractors and the
makers of the IEDs that are causing mayhem and necessitating the
services of these contractors? The antidote to every poison is best
sought from the native doctor that provided the poison in the first
place.” And expressing his own suspicion further he queried, “Finally,
what if there is no Boko Haram in the way it has been advertised and
marketed in the media?”
The DAILY TRUST newspaper of Wednesday, April 18, 2012 on page 14
reported the erstwhile National Secretary of the Action Congress of
Nigeria, Hon. Dr. Usman Bugaje as telling the Hausa Service of the Voice
of America that “The incapability of the Federal Government to tackle
the recurrent activities of Boko Haram sect in the country is an
indication that government is probably not interested in ending the
violence.” The paper quoted him further saying, “Taking this long
without addressing the Boko Haram problem, I am beginning to assume that
this administration has cause to allow the crisis to continue unabated
because of a hidden agenda.” To mask their activities to look like they
are Boko Haram the politician said “criminals have also adopted the use
of slogans like “Allahu Akbar” during their operations…” while giving
instances of how some Christians were caught attempting to burn
churches. He also said the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan has
said “Boko Haram has infiltrated his government was a pointer to the
fact that same government could be involved in the violence” and as such
challenged the president “to expose them in order to end the
violence.”
Again, the DAILY TRUST newspaper of Thursday, April 19, 2012 on page 9
reported a former Minister of Steel in the Second Republic and a
frontline Middle Belt politician, Chief Paul Unongo saying “Our problem
is this issue of Boko Haram, some think it is only Northern Nigeria’s
problem but it is not true. Armed robbers, politicians from the North
and South have joined Boko Haram in disguise. They think this is a
Northern problem but some southerners were arrested and there are
Christians and Muslims in Boko Haram….”
Also, a retired Bishop of Owo Diocese, James Oladunjoye was reported
by the DAILY TRUST newspaper of Monday, April 23, 2012 on page 2
pointedly saying “I can tell you that President Goodluck Jonathan knows
those behind this ugly act. He is taking it with levity; he has refused
to expose them.
“The president is demonstrating his weakness and telling the whole
world that he is not capable to rule the nation. I want those of you
here who are very close to the president that I, Oladunjoye, the Bishop
of Owo Diocese said so. And if Jonathan continues like this, we are
going to wipe away Nigeria.” The Bishop was speaking concerning the Boko
Haram or “Boko Haram” menace at the 5th anniversary celebration of the
late Chief Adebayo Adefarati, former Ondo State Governor at the Holy
Trinity Anglican Church in Akungba-Akoko.
Also, the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale
Omirin, in an interview with journalists on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
blamed the rising insecurity in the country on President Goodluck
Jonathan’s alleged plan to seek a second term in office by 2015. He was
quoted by the media saying, “African leaders are not honest. If somebody
who begged for a term is now seeking a second term, there is no honesty
in that….”
And, very importantly, it seems the State Security Services (SSS) is
also thinking along that line now, for at the International Security
Awareness Summit on Terrorism and other Related Crimes facilitated by
The Sun Publishing Limited held on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 in Abuja the
Deputy Director of Public Communications of the agency said this: “On
the talk about Boko Haram, the media has refused to understand that Boko
Haram has become a franchise, permit me to use that word. There are so
many people who have come under the guise of Boko Haram to commit all
kinds of criminal things on Nigeria and Nigerians.”
This sums up the fear or suspicion of discerning intellectuals on the
ongoing pussyfooting over whether government should dialogue or
creatively and decisively deal with the original Boko Haram or not.
All this talk about government not knowing who to dialogue with since
Boko Haram is faceless is just yatter meant for deception. Boko Haram
is not faceless, for the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Babangida Aliyu
has said one time that government knows the sponsors of the sect and
President Jonathan has also said the sect has infiltrated all the three
arms of government and the security forces. They couldn’t have made
those statements without some kind of positive identification. And
moreover some key members of the sect have been arrested, so the issue
of facelessness does not arise anymore. All President Jonathan needed to
do was to get the senior members of the sect from the respective arms
of government and their senior members in the security sector alongside
those sponsors known to them and dialogue with them or even arrest them.
But President Jonathan has severally said Nigerians have to live with
these terror attacks on the ground that it’s a global thing. But
perhaps, it could be due to the long term strategic interest of
maintaining a divided north and the financial benefit that will accrue
to security contractors.
But then, again, when you put this Boko Haram and “Boko Haram” messes
in proper context, vis-à-vis who benefits most from it politically, no
northern politician of worth will sponsor such terror groups for
political gains. The two groups appear to be at war mostly with
Christians in the north with the latter evidently having a good mix of
both Christians and Muslims as members as highlighted earlier. The
northern politician who wants to really win any election in Nigeria will
want to have a united north behind him, for a splintered north along
ethno-religious divides will badly hurt his or her chances of winning an
election. The real beneficiaries of the two Boko Harams terror have
quickly gone to town with propaganda that aggrieved northern politicians
are the sponsors of the groups, conveniently not telling us what
benefit could accrue in the accounts of the so called aggrieved northern
politicians both in the short and long terms by sponsoring the groups.
Those spawning this mischievous theory harp on the claim that some
northern politicians, in the heat of the efforts of Jonathan to subvert
the zoning agreement of their party, the P.D.P., said they were going to
make the country ungovernable for Jonathan if he successfully subverted
the agreement and wins the election. But we must factor in that it is
the country they threatened to make ungovernable, not the north alone.
It is only a foolish or mad person that will set his own house on fire
and considering that those northern politicians at the forefront of
demanding the moral adherence to the zoning agreement are not mad or
foolish rather those who aided and abetted the breaching of the
agreement can be said to be mad, then it becomes untenable to blame them
for setting the north on fire for there is no way it will benefit them.
But then, considering that the country, at least a greater portion of
it, is governable for President Jonathan it is safe to say these so
called aggrieved northern politicians have not carried out their threat
to make the country ungovernable for him.
If we are to believe Henry Okah (and so far there is nothing to
suggest we shouldn’t), the MEND leader facing prosecution in South
Africa, in his allegation contained in a sworn affidavit deposed to in
court in that country that President Jonathan, through his close aides
contacted him to organize the October 1, 2010 bombings near Eagle Square
in Abuja and thereafter shift the blame on northern politicians,
because “the Northern region of Nigeria was doing everything to prevent
Jonathan from being the president”, then it becomes extremely difficult
to actually exculpate President Jonathan from blame for the bombings.
The detained MEND leader was quoted by the media as saying in his
deposition that “The bombing on 1 October 2010 was a platform for the
elimination of political opposition from the North in the form of
General Ibrahim Babangida. The bombing of 1 October 2010 was also
intended by the President Goodluck Jonathan Government to create
anti-North sentiments nationwide in order to galvanise support from
other sections of Nigeria against other northern candidates in the
Presidential elections.” (See DAILY TRUST newspaper of Thursday, May 3,
2012, front page and page 5). Well, the bombs went off and MEND quickly
claimed responsibility, but President Goodluck Jonathan suddenly
appointed himself the Public Relations Officer of MEND and also quickly
issued a rebuttal dissociating MEND from the attacks. Who did it? That’s
the angle where Henry Okah’s claim that the bombings were intended to
be blamed on northern politicians looks credible. And truly, as
everybody knows, the Jonathan campaign for the 2011 presidential
election was run purely on sentiments against the north, against
morality, against compassion, against justice and against God! The way
ethno-religious sentiments were whipped up against northern politicians
before that election you would think God did not create northerners in
His image and likeness.
When you look at Henry Okah’s allegation and the drama of the October
1, 2010 bombings vis-à-vis Jonathan’s not so hidden quest to contest
the 2015 presidential election, which if he does will be no less
acrimonious, then it can only be logical that the “Boko Haram” attacks
in northern Nigeria can only benefit a southern politician. Because each
time a bomb blows in any part of the north and a “spokesperson of Boko
Haram” claims responsibility on behalf of the sect it further alienates
northern Christians and Christians elsewhere from northern Muslim
politicians. That is why many are of the opinion in the north that if
President Jonathan wants Boko Haram and “Boko Haram” to stop they will
stop. But it was to emerge later that the chief saboteur of the talks
between government and Boko Haram was the President’s Principal Private
Secretary, Hassan Tukur as revealed by Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, the
person that took it upon himself to engineer some kind of negotiation
and truce between government and the Islamist sect (See the DAILY TRUST
newspaper of Wednesday, May 2, 2012, front page and page 5). It’s most
likely Hassan Tukur, a former intelligence officer, as the paper
reported him to be, is keenly aware of the benefit of the existence of
the group to his principal, hence the deliberate sabotage of any
negotiation with the group to end its nefarious activities. Though he
later denied his involvement in the sabotage of the peace talks,
throwing it back at his accuser, Dr. Datti Ahmed, but the fact still
remains that the peace talks were sabotaged and Boko Haram walked out of
the process. I have already stated earlier that the programme to finish
off the north politically and economically could have the active
participation of some northerners from both the Christian and Muslim
communities who could do anything for money and influence, no matter who
the paymaster is. It is only left to northerners, both the Muslims and
Christians, to open their eyes wide and see how they are being used
against one another for political and economic gains.
For another example, look at Mohammed Haruna’s shocking revelation in
his Wednesday, May 9, 2012 back page columns on the DAILY TRUST and THE
NATION newspapers wherein he said: “Take, again, the case of last
Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church near Abuja whose mastermind
has since been arrested and which has resulted in the dismissal of the
commissioner of police in charge of the case. The mastermind reportedly
fingered five others who are not Muslims as his accomplices. Nothing has
been heard of the fate of those accomplices, and the mastermind himself
is yet to be tried.”
Come to think of it, is it not all so curious that Kabiru Sokoto, the
alleged mastermind of the St. Theresa Catholic Church Christmas day
bombing has not been presented for trial in court several months after
his arrest? Is it not that because there are five Christians (most
likely very prominent ones) involved in the terror as reported by
Mohammed Haruna that this same Kabiru Sokoto has not been brought to
court for fear of spilling the beans? Curiously also, Kabiru Sokoto’s
relation in whose house he hid in Dan Anacha town near Sabon Gida
village in Taraba State when he was on the run was, along with five
others, rounded up by armed men in military uniform who came in about
seven vehicles (jeeps and Toyota Hilux vans) and took them to a nearby
bush and shot them to death (See WEEKTLY TRUST of Saturday, May 5,
2012). It is possible Kabiru Sokoto may have confided to his relations
who his church going accomplices are and therefore the mopping up
operations to prevent leakages.
Mohammed Haruna continued that “Again, take this year’s Easter
bombing in Kaduna. Daily Trust published the plate number of the car
used for the bombing. The police traced the ownership of the car to a
non-Muslim living in a predominantly Christian Kaduna South. Since then
nothing has been heard about the case from the security forces.” Of
course, the identity of this non-Muslim who “donated” his car for this
“proxy-bombing” operation by “Boko Haram” will be concealed by the
patrons of “Boko Haram” to avoid shock among the unsuspecting body of
“believers”. But verily, verily as time goes on the Lord God Almighty
will create situations that will cause their identities to be known.
Again, re-echoing the popular belief in the north about the existence
of “Boko Haram”, Mohammed Haruna said: “The point of all this is that
there is probably much more to the Boko Haram story than the authorities
are telling the public. At any rate the popular thinking in the North
is that Boko Haram has become a potent weapon in the hand of the
Jonathan presidency for keeping any Northern opposition to Jonathan
seeking re-election in 2015 on the defensive by further widening the
region’s existing deep religious divide.”
Of course, the anticipated result of all these “Boko Haram” bombings
is what a group that calls itself Northern States Christians Elders
Forum (NOSCEF) is threatening to repeat. In a well publicized communiqué
after their meeting on Sunday, May 6, 2012, which was carried by most
national newspapers next day, Monday, the group said: “We want to remind
the Northern politicians that 2015 is close by, their silence and
inaction concerning our plight strongly noted. Let none of them come
near our doors, saying we are one hence it is time to canvas for votes.”
When I read that portion I laughed heartily: for its dishonest claim,
its blackmailing intent and its self defeatist posture. Seriously, was
there an election in which there was a supposed Christian southerner
squaring up against a northern Muslim and the northern Christian bloc
voted massively for the northern Muslim? I think NOSCEF should give us
an answer to this. But to me there was none. If they will claim that
they voted massively for the late Yar’adua in 2007 it was simply because
it was a choice between General Buhari and the late president and they
opted for Yar’adua because he was the choice of Obasanjo, a southerner.
Is it not for that reason that some morally bankrupt southern
politicians are banking on a so called “northern loyal constituency” for
the 2015 elections no matter their malfeasance in office? Let NOSCEF
analyze very carefully the votes that made former president, Alhaji
Shehu Shagari President and see where and where in the north the late
Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe won votes in the
north. Of course, the 1999 election was so convenient in that it was a
choice between Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae. In 2003 Obasanjo defeated
General Buhari in areas in the north NOSCEF is controlling. The 2011
presidential election? Argggggh! Bad story! NOSCEF knows better what
they did. So, with what oneness are they trying to blackmail northern
politicians? And by the way, who are the northern politicians they are
trying to blackmail? Are there no Christians among them? Have NOSCEF
foreclosed the chance of an honest and charismatic northern Christian
contesting for the presidency in the near future, for to say northern
politicians should not come near their doors suggests they have given up
their lawful rights as Christians to seek the office of president? And
that is self defeatism occasioned by self imposed inferiority complex.
No elective position is given; it is sought for through campaigns,
negotiations and agreements within and among the various interest
groups. You don’t just sit down and expect that some persons will ask
you to occupy the position; rather you seek for it by building bridges,
trust and confidence among the various interest groups around. As such,
nothing stops a northern Christian politician from seeking for the
presidency. He or she doesn’t have to win at first try, but with
consistency and seriousness and good relationships with immediate
neighbours in a matter of time the immediate neighbours will help in
securing the remote neighbours. I think NOSCEF and the people they speak
for should get off the self pity party train and do the needful. They
should think carefully and appreciate why God chose to put them in an
area called north. I think and believe that it is so that they benefit
from the teachings and provisions of Matthew chapters 5, 6, 7 and Luke
chapter 6 verses 38, which, like I said earlier, Christians in Nigeria
have abandoned and hence the troubles besetting them.
For claiming that they have noted the silence of northern politicians
concerning their plight I think NOSCEF, again is neither truthful nor
fair to their target. Since Boko Haram was cloned and the copy became
very well equipped and ruthless I cannot remember any northerner of note
that has not spoken against the group. Except if NOSCEF and other
southern groups who are still claiming that northern prominent people
have been silent over the terrorists have not heard the various
condemnations of the group from these northern prominent people I
advocate that these northern influential people should embark on a door
to door visit to every house in the south and in Christian areas in the
north and declare their condemnation of the group, or in the alternative
all the security agencies should be turned over to the Hausa/Fulani
completely so that they can arrest and finish off both Boko Haram and
“Boko Haram”. Of course, all these puerile and untenable claims are done
with the clear objective of passing the buck of ensuring law and order
and security from the table of President Jonathan to those who are not
empowered to do so. NOSCEF, in their communiqué said: “We hereby call on
the Northern Elders and Muslim Ummah to call Boko Haram to order. The
members of Boko Haram are not spirits. They are flesh and blood. They
live in houses, eat food somewhere and sleep somewhere. How come village
heads and traditional rulers claim not to know them?”
Perhaps without knowing it but I think NOSCEF has made it simpler for
President Jonathan and the security organs he commands to bring to an
end the Boko Haram and “Boko Haram” scourge in Nigeria. NOSCEF and all
other groups asking northern leaders to end the scourge cannot be
sincere, for they know pretty well that none of them controls even the
police force not least the Army, Air Force, Navy and all the
intelligence agencies. So, for saying the terrorists are not spirits and
that they eat and sleep somewhere they should re-direct their demands
to President Jonathan and these security agencies and units or better
still, they themselves should arrest the terrorists since they are not
spirits and could be identified. After all, there is no law that forbids
Christians from pursuing and catching thieves or criminals that are
Muslims in the market place or neighbourhood. So also there is no law
that forbids Muslims from doing same on Christian thieves and criminals,
for we all live in a common environment under same laws and social
conditions. All these spurious demands on northern leaders are done with
an air of mischief; it is laced with the usual dishonest and
mischievous thinking that these northern leaders created the group and
as such should end it. But then, why did they put Jonathan in office as
President? Certainly it cannot be for him to be drinking brandy and
expect others to do his job. They should ask him, as President and
Commander in Chief of the armed forces to end the scourge and ensure the
security of Christians instead of using them as collateral damage for
maintaining disunity and a remnant loyal constituency up north. Asking
the Muslim Ummah, traditional rulers and northern elders to call Boko
Haram to order on the puerile ground of members of the group not being
spirits is akin to asking Bishops, Pastors, traditional rulers and
southern elders to end kidnappings, armed robberies, drug traffickings,
hired killings, rapes and occultism in southern Nigeria also on the
grounds that members of such groups are not spirits. NOSCEF and other
groups that think like them should rather pressure government to do its
work and stop helping corrupt and incompetent leaders in dividing the
country further through blood letting and more importantly, begin to
look inwards for possible traitors of the church who are members of
“Boko Haram”. Grandstanding in hypocrisy is not what will save the
church, rather NOSCEF and their like in the north should be the ones
seeking for reconciliation up north for being bad neighbours during the
zoning debate and aligning with practitioners of fake Christianity down
the Niger contrary to the teachings of Christ. Shouldn’t it be a shame
for some people by now for helping in birthing this kind of government
we now have so much as even threatening to repeat similar type on
unfounded basis? With the current mess of a government, whose pride is
hurt most now? That of the Muslim north or that of the church that
blindly kowtowed the path of immorality in enthroning it?
NOSCEF, again in their communiqué, said: “What took place in Bayero
University Kano (BUK) would have not happened if the Christian community
were allowed to have their own Chapel.” And to that I say, really? Is
this some joke gone too far? Come on, come on! Asking for land to build
churches is a legitimate demand but tying it to what happened in BUK
that it couldn’t have happened if the victims were in a Chapel cannot be
an honest claim. I think the St. Theresa’s church in Madalla, near
Abuja and COCIN headquarters in Jos and so on and so on will not agree
with this claim. Let NOSCEF be serious,
please.
President Jonathan most likely fancies himself to be the only
presidential candidate from the south in the 2015 presidential election
as he was in the 2011 one, but considering his uninspiring, corrupt,
corrupting and woeful performance since he came into office in February
2010 the only way he could win the election will be if “Boko Haram”
extend their bombing festivals to the south so that the southern voters
will hate northern politicians more than they were suborned to do in
2011 in addition to the “loyal constituency in the north” that will have
been preserved through hatred for northern Muslims via “Boko Haram”. So
therefore, Nigerians should not be surprised if “Boko Haram” becomes
active in parts of the south in coming months. Nigerians should bear in
mind that politicians who can cook up some stupid security reports
against a serving Governor or even unleash murder on a serving
Governor’s aides while attempting to murder the Governor himself through
some stage managed accident just to make grounds for the rancorous take
over of the area can do anything to enhance their selfish interest,
even if it includes mass murder! Of course, with innuendos going round
attributing the mass murders committed by “Boko Haram” to aggrieved
northern politicians, in contemporary Nigeria, one could say that
committing mass murders cannot be the exclusive preserve of northern
politicians, as any politician or group of politicians capable of arming
thugs to become militants, are capable of sponsoring mass murders if it
will enhance their collective or individual interests.
Raising the stakes further, the WEEKLY TRUST newspaper of Saturday,
May 5, 2012 on page 7 reported the renowned Kaduna based Islamic
scholar, Dr. Ahmad Gumi saying “Yes, we have Boko Haram sect in the
North but they are not the ones planting the bombs in the Northern
region. The advocates of SNC are responsible for the numerous bombings
and killings. They are doing it to tell the world that we can’t live
together.
“These evildoers are doing it bit by bit, they are through with
Maiduguri, Kano now Kaduna and their plan is to move to Sokoto state all
under the guise of Boko Haram….. If we allow them to succeed in
disintegrating the country, it will not be good for all of us including
those claiming ownership of the crude oil.”
Dr. Gumi’s postulation is also food for thought, more especially in
the light of noises being made in clamour for Sovereign National
Conference since the quick cloning of Boko Haram took place and bombing
festivals became the order of the day. Certain groups have not hidden
their desire for the balkanization of this country, with some of them
hiding behind the façade of the convocation of a Sovereign National
Conference so that “ethnic nationalities can determine the future of the
country.” Therefore it is possible for some extreme elements to pursue
this path. Fair minded and progressive Nigerians only need to be
vigilant and begin to organize to frustrate the activities of shady
politicians suffering from inferiority complex bent on destroying the
country.
Well, still on the issue of betrayal as prophesied by the Lord Jesus
Christ in the Bible let me mention a few more examples so that we can
put it in proper context.
Considering that the Bible, in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1 has
revealed to us that our pastors are also our parents (in the Lord), and
Jesus Christ has prophesied that parents will betray their children even
unto death, therefore it is betrayal for pastors to preach against
consumption of alcohol and then turn around and endorse or anoint a
brandy consumer for president whereas in the same election there were
candidates who don’t drink alcohol. This is akin to some Christians
coming to a motor park for a trip and faced with a choice between two
drivers, one drunk and the other sober they knowingly chose the drunken
driver because they see him in their church on Sundays. Will God answer
their prayer for safety when the driver begins to swerve dangerously on
the highway? No, God will have a good laugh at them instead.
It is betrayal of sacred Scripture and commandments when pastors
preach and teach that Christians should not worship nor serve other gods
but turn around and lead the sheep they are meant to guide in truth to
the worship of goddess Fortuna, the goddess of good luck, which is an
indication of how much the evil woman, Jezebel has penetrated the church
and commands influence. A simple etymological check could have revealed
to them what they were dealing with, just in the same manner no sane
Christian could knowingly name his daughter as Diana, for Diana is a
demon (see Acts chapter 19 verses 23 – 35). In the process our pastors
have fulfilled the lamentation of the Lord God Almighty in Isaiah
chapter 9 verses 16 wherein He said “For the leaders of this people
cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.” Ah!
Haven’t Christians and Nigerians generally suffered enough already as a
result of this indiscretion? Again, in Jeremiah chapter 23 verses 13 the
Lord God the Almighty lamented that, “And I have seen folly in the
prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people
Israel to ear.”
If our pastors or bishops or whatever title don’t know that their
indiscretions and alliances with thieves in national politics would
cause national calamity like we now have then they should check the part
b of Jeremiah chapter 23 verses 15, which says “for from the prophets
of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.” And if they
think they will not be punished for their sizzling romance with corrupt
and incompetent rulers then they should check part a of the verse which
says “Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets;
Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of
gall:”
It is also betrayal when the president anointed by our parents in the
Lord on the grounds of luck (ah! Jezebel, the seducer of the unwary!),
ethnicity and supposed Christian religion chose a time when Christians
travel the most – Christmas time – to unconscionably hike the price of
petrol, supposedly on a removal of a controversial subsidy regime which
caused prices of goods and services to move up astronomically instantly,
for which so many Christians became stranded in their towns and
villages and most had to sell their belongings to be able to travel back
to their places of work. This is parents betraying their children and
at the end of it all majority of Christians who “voted for Goodluck
Jonathan and not the P.D.P” felt and are still feeling like a woman
sexually exploited by some mischievous man who expertly masqueraded as
her husband only to discover after the passion that he wasn’t.
It is also a case of parents betraying their children to death when
the children rose up to protest against the hike on petrol price by the
unconscionable partners of their parents in the Lord and more than
twenty of them got murdered on the behalf of, and for the benefit of
those who hiked the price. The children became direct victims of the
violence of the friends and partners of their parents in the Lord.
Hmmm……the blood of those youths is crying unto the Lord like Abel’s for
vengeance! And God the avenger will keep His promise…..
It is also betrayal when, after all the huffing and puffing by some
of our parents in the Lord against Islamic banking in Nigeria, Christian
President Goodluck Jonathan went on seeking a loan for the Federal
Government from an Islamic bank, and for God to have a good hearty laugh
some of the funds from the Islamic bank will be used for the further
development of the ever busy Lagos – Ibadan expressway, a road known to
be busy during some Christian programmes that take place along that road
several times a year. In a story titled Jonathan seeks capital funding
from Islamic bank on page 8 of the DAILY TRUST newspaper of Friday,
March 16, 2012 the paper reported that “The Federal Government has asked
the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to inject more capital to support
infrastructural development and general economic development of the
country.” In response to the president’s request the President of the
IDB Group, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali disclosed that the IDB has committed
about US$470milion to projects in Nigeria. He listed the intervention
projects they are undertaking in Nigeria as “the National Programme for
Food Security, Zungeru dam project, Mambilla hydroelectric dam project,
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project, National Railway Rehabilitation project
and the Shagamu-Benin dual carriage project.” So now, what will our
parents in the Lord who huffed against such a bank in Nigeria do,
considering that their anointed has embraced it and its money? Will
Christians use the trains or the electric power or the roads that would
be partially funded by the Islamic Development Bank? God must be having a
big laugh.
Christian leaders should have been cautious when they were opposing
the establishment of Islamic banking or non-interest banking in Nigeria,
for they conveniently chose to ignore the fact that a church going
Chukwuma Charles Soludo, the former Central bank governor was the one
who initiated the bank and curiously, President Jonathan whom they
anointed president to protect the interest of Christians maintained a
deafening silence when they were huffing against it. It is the height of
irresponsibility and mischief to then expect that when the applicants
for the bank come for a follow up and they meet a certain Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi as the new helmsman he should decline their legitimate request on
the grounds that he is a Muslim like them. Already there are schools
built along religious lines in the country serving the interests of
either of the religions, so why not banking? In a country almost evenly
divided along religious lines opposing the legitimate interest of the
other religion could breed resentment and aggression. Nothing then stops
them from asking for the delegitimization of Saturday and Sunday as
work free days as Friday, their special day of worship is a work day. As
Christians in a secular society we should be mindful of our own
legitimate interests and the legitimate interests of others. If we are
not interested in being a secular society we have the option of
evangelizing the whole nation so that Nigeria can be a Theocracy but
successful evangelism can only be done in love and compassion, not by
being hostile. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ said to us in Matthew
chapter 5 verses 16 that “Let your light so shine before men, that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
The way and manner it seems there is some kind of gang up by a supposed
Christian south and a supposed Christian Middle Belt against anything
far north or the Hausa/Fulani in Nigeria does not project us Christians
in any way as letting our lights to so shine before them so that our
good works may be seen by them, which will cause them to glorify God. We
carry on with arrogance and with a mindset that fools us into thinking
the problem of Nigeria is the far north and the Hausa/Fulani whereas we
are the principal culprits. The far north or rather the Hausa/Fulani are
projected as poor, lazy, parasitic, uneducated, unaccommodating,
terrorists, etc, etc, etc, but is the north truly Nigeria’s problem?
If you read certain comments from some supposed Christian
personalities, more especially from the south and you look at the kind
of language they use against the north you cannot help but be scared
that certain minds are being programmed to unleash genocide against
certain set of people. For example, Emmanuel Onyejena titled his article
published on page 18 of THISDAY newspaper of Monday, March 5, 2012 as
The North as an Albatross in which he said “….if we may ask what did the
rulers of the North do with all the wealth that accrued to that region
since independence? It is an incontrovertible fact that the North has
run the show for more than two-thirds of the nation’s political life,
are they just waking up to the reality of poverty? What have the
northern elite done to alleviate the poverty in their midst, like
eliminating culturally-imposed inequalities, encouraging their kids to
go to school and stay at school till graduation?“ Looking at Mr.
Onyejena’s questions you would be carried away to think poverty rests
only in the north and that school truancy is not found in the south and
also only northern rulers mismanaged the wealth of the north. He forgot
to inform his readers that as there are James Iboris and Lucky
Igbinedions in the south so there are in the north. Such racial, ethnic
and regional supremacists are up till today projecting northern leaders
as corrupt people that corrupted Nigeria while conveniently forgetting
to mention that the Gold Medal for corrupt leadership was hungrily
seized by Obasanjo and if diamond is better than gold, the Diamond Medal
for corrupt governance now hangs fashionably on the neck of Goodluck
Jonathan’s government. So, can we get off our high horse of hypocrisy,
please?
If you read such propaganda, which is often, the north is projected
as poor and illiterate while the south is projected as rich and
educated. But my immediate concern now is the title of Onyejena’s
article, which says the North is an albatross. I believe it is too
strong a term to use against a people. An albatross is an oppressive
burden or hindrance which must be removed. So, over time if certain
people are fed with this kind of impression that the north is an
albatross to the nation these certain people could develop genocidal
tendencies, for this is the kind of propaganda and miseducation that
fuelled the Rwandan genocide in which the Hutus felt they were a supreme
tribe over the Tutsis and could not cohabit with them.
Another example of unfair projection of northerners is found in
Godson Offoaro’s article titled Northern elite impoverished the North
published on page 19 of the DAILY SUN newspaper of Monday, April 2,
2012. In it you could clearly see how the writer was intent at
manipulating the thoughts and minds of gullible readers into believing
that northerners or their leaders were single handedly responsible for
the nations woes as if all through the years of the so called northern
political domination southerners have not been governors, ministers,
heads of agencies, heads of military and other security formations,
though in his warped thinking and foolish desire to present these other
office holders from other tribes and regions as saints he claimed they
were “co-opted or press-ganged into this bizarre consensus at resource
plundering and treasury-looting” and that they “were unsuspecting folks
from other ethnic groups essentially to make such acts of daylight
brigandage have a quasi or complete national coloration.” Mr. Offoaro
did not tell us what these “unsuspecting folks from other ethnic groups”
did to bust the plunder of national resources by northerners since they
were saints without the genes or DNA of stealing, which is peculiar to
northerners as is commonly insinuated by mischievous writers like
Offoaro. In Offoaro’s journey of darkness, hate and mischief he effused,
“They appointed and deposed sultans, emirs; obas, obis and obongs at
will”, without telling us whether anyone was above the law if the action
was lawful at that time. When a sick mind inappropriately named Godson
says “They decided how many (un)qualified persons got university
admission” and “They recklessly offered overseas federal scholarships
lopsidedly to members from their ethno-religious clan” you would be
tempted to think all the Vice Chancellors and Registrars of all the
universities in Nigeria were northerners and you could be tempted to
believe only northerners staffed the Federal Ministry of Education and
the Federal Scholarship Board such that only northerners got
scholarships to study abroad. And for a region commonly derided by some
persons as “educationally disadvantaged” is it not then a contradiction
of sorts to claim they were enjoying a monopoly of federal sponsorships
and admissions as claimed by Offoaro?
Offoaro’s dim mind and hatred against the north was not yet done, he
said “They created schools of basic studies to help children from their
geographical expression that could not stand the rigors of the West
African Examinations Council (WAEC)” as if it was a crime to do so and
again as if there were no such schools in southern Nigeria. His claim
that northern students could not stand the rigours of WAEC and so needed
to attend some schools of basic studies insinuates he means southern
students are smarter and more intelligent without telling us whether
examination malpractices and certificate forgeries are the measurement
for superiority of intelligence. Not yet done with spewing hell stuff he
further asserted that “Not satisfied, they created NECO as a
counterpoise to WAEC” without telling us whether southern students don’t
sit for NECO exams and without further telling us what instruments he
used in measuring WAEC standard to be above that of NECO. To further
paint northerners as monopolists his dim bespectacled eyes saw that “The
civil service was theirs for the asking. Some very sensitive positions
for over forty years were the exclusive preserve of men and women from
their ethno-religious groups” without giving us examples of those
positions and without telling us how is it that when you visit all the
federal ministries and agencies in and out of Abuja you see only few
northerners in all the offices.
This Offoaro, in a manner of drunkenness made worse by madness,
climbed the mountain of clowns to say “they constantly appointed people
who have never, ever played football or known what a modern stadium
looked like (except on TV) to head the Nigeria Football Federation with
millions of dollar yearly budget. Ever since, the Super Eagles have
known no victory.” Offoaro should have helped us with the names of all
the chairpersons of the NFA and sports ministers since inception till
now and for the suggestion that the Super Eagles have not known victory
ever since left me confused as to what he meant. But I thought he should
have been a little bit fair, even if he hates fairness, to tell us that
Nigeria first won the Under 17 Football World Cup in 1985 when General
Muhammadu Buhari was Head of State and won again in 1993 when General
Sani Abacha was Head of State and won again in 2007 when late Alhaji
Umaru Musa Yar’adua was president. He should have balanced his argument
by saying the Super Eagles won the African Nations Cup in 1980 when
Alhaji Usman Aliyu Shehu Shagari was President and again in 1994 when
General Abacha was Head of State and qualified for the first time to the
FIFA World Cup same year. He should have also said Nigeria won the Gold
Medal of the football event of the 1996 Olympics when General Abacha
was Head of State. And in all these victories the chairpersons of the
NFA in those times have not been footballers like Offoaro fancies and
may have not seen modern stadia like Offoaro has seen countless times.
The current decline in our sports generally is a lesson God wants to
teach us not to ever, ever depend on luck for anything, for if we keep
depending on luck we will be unconsciously worshipping at the feet of
goddess Fortuna in contravention of God’s commandment not to serve or
worship other gods.
Offoaro, in his articles, has never ever betrayed his rabid hatred
for the north and northerners. In the usual fashion of painting
everything north in bad light, he said this of the CBN Governor, Mallam
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi: “Look at his record: unilaterally, he sets up
Islamic banks. Singlehandedly, he approves donations of hundreds of
millions of naira to his cousins affected by self-inflicted Boko Haram
atrocities. He refuses to submit his CBN annual budget for scrutiny by
the appropriate oversight arm of governance.” I have spoken of the lies
and hypocrisy of all the nonsense arguments against the Islamic banking
issue earlier. Offoaro and people who think like him have, since the CBN
donated one hundred million Naira to victims of Boko Haram or “Boko
Haram” in Kano, raised all hell against Lamido Sanusi. Now Offoaro has
converted one hundred million Naira to “hundreds of millions of naira”,
but when Mallam Sanusi donated five hundred million Naira (now this is
hundreds of millions) to Offoaro’s cousins in the University of Benin
our ever champions of equity kept a deafening silence. Faced with the
dilemma of moral high ground in their argument against the Kano donation
a few of them are now belatedly referring to the UNIBEN donation.
Morality demands that they should have raised all the morality noise
since then. On this score I would rather Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi ask
the CBN Board to publish all the Corporate Social Responsibility
donations or activities done by the bank before and during his tenure as
CBN boss. Offoaro should have also been gracious to tell us when Chief
Chukwuma Charles Soludo as CBN Governor submitted the banks budget for
scrutiny and approval by the legislature or whether any other CBN boss
or board before Soludo and Sanusi did so, and whether the CBN’s refusal
to submit her budget for scrutiny has anything to do with the north, and
also whether the CBN’s Board and management staffing is a completely
northern affair.
The peak of Offoaro’s bid to portray the north and northerners as a
bunch of unfair, aggressive and unaccommodating people was when he said
“Sometimes, I’ve imagined what the situation would have been had oil
been first found in the north; who on earth would have given a pint of
it to Yinka or Chukwuka or Ibinabo?“ The stormy petrel found good
company in Ms Annkio Briggs, a Niger Delta activist in asking that
question. The SUNDAY SUN newspaper of February 26, 2012 reported her
asking, “If oil is found in any of the 19 northern states, will they
share it so freely with the rest of Nigeria the way Niger Delta people
share theirs?”
Offoaro and Ms Briggs have not told us the circumstances that led
them to think and portray the north in such bad light. Their submission
projects the south and southerners as overly generous while the north
and northerners are contrarians of generosity and hospitality. But in
the case of Ms. Briggs’ submission I find it curious that she could lump
the 19 northern states together, aren’t the Middle Belt states no
longer the darlings of Ijaw nationalists’ propaganda? Well, any little
educated and unanalytical mind and at best an educated and analytical
but subjective mind that reads Godson Offoaro’s articles will receive
the poisons and lies that are his submissions as true. I believe people
like Offoaro are cashing in on Nigeria’s declined and declining quality
and standard of education to miseducate and idiotify a lot of people for
easy manipulation by dishonourable politicians who can only thrive on
the polarization of the people. It is this successful idiotification
process that made some people say “I voted for Goodluck Jonathan and not
the P.D.P.” and now the fruits born out of that idiotification process
are stuck in our throats, too bitter to swallow and in our typical
hypocrisy we are waiting on God to pull them out of our throats whereas
we have hands to pull them out, for that is the reason He (God) made the
hands in the first place. God must be having a good laugh at us to His
pleasure.
But is the north and northerners as Offoaro projected them to be? The
loudest no is the answer to Offoaro and others who think like him.
Without a blink of the eye I assert that the north and northerners
are the most hospitable, fair minded and accommodating people and I have
reasons.
Reason number one: Those abusing the north and northerners argue that
northerners have dominated the leadership and political landscape of
Nigeria for the greater part of the nation’s existence since
independence and “have nothing to show for it in the north.” When they
argue like this they paint a picture of a rich and developed south and a
poor and underdeveloped north. It then means all the while northerners
were ruling Nigeria they put in a lot of energy in making policies and
programmes that favoured the south at the expense of their own people,
for you can hardly separate government influence in the socio-economic
well being or development of a people. Even if you argue that
southerners are more entrepreneurial than northerners, a wicked, evil
and domineering northern oligarchy perpetrating a Hausa/Fulani hegemony
that has dominated Nigeria’s rulership, as they are often portrayed,
would have gone all out to frustrate the entrepreneurial development of
southerners by governmental force. But since they encouraged prosperity
of the south at the expense of the north then it will be a misnomer to
label them as unfair and unaccommodating. Stretching the argument
further, one of the reasons President Jonathan was aided to dishonour
and murder the zoning agreement he was part of was that the northern
leaders insisting on the retention and honour of the zoning agreement
did nothing for the north. So, in other words Jonathan should be allowed
to dishonour the power sharing agreement, become president and
eliminate poverty from the north since the so called northern leaders
have failed the north when they had opportunity. Given that the
pro-Jonathan argument has won him the Presidency what are we seeing
today? Nothing but the deliberate skewing of our national budget in
favour of the president’s province while the north is being racked with
bombs and still being accused of inflicting poverty on herself and being
insulted as a no good parasite.
During the heated debate on zoning some northern traitors were
recruited, commissioned and presented as the true northern leaders and
they held jamboree economic summits purportedly for the economic
development of the north just to present Jonathan Goodluck as someone
who cared for the north, since those others insisting on the honour and
retention of zoning were projected as having failed the north. But after
all have been said and done and Jonathan won the big prize what has
happened to all the fine speeches, communiqués and blueprints made from
the so called summits? Nothing. Only a few people may have been deceived
to believe the so called northern economic summits held by those
cheerleaders were anything serious but a parade of deception. I think it
is important the north wakes up to the realization of those in their
midst that are their saboteurs, who at the right fee would do anything
to perpetuate their disunity.
Reason number two: The north, as at today, is the only region in
Nigeria that a non-northerner can stand for election and win. Ask
Senator Grace Folashade Bent if this is not true. Having won the Adamawa
South senatorial seat she felt so much at home that she could even
sponsor her Special Assistant to unseat a House of Representatives
member from the district, a project that collapsed like a pack of cards.
Juxtapose this with the hell raised in Lagos when President Jonathan
decided to honour Chief Olabode George for doing very well what the
P.D.P., their party does so well by appointing his wife into a national
position. In their position statement against the appointment of Mrs.
Roli George (a southerner) the Lagos State government drew the attention
of President Jonathan to a law that says a woman married to a man from a
state other than hers shall not be treated as an indigene of the
husband’s state, which means she cannot enjoy a national appointment to
represent her husband’s state. The people of Adamawa State, in their
hospitality and accommodation did not bother about this law and thus
allowed Mrs. Folashade to represent them in the Senate. Now it remains
to be seen whether at any point in the future such will be replicated
somewhere in the south.
The LEADERSHIP newspaper of Wednesday, April 25, 2012 on page 8
reported Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmadu, a former Special Assistant on Political
Matters to the Kaduna State Governor debunking speculations that have
been making the rounds in the country that the current Vice President,
Architect Namadi Sambo hails from Edo State, south-south Nigeria,
describing the rumour as pure political blackmail. Well, it is
understandable the kind of discomfort this kind of speculation will
cause the Vice President and those benefitting from him, considering
that in the short or long run he may want to contest for the presidency
as an aspirant from northern Nigeria. But, even if it is true that he is
from Auchi, Edo State as is being speculated, he and his supporters
need not worry, for in the natural tradition of accommodation and
hospitality of northern Nigeria he has risen through the ranks of
politics in northern Nigeria to even become the Governor of Kaduna State
in 2007 up to when a south-southerner became President and chose him to
become his deputy. And, again, if it’s true he is from Edo State then
Nigeria has made good history in that we have an “elected” government in
which the President and his deputy hail from the same region and yet
northerners did not make any fuss about that.
Reason number three: The north, contrary to how her haters project
her as tribalistic, monopolistic and power hungry, is the most liberal
and accommodating in terms of national elections or power sharing. While
some persons have fixated themselves on a phantom Hausa/Fulani hegemony
that is spreading like wildfire to consume the entire nation into
slavery and submission facts on ground suggest otherwise. This
Hausa/Fulani phobia or north phobia by historical evidences started even
right after our national independence. At what point did it become
established that the north was dominating political power such that just
five years after independence some terrorists within the military set
out at killing northern leaders and a few southwestern leaders so that
they too could establish their own hegemony? Northern military officers
were or are still being projected as coupists, but if coup making was
the exclusive preserve of northern military officers could there have
been an Aguiyi Ironsi coup? Now northern bashers sometimes seem
confused; they talk of the Hausa/Fulani dominating or enslaving
Christian Middle Belters one day and in another day they lump up the
Middle Belt with the far north together just when it suits them. But for
the sake of their arguments let me ask, if there was a Hausa/Fulani
hegemony dominating and enslaving the Christian Middle Belt could there
have been a General Yakubu Gowon coup such that he ruled for nine years?
And after the General was dithering on a transition to civil rule
programme he was toppled by the General Murtala coup d’état who in turn
got assassinated by a Middle Belt military officer in a failed coup
attempt. If there was a Hausa/Fulani hegemony could a General Theophilus
Yakubu Danjuma fish out a cowardly General Olusegun Obasanjo from
hiding and make him Head of State immediately after the failed coup?
Now after all those military adventures into governance General
Obasanjo’s transition to civil rule programme threw up Alhaji Usman
Aliyu Shehu Shagari as Nigeria’s first democratically elected executive
president, though there were allegations that some tribalists had wanted
a situation whereby General Obasanjo should have manipulated the
election in favour of his kinsmen, but could it have made sense that an
election in a Nigeria with sectional and tribal consciousness since
independence could have thrown up a winner from the south who picked his
running mate from the same south? Well, Shagari’s civil government
drifted into a sizzling romance with corruption and was toppled by
General Muhammadu Buhari whose government instituted the most genuine
combat against corruption, waste and indiscipline till date. In order
words not all northerners are corrupt as is sometimes insinuated by some
hate-filled regionalists. Sadly, I say this without apology, the Buhari
regime was cut short and the war against corruption, waste and
indiscipline was also cut short. Another Middle Belt led military regime
was set up with General Ibrahim Babangida at the top, which lasted for
eight years. Talk of the Middle Belt being marginalized.
This Middle Belt regime went on a political marginalization of the
far north as, in its transition to civil rule programme, the late
General Shehu Musa Yar’adua and Mallam Adamu Chiroma (all from the far
north) won the presidential election primaries of the two
government-instituted political parties but got the results annulled.
Politicians were banned and unbanned until when it seemed the regime was
ready to truly handover because of the June 12, 1993 presidential
election, which turned out also to be another wasteful adventure as the
results were annulled. Now it should be borne in mind that late Chief
M.K.O. Abiola’s victory in the June 12, 1993 election has as its
foundation an injustice done to others whose presidential primary
elections results were annulled by the same annullers who annulled his
election.
Now, I hope the reader is still remembering that I am trying to establish that northerners are fair, generous and accommodating?
Well, not minding that the victories of their kinsmen have been
annulled in previous presidential primary elections which paved way for
the June 12, 1993 elections the Hausa/Fulanis voted massively for Chief
M.K.O. Abiola such that his rival, Alhaji Bashir Tofa lost woefully in
his home state of Kano and neighbouring Jigawa State. The point and
moral here is it’s not fair to categorize a people as a bunch of unfair,
aggressive, power hungry and unaccommodating people. Critics of the
annulment, particularly from the south, later slipped into the mistake
of lumping the sin of the annulment on a so called Hausa/Fulani hegemony
bent on retaining power at all cost, a criticism most convenient for
the annulling Middle Belt officers who are now opportunistically
aligning with southern politicians to gain from something they aided and
abetted.
Now let’s analyze the 2011 presidential elections and see those that
are tribalistic, aggressive, desperate, power hungry and
unaccommodating.
First let’s have as a background that after the annulment of Chief
M.K.O. Abiola’s electoral victory there was a crisis of monumental
proportion engineered by moralists and purists who saw nothing wrong in
the fact that his own election was premised on the unjust foundation of
injustice done to others whose elections were also annulled, for if
those primary elections that were annulled had been upheld there
couldn’t have been a June 12, 1993 presidential election. Military
President, General Babangida had to step aside. Then entered Chief
Ernest Shonekan as Head of Interim Government, a southwesterner like
Abiola himself. His kinsmen went to court and had his government
declared illegal. Confusion. Now note that it wasn’t the Hausa/Fulani
that went to court to have Shonekan’s government declared illegal so
that they could perpetuate their much feared but nonexistent hegemony.
General Sani Abacha stepped in after what looked like Shonekan’s forced
resignation. General Abacha’s government was given some tough time by
moralists and purists who had Shonekan’s government declared illegal on
grounds that Abiola must be made president. The General had Abiola
hauled into detention. More confusion everywhere and General Abacha died
in office.
Then came in General Abdulsalami Abubakar as Head of State from the
Middle Belt. Abiola also died in detention under mysterious
circumstances. And in the midst of local and international pressure
General Abdulsalami set up a transition to civil rule programme. Now the
people who are much maligned as selfish, aggressive, unaccommodating,
power hungry and intent on maintaining a Hausa/Fulani hegemony on the
rest of Nigerians reached out and pulled every stop to make sure a
southwesterner becomes president and General Obasanjo was pulled out of
prison and won the 1999 elections against a fellow southwesterner.
Obasanjo went on to rule for eight years and in the course of his rule
the zoning of presidential power between competing interests in the
north and competing interests in the south was agreed so as to further
reassure perpetual pessimists that there is nothing like a Hausa/Fulani
hegemony or oligarchy bent on ruling forever to enslave everybody
else.
Well, Obasanjo served out two straight terms totaling eight years.
But it turned out that he wanted to perpetuate his own hegemony (or is
it a southern hegemony?) by seeking a constitutional amendment that
could enable him do three terms, and mercifully the project collapsed.
Faced with the prospect of ensuring compliance with the north-south
zoning agreement, Obasanjo foisted a terminally ill Umaru Musa Yar’adua
from the north as President alongside a lackluster, uninspiring and luck
dependent Goodluck Jonathan as Vice President. And as the schemer for a
southern hegemony envisaged, Umaru Musa Yar’adua died in office. And
then it became clear that moral bankruptcy, lack of compassion,
impatience, hatred, pretense and injustice are the stuff a lot of our
politicians and most of our Christian clergy are made of. Jezebel, the
evil woman that has long hoisted her throne in many Nigerian churches
bared her fangs and went to work. Deceptions of all kinds took over the
socio-political landscape. The evil woman deceived the church into
missing out on a golden opportunity to “Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” as
commanded by Christ. Instead, the church, led by their clergy did
everything under the instruction of Jezebel to go contrary to Christ’s
commandments so that they could satisfy the secret desire of Obasanjo
and Jonathan. The church threw her sense of empathy to the dogs and
helped Jonathan and Obasanjo dance with joy on Umaru Yar’adua’s grave.
It was contrived as a moment to hit back at these Hausa/Fulani
northerners who are no good to the nation. Remember, someone said the
North is an albatross. Christian Bishops and Pastors, under the twin
influence of Jezebel and “prophet offering” helped Jonathan in denying
the existence of zoning; not because it doesn’t exist and Jonathan was a
signatory to it but because they hate the Hausa/Fulani, and in doing so
missed out on a great opportunity for impactful evangelism.
Well, in their grief over the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua
and Jonathan’s denial and dishonour of the zoning agreement, how did the
far north fare in the 2011 presidential elections? Were they
tribalistic and unaccommodating in their voting pattern? Did they
demonstrate any trait of a people hungry for power for the purpose of
establishing hegemony?
First let’s start with the P.D.P. presidential primaries held on
January 13, 2011 at the Eagle Square in Abuja, which was largely a
contest between President Jonathan from southern Nigeria and former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar from northern Nigeria. Alhaji Atiku is from
Adamawa State and President Jonathan is from Bayelsa State, so let’s see
how accommodating people from the two states are. Bear in mind that at
that time the north was mourning the loss of power because of the death
of a president and someone was breaking every rule of morality to usurp
their moral right to finish their mutually agreed limited terms. Atiku,
in his home state of Adamawa got 31 votes against Jonathan’s 76 votes,
which means the people of Adamawa, in their grief and despite having one
of them as a contender to the presidency were so accommodating and not
aggressive to prove there is nothing like a Hausa/Fulani hegemony.
Compare this with Jonathan’s Bayelsa. Atiku got zero votes there while
Jonathan got all the 67 votes, which means among all the voters from
there none was sympathetic to the north even in death! The whole of
southwest had a total of 507 votes with only 24 of them sympathetic to
Atiku and hence the north. The southeast had 446 with only 23
sympathizers with the north over the death of Yar’adua. The south-south
had 624 voters with just 9 sympathizers!
Now look at Katsina State, the mourners-in-chief – the home state of
the late president. They had 158 voters, but in the true spirit of
northern hospitality, fairness and accommodation and to further debunk
the existence of a Hausa/Fulani hegemony and to prove also that they are
neither a bitter nor a religious sentimental people 147 of them voted
for Jonathan with only 11 of them opting for Atiku. Regionally, the
northwest had a total 787 votes but 422 of them voted Jonathan with 365
of them opting for Atiku. About the same pattern was obtained in the
northeast. I will not include the north-central (Middle Belt) in this
voting analysis for obvious reasons.
So it begs the question to people like Offoaro, and there are so many
of them: now, who are the desperate, unfair, aggressive,
unaccommodating and power hungry people?
Now, coming to the general elections proper held in April 2011 in
which nothing immoral was spared, including religious, tribal and
regional sentiments by Jonathan and his crowd, let us see also whether
the north was aggressive, unfair, unaccommodating and power hungry to
establish a Hausa/Fulani hegemony. Again let us examine two states, one
from the north and one from the south in the first instance. Since INEC,
the P.D.P. and the courts have insisted that the figures in the 2011
presidential election were accurate and “reflected the will and choice
of the people” it is therefore safe to use the figures for my argument.
General Buhari is from Katsina State, the same state late President
Yar’adua hailed from and was clearly the most favoured in the north to
win the elections while his main opponent, President Jonathan hails from
Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria. But while General Buhari got only 6,
910 votes from Jonathan’s home state President Jonathan, on the other
hand got 282, 477 votes from Buhari’s home state. Even if you argue that
Katsina State has about twice the total voters in Bayelsa I will
concede to you to divide the Katsina State voters by three and make the
comparison, you will still see that they have demonstrated to be fairer,
hospitable, accommodating, tolerant and not bitter. They have also
debunked the stereotyping of far northerners as power hungry people
intent on becoming slave drivers. In fact, in all the far northern
states there is no state that Jonathan got less than 200, 000 votes in
spite of their grief over Yar’adua’s death and Jonathan’s shameless
denial and breaching of the zoning agreement whereas in the south,
General Buhari and Nuhu Ribadu had a combined vote of exactly 212 votes
in Akwa Ibom State! So, who are those that demonstrated tribalism or
regionalism or religious sentimentalism in the 2011 voting, the North or
South?
Whatever arguments anyone may use to justify Jonathan’s jumbo votes
in all of the northern states against the very, very paltry votes all
the northerners in the election were scoring in the southern states will
not validate the unfair projection of northerners as unfair,
unwelcoming, unaccommodating, aggressive and power hungry people. Rather
the north has shown severally that it is willing and ready to have a
nation that is home and fair to all just like Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the
Hausa/Fulani man who is busy distributing his wealth and creating jobs
in Federal Character fashion without minding all the insults being
hurled at his kinsmen. But rather than being understood the north is
being insulted and derided and projected in bad light. And through a
massive wave of propaganda some people want to see the fragmentation and
destruction of the north, something that, I insist, is due to
inferiority complex, for it seems that rather than building workable
bridges to achieve what they want to achieve some would rather have a
destroyed north for them to have what they think they want.
Offoaro again, in pursuit of the devious agenda of splitting the
north along ethno-religious lines wrote another article titled Middle
Belt people of Nigeria, arise published on page 19 of the DAILY SUN
newspaper of Monday, March 12, 2012. As usual with his write ups
fashioned along his sizzling hatred for the north this article is filled
with bare lies purposely cooked in Satan’s kitchen to whip up emotions
of disaffection. The title itself suggests like the Middle Belters are
down under the jackboot of some kind of colonial oppressors or slave
drivers and should therefore heed the call of Offoaro their liberator
and work and walk with him in exodus fashion to their freedom.
Apparently Offoaro hates to see a united north and by extension
Nigeria in general, for he seemed to be irked by Dr. Junaid Mohammed’s
statement in an interview with the DAILY SUN newspaper in which he said
“Let me tell you, in the event of the breakup of Nigeria, the north is
the component that will remain one and united” of which Offoaro used as
the opening quote for his contradictory article and therefore formed the
plank on which he stood to market his venom. Why should Offoaro not be
happy that Junaid said the north will be the only united component in
the event the not so hidden secessionists’ agenda being drummed up in
some parts of the country materializes? Has it dawned on Offoaro that
indeed those who are, due to what seems like an incurable case of
inferiority complex, pursuing their secessionist agenda have internal
contradictions that could throw their newfound republic(s) into
unbridled fratricidal wars and as such, driven by envy he wants to cause
conditions that could render the northern oneness unattainable? Why is
Offoaro instigating the Middle Belters to rise? To rise from what? Who
has chained them? The last time I checked and the next time I will check
it’s not the Hausa/Fulani Offoaro hates with passion that are governors
in Middle Belt states. They are not the ones occupying slots for
national positions allotted to Middle Belt states. They are not queuing
up at military or police recruitment venues masquerading as Middle
Belters to usurp their quota. They are not asking for federal
allocations meant for Middle Belt states to be redirected to their
states. Even in national elections Middle Belters have often voted along
lines they felt best fulfilled their aspirations and desires. Offoaro
should check his much beloved Middle Belt very well: it is not the
Hausa/Fulani that are making it difficult for the Idoma to be governor
in Benue State neither are they the ones making it difficult for the
Egbira to be governor in Kogi State. Let him do his research very well
and he will find that minority tribes like marginalizing other tribes
they also call minority tribes. Even in Boko Haram and “Boko Haram”
there is marginalization. Were not some Nigerian newspapers awash with
stories recently of the alleged confessions of some kingpins of the Boko
Haram sect in which they alleged that the minority Kanuri leadership of
the sect selects only the Hausa/Fulani, Nigeriens and other tribes
among them for suicide operations? Again, even in Boko Haram the
Hausa/Fulani are hated and a minority tribe is marginalizing other
minority tribes to death! And what about the 2012 national budget, some
people have already pointed out that the budget is skewed in favour of
the President’s immediate province contrary to even being partial to the
National Association of Minority Tribes of Nigeria (NAMTN) who
overwhelmingly supported him as being one of them. So, the minority also
marginalizes the minority. This underscores the truth that what Nigeria
truly needs is selfless, incorruptible, morally sound and compassionate
leaders to be in power and we have them in all parts of the country and
when Nigerians get tired of being manipulated by all these five for one
kobo politicians they will bring those people to power and then the
country will fulfill her prophetic destiny.
Offoaro, in the said article wanted to paint a picture of a Middle
Belt under Hausa/Fulani oppression but ended up contradicting himself by
naming the very high achievements of the people in the military,
politics and business all under Hausa/Fulani oppression. The venomous
man, in desperate pursuit of calamity and disunity said “I want to use
this sacred podium to call on the people of the Middle Belt of Nigeria
to rebel against the tyranny of the Hausa/Fulani or forever remain the
most backward and endure accordingly.” And the white bearded old man who
shouldn’t be anybody’s role model further added, “People of the Middle
Belt, arise; you have nothing to lose other than your chains.” Exactly
the tone of Satan when he was deceiving Eve into trouble. And you would
think Offoaro’s backyard is an Eldorado such that he wants to replicate
same for others, just the same way Satan takes trips out of hell to
couch hell as heaven so as to draw many into it.
Well, since Offoaro has seen the Middle Belt people in chains such
that they are not at liberty to do anything at all, as a liberator par
excellence he should just mobilize all the chain cutting machines and
gadgets with him and zoom off to the Middle Belt and saw off those
notorious chains, for it is impossible for a people in chains to arise
and free themselves. Someone has to do it for them, for even when Paul
and Silas, as anointed as they were, were in prison it took an angel to
come and cut off their chains. So, in the case of the Middle Belt it is
either God did not see the chains to warrant sending an angel or it is
Offoaro who has seen the chains and should therefore, patriotically and
lovingly move urgently to undo the chains only his dim bespectacled eyes
can see.
As an anarchist in the class of a suicide bomber in a large market
place, Offoaro let us into his mind to know his kind of heroes when he
said, “Come to think of it, why can’t the guy, Gideon Orkar, be likened
to Odumegwu Ojukwu, as a visionary who came before his time? Is it
because he is not Igbo or Yoruba? Didn’t he once upon a time, properly,
redraw the map of Nigeria to the secret applause of many?” Here,
according to Offoaro every secessionist is a visionary in the mould of
the late Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu. He probably doesn’t know that a sound
and clear vision based on a righteous and truthful foundation leads to
the liberation of a people into peace and prosperity. That is the reason
the Lord Jesus Christ said if the blind lead the blind they will all
fall into a ditch. Offoaro’s visionaries caused the death of many people
they wanted to liberate, and that is the ditch Christ was talking
about. It was the ditch Offoaro’s visionaries saw and that’s the same
kind of vision Offoaro and his ilk are seeing now. And for appropriate
map drawing by the lunatic Orkar which Offoaro and his many secret
anarchists applauded, has it ever occurred to this cloud of haters and
bitter souls that Orkar’s new found republic minus the cut off area
could have turned out to be the most cantankerous and crisis filled
republic ever by reason of the very glaring desperately big egos of some
groups who will want to assert themselves over the others? Let them
think of the usual inter and intra ethnic wars and crisis that are the
usual identity marks of Offoaro and Orkar’s fantasy Eldorado Republic.
In the last paragraph of Offoaro’s article he asked some questions which I will provide answers to.
QUESTION 1, Offoaro asked: “Now, if the aforementioned people all
come from Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, and have been at the corridors
of power (following Hausa-Fulani up and down like mumu) for as long as
God knows, why is it that their area has been some of the least
developed in Nigeria second only to the Niger Delta?”
ANSWER: Thank God, at least the Hausa/Fulani have developed Offoaro’s
southeast, the southwest and the far north leaving out only the Middle
Belt and the Niger Delta. So it’s not all gloom and darkness during the
Hausa/Fulani era, is it?
QUESTION 2, Offoaro asked: “Why are there no good roads in the Middle Belt area of Nigeria?”
ANSWER: Because President Obasanjo, a southerner, and Chief Tony
Anenih, another southerner and former works minister, both whom, like
Offoaro should never ever toy with the interests of the Middle Belt
people forgot these roads when they were in power.
QUESTION 3, Offoaro asked: “Why is the road from Keffi in Nassarawa
through Makurdi in Benue, a living hell? Why has that road not at least
been dualized?”
ANSWER: Because the Senate President, Middle Belt governors of the
states concerned and the Senators and House of Representatives members
from the area are in chains and are waiting for Offoaro to unchain them
so that they can ask the federal government to dualize it.
QUESTION 4, Offoaro asked: “Why are there not (except Dangote Cement) any industries of repute in the region”
ANSWER: Because their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) and federal
allocations are sent, by provision of the law, to the Hausa/Fulani
states to industrialize them. And their rich businessmen have followed
suit.
QUESTION 5, Offoaro asked: “Why are the people’s brand of agriculture not being revolutionized?”
ANSWER: Because the agricultural revolution going on in Offoaro’s
backyard has to be completed first so that Offoaro’s experts will come
and lend them a helping hand; and that will also be after their chains
are broken off by Offoaro.
QUESTION 6, Offoaro asked: “Why is there runaway unemployment in the Middle Belt zone?”
ANSWER: People in chains cannot look for jobs so Offoaro should
hurry, and in James Bond fashion rescue them so that they can fill their
entire federal quota.
QUESTION 7, Offoaro asked: “Why didn’t the leaders, earlier produced
from this region do enough to uplift the quality of lives of its
people?”
ANSWER: Oh, sorry, please….. Come again; I thought there were never
ever national leaders produced from this region and were all under
Hausa/Fulani tyranny. Aaaaah!
QUESTION 8, Offoaro asked: “Why are the political wishes and
destinies of the people of the Middle Belt (who arguably make at least a
quarter of the Nigerian population) still tied to the apron strings of
the Hausa/Fulani oligarchs? Why?”
ANSWER: Because the Hausa/Fulani held them at gun point to forcibly
vote for Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979 and 1983 and for Buhari in 2003
and 2011. Offoaro should check the results and see the proof of this
tyranny.
QUESTION 9, Offoaro asked: “Why is it that every important political
appointment meant for the north always ended up in the kitty of the
Hausa/Fulani?”
ANSWER: Does Offoaro mean all the important federal appointments held
by Middle Belters which he himself listed in previous paragraphs of his
article?
QUESTION 10, Offoaro asked: “Why is it that any important federal
investment meant for the north ends up in the belly of the Hausa-Fulani
geographical area?”
ANSWER: Which investments? Offoaro should do a follow up article and
name them. In case he finds any he should check very well whether there
is no such in the Middle Belt and if not he should as a matter of urgent
national importance prevail on President Jonathan to immediately bring
federal investments to the area.
QUESTION 11, Offoaro asked: “And why is it so, that the area belonged to the north only in name?”
ANSWER: What is Offoaro’s worry here? Is he not trying to convert the
place to the south in deed and in name? Let him just hurry!
QUESTION 12, Offoaro asked: “Why doesn’t the Middle Belt area of
Nigeria have anything to show for the political support it had shown to
the core north?”
ANSWER: But they have a lot to show for supporting Obasanjo and are
still having a lot more to show for supporting Jonathan. What is
Offoaro’s worry about?
QUESTION 13, Offoaro asked: “When will the Middle Belt region be liberated?”
ANSWER: When Offoaro comes like Moses or James Bond to lead them to a
free and liberated southeast or any other place of his choice.
QUESTION 14, Offoaro asked: “Why is it that the people from the area do not have a voice of their own?”
ANSWER: Because their Councilors, Council Chairmen, State Assembly
representatives, Governors, Senators, House of Reps members, ministers
and so on and so on are Hausa/Fulanis. Is there anything Offoaro can do
about it?
QUESTION 15, Offoaro asked: “Why are there not visible coherent
political pressure groups like the Ohanaeze, Afenifere, South-South
Elders Forum, and or the MASSOB, the OPC, and the BOKO HARAM in the
Middle Belt region in spite of the area’s strategic importance?”
ANSWER: Because Offoaro has taken over the job and voice of the
Middle Belt Forum (MBF) and if he wants them to own terror groups like
MASSOB, OPC and BOKO HARAM he should just offer them free consultancy
and logistics services since he wants to liberate them to a liberated
and prosperous land.
That’s the kind of propaganda being churned out there just to
programme the minds of a targeted people to hate others and be easily
manipulated and nothing convinces me that it is not driven by what seems
to be an incurable phobia for accommodation, selflessness and unity.
Asari Dokubo, the stormy petrel, in an interview with the LEADERSHIP
SUNDAY newspaper of March 18, 2012 said “We are starting a programme to
force the presidency to make sure that one dime of our money does not
come up North. Nobody can take our resources.” How he and the other
cantankerous people in his team will do this is not known, but it seems
Dokubo and his team may have dumped the northern branch of the National
Association of Minority Tribes of Nigeria (NAMTN) who in submission to
the usual strange and questionable liberation propaganda of Offoaro’s
type staked their northernness in the 2011 presidential election for
Jonathan whom they saw as a member of their Association. The same Dokubo
has been holding meetings of so called ethnic nationalities including
tribes from the north. Will their programme to force the presidency to
block “their money” from going up north fashion a way for “their money”
to go to the minority tribes in the north or is it a case of use and
dump? Will Dokubo and his team sponsor a legislation in the National
Assembly “to force the presidency” to effect that or is it a wider plot
that involves Terrorist Tompolo given official powers to patrol
Nigeria’s high seas for God knows what? The DAILY TRUST newspaper of
Friday, March 30, 2012 on page 5 quoted an ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP) news
item which reported the Special Adviser to the President on Maritime
Services, Leke Oyewole as saying “Behind the scenes, Tompolo has been
offering his advice to the administration of President Goodluck
Jonathan” and you wonder what manner of advice will a known terrorist
offer any government.
A clearer picture of what the programme may be is given by Annkio
Briggs in an advertorial on page 33 of the DAILY SUN newspaper of
Thursday, March 1, 2012. In it she said, “Just as our leaders in 1958
felt that they will not develop in an independent Nigeria and they have
been proved right, we today declare our unshaking support for Dr
Goodluck Jonathan to remain the President of Nigeria. But we painfully
admit that the Niger Delta will not develop in Nigeria under any
government, now or in future, because past governments have failed the
Niger Delta people.” Even after having a president of the nation from
their stock she still believes that her people will not develop under
his government or in any other future government of the Nigerian nation,
a conclusion she may have reached after consulting with the gods of the
Ijaw nation. So what is next? This is one of the reasons I believe
“Boko Haram” engaged in “proxy bombing” may not let up so as to create a
perfect platform for Dokubo and Annkio’s “programme to force the
presidency to make sure that one dime of our money does not come up
North” and “Nobody can take our resources” ambition to materialize. And
your guess is as good as mine what this is all about.
The DAILY TRUST newspaper of Wednesday, January 18, 2012 on page 13
carried a prediction contained in a report made by the United States
group of military experts released by the Centre for Strategy and
Technology, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. The
predictors claimed that Nigeria will disintegrate by 2030, but that
before then the country will be engaged in a multipartite civil war like
it happened in Lebanon in 1975 and Somalia in 1991. According to them
“Nigeria’s lack of unifying national identity, history of corrupt
governance, religious and cultural schisms, and shifting demographics
may cause the state, over time, to break apart.” They added that “a
history of tribal and religious conflicts, endemic corruption at all
levels of government, poor national planning, uneven development, social
disorder, rampant criminality, violent insurgency, and terminal weak
governance provides an environment that could portend imminent collapse
and failure.” They also said “the more destructive the civil war, the
greater the chance of genocide and other horrors that leave an indelible
stain on human history.” Alarmingly, they posited that “By 2030 MEND
should be able to maintain a well-trained force of up to 10, 000
fighters who will conduct raids against national oil infrastructure,
both on and offshore.”
When you put these submissions by these U.S. military experts
vis-à-vis all the threats and blackmails by people like Annkio Briggs
and Asari Dokubo and with Terrorist Tompolo displacing the functions of
the Nigerian Navy at our coastlines then it’s not difficult to figure
out what the agenda is all about. They have upped the ante now by recent
attempts and maneuvers to blackmail the nation into swallowing again
the bitter government of Goodluck Jonathan beyond 2015.
The LEADERSHIP newspaper of Wednesday, April 11, 2012 reported that
some Ijaw leaders held a meeting in Lagos at which they discussed on how
to prevail on President Jonathan to recant on his declarations that he
would serve only one term, which, according to them, “could cause a
serious political setback for their region.” To them, it will be “so as
not to mortgage the opportunity of the South-South to enjoy eight years
presidency.” In a manner that tends to denigrate other people with sound
character and integrity from the region who may want to contest the
election the newspaper reported one of them as saying “Jonathan is the
only person in the South-South who could run and win the presidential
election in 2015.” How one of the most unpopular presidents in our
nation’s history could win re-election in 2015 could be one of the
wonders of the century. And faced with the moral dilemma hanging on
Jonathan’s neck when he breached his party’s power sharing agreement
which has successfully cast him as a dishonourable politician, which
made him to publicly state that he was going to serve for just a term
vis-à-vis the immorality of him recanting again his stated desire to
serve only one term, the newspaper reported Joshua Fumudoh, a former
president of the Ijaw National Congress as saying that “the meeting
considered that the statement by the president at the time was meant to
douse tension in the land.” That means they played a very fantastic
fraud (419) on all Nigerians to get what they want and thereafter use
threats, blackmail and force to compel us to re-swallow the fraud and
the misgovernance that came along with it. Well, if they play along this
line and president Jonathan agrees with them they will have succeeded
in eternally giving him the reputation of a serial liar and the Bible
says in Psalm chapter 63 verses 11 that “…the mouth of them that speak
lies shall be stopped.” Nigerians need to stand up and call the bluff of
these contrarians of honour and morality.
Here I must advise the northern power establishment and their
businessmen and women to pool resources together to begin to exploit the
huge oil deposits and abundant mineral resources within the north to
free her from the stigma of being called parasites by cantankerous
people. Oil is not an exclusive preserve of any type of geographical
area, for if desert Arab lands down to the Niger Republic can have oil
then nothing stops it being in the north. In the past there have been
sabotages of the exploration and exploitation of oil in the north by
people who derive pleasure in labeling the north and northerners as poor
uneducated parasites and cannot stand the prospect of an oil rich
north, for such people suffer from a very bad case of both inferiority
and superiority complex. That is why the Director General of the Energy
Commission of Nigeria, Prof. Abubakar Sambo told newsmen on March 19,
2012 in Abuja that “Exploitation of oil in the North is yet to begin
because of politics.” He emphasized that even though there is proof of
the existence of oil reserves in Bauchi and Gombe states but that their
exploitation is stalled because of politics. The Bible has proven in
Psalm chapter 104 verses 24 that no part of the world or earth is
without riches. It says “O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom
hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.” So, the north
and other parts of Nigeria can do well to diligently begin to explore
and harness the resources made available by God within their domain and
be free from the blackmail of a few implacable people, for God is set to
settle some arguments in this nation by Himself. And that’s very soon!
While the far north is being misunderstood, abused and turned into a
subject of ridicule and also being projected as Nigeria’s problem I
believe that they hold lessons for us Christians to learn from. God has
often, in the Bible told us Christians to learn certain principles of
life from certain things we probably despise. For example, in Proverbs
chapter 6 verses 6 to 8 God has instructed us to learn the principles of
discipline, hard work, teamwork and savings from the ant. He instructs:
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which
having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer,
and gathereth her food in the harvest.”
The north and northerners are often derided as poor and parasitic,
but curiously they have the lowest number of criminals home and abroad.
Before Farouk Abdulmuttalab and after, northerners were not and are not
the reason Nigeria’s green passport has become an object of unpleasant
attention abroad. Northerners are not the ones packed in foreign jails
doing time. Northerners are not the majority of people queuing up in
front of foreign missions desperately looking for visa to ship out and
do whatever. Northerners are not the majority involved in illicit drugs
trafficking. Northerners are not the majority doing international and
domestic prostitution. Northerners are not the majority involved in
armed robbery and the hired killer profession. Northerners did not
create the kidnapping industry in Nigeria. Northerners are not the
majority involved in electronic mail scams. So, if we are to be called
Christians let us be Christians in deed but not just in name. Instead of
looking for and finding faults with the northerners we should first
heed Christ’s instruction in Matthew chapter 7 verses 5 wherein He said
to us “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and
then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s
eye.” A beam is made up of motes, which means what we are hypocritically
accusing others of is just a tiny component of our own faults.
So, the Hausa/Fulani man, in his poverty and deprivation will rather
be a shoe shiner, a seller of fruits and veggies in wheelbarrow, a mini
trader, a suya seller, a mai guard, a water vendor in hand pushed truck,
a tea and bread seller by the street corner or at worst a beggar than
being a local or international criminal. At least it’s more honourable
to beg than to be a criminal. And, hey, am not saying they don’t have
criminals. It’s the comparative proportion am talking about here. The
Lord Jesus Christ told us in Luke chapter 21 verses 19 that “In your
patience possess ye your souls” but we appear to be the most impatient
people in this country and the consequences of our impatience are what
has set the country on edge, and instead of collectively taking on the
divinely ordained task of rescuing the nation we are busy engaged in
provincialism and, in cowardice and sheer hypocrisy, hiding behind the
veil of prayer for the nation to escape confronting the butchering
monsters and thieves we have aided and abetted to be in government. And
while still hiding in our cowardice agents and prophets of doom are busy
fanning the embers of discord and further pushing the nation to the
brink because we have refused to fill the gap we are ordained to fill,
for it seems we have not reckoned with the fact that gaps hate remaining
as gaps. It is either the right persons fill them up or the wrong
persons will. And this is how and why the original Boko Haram came to
be.
It is only a complete sense and state of hopelessness that could
propel a formal school graduate to tear his degree or diploma
certificates to shreds and take up arms to wage war against a system he
has rightly observed as unjust, rotten and corrupt. A system that does
not reward hard work, creativity, honesty, integrity and merit but
rather chooses to garland thieves with medals of honour and prop them to
be rulers of the people is a system that is doomed to attract various
malcontents to rebel against it. This is the state Nigeria has found
herself in, but instead of the church to rise to the occasion majority
of her shepherds have transformed into butchers and have formed an
alliance I will call the National Association of P.D.P. Pastors (NAPDPP)
to enthrone and strengthen another cadre of butchers with bigger
knives, mouths, jaws and throats that can slice, chew and swallow the
people running helter-skelter looking for salvation. The few shepherds
that have refused to join their butchering club have become target
practice for their arrows of mischief and propaganda. At all cost the
people must be butchered, so their actions suggest. While God has
ordained and anointed them to be the voice and protective cover of the
poor the sweet scent of the aroma of filthy lucre has attracted them
and, like Gehazi in the Bible, they have lost their skin and garment of
prestige and honour both before God and man. And like David would say of
the death of Jonathan (the selfless one in the Bible), “How are the
mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished.” Ah! The weapons of
truth meant to fight the cause of the poor in Nigeria have been turned
to fight the cause of the wicked in high places and has consequented
into the perishing of the land. Ah! The schools, the hospitals, the
roads, the power supply, the water supply and housing have been
swallowed down the throats of thieves wearing nice clothes in offices.
Morality and good conscience have both journeyed abroad in search of a
receptive land. Bedlam that loves their absence has offered to replace
them and with two hands and a hug we accepted her. Ah…..
So who bails the poor from the buccaneering grip of the butchers in
high places? The Nehemiahs and the Phinehases strategically hidden by
God within the church must step forward. The time for which the sons and
daughters of men will see their manifestation is now, for the Word says
for everything there is a time and season. The time and cup of the
butchers are full and now is time for reclamation and restoration. It is
time to march the streets and occupy public buildings and offices and
demand accountability, and also demand the complete eradication of
corruption from the conduct of both public and private businesses.
Pastor Tunde Bakare and a few other pastors in conjunction with other
good conscienced and well meaning persons and groups stood out to make a
positive difference in our nation by mobilizing and galvanizing all
their time and resources in defence of the cause of the poor after the
Satan inspired removal of subsidy on petrol. But what did they get from
some so called pastors? Condemnations. Rebuffs. Slander.
Faced with the dilemma of how to recoup back to the treasury funds
stolen to buy every buyable conscience in an election which compassion,
morality and honour were sentenced to death by hanging, it took the
nudging of a certain Christine Largade from the ever dubious IMF and
some locally based neo-liberal economic experts with expert skills and
knowledge on how to ‘remove the ladder’ of industrial and economic
growth from developing nations so that they can remain perpetual
economic laggards for a phantom subsidy on petrol to be removed so that
Nigerians can be overtaxed and overcharged over a product they have in
abundance just to create a safety net for thieves to pay back to the
treasury what they stole and to re-steal it again. That was what the
whole gambit of fuel subsidy removal was all about. And for this cruelty
against the poor overbeaten, over flogged and over deceived people of
Nigeria God was and is still angry, but majority of our pastors were not
angry one bit. But why should they even be angry, after all they are
assured of a steady stream of monetary and material income since, come
rain and come shine, people must come to church with tithes, offerings,
seed offerings and prophet offerings?
The mass of Nigerian people trooped the streets to show their anger
and displeasure at what the butchers in government have been and are
still subjecting them to. All of a sudden the same people that were, a
few months earlier, divided by characterless and colourless politicians
along ethno-religious lines became united in the realization that these
butchers have after all not singled out any ethnic or religious group to
be spared from their butchering knives. There were not going to be
petrol stations strictly for Christians and neither were there any for
Muslims with the ones for the other having cheap price advantage over
the ones for the other. Neither also was there markets divided along
those lines with cheaper goods shipped into the markets for the
preferred people of our dividing politicians. It came to pass that the
people realized that we are all Nigerians after all. There went Muslims
and Christians, tribes and all, hands locked together and all together
holding the Green-White-Green flag that banners our Nigerianness, all
protesting against the unquenching thirst and desire of our ever
thieving politicians to steal more and inflict the burdens of their
thefts on the people they lick instead of lead. The youths that were
deceived with free disco dancing sessions across the major cities of
Nigeria to vote for only Goodluck Jonathan and not the P.D.P. all came
out to denounce the evil project of making them and their parents pay
for those free discos at the fuel pump and the markets. Someone needed
to identify with these people and speak for them and fight their cause.
The Lord God the Almighty commanded in Proverbs chapter 31 verses 9 that
anyone that cares and still has his or her good conscience intact to
“Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and
needy.”
Pleading the cause of the poor and the needy has always been the
central plank of the Gospel; it is the heartbeat and heart cry of God
Almighty. In fact, it is the reason He prospers people.
I believe Pastor Tunde Bakare and a few other Nigerian pastors,
including that noble Catholic Bishop in Ado-Ekiti understood this truth
very well and they came out and identified with the people to plead
their just cause – yes, it was and is still a just cause the quest to
demand the restoration of fuel prices to their pre January 1st 2012
position. If anything the only thing that Nigerians get from their
governments since 1999 is lower fuel price. Even that, successive
governments have often jerked up the prices on the guise of the removal
of a so called subsidy with the usual lies of raising enough money for
infrastructural development and job market growth, but at the end it is
government officials that end up becoming billionaires at the expense of
the people. The jobs will not be seen and the infrastructure still
remains as relics of a war territory.
For daring to step into the fray and open his mouth as commanded by
God to plead the cause of the poor and needy, members of the National
Association of P.D.P. Pastors (NAPDPP) descended on Pastor Bakare,
heaping all the names that are their names on him. Even when the pastor
joined politics to help bring sanity and accountable governance to the
country, to them the pastor has lost focus and has derailed from his
calling. And to “help” him regain his focus and calling they mobilized
the “fish and bread multitude” that are their congregations to vote in
the same way those Pharisees and Sadducees of old mobilized the same
“fish and bread multitude” that the Lord Jesus Christ fed to vote
against Him in favour of a thief and murderer before Pilate the Roman
governor! It was the same epic drama replicated again in another form,
and here we are shuffling our feet and sighing in pain and boredom at
the epilogue of the drama.
Ah, whenever they attack Pastor Bakare for daring to join politics
they quickly develop an emergency amnesia, for right inside the party
they love and romance with are Pastors like Jonah Jang, Jolly Nyame and
many others occupying either elective or party positions in various
states and local governments. Probably to them, it is only alright if a
pastor joins politics through their party for they have never taken full
page newspaper ads against these clergymen in their party like they
have often done against Pastor Bakare.
They probably may have not reckoned that whereas Joseph served as
Prime Minister in Egypt he was also a prophet; that prophet Moses was
the political leader of the Jews until his death; that Joshua who took
over from Moses served as their prophet and political leader also; that
king David, while being king over Israel was also a prophet and the same
thing for his son, king Solomon. And when you move a little further
into the years of exile of the Jewish nation, Daniel served as Prime
Minister in the kingdom of Babylon, but the Lord Jesus Christ called him
a prophet in Matthew chapter 24 verses 15. And, come on, the titles of
Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords are all political leadership
titles.
So what is the argument all about? Is it because Pastor Bakare has
refused to be corrupted and suborned to wage war against the glorious
destiny of the Nigerian nation like many others in the priesthood have
allowed? Well, no matter how corrupt and decadent any nation or society
may be God will always have for Himself at least a group of seven
thousand persons whose knees have refused to bow in submission to the
deceptions and trickeries of Baal the corrupter of nations (see 1st
Kings chapter 19 verses 18). It is these remnants that, like the prophet
Elijah, will stand up to evil kings like Ahab and his notoriously evil
wife, Queen Jezebel and destroy all their Satanism which has robbed some
nations of the earth of God’s glory and blessings. There can never ever
be a complete surrender of all people in any nation or church to the
inglorious majesty of Baal and Jezebel. So, if the pastors and bishops
of many Nigerian churches have transformed into prophets of Baal like
the four hundred prophets in 1st Kings chapter 22 verses 6, Pastor
Bakare has refused to be so transformed. Even before he joined politics
he has been a consistent voice and mobilizer against any form of
injustice, even in favour of his current traducers who have benefitted
from his crusades for justice. And that is the context in which the
pastor joined and mobilized against the ill willed Jonathan’s policy of
overcharging and over taxing Nigerians on the cost of petrol for more
money to be stolen.
One Pastor Ojang Agba who labeled himself as “A Worker in the Lord’s
Vineyard” took out full page advertorials in major national newspapers
in the course of the morally and legitimately right protests against the
evil hike in petrol price to paint Pastor Bakare in the garment of a
false prophet for daring to step forward to fight against the evil that
they “true prophets” in connivance with the butchers they helped put in
government unleashed on Nigerians. O, yes, their complicit silence in
the face of that horrendous act by the ruling cabal is evidence enough
of their endorsement of that evil. Not once have I ever, ever seen any
such advertorial coming from this so called Pastor Agba rebuking
corruption being perpetrated by evil rulers, but he found it so
convenient to put up his (?) resources to put up ads attacking someone
who was fearless enough to confront the Ahabs and Jezebels on behalf of
the poor. So, whose cause was this Pastor Agba and other members of the
National Association of P.D.P. Pastors that were attacking Pastor Bakare
fighting, the cause of the poor or the kleptomaniacs stealing from the
poor?
Pastor Agba, in a conspiratorial tone asked, “Did you watch Tunde
Bakare heaping curses on President Jonathan and other members of the
administration? I did. And I began to wonder what my bible says about
that type of behaviour. And I found the following; “Bless those who
persecute you; bless and do not curse” Romans 12:14.” But Pastor Agba
did not tell us in his ads what the Bible says about corrupt rulers who
derive ecstatic pleasure in oppressing and stealing from the poor and
what prophets or pastors or the church should do to them. I bet he and
his type will easily find answer and solace in the usual verse of
Scripture they use as hiding place to escape confronting the thieves
they help in government. I’m talking of 1st Timothy chapter 2 verses 1
to 3, which asks for prayers for all men, and for kings and all those in
authority. The problem is, the church has been praying for donkey years
for all manner of rulers that came and went and nothing has changed. If
the people in authority you are praying for are not in a right position
to be beneficiaries of the answers to the prayers of the saints it will
end up as mere bodily exercise. For example, if an angel of the Lord,
in answer to a certain prayer is coming with the gift of wisdom to
deposit in some ruler but finds the ruler in a drinking spree or some
compromising situation or discussing how to frustrate some judges of
integrity out of office or strategizing on how to rig another election
the angel will surely turn back. Most importantly also is the spiritual
state of those praying: are they living in love for even their enemies?
Do they condone corruption and injustice? What is their view of all the
people in the nation they live in? Do they view people of other tribes
and religion as low castes and slaves that should be dominated and
relegated? All these and more are important in determining God’s
response to these people praying for the nation. But considering the rot
the Nigerian nation is in, God could be telling us something else.
Perhaps, our prayers for the nation may have been hanging in the clouds.
Moreover, even if we are praying for the well-being of the nation God
expects us to work the answer with Him. And this is where the issue of
cowardice comes in. I am sure quite a number of clergy in the Nigerian
church find it convenient to perpetually hide behind the veil of prayer
while avoiding the work part, for working for the rescue and salvation
of any nation, more especially ones like Nigeria ridden with thuggish
and criminal politicians, requires an extraordinary dose of courage.
When God was instructing Joshua on how to take over the nations and
cities He has given the nation of Israel He told him and the people to
be strong and courageous three times (see Joshua chapter 1), for He knew
the occupants of those nations and cities would not give them up
without contention because of the sense of entitlementalism. Now, if you
look closely and carefully all the thieves that have been ruling
Nigeria till date walk with swagger because of this sense of
entitlementalism. They seem to have this uncanny confidence which kind
of suggests they believe they have an inalienable right to practice and
multiply corruption. And just to prove that, they deploy both official
and unofficial powers to scuttle any genuine effort at fighting
corruption. Verily, verily I say unto you that they will not give up
corruption without a fight! This is where the work part which requires
courage comes in.
And the Bible gave us a clue to this fact and truth when it says in
Mark chapter 16 verses 20 that “….they went forth, and preached every
where, the Lord working with them…..” It didn’t say the Lord worked for
them, but that He worked with them. They collaborated with the Lord in
working together, not the other sitting aloof while another worked. Acts
chapter 5 verses 12 also say “And by the hands of the apostles were
many signs and wonders wrought among the people….” God did not use His
own hands literally; rather He used their own hands to bring reformation
in the lives of the people. They too had the choice of hiding their
hands in fear and faithlessness, but they embraced and deployed faith
and courage and it worked and you cannot tell me that they have not been
prayer warriors, too. But fearful and hypocritical Christianity will
rather wait for God to come and do what He has given them hands to do.
When you meet Nigerians bemoaning what has become of their country, you
would detect an expectation for God to come down with the heavenly host
to fight corrupters of the nation and turn it to an Eldorado. And that’s
not gonna happen.
If God were to fight our battles without our spiritual and physical
input we may end up not appreciating the task involved and would
therefore not savour the joy of victory, and, most importantly, the
change He may have given us on a platter of gold could be allowed to
fritter away due to lethargy. People are able to manage effectively and
prudently what they labour by themselves to attain contrary to what they
may have been given freely (not all times, though). That was how Adam
and Eve abused the privilege of owning and enjoying free things given
them in the Garden of Eden. I believe this is the context in which
Pastor Bakare actively mobilizes for social justice and the liberation
of the poor from oppression, which is even the mandate of all the
prophets of God and hence the church. Any pastor or prophet that, at any
given time and situation, does not identify with and speak for the poor
and the oppressed should better examine his or her stance with God, it
is most probable they have transformed into prophets of Baal without
knowing, or maybe even knowingly.
So, was Pastor Bakare raining curses or abuses on President Jonathan
at the Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Park in Lagos during the mass protests
against the unjust fuel price hike? Except if the ever fault finding
Pharisees and Sadducees have a new definition for curse, what the Pastor
was saying at the rally did not amount to him cursing the President. If
boldly demanding for the restoration of petrol price to what it was
before the inhuman price hike and the moral demand for accountability
and social justice were what constitutes a curse in the eyes and ears of
these cowards in priestly garb then they need to start school afresh.
The Pastor didn’t curse the President, rather the mass of protesters
nationwide were the ones holding all manner of banners and artworks
depicting the President in unpleasant terms, and of course many rained
verbal curses on him and at the end of it all, President Jonathan now
holds the Google record of the most cursed president in the world! So we
have a cursed ruler in our hands! Lord, have mercy!
It is true, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verses 20 that
“Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in
thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that
which hath wings shall tell the matter.” But the reason King Solomon
issued this advice is, any act of disobedience to the Mosaic regulations
or to any of God’s commandments naturally attracts a curse, and
therefore it becomes unnecessary for one to pronounce a curse on such a
disobedient fellow. This is the reason most afflictions (not all) are
due to certain misdemeanor or sin. So whether the people curse a wicked
and corrupt ruler or not the fact that he or she engages in corruption
and debauchery is enough to place such a ruler under a curse. Curse is a
natural consequence of an evil action. Proverbs chapter 26 verses 2
confirm it thus: “As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so
the curse causeless shall not come.” But, in what looks like a
permission for people to curse evil rulers Proverbs chapter 11 verses 26
says, “He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but
blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.” So, evil rulers
who steal public funds meant for public good like housing, roads,
health care and medicare, education, electricity, water supply, food
production, job creation and industrial development shall be cursed by
the people even though they needed not to pronounce it, but as an
expression of their angst, anger and frustration they pour it out as a
means of easing themselves of bottled up pressure. When Christ was
angered and frustrated by the absence of fruits – and it was the season
of fruits – on a fig tree He cursed the tree and immediately, the tree
dried up.
Evil and corrupt rulers are fig trees that are withholding fruits
from the public, and as Christ was hungry before seeing the fig tree so
also are the people hungry for social services, food and infrastructure.
But the rulers, standing as the corrupt and wicked fig tree have denied
the people the basic needs of life, instead they have and are still
accumulating for themselves all it takes to produce the fruits just like
the fig tree was filled with sap and everything it takes to produce
fruits but chose not to. Such selfish fig trees are always looking lush
and green because of accumulated sap and nutrients that nourish only
themselves, probably not knowing that yielding what they were meant to
yield would make them greener and lusher. And Christ cursed such a tree
to become dry, since it would not use its power and resources to provide
succour.
So, what are our prophets doing against the fig tree at the center of
power in Nigeria, which has been denying the fruits of living from the
population? Christ pronounced judgment on the unfruitful fig tree, but
what judgment are our prophets pronouncing on the Nigerian unfruitful
fig tree? I can’t remember any prophet of note in the Bible who did not
pronounce one judgment or the other against evil rulers of their time.
If the prophets in Nigeria have devoted time and energy at cursing out
the evil fig tree of corruption and bad governance out of Nigeria in the
same way they lead the church in the “curse your enemy” kind of prayer
and followed it with action Nigeria will have been a sane society to
live and do business in by now.
Another clergyman that went on misfiring his mouth against Pastor
Bakare for mobilizing and leading the massive rallies against the
callous thievery perpetrated by some government officials in conjunction
with their accomplices in the private sector in the name of subsidy
payments was Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde, Prelate, Methodist Church, Nigeria.
In a press release, which was posted online by nairaland.com towards
the end of January 2012 the cleric said, “The role of any clergy is to
stand in the gap between the government and the people. They should
intercede on behalf of the people. Divine intervention is better than
any rally. A cleric should not lead in any rally, but advise government
on what they should do. You don’t lead the crowd. By doing so, you are
telling us that God is weak in dealing with any situation.”
Here again we are faced with a situation of someone confused as to
what the role of the clergy is in a corrupt, oppressive and brutal
nation like Nigeria, where the mass of people are left on their own
without any governmental care. In Dr. Makinde’s understanding organizing
and participating in rallies is faithlessness in God, as it portrays
God as weak. Now, when you read Pastor Sunday Adelaja’s book, CHURCH
SHIFT, in which God clearly told the pastor to organize rallies in
protest against the oppressive dictatorship in Ukraine, a revolution
that was successfully executed, you would think that, by Dr. Makinde’s
postulation, God is a confusionist. By Makinde’s postulation the clergy
are a detached group of persons from the people and should be mere
negotiators between the government and the people, as it is clear this
is his own understanding of standing in the gap. He thinks the
prophethood is a mere advisory office that should just be advising
governments on what they should do. But what if the thieving and
oppressive governments like the ones we have been having in Nigeria till
date refuse the advices of the prophets? And what advices proffered to
thieves and oppressors in power by Dr. Makinde and the others who think
like him have been accepted and used? Is Nigeria being run since 1999
till date according to the kind of advices Dr. Makinde and the other
advisory prophets proffer? If so, then their advices must have been
inspired by Satan but definitely not God as there is nothing on ground
to suggest that this country has been run according to godly counsel in
the period in question.
Let Dr. Makinde and the other kid glove prophets go back to the Bible
and do a comprehensive study of all the prophets, they will see that
none was a kid glove prophet. But rather, they were making bold and
courageous demands from the kings on behalf of God and for the people.
What should they be negotiating for? That some thieves who came to power
on the back of Satan in a docile nation have decided to make life more
unbearable for the people and the prophets should just merely walk up to
them or merely call a press conference to advice them to do it gently,
gently? That was not what Moses the prophet did. If Moses were to be in
the fashion of Dr. Makinde and the other lily livered prophets here in
Nigeria then the nation of Israel could still have been in Egypt bound
in slavery till today! Satan and his representatives are not to be
negotiated with by the prophets of God, rather they are to be told “Thus
saith the Lord, let my people go” and not to be cavorting with them at
the expense of the people. Recent examples of the lives of Arch Bishop
Desmond Tutu of South Africa and the late Rev. Martin Luther King Junior
should be an inspiration for cowardly and docile pastors to live up to
the truth of activism.
Dr. Makinde further said, “We know Bakare is a politician, whether
you like it or not. For him, political assignment is his primary while
his religious obligation is secondary. I can call on government or
advise the government to do this or that. But when a clergyman embarks
on a rally or protest, it is inciting the people against the government.
Area boys (miscreants) can hijack it from him and begin to unleash
terror before our very eyes. ‘Oh, look at our pastor’. It is very easy
to set up a fire, but difficult to quench it. When the government is
doing something that is bad, we speak out. We can call for a press
conference where we advise the government to do what is right.
“This man (Jonathan) we are talking about needs our prayers, whether
you are a Muslim or Christian. He needs our prayers in order to govern
well. I was in the Holy Land (Israel) when I heard what was going on and
I thank God for intervening. I thank God for answering our prayers.
“I appeal to clerics not to use their cassocks or positions to get
involved in any rally. For Tunde Bakare, we all know him as an activist;
he was a running mate to the presidential candidate of the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC), Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), who was
defeated in the 2011 presidential election.”
That is a statement filled with hypocrisy, pride, ignorance, deceit
and self righteousness in the order of the Pharisees. I have already
dealt with the issue of whether prophets can be kings or not earlier, as
Dr. Makinde and his ilk, in the narrow confines of their vision and
understanding concerning the purpose of the priesthood, have often, as
he has just done, assumed Pastor Bakare has fallen off his calling.
Sounding judgmental he has even asserted that the pastor has confined
his religious faith and obligations to a secondary matter without
telling us whether religious obligations do not include, first and
foremost, the quest for social justice and the people’s welfare. In
their usual Pharisaic pride, arrogance and aloof posturing he alluded
that the prophet cannot mix with miscreants in any rally, as, according
to him, they may hijack it and unleash terror. In order words, to
maintain the status quo of corruption and governmental terror on the
population the clergy, being clean, descent and noble people, should
keep far from miscreants, even if the same miscreants have been made
miscreants by thieves in power and are looking for a role model who
feels their pain and have identified with them and has devoted his life
to fighting for a cause that could free them from being miscreants. The
Bible has already said there is nothing new under the sun; whatever we
see today has occurred in like manner in time past. The Dr.
Makindes of old have constantly derided the Lord Jesus Christ for
fraternizing with sinners, so it is nothing new if Pastor Bakare is
being derided for being in the midst of Area Boys on the spurious claim
that “it is very easy to set up a fire, but difficult to quench it.” And
you wonder who started the fire he is talking about? The actions of a
corrupt, thieving and unfeeling government targeted at oppressing the
poor and needy are enough fire already, combating it is what will quench
the fire but not being lethargic, cowardly and aloof as the members of
the National Association of P.D.P. Pastors will want the public to be.
Dr. Makinde said he thanked God for intervening, and one wonders, how
did God intervene in the matter? By the murders executed to thwart the
protests? Or by the deployment of armoured tanks and heavily armed
security men to occupy protest venues and further murder anyone that
dared them? Or by tear gassing elderly people on peaceful protests march
on the streets of Lagos? Or, as in the case of Kano, when a grand
protest rally was fixed for Saturday, January 21, 2012, very
conveniently for those who never wanted such protest rallies “Boko
Haram” executed a bombing fiesta on the city on Friday the 20th and the
protest rally could not hold, is that the kind of answer and divine
intervention Dr. Makinde is talking about? Shortly, I will prove
scripturally whether the clergy or the church can organize or take part
in rallies in consideration of Dr. Makinde’s plea that clerics should
not use their cassocks or position to get involved in any rally. But I
must state that Nigeria with clerics like Dr. Makinde will remain
perpetually under the oppressive jackboots of cruel thieves that have
cashed in on the docility of the people engendered by a complacent and
pliant theology of the type spawned by Makinde and his type. They are
the type Christ rebuked in Matthew chapter 23 verses 13 saying “But woe
unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom
of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
ye them that are entering to go in.” The Makindes have not been known to
champion any cause that will bring social justice to the oppressed poor
and they will neither allow the few among them the clergy that want to
fight for social justice to do so without facing their hypocritical,
unjust and deceptive criticisms and evil gang ups.
Dr. Makinde, in the last paragraph of his statement, said of Pastor
Bakare that, “For me, government cannot take him seriously. He is
fighting for his belly; he’s fighting for the theology of his stomach.
We should not mix politics with religion. It is very dangerous for our
nation. Bakare is mixing politics with religion and I advise that no
cleric should mix politics with religion. May God bless our Fatherland.
Amen.” This is the deepest pit a cleric can fall into in the art and act
of treachery, dishonesty, deception and outright slander and lies
against a man of God. Only insane or mad people are said to not be taken
seriously. Dr. Makinde admonishes that a corrupt government should not
take the efforts and actions of social justice crusaders like Pastor
Bakare serious, which means, to people like Makinde, everything is
alright with the polity, therefore only insane or mad persons are making
noise against it. This must be the reason for the complicit silence by
majority of the Christian clergy during and after the criminal and
unconscionable hike in the price of petrol, for they may have thought
like Makinde that only people who should not be taken seriously protest
against corruption and social injustice. When Pastor Bakare and others
marched the streets of Lagos and Abuja, demanding for the swearing in of
then Vice President Jonathan as Acting President in 2010, I am sure
then, to Dr. Makinde and the same Jonathan they want to protect, Pastor
Bakare should be taken seriously. But if it is for the poor mass of
people whom Jonathan wants to make shoeless like he was, then the pastor
should not be taken seriously.
Now, I wonder, how did Dr. Makinde arrive at his claim that Pastor
Bakare was fighting for his belly such that his theology was the
theology of the stomach? When the pastor and other compatriots with him
rejected a gift (or was it bribe) of fifty thousand US Dollars from this
same Jonathan in Aso Rock, which gave us an inkling of how the other
clergy who often troop into the villa are treated, where was Dr.
Makinde? And have Dr. Makinde and his type ever rejected any such gifts
from politicians like Jonathan? And come to think of it, if Pastor
Bakare is a pastor of the stomach as claimed by Dr. Makinde couldn’t he
have aligned himself to the wagon of the National Association of P.D.P.
Pastors, make cool money and look the other way when both minor and
serious acts of corruption, thievery and oppression are being
perpetrated against the nation and hence the poor? Between Pastor Bakare
and a few other clergy that have also been vocal against the oppression
of the poor and the pliant and subservient ones like Dr. Makinde, who
between the two camps can be said to be pursuing the theology of the
stomach? The poor people of Nigeria, the Area Boys, the miscreants and
the other downtrodden know exactly who their friends are among the
clergy. So Dr. Makinde and the others in his kind of theology should
save their breath from ranting their poisonous effusions against people
that have chosen not to be cowards and have taken sides with the poor
and the oppressed. Let them remain as prophets of Ahab until Jehu is
anointed, if not already, to slay Jezebel their mistress whom they
commit adultery with, but before then they should brace up for their own
judgment on Mount Carmel!
And as for mixing politics with religion, Dr. Makinde must have again
lost direction at which he should have directed his advice. When Pastor
Bakare was canvassing for votes never did he ask people to vote for
Buhari and him on the basis of his Christian faith. We all know who did
that and that was why the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to
which Dr. Makinde actively belongs adopted Jonathan Goodluck as their
candidate. So at what point did Dr. Makinde discover that mixing
politics with religion is dangerous? Is it after we are now experiencing
the disastrous consequences of their political indiscretion and lack of
wisdom that he has discovered mixing politics with religion is
dangerous? Oh, come on! If anyone should be asked not to mix religion
with politics, Dr. Makinde should look inwards at their conclave of
priests with unenviable record of backing corrupt and thieving
politicians. Now that it has emerged that about two trillion Naira was
stolen from Nigerians in the name of petrol subsidy payments, which from
all indications was used to prosecute and conquer the 2011 presidential
elections it is only a matter of time before we know how much of that
stolen money was used to buy off these priests that, at any given time,
with trembling lips and knees go about defending Jonathan’s government
in spite of the glaring incompetence and massive corruption going on in
the country. Haven’t such priests been praying for certified thieves
like James Onanefe Ibori while they were busy looting treasuries and
frolicking with mistresses?
Another cleric who showed his mind as working according to that of
Dr. Makinde is Apostle Anslem Madubuko, the General Overseer of Revival
Assembly, Lagos. In an interview he had with Sunday Oguntola of the
NATION newspaper published on page 68 of the papers edition of Sunday,
February 12, 2012 the cleric, in an apparent attempt to defend and
absolve President Jonathan of blame in the mass protests occasioned by
the wicked hike in the price of petrol said, “President Jonathan has
been spiritually programmed to fail and without strong intercession, he
will definitely fail. So, our job as a church is that we should
continuously break the spell over his presidency; the bad spell that the
wicked people have cast over his government. If we just keep talking
about him, all of us will go down, the nation will go down, Jonathan
will go down and we will all perish. But if we call upon the name of the
Lord, there will be respite.”
That is one of the greatest public relations campaign done on behalf
of an unfeeling and incompetent ruler by a cleric to the best of my
knowledge. Even Bishop Sunday Mbang, the chief defender of the corrupt
and evil regime of Obasanjo did not go this far as to attribute the
incompetence and corruption of a ruler to some spiritual programming by
some wicked people for the ruler to fail. How about someone coming out
to say Adam and Eve were spiritually programmed by some wicked forces to
fail in the Garden of Eden? So, all the failures Nigeria has been
experiencing in governance can be attributed to some wicked spell cast
upon each of the rulers by some wicked people so that their governments
could fail? So then does it mean, going by Apostle Anslem’s theory,
Prophet Elijah should have spared the evil regime of Ahab on the grounds
that he could have been spiritually programmed by Jezebel to be wicked
and to fail, or Prophet Samuel should have pleaded with God to spare
King Saul when the Lord rejected him from being king due to his
indiscretions on the ground that King Saul may have been spiritually
programmed by his enemies to fail? How is that an excuse before God? So
the decision to ask people to pay more than necessary at petrol pump
stations so that enough money can be recovered to cover up the trillions
stolen was programmed spiritually by the President’s enemies, and as
such the people should merely understand this and not protest? Apostle
Madubuko says “we should continuously break the spell over his
presidency”, which means it’s going to be a continuous thing. In that
case, according to the Apostle’s theology, each time the president
misbehaves or anything untoward happens in the course of his government
we should embark on breaking the spell responsible for that malfeasance.
Is that how rulers should govern people? Is it an act of spell that
some politicians have cultivated an attitude of dishonouring agreements
reached at negotiations or being serial liars?
And for intimidating or blackmailing the nation that “If we just keep
talking about him, all of us will go down, the nation will go down,
Jonathan will go down and we will all perish” Madubuko needs to know
that this country is bigger than Jonathan and will not sink because
people talk about him or not. Nobody will perish because a president is
being talked about. Rulers have come and gone before Madubuko’s Jonathan
and people have talked about them and the nation has not perished. What
will perish a nation is if the church and the people in that nation
don’t stand up against corruption and social injustice and demand
accountability from those in political powers, but not by merely talking
about some ruler. It sounds like a fairytale story where an absolute
monarch cannot be spoken of nor his name mentioned anywhere by his
subjects. Nigeria is not such entity and will not be.
Asked by the interviewer why some of them, Christian clerics were not
on the streets during the national protests and whether their absence
and silence meant they were in support of the removal of fuel subsidy,
Apostle Anslem said “People have different callings. I was not called to
stand on the road and be cursing the president. That is not my calling.
Unfortunately they used that to judge who is a man of God and who is
not. The truth is that we are called for different purposes. You don’t
expect Papa Adeboye to come out and lead such protest. No, that is not
his calling. They talk about Martin Luther and I say that was Luther’s
calling.”
I wonder what Apostle Madubuko’s concept of the Christian calling is.
It seems he thinks marching the streets in protests is all about abuses
or curses just like Dr. Makinde and the others think. But when Rev.
Martin Luther was marching the streets of America along with many others
he wasn’t abusing anyone. So also when Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu was
doing same in then apartheid South Africa he wasn’t abusing or insulting
anyone. So how does Madubuko’s priestly calling differ from theirs? But
he betrayed his main reason for not being part of the protests, which
is pride. His suggestion that no one should expect Papa Adeboye to come
out and lead such protest casts his argument on the platform of pride.
It suggests, him, along with Papa Adeboye are too holy, too gentle, too
descent, too anointed and too disciplined to be in the midst of everyday
people to protest against what was rightly a case of social injustice.
It was the time to identify with the oppressed and send clear signals to
the oppressors in government that the prophets are against corruption
and social injustice no matter if perpetrated by whom. Madubuko may not
have known that their absence from the protests and silence over that
wicked and evil hike in petrol price and even after some protesters were
murdered for the benefit of the thieves that stole those trillions
showed how much they have lost their sense of empathy for the poor and
the needy, and their silence and inaction is similar to the reason Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. said “In the end we will remember not the words
of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” Christ showed example by
being friends with the poor and needy; feeding, healing and providing
for their needs. But today’s Apostles have pitched tent with the very
enemies of the poor and have joined in the operation of the despoliation
of the nation by the thieves they adopt, anoint and put in office.
Apostle Madubuko may not have heard or read or he may have chosen to
conveniently forget how Pastor Adeboye said severally that he was going
to lead nationwide protest rallies if the 2011 presidential elections
were rigged. That means the Papa Adeboye he was imagining would not be
part of any protest rally actually believes protest rallies are not a
sin and are a part of the legitimate processes of seeking redress in a
corrupt and oppressive atmosphere like we have in Nigeria, even though
till now the Pastor has not called a press conference to tell Nigerians
whether he thought the elections were free and fair and whether free and
fair includes breaching an agreement the supposed winner of the
supposedly free and fair elections was a signatory to, and again,
whether it is right for businessmen and women to opportunistically
breach business agreements and come to church to share testimony of a
“divine breakthrough” after “successfully” breaching the agreements. So
what gave him the drive to drag the pastor’s name in such untenable
argument that pastors should not be part of any rallies?
To further argue his reasons for their silence and absence he said
“So, we cannot be what we are not. You don’t know what he is doing in
the secret. For all you know, that may even be more important than what
those on the streets did.” It is very essential now for Apostle Anslem
to tell Nigerians what they did in the secret and what the results of
their secret action during and after the protests are. We know that
military tanks were used to occupy protests venues. We know that more
than twenty people were murdered by the police for daring to protest
against corruption and oppression. We also know that “Boko Haram” helped
in stopping some massive protest rallies. We also know that the price
of petrol has not been reverted back to sixty-five Naira per liter. We
also now have proof that actually, monies were stolen in an
unprecedented scale in the name of subsidy payments in an election year.
And we also know that “Boko Haram” attempted to divert attention from
the tension raised by the subsidy probe report by bombing some media
houses, particularly one of them that published a scathing editorial
against a church built for the President in his country home by a
foreign contracting firm doing business in Nigeria. This was also
quickly followed by the Bayero University, Kano (BUK) attack on
Christian worshippers on Sunday, April 29, 2012 in which several lives
were lost. The LEADERSHIP newspaper of Tuesday, May 1, 2012 reported
that in the same BUK the Anti-Bomb Squad of the Kano State Command of
the Nigeria Police defused a timed bomb planted near the Mosque of the
University’s new site.
Now, in a highly religiously volatile city like
Kano a bomb blowing off a Mosque is most likely to trigger a religious
war, which must have been the intent of those who planted the bomb.
Could Mohammed Yusuf’s Boko Haram intentionally target to kill Muslims
massively like that, or was it “Boko Haram” intending to trigger a
religious war between Christians and Muslims to deflect public attention
and increasing demands for government to punish those who stole monies
in the name of fuel subsidy? Also the DAILY SUN newspaper of the same
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 on page 12 reported that one Stephen dropped an
Improvised Explosive Device in the house of one Mr. Aboho, a relation of
his in New Nyanya, a settlement town in Nassarawa State very close to
Abuja. The newspaper said “The quick response of the security operatives
and the confirmation that the object was an explosive device heightened
tension and anxiety among many residents.”
Clearly, if that device had
blown off Mr. Aboho’s house and the adjoining properties with the
attendant great loss of lives it could have thrown that bustling town
into some kind of reprisal wars, as every Muslim could have been a
potential target for a supposed reprisal attack for an attack engineered
by a Stephen. Let the Muslims bearing names like Stephen step forward,
please! Again, it could have drawn public attention from the sickening
Lawan Farouk probe report. This also reminds me of the bomb thrown at a
football viewing centre in the Tudun-Wada area of Jos, a predominantly
Muslim populated area on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, which also raises the
question of which brand of the Boko Harams could have wanted to kill, in
all likelihood, Muslims watching a football match. All of these shortly
after the Farouk Lawan committee report was submitted with very strong
demands for the punishment of the thieves. It is pretty curious. Again, I
must assert, Christians need to open their eyes to the possible
existence of enemies within the fold as prophesied by Christ. Anyone
denying this possibility is just as well questioning the Prophethood of
Christ!
So what were or are the results of any secret action done by anybody
to ensure Nigerians were not shortchanged by official thieves? Are such
secret actions mindful of what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 27
verses 5 that “Open rebuke is better than secret love”? So then, nothing
done in secret by Apostle Anslem and his think-alikes was better than
what the protesters did, rather it is what the protesters did that was
far better than the secret actions of Apostle Madubuko’s crew, for at
least the pressure built by the protests led to the investigations done
by the House of Representatives of which proof now abound that the whole
thing was a stealing spree against the country by those who should
ensure there is no stealing. And the thieves, because they believe they
have the fundamental human rights to be thieves and to be corrupt and to
multiply thievery and corruption as enshrined in the Sick Head Charter
of the Corporation of Kleptomaniacs and Megalomaniacs (SHCCKM) are not
willing to resign their appointments even since when the protests began.
Definitely this is by no means the result expected by the population of
a so called secret intervention, if any, by any cleric. So should the
nation be stuck with thieves and corrupt people in power because they
have been spiritually programmed to fail, according to Apostle
Madubuko’s theology? Why shouldn’t they be pressed to quit so that they
can have enough time for themselves at Apostle Madubuko’s church for the
Apostle and his congregation to deliver them of the evil spell so that
the nation can have the opportunity to be led by people who are not and
cannot be programmed spiritually to fail by their enemies? And after
they may have been successfully exorcised of the demons that make them
corrupt and they want political power back, we will be privileged to
demand from them a certified true copy of their liberty from the
tendency to steal public funds and to oppress the poor. So simple a task
and that’s all.
Still deriding the street protests as insignificant and unnecessary
Apostle Madubuko said, “The people that stood on the streets, what did
they gain at the end of the day? What did they gain? Many people lost
their lives; the nation lost a lot because this is not a battle to be
fought physically. I believe that if we have suggestions or if we have
something against the president, you can look for a way to get to him or
to those close to him. We are not to use the media to be raining abuses
on him as if he is nobody…… We can’t do things because Egypt did it. We
are not Egypt. This is Nigeria. Egypt did theirs that way but it does
not mean that is our business with God. Our own business is on our
knees; we are to stay on our knees until we see the desired change. So,
this is our nation and we have to salvage it. We can’t just allow things
to go wrong. We have to keep talking to God until he hearkens to our
cry.”
Apostle Madubuko has shown to us why most of them, clerics stayed
away from the protests and they did not only stay away but they made
sure members of their congregations also did not take part in the noble
and righteous war against corruption and social injustice. His reason,
probably speaking the minds of most of them who didn’t participate, is
that they foresaw that no gain was going to come out of the noble
exercise and as such, it was going to be a wasteful exercise. And he
mockingly asked, “What did they gain?” but failed to inform us what the
nation gained from their silence and abstinence from a just and
righteous cause, and till now we have not seen the result of their
non-physical battle with the thieves and oppressors in government.
Rather, what we keep having is series upon series of malfeasances being
perpetrated by these public officials. But to the credit of the
protesters, like I said earlier, we now have a well documented probe
report on the scale and magnitude of the thievery that took place in
just one year of corruption! Now the thieves have been put on the spot:
the little shred of honour they hitherto had is now gone. And because if
they resign their appointments or positions poverty and hunger would
kill them they have set themselves in battle to rule and mismanage our
resources by force! At least the protesters have gained a lot in that
they have succeeded in drawing them out to battle and this battle is not
for the lily livered but for the courageous in the fashion of the
Calebs, the Joshuas, the Moseses, the Phinehases, the Daniels, the
Elijahs, the Elishas, the Nathans, the Jeremiahs, the Isaiahs, the
Samuels, the Jehus and so on and so on.
Apostle Madubuko scorned that many people lost their lives in the
course of the protests, but he may not have reckoned that in all manner
of liberation wars there usually must be such casualties. No one expects
that people who live and survive on corruption and thefts of public
funds will give up easily. They will fight for their survival in that
they believe they have a Satan given right to corner what belongs to all
to themselves and their families, for if they don’t fight everybody
standing in their way of thefts they will die of poverty and hunger. So,
in their own sense they are fighting their own version of a “righteous
cause.” The House of Reps speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal got it spot on
when, at the consideration of the Subsidy Probe Report by the House
Ad-Hoc Committee, he said, “Let me also remind you that we are fighting
against entrenched interests whose infectious greed has decimated our
people. Therefore, be mindful that they will fight back, and they do
fight dirty.”
There were undenied media reports that the Speaker himself has been
the subject of plots for impeachment by elements outside the House who
stole the monies they expect the masses to pay back because of his
refusal to prevail on the House Ad-Hoc Committee that probed the thefts
to submit a report that the thefts were committed by students, farmers,
labourers, civil servants, petty traders, job seekers, the poor and
needy and the homeless. That’s how shamelessly dirty they fight, and in
times of war there are times of prayer and times of openly confronting
the enemy. When David was about to slay Goliath he said a prayer before
“physically” slinging a shot at the people’s adversary. He didn’t cower
somewhere, pretending to be praying and waiting on God to do what we
humans have been empowered to do as the Madubukos would want us to. Also
Christ did not choose to climb the Mount of Olives, as His custom was,
to stand or kneel in prayer for God to chase away those thieves and
dishonest traders desecrating the Temple, rather He physically and
angrily went into the Temple with a whip in His hand and chased them
away. So Nigeria, being God’s property and by extension His Temple what
are Christ’s followers doing in response to the despoliation and plunder
of God’s material resources by Satanists in it?
Christ has already warned and prepared us for times like these when
He said in Luke chapter 17 verses 33 that “Whosoever shall seek to save
his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve
it.” Christ knew that there shall be times when despots, criminals and
all manner of tyranny shall be confronted by His followers and even
non-followers, because the tyrants and oppressors will not just give up
their oppressive enterprise without a fight. The confrontation between
the prophet Moses and King Pharaoh is a good example here. When
“saviours” are lily livered and hiding in cowardice in pretentious
prayers then the saviours and those to be saved will be crushed and
consumed by the very object or institution the people need to be saved
from. So, these are not times to fear death or any official terror in
the quest to establish a sound and working society full of fairness and
social justice and empty of corruption as God destined nations and
societies to be. And this is the work of the church. Hiding from your
ordained responsibility because you think corrupt people will roll out
tanks and policemen with live bullet rounds is not what will guarantee
your life, rather it is coming out in faith and courage to fight the
Goliaths, like David did, that will guarantee your life. God made sure
that Goliath was unable to kill David because David understood the verse
Jesus Christ said above very well and so he dared to lose his life for a
just and righteous cause, but at the end of it, it wasn’t his life that
was lost but that of the people’s obstacle.
So, if the church led by
earthly cowards and hypocrites thinks she will be safe by staying away
from what she is Biblically ordained to do, then she has a big think
coming. Her current insecure situation should be enough instruction. It
is either she comes out boldly and courageously to fight the very
fountain of terrorism and criminality, which is corruption or she gets
consumed by the very products of corruption. It’s a choice to be made.
The Christian calling is not just bread and butter calling, but a call
to make the bread and butter. God promised the children of Israel the
land of milk and honey, but before they accessed the land they fought
series of battles. So then, it means milk and honey don’t drop on the
laps of cowards and hypocrites who run away from their divinely ordained
challenges on the pretext of prayers. And this reminds me of what
Pastor William Folorunsho Kumuyi, the General Superintendent of Deeper
Life Bible Church said, that “Our country Nigeria likes prayer. But
prayer alone will not move the country forward. We need to work and
pray…. Our resolve to work together and address our national challenges
will make us to get quick answers to our prayers. But prayers alone will
not solve our problems. If we can resolve to work together to build a
better country I believe we will be better off in 2012.” (See the DAILY
SUN newspaper of Wednesday, January 11, 2012 page 31).
I hope cowardly pastors and Christians will ruminate over what this level headed Man of God said.
Talking of fighting back against the demand for accountability and
good governance during the nationwide protests, for which military tanks
and heavily armed security men were deployed to occupy protests venues
in Lagos, the Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed was
reported saying, “We learnt through security reports that some people
were trying to take over the protests to cause anarchy. Some of these
people threatened to continue the protests, even if the organized labour
decided to suspend the strike.
“From the reports available to government, these people were planning
to ignite actions typical of what is going on in Syria and other Arab
countries and there is no way any responsible government would fold its
arms and watch some people destabilize any part of the country.
“The deployment of soldiers was meant to forestall anarchy so
government stepped in to control the situation so that people with the
wrong motives can be put in check. The soldiers will be withdrawn as
soon as normalcy returns to the streets of Lagos and other parts of the
country where soldiers are on such duties.
“Let me emphasize that under no circumstances will government stand
aloof while some misguided elements unleash violence on the society. The
administration is committed to promoting the greatest good for the
greatest number of Nigerians irrespective of tribe, religion or
political affiliation.”
What Minister Haliru, himself an international bribery scheme
suspect, refused to tell in his forces-of-occupation-style-speech is
that the protesters largely behaved themselves peacefully. It was only
after the police, in their usual overzealousness to protect the interest
of corrupt people in Nigeria, started shooting on the protesters with
live bullet rounds that the protests began turning violent. It is
typical of the Nigerian police that each time there are protests in
Nigeria they turn it violent. Nigeria may be the only “democratic”
country in the world today where live bullets are used against
protestors and this is deliberate, as the police couldn’t have engaged
in such murder without their usual “orders from above” clichés.
Nigeria’s corrupt rulers will do anything, even if it means committing
mass murders with armoured tanks, to sustain their evil grip on power to
fester their thefts and corrupt practices, for that is the context in
which Minister Haliru was justifying the deployment of armoured tanks,
otherwise why should any responsible person or persons in government
deploy and threaten the very people they “govern” with mass deaths? Must
they be in government?
For what and for whose purpose must they be in
government? Minister Haliru called the protesters misguided elements,
but when you put the protesters and those in government on a diagnostic
meter that identifies and measurers misguided people and actions the
meter will identify those in government as the misguided lot who allowed
their greed and light-fingeredness to guide them into stealing from the
protesters. Minister Haliru and the government he represents would
rather we operate a docile and complacent society where thieves in
government will steal trillions of Naira and have the population jumping
and jubilating on the streets with placards reading, “We Love You, O’
Oppressors!”, “Steal More, O’ Oppressors!”, “Live Forever, O’
Oppressors!” Fortunately for Nigeria and unfortunately for her
oppressors Nigeria is not and will never be like that. God has destined
it to be so, that at any given time there will be people who will rise
up against tyranny and thievery.
To Minister Haliru and the government he works for the mass murder
being committed by Hafiz Assad in Syria against the Syrian citizens is a
responsible action by a responsible government to forestall the
destabilization of the country, which explains their shameless and
unconscionable deployment of armoured tanks and armed men with live
bullet rounds to butcher anyone that dared question their thieving and
oppressing skills. In order words we must tolerate them as our lords
whether we like it or not, and we must never, ever complain or murmur or
protest against anything they do to make us shoeless, foodless,
moneyless and homeless. They are like the North Korean rulers who in
January 2012 were reported to have punished every citizen that did not
publicly cry with tears over the death of their maximum ruler, Kim Jung
Il in December last year. You must mourn by force, was what their action
meant. So also in Nigeria, Haliru and co would rather we clapped for
them for allowing the thefts of trillions of Naira and we should
patriotically and joyfully accept to pay back the stolen funds at the
fuel pump stations.
One thing that reveals the complicity of top government officials in
this whole fuel subsidy scam against the nation was government’s
desperate efforts to suppress the protests and to kill whatever was
going to be an indicting result of the probes instituted by the National
Assembly.
First was government’s attempt to stop the sitting of the House of
Representatives from considering the situation at that time and to pass a
resolution. All manner of intimidations were brought on the House
Members to stop them from sitting for an emergency session on Sunday,
8th January 2012 considering how tense the nation was as a result of the
criminal, callous, heinous, unconscionable and unpatriotic hike on the
price of petrol by the government. When all intimidations and blackmails
failed a last ditch effort of religious sentiments was brought in by
President Jonathan and his handlers, very typical of them indeed. The
House was told that it was not proper to sit on Sunday being the
Christian worship day; that sitting on a day like that could smack of
insensitivity to Christians as if the Lord Jesus Christ did not work and
heal on the Sabbath day. The government felt threatened its intention
to make the citizens payback what a few people stole was unraveling. In
this quest of using religious sentiments to frustrate the sitting of the
House, even the C.A.N. President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, also backed
those using Sunday as an excuse for the House not to sit. The DAILY SUN
newspaper of Thursday, January 12, 2012 on page 13 said “The CAN
president challenged the national legislators of playing politics with
the lives of fellow Nigerians, arguing that if they could just muster
the same patriotism they had shown by cutting short their holidays to
address the fuel subsidy removal, the Boko Haram menace would had been a
thing of the past.” The newspaper further quoted him saying “Much as I
identify with the pains of Nigerians at this dark moment of the nation’s
history, I think those guys were on an ego trip, otherwise the security
situation in the country should have been their number one priority.”
Pastor Ayo was echoing what a clandestine group, purportedly claiming
to be a group of House Members who took newspaper ads asking the House
to focus on insecurity instead of probing the fuel subsidy fraud as if
President Jonathan does not have the Police, Army, Air Force, Navy and
all the Intelligence Agencies at his command to fight Boko Haram and
other criminal groups, also as if the unconscionable hike in petrol
price was not going to be another cause of insecurity itself. But all of
the propaganda was because the House dared call an urgent emergency
session on a Sunday and a desperate regime bent on covering its
malfeasance was deploying every trick to frustrate the session even if
it meant whipping up religious sentiments like it did during its
election. But favourably, the House Members stood their grounds and sat
on that Sunday full house. None abstained because working or sitting on a
Sunday infringed on his faith as a Christian.
As a fitting response to President Jonathan’s maneuvers to whip up
religious sentiments against the House, the House, through its Deputy
Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep Victor Ogene,
reminded the President and his field soldiers that “Ironically, the
President on the same Sunday after Church Service launched the Federal
Mass Transit Scheme. Ironically too, the Petroleum Products Pricing and
Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, removed the contentious fuel subsidy on Sunday
January 1, 2012.
“The state of emergency in some parts of the country was declared by
the President on Saturday December 31, 2011, a day of worship for a
section of some Christians. The President also sent the declaration of
State of Emergency document to the National Assembly on a Saturday to
take advantage of the planned sitting of the House of Representatives
the next day on a Sunday.”
What a way to shut the mouths of liars and dividers! And let me
quickly add also that President Jonathan found it convenient to work on
Sunday, August 20, 2011 to announce the suspension of Justice Ayo Isa
Salami from office as the President of the Federal Court of Appeal and
thereafter his replacement reconstituted the trial panel hearing the
presidential election dispute, which expectedly agreed with INEC chair,
Jega’s claim that if the fraud in the 2011 presidential election was
proved beyond reasonable doubt it could create national insecurity and
instability, perhaps worse than what “Boko Haram” is doing now. What a
country!
Another means the beneficiaries of the stolen “subsidy” funds used in
their attempts to stifle the popular nationwide protests were the
deployment of thugs with official backing, typically the P.D.P. way of
doing political business in Nigeria. Sanusi Abubakar, an ace columnist
with the DAILY TRUST newspaper wrote on his back page article of
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 that “The government should come down from its
high pedestal and start listening. All this yapping by Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala and Labaran Maku won’t take it anywhere. Neither will the
attempt to divide the protesters on tribal or regional grounds, nor will
the circus of some 50 hired thugs, escorted by 20 fully armed soldiers
in 5 Toyota Hilux, from Guards Brigade I saw yesterday morning on
Herbert Macaulay way, here in Abuja. What I suspect is that we are being
told half the story. This official desperation suggests that the
government is short of cash and wants to borrow from IMF or World
Bank….” And truly, there were reported incidences when some official
thugs attacked some protest groups in Abuja in order to scatter the
protesters.
To demonstrate how murderous these corrupt people can be former Osun
State Governor, Oyinlola, current National Secretary of their party
angrily ran his car against the protesters in Osogbo, the state capital
on Monday, January 9, 2012, injuring many in the process.
The DAILY SUN of Friday, January 13, 2012 on page 12 reported that an
apparently sponsored group of about 50 thugs stormed the venue of a
rally organized by Occupy Nigeria and beat up the labour leaders before
dispersing the protesters and destroyed their public address systems.
The Vice President of the state’s chapter of the Civil Liberty
Organization (CLO), Wisdom Durueke accused government of sponsoring the
attacks, according to the newspaper.
There were cases where labour leaders were outrightly arrested, given
a kangaroo trial and sent to prison as in Enugu State. And in Abuja
some thugs were hired to go and cause mayhem at the NLC headquarters,
but couldn’t. Afterwards they were seen sharing the money they were
given to come and attack labour officials.
All these and many more were actions done by government to make sure
people were happy by force over their wicked action against the same
people. So how can any cleric support such a government if not the ones
that have lost their sense of empathy for the poor?
And proof that government and the beneficiaries of the stolen monies
couched as subsidy payments have something to hide from Nigerians came
when news started filtering out to the public that government agents
were doing everything within their ability to frustrate or sabotage the
probe instituted by the House of Representatives. First to break the
news was the DAILY TRUST newspaper. The paper, in their Monday, January
30, 2012 edition on page 3 reported that “Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal
of the House of Representatives is under intense pressure from the
ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Presidency over the
ongoing investigation into the management of the petroleum subsidy
regime, Daily Trust heard in Abuja yesterday…. Sources in the National
Assembly told Daily Trust that the presidency was “very uncomfortable”
with the probe which may “nail” some prominent figures of the government
and the PDP.
“The source said some “traditional rulers, elder statesmen, and
influential citizens” were among those drafted to plead with the House
leadership on the investigation.
“Also, committee chair Lawan, according to the source, was said to
have been summoned to the villa…… Lawan himself according to sources has
come under pressure from people that “are likely to be affected by the
investigation” including major oil marketers who have been accused of
forming a “cabal” in the oil and gas sector.”
Since that story broke out up till now government did not deny the
story and in a sane, non-complacent society it’s enough to bring down
such government, for a non-complicit and incorruptible government will
not want to shield any so called “prominent figures of the government
and the PDP” from any legitimate action that will “nail” them for
corruption and thefts, which, again, is an indictment of the Christian
clerics that were and are still rooting for these thieves pretending to
be leaders in government. Why should any presidency be “very
uncomfortable” with any probe whereas it is expected to back any such
probe instituted to help it govern transparently in the general interest
of all? In whose interest is such a presidency in power?
And while the House committee probe was going on, amidst public
outcry for those being probed, particularly the petroleum minister and
the NNPC bosses, to resign their appointments so as to ensure an
unhindered, unfettered and transparent probe, about one hundred House
Members were set to move a motion to that effect on Tuesday, February
14, 2012 as exclusively reported by the LEADERSHIP newspaper the week
before but were stopped from doing so by their leaders. The LEADERSHIP
newspaper of Thursday, February 16, 2012 on page 41 quoted a source from
among the lawmakers saying “The leadership of the House met with us
immediately the story was published by your newspaper and appealed to us
to forget about the motion because of the effect it will have on the
country. You know, the party put pressure on them to stop the motion
from being moved. And that is in addition to the pressure from the
presidency urging the leadership to ensure that the issue doesn’t come
up during plenary.”
This story was also not denied and it shows how all the talk about
separation of powers and the rule of law is mere lip service in our
polity. Also, it shows why President Jonathan and the ruining P.D.P.
were desperate to impose a Speaker made in their image and likeness on
the House in June 2011. For a presidency to ask legislators to forget
about a motion that was to ask top officials of government whose
agencies were being investigated to resign for proper and unfettered
investigation on the untenable and laughable ground of “the effect it
will have on the country” means only one thing: that the presidency is
complicit in the financial fraud being investigated and that this
presidency is of the type that conceive their personal interest to mean
the interest of the nation they lead, no matter how immoral that
interest may be as in this instance. Again, it proves that the protests
against the malfeasance were right and justifiable and this kind of
leadership, like the prophet Elijah dealt with King Ahab, should be so
treated. This can’t be the kind of leadership that God will honour.
Never!
Yet still, the probe committee of the House continued its
investigative hearings wherein more and more shocking discoveries were
made as to the dimension of conspiracies, frauds and thefts perpetrated
against Nigeria and Nigerians. The Presidency, obviously uncomfortable
with the shocking discoveries being made at the hearings, THE NATION
newspaper of Sunday, February 26, 2012 on page 2 reported that, “Top
presidency officials are uncomfortable with the House of Representatives
probe of the controversial N1.3trillion oil subsidy.
“They fear the report of the probe could damage the government. As a
result of this, machinery has been put in motion to limit any such
damage, sources say.
“The first step, is mounting of pressure on Speaker Aminu Tambuwal
and the chairman of the Ad-hoc committee, Alhaji Farouk Lawan by
Presidency officials to water down the committee’s report or dump it
altogether in the “national interest”.
“The other is to give government officials that may be indicted in the report a soft landing.
“It was learnt that certain top presidency officials and lobbyists
acting on behalf of major stakeholders in the oil industry met
separately with Lawan and told him why the report of the committee
should be softened in order not to “embarrass some government
officials”.
“They allegedly expressed concern over the likely backlash of the report from foreign investors in the oil sector.
“Some of the lobbyists were even said to have subtly threatened that
Farouk Lawan might not get the governorship ticket of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State in 2015 should the panel report
hurt the government.
“It was however learnt that Lawan insisted on doing what is right in the interest of the country.
“A reliable source, who spoke in strict confidence, said: “Ahead of
the outcome of the report of Lawan’s committee, some government
officials have been lobbying the panel to soften its report in the
national interest. But none of them could define this interest.
“In fact, some of these officials pleaded against the release of a
damning report that could have an adverse effect on the oil sector.
“Some expressed fears that the report could bring down the government
of the day in the light of the expose’ on some functionaries.
“At a point, some said the report could make or mar the 2015
governorship ambition of Lawan and they advised him to have a rethink
because of his political future that he is so passionate about.
“But Lawan told one of the emissaries that he will prefer to put the nation above any other selfish interest.”
To prove that this sensational and scandalous story was not a mere
attempt by some persons to tarnish Jonathan’s government the newspaper
contacted the House Committee Chair on Media and Public Affairs, Hon.
Zakari Mohammed to confirm or deny the story and he said, “The House is
under intense pressures from different quarters on the report. However
the House is focused, it will not abandon the probe midway.
“We would be fair but whoever is indicted will be made known to the
public. It is then left to the government to determine what to do with
the report.”
Now, these are the kind of delinquents in power that the Makindes,
Madubukos and their likes would want the church and Nigerians to treat
with cowardice and kid gloves. And these are probably the results of
their secret engagements with the thieves in power against the public
pressure of protests.
Thanks be to the Almighty God we still have people like Hon. Farouk
Lawan and his team and also for a Speaker like Alhaji Tambuwal,
otherwise the thieves would have succeeded in bringing out a report
reading that it is the shoe shiners, water vendors, petty traders,
unemployed graduates, peasant farmers, taxi and bus drivers, low level
workers, students and the homeless people that stole the monies and
that’s why they are being made to pay it back through the fuel pumps,
which, to them, could be an act of official mercy, for they could have
opted to send these poor Nigerians to jail for stealing petrol money!
To underscore how Nigeria and Nigerians have sunk so low in docility
and complacency, that newspaper report could have collapsed any
government fingered to be complicit in such fraud in any part of the
world except this country. The prophets in the land kept mute and among
them, the ones that dared challenge such thefts are labeled by the
compromised ones as false prophets, whereas it is they the compromised
ones that have metamorphosed into false prophets.
After submitting his committee’s report to the House, Hon. Farouk
Lawan confirmed that truly, they have been subjected to immense pressure
to compromise their report and among those mounting pressure for the
report to be compromised were religious leaders. The front page story of
SUNDAY TRUST of April 22, 2012 began like this: “Governors, government
officials, traditional and religious leaders as well as other prominent
citizens are mounting pressures on members of the House of
Representatives to kill the report of the Farouk Lawal-led ad hoc
committee that has indicted key government agencies and officials in a
massive fuel subsidy fraud.”
The story did not reveal whether it is the Muslim or Christian
religious leaders that were part of those mounting pressure for the
probe report to be killed, but when we consider that the majority of
those indicted are supposed Christians and there is also a “Christian”
government in place it is not difficult to discern that their Pastors,
Reverends and Bishops may have been suborned to help make a
“breakthrough” testimony for these church going thieves. Certainly,
these cannot be the Christian leaders that joined in the January
protests against the thefts or those who vehemently spoke against the
thefts. And this is ample evidence of the extent to which corruption has
invaded the church in Nigeria. So, among the enemies of poor and needy
Nigerians are prophets! What tragedy is this?
So, at least we have some evidence of how and why some Christian
clergy asked their congregants not to participate in the January 2012
nationwide mass protests, because it was all about protecting the
interests of the privileged official thieves in their congregations who
also double as the official oppressors of the poor and needy they
pastor. But in spite of all those desperate attempts by the corrupt
clerics to hoodwink Christians not to be part of the protests a lot
defied them and participated. Mohammed Haruna, the Wednesdays back page
columnist of DAILY TRUST and THE NATION newspapers wrote on the January
11, 2012 edition of the papers that, “It seems in spite of the
determination of the rump of the Church to resist being used to
undermine a united front against the subsidy withdrawal, the authorities
have remained undeterred. At least in Kaduna where I live several
churches in Kaduna South told their members not to join the
demonstrations. In metropolitan Kaduna, the calls appear to have fallen
on deaf ears because Christians and Muslims alike turned out in their
massive numbers to protest the withdrawal.”
Apart from being corrupt, I also suspect that some of the Christian
clerics, as usual, fell to the cheap divisive propaganda that came from
the thieves in government that the protests were organized and funded by
“aggrieved northern politicians who lost out in the last elections”,
but then, even if it were true, do the aggrieved northern politicians
have a right or not to protest against the desire and intent of the
“successful” politicians to inflict unwarranted and undeserved hardship
upon them? Governor Peter Obi of Anambra was also saying the protests
were organized by “failed politicians” and you wonder whether Nigeria
doesn’t need the “failed politicians” to govern her, for the country and
her citizens have been having a hell of a time under the “care” of the
“successful politicians” and, moreover the thefts in question were
perpetrated by “successful politicians” with the active collaboration of
their equally “successful” friends. Nothing can be more painful than
for some thieves in government to loot the treasury blind and then turn
around to use their powers to compel those they stole from to pay it
back.
On Thursday, January 12, 2012 I watched and heard Kingsley Kuku,
President Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Niger Delta Militants Amnesty
Programme saying on AIT that “the protests have been hijacked by
politicians who lost the last elections; politicians who” in his opinion
“have arrogated to themselves the status of those born to rule and
cannot bear being out of power for mere four years!” Kuku was
desperately attempting to lay the blame of their malfeasance, as have
been their custom, on northern politicians. And you wonder whether Kuku
was thinking Obasanjo who ruled for eight years was a northerner, for it
is untenable to claim that some people cannot bear being out of power
for mere four years, which is a clear reference to northern politicians.
But then, again, if the protests were organized by failed northern
politicians and considering how massive the protests were, does it then
mean these failed and aggrieved northern politicians are more popular
than Kuku’s principal, President Jonathan? And again, when subheads were
being created on how to spend the “subsidy” monies taken in an election
year and bearing in mind that there were aggrieved northerners because
of the shortchanging of the zoning agreement, shouldn’t a subhead in the
“election” budget have been created with enough funds to buy very
strong ropes to tie these stubborn northerners so that they would not
cause any problem at all, all through Jonathan’s tenure? Hey, we are
talking of trillions of Naira stolen; enough money to build new cities,
at least some could have been spared to buy the ropes that will tie
northerners so that they don’t cause any troubles in case the public,
including the northerners were going to be asked to pay back the stolen
trillions at the fuel pump stations. I think politicians, no matter how
corrupt, should at least cultivate a little bit of decency by owning up
to their “mistakes” instead of looking for scapegoats. At the rate the
Kingsley Kukus are going, it may come to pass that even if monies are
looted from the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Ministry of
Niger Delta Affairs the thefts may be blamed on “aggrieved northern
politicians” that lost out in the last elections. At least as evil as
“Boko Haram” and Boko Haram are they often claim responsibility for
their evil enterprise, why shouldn’t Nigeria’s brand of politicians and
their advisers learn from them?
Again it reminds me of another shocking revelation I read on Adamu
Adamu’s back page column of Friday, May 4, 2012 on the DAILY TRUST
newspaper, titled Azazi: Ambush of the Defender? Drawing analogy from
Henry Okah’s claims linking President Jonathan with the October 1, 2010
bombings in Abuja of which desperate efforts were made to heap blame for
the bombings on northern politicians, Adamu Adamu said, “Not long after
it, a Gaza-bound cache of arms from Iran was intercepted at the port in
Lagos and M Abbas Jega has been in detention for 19 months.
Investigations have conclusively shown that the consignment was not
destined for Nigeria. Jega was approached by government officials and
promised his freedom if he would agree to implicate Northern leaders but
he refused. And he has still not been taken to court.”
Morally and ethically bankrupt politicians south of the Niger seem to
have developed an incurable phobia for the north and hence an acute
case of inferiority complex. Otherwise, why should they spend precious
time always scheming of how to paint the north black or how to divide
it? I think it will do us all a lot of good if some people can cure
themselves of this chronic phobia for northerners and their leaders and
get down to work patriotically and honestly instead of looking for who
to blame when they commit acts against the well being of the Nigerian
State.
And there was also Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State on
television sardonically blaming some well heeled members of society as
sponsors of the protests. To him it was inconceivable that all those
Lagos based super star singers, musicians and movie stars who turned up
at the protest rallies came out without being sponsored. He probably
conveniently forgot that the same stars were hired to perform severally
during President Jonathan’s election campaign rallies; at the time
Nigerians were deceived into thinking and believing that Nigeria’s
destined growth was tied to Jonathan becoming president because of the
luck in his name, which is even unbiblical. Governor Akpabio may also
have not reckoned that these same artists, just like most other people
who may have been paid to do one or other things at the President’s
campaign rallies, must have felt bitter on realizing that what they were
paid as fees for their services are now being cleverly withdrawn from
their pockets and bank savings through the mischievous hike in price of
petrol, which has a multiplier effect in the markets. So, do they have
to be paid by anybody to come and protest? But most likely Governor
Akpabio and his team mates may have assumed all these stars or the
alleged wealthy sponsors of the protests have lost their sense of
empathy for the poor and needy and therefore expected that they were
going to keep a compromised silence while the crime against humanity was
being perpetrated by thieves in government, or most likely, Governor
Akpabio assumes it is only the P.D.P. and President Jonathan that
reserve the right to hire musicians and movie stars to perform at
rallies.
There was also Pastor Jonah Jang, the Plateau State Governor
insulting Nigerians. Riding on the roller coaster of the comfort
provided him and his family by his office as Governor the P.D.P. Pastor
insulted Nigerians that they like “awuf” a lot, literally meaning
Nigerians like free things without working for it. In his state of
complete loss of empathy for the long abused and battered Nigerians the
Pastor Governor forgot that majority of the country’s citizens cannot
afford medicare even here in Nigeria talk less of traveling to India or
other foreign lands for health care like Pastor Jang does, or he has
also forgotten that majority of the citizens are jobless talk less of
appointing for themselves their sons as aides as the Governor was
privileged to appoint his own son as his Special Adviser on Special
Duties. So, shouldn’t they protest against rulers determined to further
ruin their lives? Or shouldn’t they protest against nepotism, which is
the word that describes the action of a public official that appoints
his own son as his adviser? And should Christians practice nepotism?
What happened to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works” which is a call on Christians to show good examples at
all times?
Loss of empathy for the poor and needy by Nigeria’s rulers is at the
root of the country’s travails. Professor Pat Utomi rightly observed in
The NEWS magazine of April 30, 2012 that the Nigerian government is a
criminal enterprise. Once we have compassionate and patriotic Nigerians
occupying leadership positions Nigeria will rise to her rightful
position of honour and glory among the nations of the earth.
Again, this is where the church must “lay aside every excess weight”
and authoritatively ensure that the rule of law, morality and social
justice prevails in governance at all levels in our country. The church
must ask herself and answer truthfully, whether it is normal and
acceptable that corruption and oppression of the poor and needy by
rulers can exist alongside the church in the same environment without
one giving way for the other? All the stories in the Bible suggest it is
either righteousness flees for evil to exist and dominate or evil flees
for righteousness to exist and dominate. So, if evil dominates the
environment as is the case with Nigeria, then it means righteousness has
fled. In other words, the church is asleep or non-existent that’s why
evil boasts everywhere, even in church buildings. The saviours
commissioned by the Saviour to save His resources and the people from
bandits have abdicated the commission and you hardly distinguish them
from the bandits, and therefore the fruits of banditry have grown like
some sea monster and are fearlessly attacking and destroying the
commissioned saviours. So, who becomes the bailer?
At a two day seminar on national security organized by the National
Defence College in conjunction with the Alumni Association of the
college in January this year, the college identified “endemic poverty,
corruption and uneven distribution of national wealth as the cause of
social upheavals in the country…..lack of access to social services
including safe drinking water, electricity and healthcare services as
well as corruption were the major grounds for insecurity” (See DAILY
TRUST newspaper of Thursday, January 26, 2012, page 8). Now this was not
said by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who echoed the same thing but was almost
roasted alive by some caustic and subjective tongues because he is
Hausa/Fulani, rather it is the country’s Defence College that said it
and must be taken seriously. And, hey, even the President’s National
Security Adviser, General Andrew Owoye Azazi, at the Northern Impact
Summit held on Thursday, May 10, 2012 in Kaduna said “I can certainly
assure you that the lopsided economic growth is not in the best interest
of our national security….”
There has been this raging debate about whether Boko Haram’s raison
d’être is caused by poverty. Some have argued that because the sect
operates with sophisticated weapons the members couldn’t be poor to have
the ability to acquire such weaponry. But whether the late Mohammed
Yusuf led Boko Haram is poor or rich to have such weapons is beside the
matter. The important question is why did they spring up? What are the
social conditions that warranted their birth such that some political
opportunists have cashed in on their existence to clone the group for
their own selfish and mischievous ends? Members of the original Boko
Haram have never ever stated that their membership drive is exclusively a
poor persons affair; rather, their recruitment ideology is for willing
and courageous people who will sacrifice themselves for the enthronement
of a just and fair society as they best understand it. Earlier on in
this treatise I quoted what the spokesperson of the group said as the
reason they sprang up: “It’s the secular state that is responsible for
the woes we are seeing today. People should understand that we are not
saying we have to rule Nigeria, but we have been motivated by the stark
injustice in the land….. Poor people are tired of the injustice, people
are crying for saviours and they know the messiahs are Boko Haram.”
Now you cannot fault the group’s claim that there is “stark injustice
in the land” and that “poor people are tired of the injustice” and
because there appeared no concerted effort was being made to mitigate or
eradicate this injustice which breeds poverty the poor people are
yearning for saviours, and therefore, they (Boko Haram) have assumed for
themselves the position of saviours. So, where has the church been all
this while when all manner of injustices were being perpetrated that
some people have assumed their place as saviours? Asleep?
If Yusuf Mohammed’s Boko Haram wants to eradicate our secular order
to establish a different order which, to them, will enthrone a just
society that will make good things happen you cannot blame them, for
they have good references to which they can point to prove the efficacy
of the kind of order they want to establish. With the exception of
Somalia hardly can you point to a Muslim country you can call a failed
state. Even terror ravaged Afghanistan has social services working
better than Nigeria’s. And let the church going thief that has stolen
public funds and has not been going to Dubai for holidays or shopping
sprees or birthday parties step forward for proper identification! James
Ibori, the certified thief and ex-convict that ruined Delta State for
eight years was comfortably ensconced in Dubai when the rule of law of
Dubai extradited him to the U.K. for trial. So, how could you
conveniently blame the Boko Haram people for admiring, nursing and
attempting to enthrone the ideology and philosophy that made those
nations model societies when they have not seen the alternative to it
working in Nigeria? There was and there still is a gap which must be
filled – it is either filled by the church in cooperation with other
courageous civil groups or alternative bodies will attempt to fill it.
Ed Silvoso, in his book, TRANSFORMATION said: “The Church needs to
cease being a spectator and play as if it is convinced that it can and
will win. The first step is to realize that we are called and empowered
to disciple nations and will succeed if we try. At first, trying could
mean scoring small victories that may be followed by major setbacks; but
as long as we are heading in the right direction - to disciple nations -
we are bound to win in the end.”
Discipling nations, being the core commission of the church, means
causing every aspect of a nation’s life to conform to the dictates and
principles of God, and such a nation so discipled should wear a distinct
look that evidences God as the Supreme Head of it. Hey, does Nigeria in
any way look like that at the moment? Nope! A nation ravaged by
corruption and misrule does not and cannot be said to have God in her
midst. A nation whose identity is mass poverty amidst abundant wealth
cannot be said to have God as its Supreme Head. And as Ed Silvoso
rightly said, the church cannot afford to be a spectator, she has to be
actively involved in ensuring corruption and misrule and poverty are
wiped off where she lives. So, the church must benefit the society
wherein she operates and not just herself. Again, Ed Silvoso says, “As
long as our focus is exclusively religious, society will not welcome us
or any form of growth or expansion of our ministry that produces no
benefit to the community at large. This becomes evident when growing
congregations find themselves in a dispute with City Hall over building
or users’ permits; or the fact that the secular media sees no value in
reporting religious news, since they see no significance for such news
as far as the daily life of the city is concerned.”
This hits the bull’s eye. God has divinely ordained the church to be
of benefit to nations, societies or communities, but if the church fails
to be of benefit and instead engages in acts of hostility to the
beneficial interests of the community she lives in, then she would
constantly be at the receiving end of hostility from a malcontent
society. Underscoring this point further, Ed Silvoso said “In order to
have favor with the people, we need to do favors for the people. And if
we do favors for all the people, we will gain favor (confidence,
loyalty, appreciation, openness, etc.) with all of them. That is exactly
what the Early Church did as part of its lifestyle, creating an
environment that made conversions appealing and compelling.”
A recent drama that underscores this point was the decision of the
Lagos State government to shut down seven churches because they wanted
to reduce the noise level in the State. The DAILY SUN newspaper of
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 on page 7 reported that “Determined to stop
negative effects of noise pollution on residents, the Lagos State
Government has shut down a branch of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic
Ministry and six other churches in the Lagos metropolis.” The newspaper
quoted the General Manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection
Agency (LASEPA), Rasheed Shabi saying “the state government was
determined to reduce noise pollution in the state because of the
anomalies and diseases related to it.” Hmmm, so all the praise and
worship and sermons in the church have become noises that pollute the
environment and could even cause diseases! But if the church had been
beneficial to the cause of social justice and has been known to go all
out fighting the cause of the poor and needy the noises she makes would
have been sweet music both to God and to man and no one would have
bothered or thought of restraining her from her high praises and
charismatic teachings. And that was God speaking to the church in His
(sometimes) metaphorical ways.
Making it very clear that when we lose sight of our purpose and
calling as a church our praises, worship, prayers and offerings will
become mere noises to Him the Lord said in Amos chapter 5 verses 21 to
23 that “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your
solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat
offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace
offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy
songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.” This gives the
divine backing to what the Lagos State Government did. However, I must
point out that God was so discreet that this action was not done by any
northern Government, for had it been it were any of the far northern
States that did this the roof would have been almost brought down on
that Governor. But since it was a southern Governor (even though a
Muslim) that did this, there was deafening silence. To God, whenever we
as a church abdicate the cause of disciplining nations to conform with
His divine principles then everything we do becomes mere noise, and that
is how the society will consider us and then we become open to all
manner of ridicule. Because miracles and sound teachings still take
place in the church should not be mistaken that God is present or happy
with the church, for the Bible has made it clear that the working of
miracles, tongues speaking, discerning and revelation knowledge that
births sound teachings are just gifts from God to the users and you
don’t have to be there for the person you gave a gift of money to spend
it.
So, how does the church benefit society? The major ailment afflicting
dysfunctional societies like Nigeria is systemic poverty, so if the
church deploys its power to uprooting the cause of systemic poverty she
will be of no small benefit to the society. Again, Ed Silvoso: “Nowhere
is the kingdom of darkness more entrenched in the world today than when
it comes to the manifestations of systemic poverty. Systemic poverty is
not a peripheral issue in the Bible. The elimination of poverty is
central to the gospel message of redemption, and for that reason it is
both a by-product and the most tangible social evidence of true,
biblically based transformation. In fact, Jesus began His ministry by
announcing good news to the poor….. The elimination of systemic poverty
may sound like a radical statement, but it is fully biblical and, if
embraced, will have tremendous repercussions for the Church as we know
it today – and even greater and more glorious ones for the world around
us.”
Some Christians live in surrender while pretending to be waiting for
the hereafter, that famous moment of the sweet bye and bye but Ed
Silvoso cautions thus: “Our view of the future tends to focus almost
exclusively on escaping this sin-sick world to the exclusion of the
potential of bettering things on Earth in general and of resolving the
plight of the poor in particular.”
So, without contradiction fighting for the resolution of the plight
of the poor is the calling of the church. And how does the church fight
the cause of the poor? Ed Silvoso says “Because this evil is systemic,
it will not be eradicated by simply taking care of individuals at the
micro level or providing massive aid at the macro level. It must be
uprooted.” Uprooting poverty means confronting the very forces that
engender poverty and this is a call to battle those forces. Like I said
earlier, these forces cannot give up their evil system just like that.
They believe they have a right to monopolize the wealth and resources
that should be a commonwealth. Ed Silvoso highlights it thus: “One
reason that poor people are kept poor is because those who control the
marketplace live in emotional and spiritual poverty themselves, even
though they are materially rich. Enough is never enough for them, and
the resulting fear causes moral paucity.
“The result is that the rich get richer, through hoarding, but not
happier or more fulfilled, and the poor are enchained to hopelessness.
As a result, the future of the nation is mortgaged because its main
assets – its people – have been bridled.”
This is a shocking current ugly picture of Nigeria just as I have
highlighted earlier. The man of God says the people made poor by greedy
kleptomaniacs and enchained in hopelessness are assets to the nation and
therefore they must be freed. And when you free them, Ed Silvoso says
“The crime rate goes down, per capita income goes up, more students are
graduating.” Again, according to the man of God, “These are measurable
social indicators” that proves poverty is in the decline.
This brings me back to the issue of the January mass protests against
the determined efforts of the spiritually bankrupt rulers to increase
the poverty index of the people.
Some pastors restrained their congregations from joining the massive
protests on the basis of what Eliphaz, Job’s friend told him at the peak
of his suffering in chapter 22 verses 29 of Job’s book that “When men
are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up….” , which truly
reflects the status of everyone that truly walks with God. Walking with
God in truth and in faith elevates you to the position where storms of
life wouldn’t have adverse effects on you. But then, it doesn’t mean
that because you are comfortable you should be unconcerned with the
plight of the poor. So assuming every church goer is a multimillionaire
and can afford to maintain their comfortable lifestyle, no matter how
much petrol costs does it then mean they should lose all empathy for the
poor and the needy outside the church fold? If so it demeans the
Christian to the status of a selfish person and it then negates his
calling to uproot systemic poverty from his sphere of influence, which
is the environment. Most likely, it is this feeling of self comfort that
made some of these clerics to stay away and even encouraged their
congregants to also stay away, for without doubt most of the Christian
clergy today are very wealthy, which is a good thing. But it is
dangerous if it creates insulation between them and the oppressed poor
out there.
And this brings us to why God prospered Job. Even though Eliphaz told
Job that if he walked with God he would be prospered such that even if
others were wallowing in socio-economic hardships Job could afford to
say to himself that there is a lifting up, but all the same, Job
revealed to us the hitherto hidden secret behind his wealth. In chapter
29 and verses 12, 13, 15 to 17 of his book Job gave us deep insight into
how and why God prospered him. He said: “Because I delivered the poor
that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The
blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the
widow’s heart to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I
to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I
searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil
out of his teeth.”
So without doubt Job was a social justice crusader. He didn’t just
relax in his comfort so that when the poor were being oppressed through
bad economic policies that favoured those in government stealing from
them he could just declare, “when men say there is a casting down I
shall say there is a lifting up for me.” If he did that he would have
been a selfish rich man who didn’t care how government ran the economy,
education, health and public works and how they impact on the poor and
needy. Job was a courageous social activist who never feared confronting
the wicked on the behalf of the oppressed. He was so fearless and so
concerned that he could break the jaws of the wicked and pluck from
their teeth what they stole from the commonwealth, which shows Job was
angry whenever corruption was perpetrated by those governing the people.
At about the early stage of this treatise I said an important
evidence of genuine love for your neighbour is when you are angry if
they are being oppressed or cheated. It is called holy anger and holy
anger is biblical. Mark chapter 3 verses 5 tells us that Christ was
angry at an attempt by Pharisees and Sadducees to stop Him from being a
blessing to a man with a withered hand just like the present day
Pharisees and Sadducees are conniving against the liberation of the poor
and needy from government oppression. The point is Christians must be
sufficiently angry at anything that will ever be done to pauperize the
people. They must be angry against corruption and, like Job, pursue the
wicked people in government and seize from their hands what they stole
from the people. That was Job’s ministry and the secret behind his
righteous wealth.
Nigeria at the moment needs reconstruction. Our walls have collapsed
and all manner of evil creatures have rushed in and have taken residence
in the crevices and even in our most hallowed places and sanctuaries.
But we must, like Nehemiah did in Jerusalem a long time ago, rebuild the
broken walls of our nation and flush out the strange creatures that
have transplanted our sense of integrity and honour with mediocrity and
vice. But it needs a heavy dose of holy anger to rebuild our nation; an
anger that will blind you against tolerating the corrupters and spoilers
of our nation; an anger enough to drive you in love to fight for what
is right for your neighbour, whether they are of your ethnic or
religious stock or not. It is time for seizing the spoils of thefts from
the teeth of thieves in government like Job did. And in doing so let us
take example from the prophet Nehemiah, which also will help prove the
biblicality of protest rallies as a tool against oppression and
corruption.
The current picture of a Nigeria under siege by kleptomaniacs and
megalomaniacs is the exact picture of the nation of Israel in Nehemiah
chapter 5. The nation was in ruins, no thanks to a thieving elite that
held her by the jugular. The commonwealth of the people was cornered by
those thieving elites so much that parents had to give out their
children in exchange for some kind of handouts for living. People were
mortgaging their lands, gardens, farms and houses to the thieving elites
for some mere handouts to live. Morality got broken down and extortion
was the order of the day just like Nigerian government thieves will
steal trillions and expect the poor and everyone else to pay it back.
But in verses 6 look at what prophet Nehemiah said: “And I was very
angry when I heard their cry and these words.” Again, we have proof that
prophets can be angry against social injustice, corruption and
oppression of any kind. But he just didn’t stop at being angry, prophet
Nehemiah continued in verses 7 that “Then I consulted with myself, and I
rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury,
every one of his brother….” The prophet didn’t waste time in taking
action. He discussed the whole drama within himself and realized the
nobles and the rulers couldn’t be right, which formed the basis of his
anger anyway. So he didn’t engage in any secret dialogue with the
thieves, rather he openly rebuked them and told them plainly what their
offences were against the people.
But, wait a minute; very importantly the prophet didn’t just stop at
openly rebuking them. He concluded verses 7 by saying this: “And I set a
great assembly against them.” The prophet organized a huge protest
rally to send home the message that the people would no longer be slaves
to thieves in their own nation. They came out en masse to occupy the
nation, symbolically showing that real power resides in them. I firmly
believe this is Pastor Tunde Bakare’s understanding of which shepherds
turned butchers are vilifying him for. Prophet Nehemiah didn’t go about
organizing prayer retreats for God’s wisdom or guidance to come upon
thieving rulers neither did he tell the people to be patient and pray
for them because the enemies of the rulers have programmed them
spiritually to fail. A thief is a thief and will not be judged based on
some presumed thinking that he was a thief because someone cast a spell
on him to be a thief; rather he will be judged for being a thief.
After gathering the people en masse to occupy the nation look at what
prophet Nehemiah said to the oppressive rulers in verses 8: “And I said
unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews,
which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren?
Or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found
nothing to answer.” The prophet was taking the rulers to task, asking
them whether they wanted to re-colonize the people. And of course, they
had no answer just like their Nigerian brand also have no answer as to
why the commonwealth keeps depleting with nothing to show for it.
And then he tabled the demands of the people in verses 11: “Restore, I
pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their
oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and
of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.” The reason
God instituted churches is that there should be people who should seek
the restoration of the provisions He has made for the people, not people
who will stand aloof in some wretched self comfort while thieves are
busy looting resources that belong to God anyway. The prophet demanded
on the behalf of the people a full restoration of all that were taken
away from them. Even the money stolen, he demanded one hundred percent
restoration.
Now the rulers, having realized this awakening in the people and
feeling intimidated by the mass of people occupying the nation in
protest and for fear of losing their position of power to people power
they submitted totally to the demands of the prophet and the people.
Verses 12 say: “Then said they, We will restore them, and will require
nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the
priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this
promise.” Obviously the priests of the nation may have joined in the
despoliation of the nation as is the case with Nigeria, hence his demand
on them to also do according to this promise of restoration.
To make sure there was a penalty for those who may have not been
sincere in their promise to restore back to the people what they stole
from them, the prophet Nehemiah in verses 13 said: “Also I shook my lap,
and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his
labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out,
and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD.
And the people did according to this promise.”
That is how the church should deal with notoriously corrupt rulers
like the type in Nigeria. The whole essence of the church is to fight
injustice anywhere, anytime and for anybody. It is not a social
organization for the advancement of the interest of corrupt people
neither is it for the pursuit of tribal, sectional or regional agendas.
It is an organization that should stand for and espouse the truth, even
if the truth will hurt some egos within the church. But in the short and
long terms it is the truth that will heal them of their hurt ego.
If the church in Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Kano, Gombe, Adamawa,
Jigawa, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Ondo, Nassarawa, Kogi, Plateau, Akwa
Ibom and so on and so on agree that there is only one truth and fight
for the enthronement of social justice and war against corruption in the
areas God sent them to, then she will succeed in being beneficial to
the people and grounds for the incubation of groups like Boko Haram will
be lost talk less of some opportunists cloning them for their own
agenda. That’s when her light and good works will be seen and there
would be little or no hostility and her security will be further
enforced by God.
I have written As the Church Slept…., and As the Church Slept…. The
sequel. Now this is the Trilogy. I pray the church in Nigeria wakes up.
Amen.
