PDP. FASHOLA AND THE NEXT ELECTION

To my protest that politics was a calling and that real politicians are beginning to emerge that are not in it for the money, he got personal. Politics is a calling just like being a pastor is eh? You are a pastor; you set up a church just so you can make money. So you and your family can be rich. See, you have money just because you are a pastor. I assured my dear “egbon” that I was not going to apologise for being rich as he said, because since God, my father, owns everything, there can be nothing hindering my access to my heritage. I assured him that I had not set up a church and while it was true that there are pastors whose motivation might be material, it was wrong to say so of every pastor. Needless to say, we agreed to disagree...

I had two very interesting conversations during the past week, both politicians and both members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The first was with an “egbon” who says he’s an elected ex-officio member of the party’s Lagos executive. It was an essentially good-natured exchange of banter among friends. I walked into it actually, as it had been before I stepped in.

By the reckoning of this “wise and wily” politician, Lagos was already in the can for the “largest party in Africa.” It doesn’t matter what any of the other parties, including the ruling Action Congress, do or fail to do, Lagos will fall and that will complete the stranglehold of the party on the South West of Nigeria. He had a supporter among the five or six debating party who even “bet his life” that it was going to happen exactly as said.

Now, how was it going to come about, I queried. And he said something like this: “the Fashola that the AC is banking upon will soon join us in the PDP. And that will be the end of AC in Lagos.” When I protested that Fashola was too principled to cross over to the party that Wole Soyinka famously described as having “a nest of killers” within, he launched into a lecture about the essential nature of politics in Nigeria. First he debunked the insinuation that there was any nest of killers in the party, saying that those who were killed over the years were killed by “their own People”. Although he admitted that he has two body guards who have been detailed to be around him even as a lower cadre official. Asked why that was necessary, he said it was to give job to the boys. Then, he spoke about how all that every politician wanted was money because politics was a “trade” from which every politician wants to profit financially and materially.

To my protest that politics was a calling and that real politicians are beginning to emerge that are not in it for the money, he got personal. Politics is a calling just like being a pastor is eh? You are a pastor; you set up a church just so you can make money. So you and your family can be rich. See, you have money just because you are a pastor. I assured my dear “egbon” that I was not going to apologise for being rich as he said, because since God, my father, owns everything, there can be nothing hindering my access to my heritage. I assured him that I had not set up a church and while it was true that there are pastors whose motivation might be material, it was wrong to say so of every pastor. Needless to say, we agreed to disagree as I left the venue of our unscheduled debate.

The other conversation was with a younger friend of mine. He is a born-again, spirit-filled child of God, a regular at events of the two ministries to men that I am involved with. He has this ambition of some day becoming the governor of Lagos State. So well known is his ambition that we all already hail him as Governor. I shall refrain from mentioning his name lest somebody within his party see him as a threat.

As we rode together from a child-naming service of one of our own, I asked him how things were shaping on the political front. And what he said about the coming election took me aback. According to him, the election was going to be rigged again, because in Africa, it is virtually impossible to conduct free and fair election. He even quoted ex-president Obasanjo position that not even the Lord Jesus could wrought the “miracle” of conducting a credible election in Nigeria to buttress his point without directly agreeing or disagreeing. His views on Lagos State and Fashola were uncannily similar to those of “egbon.” Lagos was going to fall to the PDP. Fashola does not have a choice but to join them if he wants a second term. As far as he was concerned, Fashola needs the PDP to run and win. The choices before him are that limited – he either runs on PDP ticket and win or run on any other platform including that of the Action Congress and lose. AC, he said, was already in disarray, with the boys they use (to rig elections) crossing over to the PDP in droves. And in any case, he said, voter apathy among the elite always guarantees that those who think their votes will not count will stay at home, leaving the field for “the boys”

Of course, I took him on. As a child of God, I told him, he had no business being in politics if he was sure there can be no end to the evil called rigging, wondering whether he would be available to do any dirty assignments for his party. Of course, he quickly assured me he would do no such thing. I wondered whether he still remembers the import of his confessions and asked how rigging can ever be ended if those who have the power of death and life in their tongues, continue to confess its inevitability. And on the subject of Fashola, I assured him as I did “egbon” that Fashola was unlikely to join the PDP and that if push comes to shove and he doesn’t get the Action Congress ticket, the one platform under which he was sure to lose was PDP. As an Independent candidate or in any other party, his victory was sure. This I anchored on the fact that there would be no voter apathy if Fashola runs and he would not want for foot-soldiers of the decent and honourable kind.

Let therefore the warning go out to those do-or-die politicians, Lagos will not be available to capture, whether Fashola runs or not. I feel constrained to repeat Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka’s admonition on the death of late President Yar’Adua, quoted here last time: “….One can only hope that, while mouthing sanctimonious platitudes such as “power belongs to God,” they have now learnt that the politics of Do-or-Die cannot guarantee who does and who dies. They must stop playing God…” Let him that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to Nigerians.

THE MULE, THE LORD AND ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

…Come to think of it, who else but a president like Obasanjo could have opened our eyes to the do-or-die nature of our politics and, given our recent experience, be so deadly accurate? Who else but “Pastor Matthew”, a born-again Baptist who holds a Diploma in Theology from the National Open University of Nigeria could have taught us that the divine power of the Lord Jesus does not extend to the peaceful and orderly change of leadership in Nigeria? Who else could have earned the tag of “devil incarnate” from the normally unflappable Christian Association of Nigeria; and recommendation of deliverance from Bishops? Who else, but a man, who never found it necessary to deny sleeping with his daughter-in-law, could have recommended the Bishops themselves for deliverance – and for good measure, add ‘you journalists’?

If an Olusegun Obasanjo had not been born, the Nigerian media would have had to create him. We would have had to create him for one simple reason – he is such good copy! He has his own peculiar way of stirring things up. He is a combination of what you might call the good, the bad and the ugly – though it is hard to say in what proportion.

In his PUNCH column last Sunday, my friend, Tunde Fagbenle, had the unenviable task of defending himself against accusations, by a late friend’s brother, of hating OBJ. The hatred issue was the easiest part because, like Tunde himself said and I know it to be true, he is incapable of hating anybody. The difficult part was defining his feelings about the man. And it went something like, yes, he has some good parts, but well, the rest, you don’t want to know! Tunde shouldn’t have bothered – no real journalist ever hates a good “copy.” I personally wonder about this mule of a man, strong, stubborn and, sometimes …you know that other s-word that defines a mule.

Come to think of it, who else but a president like Obasanjo could have opened our eyes to the do-or-die nature of our politics and, given our recent experience, be so deadly accurate? Who else but “Pastor Matthew”, a born-again Baptist who holds a Diploma in Theology from the National Open University of Nigeria could have taught us that the divine power of the Lord Jesus does not extend to the peaceful and orderly change of leadership in Nigeria? Who else could have earned the tag of “devil incarnate” from the normally unflappable Christian Association of Nigeria; and recommendation of deliverance from Bishops? Who else, but a man, who never found it necessary to deny sleeping with his daughter-in-law, could have recommended the Bishops themselves for deliverance – and for good measure, add “you journalists”?

On this latter subject, look what tomes of brilliant copies have been born! One of them which turned out to be a two-part affair was by Casmir Igbokwe, Sunday Punch editor. who played an OBJ by pointing out who else needs deliverance in our land apart from OBJ, the Bishops and journalists, that is. He failed to include a certain set of people among those who need to see deliverance ministers, and thus drew the ire of one of our colleagues.

In the event, he received a salvo from Tayo Odunlami, Deputy Editor of TheNEWS magazine which reads: “Casmir, I read your piece in last Sunday’s edition and yes, a lot of people truly need deliverance. But I observed how you skirted round the issue of so-called men of God in dire need of deliverance, by mentioning only Muslim clerics; you were clearly being partisan, due obviously to your religion. You wouldn’t mention this crap about these mercantilist fraudsters parading as Christian men of God. I hope you are not already a victim of the criminal brain washing you spoke about. I am a Christian myself but as I always say to people, I am a thinking Christian rather than the mass of mere church-going, tithe-enslaved zombies that especially Pentecostal pastors have successfully created to suit their mad greed for money. Unfortunately, when they play God, many believe them. Those who sold the idea of taking some Christian clerics to Yar’Adua must have convinced the family these characters could actually give him life: and at what cost of our money? These men would collect money from the dead, as they do in the name of gifts, offerings and tithes from roughish bank chiefs and government officials and all sorts of criminals. They collect money from the poor to establish schools that only children of the rich can attend. No qualms, no conscience. Men of God? Casmir, let’s shout it loudly those who truly need deliverance, without fear.”

Of course, Casmir defended himself as best he could, but I wonder if Tayo read that piece over. The pastors who were invited are identifiable, the event is well known, the suggestion that they went to see the late Yar’Adua for money had therefore better be accurate or a certain kind of writ may be on its way! Even “thinking” Christians need to think things through; don’t you think?

And to think that all of these is because of a Thursday evening speech in faraway Washington DC in which a certain “thinking Christian” told his audience at the Leon H. Sullivan Dialogue on Nigeria held at the National Press Center, in the USA capital that: “with all due respect, if Jesus Christ could come to the world and be the chairman of INEC, any election he would conduct will be disputed!” He thoughtfully left out a name that could have earned him a “fatwa”! So much for bravado!

In all of these, I wonder if anybody has noticed that Jesus Christ has been conducting his own elections. By the time you read this, a man called Goodluck Jonathan would have been in office as substantive President, Federal Republic of Nigeria for about three weeks, a clear five years before he would have qualified to even try! A certain architect and state governor, Namadi Sambo, who was pushing the candidacy of some other politician colleagues for the office of Vice President would have settled in that office for five days. And to crown it all, Patrick Nakowa, technocrat turned politician, a man in the vanguard of urging his predominantly Southern Kaduna people to wait till 2015 before shooting for the governor’s seat has become Kaduna State substantive Governor in May 2010.

Obasanjo and people like him may not see it; they may in fact delude themselves that it was their fancy political foot-work that has brought all of these about. But I know differently. I know that power has slipped out of their hands; not snatched by more powerful political opponents, but by the One who truly owns it – God the Almighty, whose foremost Son, Jesus Christ is alive and well in the affairs of Nigeria.

Interestingly, part of Professor Wole Soyinka’s statement on the death of the late President Yar’Adua comes in very apt in concluding this piece. Wrote the Nobel laureate: …. One can only hope that, while mouthing sanctimonious platitudes such as “power belongs to God,” they have now learnt that the politics of Do-or-Die cannot guarantee who does and who dies. They must stop playing God…”

ENTERS PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN

And so, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has departed. And the nation of Nigeria mourns. We mourn the death of a man most of us rate as, perhaps, the most honest leader Nigeria ever had. He impressed many of us with his open declaration of assets, going beyond the requirements of the law. And for those, like this columnist, who felt disgusted by the brazen robbery that the process that brought him to power was, he disarmed us, somewhat, by admitting that there were flaws and promising to do something about it. Since his departure on the night of Wednesday, so much has been said about his good heart, his commitment to the rule of law, his patriotism and so much more. May his soul find rest.

With Yar’Adua’ s very unfortunate exit, a new vista opens for Nigeria, It is a vista of hope and change. But it can easily turn to despair and more of the same – depending on the courage and choices of one man. That man is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, newly sworn-in President of the Federal Republic.

I have said quite a bit on this subject on this page lately. But much of what has been said can bear repetition and elaboration, not just because the possibility of a truncated acting presidency , were Yar’Adua to return from his sick bed, is no longer there, but more importantly because from my reading of recent events, the portents are bad!

I have said, and I know that most Nigerians agree, that one of Nigeria’s most critical challenges is the conduct free, fair and credible elections. This, we situate in the total lack of neutrality of those who have the constitutional duty of supervising this all-important pillar of democracy. Not even the military had succeeded in exorcising the lie of the demon that’s been sold to us over time – that every government must be interested in its successor, euphemism for imposition of its successors. It is a position rooted in the tendency of office holder to do things that they would need a friendly successor to cover up. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that to solve this critical problem , Nigeria needs an interim leader, disinterested in succeeding himself , who not do anything that he would need covered up after his tenure; and who is courageous enough to resist pressures from family, friends, ethnic group, political party and sundry other interest groups to lend his official weight to their cause.

Now, let’s face it; such a person would be hard to find. But that is precisely the kind of person that Dr Jonathan has to be in the very short time it has pleased God to put him in office. I have no doubt in my mind that unless he yields to God, to be that man, he’s likely to be outside the will of God. That’s a big assertion that, but it is the hard cold truth. And I’ll tell you how I know that.

Today, Jonathan is President of the Federal Republic by virtue of an arrangement that zones the top post to the north of Nigeria for two terms totalling eight years. The North should therefore have another term. I do not subscribe to the arrangement and so, were I in government, it won’t be binding on me. And indeed, if I have my way, it should never have been put in place at all. But it is in place in spite of ex-President Obasanjo’s latter day less-than-honest assertion to the contrary. And Jonathan subscribed to it. He came to office by it, and he is not on record, to my knowledge, as having ever disagreed with the arrangement. So, he is bound by it. He is a Christian and the Bible says that true Christians swear to their own hurt and do not renege! (See Psalm 15:4).

Flowing from this, and most important of all, is this truth: there are simply no righteous ways by which Dr Jonathan can pick up his party’s ticket to run in 2011! To run, he has to play “realpolitik”, which is politics devoid of moral and ethical considerations; politics without conscience. He has to pull down the party structure, hound his opponents, tear the rule books and generally be ruthless. Recent events are already pointing in this direction. I have said here before, the withdrawal of corruption charges, preparing grounds for the return of ex-Economic and Financial Crimes Commission boss, Nuhu Ribadu and the proposal to make him overseer of the anti-corruption agencies already raises the sceptre of a return to the days when EFCC was an attack dog of the “emperor” Obasanjo. The sudden unearthing of a 2002 crime against ruling party chairman Vincent Ogbulafor reads uncannily like a page off OBJ’s book. All of these should be anathema to a man whose trajectory to the top has simply been nothing, if not divinely orchestrated.

I’ll end this piece with an exhortation by Bob Gass in The Word for Today devotional of February 22, 2010, which must be familiar to the President since Sunday Nation columnist, Tola Adenle recently drew his attention to it. Faith, after all, comes by hearing. Based on Joshua 24:15 and titled, Defining Moments, it reads: “…First, in our life, defining moments show us who we really are. Our defining moments usually come …during times of making… a hard choice.

Sometimes, defining moments occur when we don't see them for what they are. It's only afterwards…that we understand their importance. Either way, they define who we are. Secondly, defining moments show others who we are. Most days we can wear a mask, but during defining moments we can't…Whatever is truly inside us is revealed to everyone. As a leader, defining moments tell the people who you really are, what you stand for, and why you're leading. Handled well, a defining moment can bond leaders and followers for life. Handled poorly, it can end your ability to lead. Thirdly, defining moments determine who we will become. You'll never be the same person after a defining moment. That's because defining moments are not normal... Defining moments…give us an opportunity to turn, change direction, and seek a new destination. They present options and opportunities. In these moments, we must choose. And the choice we make will define us!” All the best, Mr President.

IN ARCHBISHOP PETER AKINOLA’S SHOES

The greatness of this man of God is easily gleaned from this fact that it has taken at least three great men to step into his shoes. The Most Rev’d Gregory Venables, Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone was elected to replace him as Chairman of the Primates Council of GAFCON on April 5. He handed the mantle of leadership of Global South Anglican (GSA) on April 15 to the Most Rev’d John Chew Archbishop of the Diocese of Singapore which hosted their recent meeting. Add to that Primate Okoh in Nigeria and you’ll agree, his was a giant pair of shoes indeed.

And so, Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola has retired. The erstwhile Primate of All Nigeria of the church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) formally stepped down from his exalted position exactly five weeks. In his place has stepped a former Nigerian Army colonel, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh. He would be sorely missed in his many roles in Nigeria and in the global Anglican Communion where he is so deeply revered by the majority and equally deeply reviled by a tiny but vocal minority.

Henry Orombi, Anglican Archbishop of Uganda likes to call him “the Lion of Nigeria.” Rick Warren, the famous American pastor and author of international best-seller, Purpose Driven Life says “he has the strength of a lion” and “that when he speaks, far more than just Anglicans pay attention.”

The Most Reverend (Dr) Peter Jasper Akinola, was that Bishop from Africa no one could ignore. Forged in the fire of adversity and hewn from the rock of purist theology, destiny placed him right at the centre of a war for the soul of the Christian faith, and he is standing rock solid in the vanguard.

The first salvo in the war that was to define Akinola’s leadership opened right at the onset of his consecration as Archbishop, Primate and Metropolitan, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) in 1998. It was his first Lambeth Conference as helmsman having just taken over from the highly regarded church-planter extraordinaire, Most Reverend Abiodun Adetiloye.

At that meeting, a ten-yearly gathering of leaders of the 77million-strong Anglican Communion worldwide, liberals from the western wing of the church, which also happens to be major financiers of the worldwide communion, canvassed a change in the Church’s position on homosexuality. They wanted the Church to see it as an orientation, a sexual preference, rather than a sin, and therefore accord its gay members equal rights, including the rights to marry and become priests. These liberals argued that since God is love, He does not discriminate against any one, including those who have same-sex attraction.

Akinola was outraged. So were many others, mostly from the relatively poor, grant-receiving global-south wing of the church. They challenged the view as running counter to God’s divine plan, describing it as outrageous deviance from Biblical teaching. He found himself in the vanguard of this opposition, partly on account of his church being the largest single communion of Anglicans internationally. He rallied the troops, as it were, and the proponents of gay rights were defeated.

He recalled: “As a family, we came together (at the Lambeth Conference) in 1998 and we said, overwhelmingly: We cannot endorse same-sex union, because it's incompatible with scripture. We cannot endorse the ordination of active homosexuals to the ministry, because a minister is supposed to be a wholesome example to all people. When you have a person who has a particular orientation, he's acceptable only to his own clique and that you cannot have that in the church. So, we agreed on those two things. Democratically - we voted.”

If Resolution 1:10, as that democratically agreed upon decision became known, had been adhered to by all, Akinola would most probably have remained in the relative obscurity of feeding and

In 2003, Akinola remembers, “we got word that they (the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, ECUSA) were going to consecrate an open, active gay to the episcopate; we met at the gracious invitation of our leader, Dr Rowan, in his palace in London and we warned: 'Please don't do this! Please don't do it! It will destroy our church.' We said: 'If you do this thing' - I am quoting the communiqué directly now - 'it will tear the fabric of our communion at its deepest level.'”

ECUSA defied the Akinola-led opposition. On November 1, 2003, it installed Gene Robinson, an openly gay clergy man as the Bishop of New Hampshire at a well-attended ceremony, with at least 3,000 persons and 54 bishops in attendance. Gene had separated from Isabella, his wife with whom he had two daughters, in 1986 upon concluding that he was gay, and had been partnering with a certain Mark Andrew.

Akinola, in the meantime had become the rallying point of the struggle. He was elected Chairman of Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), the Nairobi, Kenya-based umbrella body of 42 million Anglicans in all the 12 Anglican Provinces in Africa and the Diocese of Egypt in October 2003. Two years later, he was also named chairman of Global South Anglican which represents the interest of the 50 million-strong body of Anglican Churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

He reacted swiftly. In a statement issued on behalf of GSA, he not only strongly condemned Robinson’s ordination; he proclaimed “a state of impaired communion” within the worldwide Anglican family.

That state of impaired communion remains till today entrenched, as it were, following the holding in June 2008 of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem, ahead of Lambeth 2008, giving birth to what its conveners described as “a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans have received it”. It was attended by “1,148 lay and clergy participants, including 291 bishops representing millions of faithful Anglican Christians”. And GAFCON eventually went on to create a Akinola was eventually unanimously elected as first chairman of the group’s Primates’ Council.

The rest as they say is history. The greatness of this man of God is easily gleaned from this fact that it has taken at least three great men to step into his shoes. The Most Rev’d Gregory Venables, Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone was elected to replace him as Chairman of the Primates Council of GAFCON on April 5. He handed the mantle of leadership of Global South Anglican (GSA) on April 15 to the Most Rev’d John Chew Archbishop of the Diocese of Singapore which hosted their recent meeting. Add to that Primate Okoh in Nigeria and you’ll agree, his was a giant pair of shoes indeed. (Culled from a Report of the same title in the forthcoming edition of KINGDOMPeople magazine)
.