FANIKAYODE, BLOOD-SUCKING DEMONS AND ALL THAT

The devil makes his home in any environment where justice and equity are aliens; he thrives in the bitterness that oppression brings out of the oppressed; he is lord where the poor are trampled upon and the rich are not averse to sustaining their wealth and privileges through unjust means. We should thank God that more of our citizens are running to the Churches, to the Lord Jesus Christ, for succour; but we must not underestimate the number rushing to the occult, to satan for help. That is the source of the kind of thing that Fani-Kayode spoke about.

These are truly interesting times in the life of our nation. For interesting, some might want to read trying or testy, or whatever else is their perception on the state of affairs in the largest black nation in the world.

As I write this, most, some say all, of Lagos, where I live and work, has been in complete darkness for about a week. To my knowledge, nobody has told us why; and when we shall have the privilege of having the occasional flicker we’ve become accustomed to back. As a result, we’ve had to spend some more on fuel for generators, drink tonnes more of fumes per day to supplement the “poor” water that have become considerably poorer and food that have become dearer.

No, I am not complaining; not one little bit. That is because, I’ve always known and stated it here that the flood of righteousness will come, some day soon; sooner than most of us are willing to allow for. That is why I disagree with respected journalist and one time ‘action Governor” of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande who said recently that all probes are useless. You see, previous probes may have been so, but the current ones are certainly going to bear bountiful fruits. These are no man-orchestrated moves; these are the moves of God in His wisdom, to fulfil His promise in the Bible that there is nothing hidden that shall not be exposed (see Matthew 10:26). Incidentally, Atiku Abubakar, Action Congress presidential contender in last year’s election had to admit that there is a higher power involved in what is going on at the moment!

The other aspect of the goings-on that many of us are missing is that the speed with which these exposes are coming on, within the first half of Yar’Adua’s disputed four-year term is also prophetic. When a people’s conscience becomes dead, as in unable to respond to stimuli, they take the word and the ways of God with levity. The Bible’s book of Ezekiel recorded God’s reaction to such temerity when He found it among the children of Israel:

"Son of man, what's this proverb making the rounds in the land of Israel that says, 'Everything goes on the same as ever; all the prophetic warnings are false alarms'? "Tell them, 'GOD, the Master, says, This proverb's going to have a short life!' "Tell them, 'Time's about up. Every warning is about to come true. False alarms and easygoing preaching are a thing of the past in the life of Israel. I, GOD, am doing the speaking. What I say happens. None of what I say is on hold. What I say, I'll do--and soon, you rebels!' Decree of God the Master“ (Ezekiel 12: 22-25).

That is why those who thought they were going to have a breathing space; that before anything untoward happens they would have had time to cover their tracks, must be wondering what hit them. I’ve said it many times before and I am going to say it again, things are not ever going to be the same again in our land. God is on our case, and it therefore CANNOT be business as usual. And it applies as much to those in government (every tier and branch of it), as it does to those in business, in academia, in sports, every other area of our national life including, most crucially of all, the Church.

It must also be stated that, because God is in it, true justice will be done eventually in all cases. It doesn’t matter how much people, who have smelt blood and would want to go for the kill, clamour for some heads, the innocent will not be punished. Yes, there would be trials for some, here and there, but those who have not soiled there hands will not need bleach. If you think that is prophetic, it is.

I say this because, as I write this, Mrs Diezani Allison Madueke, Minister of Transportation was being tarred with the brush taking out of the Professor Grange/Obasanjo-Bello paint bucket. And I know that many can’t wait to hear that she’s been asked to resign and docked by EFCC like the crowd from the Ministry of Health (corrected). But, unless the investigations reveal other things from what we already know, this is simply a tea-pot storm.

One, the money said to have been withdrawn were for projects already approved, and which had gone through due process. Two, there are no evidences yet that the minister or any one else benefited personally from the steps taken. Three, even if she were to be in disobedience of the Executive Order that unspent funds be returned to the Treasury, she would only have violated the letter rather than the spirit of that presidential directive. After all wasn’t the directive issued to forestall fraud? But, this is not a defence of the minister, it is simply a declaration that, as things stand today, there is no comparison yet between what happened at the Ministry of Health (corrected) and that of the Ministry of Transportation. And even the courts are yet to rule in the Health (corrected) case.

Incidentally, two erstwhile Ministers in that ministry responsible for Aviation were also in the news during the week. You already know the story. Dr Babalola Borisade, the one we call “Boris” and Deacon Femi Fani-Kayode honoured the invitation of the Senate Committee investigating the transportation ministry. They were specifically asked to account for how the so-called Aviation Intervention Fund was spent and somehow they couldn’t agree on the arithmetic!

This is surprising, to say the least. I had the opportunity of interacting with “Boris” early in the life of the Obasanjo government. He was then a Senior Special Assistant and had led a small team to design the National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP. (In retrospect, the nation would most certainly have benefited immensely had he been left to execute the programme). Back then, I found him quite a thorough person; with a knack for knit-picking in his attention to details. It is therefore not in his character not to be able to account for anything.

Femi Fani-Kayode, on the other hand, may be guilty of brashness and of being a trifle bit uncivil in the execution of his assignments, his forthrightness cannot be in doubt. For instance, till tomorrow, I believe that he was one of two or three people in the Obasanjo State House who did not know about their bosses’ third-term ambition until towards the end of the project! And the Deacon wore his faith on his sleeves, as it were, although his stay in government. Did he get his numbers mixed up?

I have stated all of these to make the point that whatever the case; no matter how susceptible many of us may have become to the revenge instinct, we must remain on the side of justice; God’s kind of justice.

Incidentally Fani-Kayode also got into the news for declaring that there was demonic involvement in the spate of air disasters that claimed many lives in this country before he got into office. Many have found that laughable. Many members of Moyo Oyatogun’s people’s parliament, Talk Back on Star FM radio, for instance, were very uncharitable in their reaction to the statement. And I am laughing. I am laughing at the ignorance of those who think life consists only of the things they can relate to by their senses. I am laughing at the suggestion that a “well-educated” man like Fani-Kayode should know better than to acknowledge the existence of the spiritual, including the satanic.

Fortunately one of the “parliamentarians”, as Moyo likes to address them, was “uneducated” enough to admit that the problems of this nation are spiritual. The earlier we face this truth the better. The devil makes his home in any environment where justice and equity are aliens; he thrives in the bitterness that oppression brings out of the oppressed; he is lord where the poor are trampled upon and the rich are not averse to sustaining their wealth and privileges through unjust means. We should thank God that more of our citizens are running to the Churches, to the lord Jesus Christ, for succour; but we must not underestimate the number rushing to the occult, to satan for help. That is the source of the kind of thing that Fani-Kayode spoke about. And he should know! He is a member of one of the most effective deliverance ministries in the land. (Apologies: GAFCON and the future of the Church will come later)