CAN 2008: THE SPIRITUAL ANGLE

For many Nigerians, football makes the world go round. That is why whatever touches football touches most of us. When that particular thing touches football and touches our beloved fatherland, then that thing has us all to contend with. That is why, one German with a name that sounds like the measure of electromotive force is on many Nigerian lips. And what they have singing to him, and about him, is closer to dirges than ballads.

Bertie Vogts, that is his name, and his qualification for the current infamy is simple: He led Nigeria to her most disastrous African Nations Cup championship ever! Yet he came as the answer to many soccer lovers’ clamour for “a world-class coach!” Yet he led possibly the best prepared and highest motivated Nigerian squad in recent times! Yet his was the very first coach in recent memory to have his salary and wages guaranteed through the good offices of a corporate sponsor.

To hear the Nigerian soccer buff, fan and aficionado alike, tell it, Vogts was a high voltage disaster! He was wrong, wrong-headed; wrong-footed; wrong on all and every count(s). His scorecard would read like this: team selection – zero; match formation - zero; technical input – zero; decisions from the bench – zero. Not even Fanny Amun who sought African continental honour at a lower level through a certain strategy known as “wobbling and fumbling” would have been rated that abysmally.

So, if you want an explanation for why the Super Eagles were anything but super at CAN 2008, look no further. Hang it all on the not-so-fragile neck of the German and proceed to hang him by the neck or by whatever other means are you chose.

To be fair, some analysts also see some of the players as contributing their quota to the failure of the Super Eagles to fly. They had little or no commitment, some have said. Others think some of the players had reasons other than the good of fatherland for going to Ghana. One or two newspaper reports even fingered a mafia within the squad for the problems.

Let me state categorically that Nigerian football fans cannot be wrong! Possibly, no other nation in the world has as many coaches, managers or technical advisers as we do. Every home has a potential “world class coach.” Makes you wonder why we needed a foreigner in the first place!

However, on this occasion, I wish to align myself, not with these super specialists, but with the opinion of a one-time vice-chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, NFA, Mr Richard Nwabufor Obienu.

According to a Daily Sun report sensationally headlined “Cursed!”, this Enugu-based lawyer told the newspaper’s Joe Apu that the NFA, is under an unseen spell and therefore there must be total purgation and spiritual cleansing of members of the board because of their litany of sins against Ibrahim Galadima, Sunday Oliseh and George Finidi.

According to the report, Obienu said: "That’s the only way Nigeria can win back her lost football glory…Their sins at the NFA need thorough cleansing. They sinned against Ibrahim Galadima by their grand conspiracy that eventually led to his removal as chairman of the body. They sinned against Shaibu Amodu and Stephen Keshi. They also sinned against Finidi and Oliseh…I dare to say that the problems of our football today are spiritual, and this dates back to 2002 in Mali. Unless these spiritual issues are attended to, our problems would only continue to haunt us."

Expatiating on what he described as moral issues, the report quoted him as saying: “…the first moral issue was that coaches Amodu, Keshi and Erico were unjustly treated. These coaches were the first set of indigenous coaches to qualify Nigeria for the World Cup. Their allowances and even mine, as Team Manager, till date have not been paid. It was very unfair.
“The second moral issue is that Sunday Oliseh, Finidi George, Tijani Babangida, as well as Dr. Tijani Yussuf, were poorly treated and deserved compensation. Okocha and Kanu betrayed Oliseh and the rest of the team and that is why they cannot win anything for Nigeria since then. Both Okocha and Kanu have done well for Nigeria and no one can take away their contributions. Dr. Yussuf, for all his efforts as Secretary General of the NFA, was dragged to the ICPC for no good reason. If he had been convicted, he would have gone to jail for qualifying Nigeria for the 2002 World Cup, after all the risks he took.

"The third moral issue is the coup against Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima. He was wrongfully removed by those who called themselves stakeholders, for no just cause. The traitors that saw him off have their hands stained with innocent blood, and that is why the NFA is not making any progress…”
I have quoted extensively from the report in order to make the point that most of us seem to be missing: namely that the days of “business as usual” are over forever in our nation. The Spiritual state of our nation has, through the prayer of the saints, gone up to heaven. God has heard the cry of the people and nothing will ever be the same again; not in our politics and governance; not in business and economic management; not even in sports!
That is why a team which played the highest number of friendly matches; was promised the highest match and other bonuses with the highest number of players in some of best leagues in the world, and handled by “a world class coach could not go beyond the second round of African Nations Cup, Ghana 2007. That is why palliatives such as the sack of Vogts will not solve the problems of Nigerian football whilst the spiritual issues, some of which Obienu spoke about remain unresolved. That is why men and women who rig themselves into office at any level, or manipulate the system to their benefit will never again leave office in anything but disgrace.
I hear it clearly in my spirit, the prophetic words of American preacher, T.D Jakes to men in his book, “Loose That Man and Let Him Go” echoes what God is saying about Nigeria today. I have recast it like this: God is not going to let Nigeria get by with all the little things He used to overlook; we are running out of time. He used to let us make excuses for all the little things in the early hours of the fight. Now He is saying “excuses don’t work anymore; you’re running out of time. I must do a quick work to get you to your reserved seat. The enemy is chasing you; you’re on the hit list of hell, but I am determined to get you first.”
I have said this before in this column and I am going to repeat what I said last October. Nigerian sports, especially football is in “the vice-grip of a small, ruthless cabal. The interest of the cabal is money; money to purchase consciences in order to acquire power and use the power to make more money in a vicious devil-may-care cycle”. In that piece titled “Football and the Impending Flood”, which discussed the as yet unresolved matter of who controls the Nigerian Football League, I also stated: “…that what is currently playing out is the result of the evil that has been perpetrated over time in this very important area of our national life…” That is what Obienu is saying even if we differ in some of material particulars.
My warning then can bear repetition today: “the end is nigh for evil in our sport, particularly football. And the (then) on-going “civil war” is only the early warning signs that a flood that will sweep away the Nigerian football world as we know it in “Noahic” manner is imminent. It is also an assurance to the righteous that when it all over, they would be the ones standing”. Time is up for evil and its perpetrators.

First published in a Nigerian Daily, the Sunday Independent, published in Lagos Nigeria.

HEAVEN’S GOT AN ANGEL BACK!

>Heaven must be celebratin' an angel
Celebratin' an angel, who’s back with them right now
Her love was heavenly whilst here
Heavenly to all, she ever met whilst here...em>

No, I haven’t become a poet or lyricist yet. It is just that you cannot but wax lyrical when you find yourself joining in the celebration of a life that was lived giving joy, laughter and succour to others. But even then my muse isn’t being original. The four lines above are actually derived from that vintage song, “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angels”. Recorded by the Tavares, it was subsequently adopted as signature tune for the TV series, Charlie’s Angels. But unlike the Tavares, heavens simply got tired of missing this angel that they took her back last week.

Yes heaven must be celebrating the return of one much more than an angel. Heaven must be celebrating the return, to the bosom of the Father, of one soul, created a little lower than Elohim, who came to the earth radiated and manifested love, the God-kind of love and departed suddenly last Thursday. Heaven truly must be rejoicing, for earth’s loss is indeed heaven’s gain!

Cherie Ebele Dibiana (nee Muoka), changed mortality for immortality in the most unlikely way on February 7. She was on her way from work when she got reports that armed robbers were operating somewhere ahead along Ikorodu road, her route home to Ogba. Of course she did what a wife close to her husband would do. She called her husband of nearly 13 years, Kingsley Chukwuma Dibiana. They agreed it was better to use the main road rather than any one of the backstreets. She must have said a cheery “see you later, darling”, as the call ended and she continued her journey.

Soon enough she got to the Maryland midsection of Ikorodu Road and her car stopped, like many others at the traffic light waiting to bear right into Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way, to Ikeja. Then the agent of death came calling. Without warning, for no discernible reason, he defied, according to the driver, the admonition of another member of the gang not to shoot; he shot at the lady through the shut window of the car, shattering the glass and hitting her on the neck! The next call her dear husband got was from the driver hysterically announcing that madam had been shot. Three hospitals later (the first two having refused to admit her), she was confirmed dead.

Yours sincerely last saw this wonderful woman of God, who was one of the Coordinating Pastors of Ikeja Centre of Christ Chapel International Churches, the previous Sunday. She, in the company of her husband, had dropped Pastor Segun Oyebola and I off along Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun on our way from the final session of a three-day Faith Seminar conducted by our Senior Pastor, Rev Dr Tunde Joda. We did not realise we were saying our final “good nights.”

At about 4:00pm that Thursday, Cherie called Pastor Jennifer Oyebola, whose line of business include baking some incredibly delicious cakes, to order a birthday cake for her mother, Rev Mrs Esther Muoka whose birthday was next day. She also ordered Valentines Day cakes for a long list of people. You can imagine her shock when about five hours later she was told “she had passed on.”
Shock, disbelief, pain, confusion reigned for a while in virtually every heart at this absolute bolt from the blues. But God has begun to speak; in fact he begun to speak immediately after she was shot!

With the benefit of hindsight, those of us who were at the Thursday service that day can recall the powerful presence of God in our midst all through the service. Now we know he came to comfort us. Right there in front of the mortuary of Ikeja general hospital, Cherie’s dear mother through her tears spoke what must have been the mind of the Holy Spirit. In quivering voice and holding tightly to one of her daughters-in-law, she vowed: “we will carry on without her; we will put the devil to shame.”

Earlier, when news that his wife had been shot was broken to the husband, Pastor Chuks remembered falling flat on his face in their living room, where he had been waiting to welcome Cherie back to their love nest, and declaring to God: “Father, you gave her to me as a gift; if this is your way of taking her back, let your will be done”.

The departure of the righteous young cannot but lead us to questions upon questions. It couldn’t have been otherwise in the case of Cherie. To hear one person after the other talk about how self-sacrificing, how consumed by the zeal of the House of God; how eager she always was to resolve issues if and when they arose, how much of a present reality heaven was to her, is to ask; why God, why? Why Cherie? Why that way?

But as I said earlier, God has been speaking. As Pastor Chuks, a glint in his eyes and great gratitude to God in his general comportment, told some of his visitors on Tuesday, the Holy Spirit led him to the answer to all our questions in the first two verses of Isaiah, chapter 57. The Message translation renders it this way: ”Meanwhile, right-living people die and no one gives them a thought. God-fearing people are carted off and no one even notices. The right-living people are out of their misery, they're finally at rest. They lived well and with dignity and now they're finally at peace.”

If this does not comfort us, what will? That’s why, I can wax lyrical, the risk of plagiarism, notwithstanding! That why I am humming, “Heavens must be celebratin an Angel…” as I put this piece together remembering with great pleasure the wonderful life our dear sister lived.

That is why I wish I could tell you about how this wonderful lady was the bridge-builder; the one who remembered virtually all the birthdays in church and mobilised others to celebrate them; how she co-opted herself into the altar nursing group on communion Service days because the membership had thinned down; how finding jobs for the unemployed or under-employed amongst us was one of her passions; how…I can go on, but space won’t let me.

But, in closing let me quote from her letter to this columnist early in December last year which reveals her great passion the eradication of unemployment among the brethren. Titled by me as, Let’s Walk Our Talk, it reads in part:

“…I recently met an elderly man on one of my marketing visits to a multinational company. He is neither an ordained Pastor nor a General Overseer of any Church.
He is presently a Departmental Head in his place of work. He told me that years ago (almost 2 decades now), he made a conscious decision to ensure the employment of qualified Christians. (He meets you, your CV is ok, he forwards it to his Human Resources Dept and follows through until you come in or they formally decline). Please note that he has never worked in the Human Resources Dept of the Company. He says that he realized then that many Christians never ever get the opportunity to "access" highly paid jobs in some "coveted" sectors of the economy. It may interest you to know that one pastor has worked in the Human Resource Dept of the same company for years (and is still working) and no-one else in his Church has "made it in". We speak a lot of English on these matters, but you and I can count how many of us "spiritual people" in Church really walk our talk. Do what you can, though. Maybe, God willing, some of the people who read your column or visit your site will be convicted by the Lord to do something more. Stay blessed!”

The “earthen vessel” that used to house the “treasure” known as Cherie, will be laid to rest at the Victoria Court, Lagos on Friday February 22 after a Testimonial Service on Thursday at CCIC, Wempco Road, Ogba. To God be the glory.

First published in a Nigerian Daily, the Sunday Independent, published in Lagos Nigeria.

OF SHEPHERDS, THIEVES AND ROBBERS

KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE
with Remi Akano
e-mail: kpeditorpublisher@yahoo.co.uk


The place of the Divine in the affairs of man is often hardly appreciated. When he manifests, we see it as an episode from “Tales of the Unexpected” or, at our most appreciative, we give thanks to some wonderful woman called ‘mother luck’. But, make no mistake about it, dear reader, God, my father, your father, if you’ve learnt to accept him as such, is deeply interested and involved in our affairs.

Consider the drama playing itself out in Kogi state. By the time you read this, one man who campaigned to become a lawmaker; whose campaign budget and exertion must be miniscule compared to those of governorship candidates, would have been acting governor of that state for five days with up to 85 more to go, if fresh elections drag to the maximum three months! It must have been beyond his wildest dreams. He didn’t have a hand in most of the events that led to it. He wasn’t in Iwu’s INEC which allowed itself to disqualify candidate Abubakar Audu, the main reason the incumbent had to vacate office and return to the soapbox, to try again. Now, note the twist of fate that this man, Clarence Olafemi until that Wednesday, speaker of the State House of Assembly, had earlier also had his election nullified and is on appeal, can only serve out the ‘term’ if the appeal either ends in his favour or is not finalised within the 90-day period. What a twist of fate!

It is one of the ironies of life that the amiable and obviously decent Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, erstwhile governor, is the very first chief executive to actually vacate office as a result of the post-election adjudication process. I truly wish him well.

Beyond Idris, Olafemi and Kogi state politics, however, is a fundamental issue that we have broached on this page before but which many leaders think is optional; a matter of style! And that is the issue of due process. I’ve had occasion to posit that due process is indeed of God using as evidence the need for Jesus to die on a sinner’s cross before God can authorise the retrieving of the earth from the stranglehold of satan. But with what just happened in Kogi, you might wonder which is more important to God, is it performance or due process. In other words is the process by which a man gets into office more important than his performance in office or vice versa? After all didn’t they say that Idris was doing well? At the national level, to cite another example, should the fact that the election that brought our dear President Yar’Adua into office is acknowledged as flawed, even by him, as flawed matter more than his performance in office which many have adjudged as in the right direction?

I found myself pondering this question a couple of weeks before the Kogi development when spokespersons of both the government of Ekiti state and the opposition visited some media houses in Lagos. The government spokesman was very persuasive about the achievements, within such a short time, of the government of Engr Segun Oni. According to him, water now runs in taps where the citizenry used to depend on water tankers from Government House. The government had put in place a micro credit scheme, to empower those who used to struggle and get wounded in the process of catching the wads of Naira notes dropped from the moving car of former the governor, to start and run their own businesses. He emphasised that Oni was set to build more roads during his tenure than all the governors before him put together.

The opposition spokesman didn’t see any rhyme or reason in the government’s activities. As far as he was concerned there has been no evidence of proper planning and there cannot be because the government knows that it cannot last. But in the main, he hammered on the legitimacy of the government emphasising that it was not possible for Governor Oni to carry the people along because they did not elect him. According to the man from AC candidate Fayemi’s campaign outfit, whatever the governor does is being received and would continue to be received with a yawn. Ekiti people, he said, know who their leader is.

Ponder this with me, if you will. Should the citizens of Ekiti not warm up to this governor who, if his man is to be believed, means well for them; if indeed they are not? Should ‘Kogites’ not feel short changed, by the removal of Idris, if he was doing as well as some say, he was? Should Nigerians not pray and expect God to answer their prayers for President Yar’Adua’s victory at the tribunal; since he seems in many respects like a breath of fresh air after the stuffiness of the recent past?

My head says ‘yes’, but my heart says ‘no’. And I know enough now to trust my heart which is where, I am sure you know, the Holy Spirit reaches out to the believer. And when you respond, you are led to some eternal truths in the Word. That was what happened in this case.

In the book of John, the Lord Jesus Christ said the following: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:1-5).

Of course, as was often the case, his hearers did not understand the parable and he obliged them with an explanation: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them…The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine” (John 10:7-14).

You can be forgiven for wondering what all this has to do with elections and their aftermath. I wondered momentarily too! But the revealer of all truths never leaves you wondering for long, if you but listen. And so he granted me this revelation. The only acceptable route to leadership positions in a democracy is by elections. Those elections are guided by rules and regulations clearly stated and to which all who participate are deemed to have subscribed. That, then, is the door through which the shepherd must enter into the sheepfold, otherwise known as pen. To manipulate or cause to be manipulated or benefit from the manipulation of that process is to enter into the pen through somewhere else other than the door.

The Lord Jesus says such people would be no more than thieves and robbers; and that the sheep would not recognise their voice and therefore not follow them. He also implied that leaders who enter through the door would be like him - empowered to give God’s gift of the abundant life to the people. Does this explain what is and what is to come? I firmly believe so.

First published in a Nigerian Daily, the Sunday Independent, published in Lagos Nigeria.

GUESS WHO CAME FOR LUNCH AND…(February 3 2008)

For regular readers of this column, there isn’t much racking of the brain required. You most certainly recall that Dr Christopher Kolade was to have had breakfast with a group of men a couple of Saturdays ago. Packaged by Christian Men’s Network Nigeria, the meeting had to hold at lunch time due to circumstances beyond the organisers’ control, if you permit the cliché. On behalf of the team I sincerely apologise for the disruption to the personal plans of many men that might have resulted from the rescheduling. In spite of all efforts by email, telephone and sms, a sizeable number of men still did not receive notices of the change. You can imagine their disappointment at meeting an empty hall! One of those who came that early was Moses Ogodo who learnt about the event from this column and rather than return to his base at Ikorodu, a town on the outskirts of Lagos disappointed, he decided to wait it out! I trust God, that his uncommon tenacity was richly rewarded.

And so CK, as he has been known from way back and is now fondly called within his Managing Business For Christ fold, came to lunch, in place of breakfast. He came after a busy morning serving, I understand, as facilitator at a top level meeting. He waded through the hot afternoon traffic from the Island to Ikeja. He delivered his address. He then proceeded to answer questions at a very exciting interactive session standing on his feet for all of 130 minutes, by my estimate. He did not eat and he looked to me like he could have gone on for quite a while longer. And CK is a youth in his 76th year! Make what you will of that, but he certainly does remind me of Moses, of whom the bible said: “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” at “an hundred and twenty years old” (Deuteronomy 34:7).

If how Dr Kolade did what he did made such an impression on me and I know it did virtually all else who were there, what about what he did? What about the heart-check he was invited to lead? I tell you, dear reader, that cold letters cannot adequately convey it all, but I’ll try; trusting God that he would give life to my little effort.

Dr Kolade opened his minstration with the question, “are you a soldier for Christ?” Yeees, came the answer. “Why did you join the army of Christ”, he pursued. Mum was the word as these men tried to figure out suitable answers. So, he helped out. People join armies for many reasons. For some its probably just another job. For others its for love of the fatherland. There has to be a reason for joining the army of Christ since it is not an army where you queue up every month to receive salaries and rations or whatever.

He posited that a good soldier has to know what his army stands for and be loyal to the cause, whatever that may be. And usually an army is in place to fight for that cause and against opponents of the cause. The same applies to the army of the Lord Jesus, Dr Kolade said.

So, he continued, if you are a soldier of Christ, you have to have subscribed to the cause. And that cause was encapsulated in the Lord’s declaration in Luke 4:18-19 which reads “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
In other words, the army of the Lord Jesus exists to give the people life more abundant as he simplified it in John 10:10: “…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” That then has to be the preoccupation of everyone who enlists in this army. That is why we are commanded in chapter 3 of the book of Colossians: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him…And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men…” (17,23).

Dr Kolade proceeded to apply this principle to one issue that would seem to be on the lips and minds, of many Nigerians, the fight against corruption. Why should you as a soldier of Christ fight corruption, he asked. But before offering an answer, he painted a picture of what corruption is and who its victims are. Corruption, he reminded all, perverts procedures for private gains and manifests sometimes as bribery or as extortion, which he defines as unlawful demand for gratification enforced by power, including state power. It attacks and frustrates the system and at its ingrained best, installs an alternative system.

Flowing from this anatomy of corruption, it could be seen that virtually everybody can fall victim to corruption, but Dr Kolade pointed in the direction of the poor, the downtrodden, the ones who, for whatever reasons cannot help themselves. In other words, the main victims of corruption are the same people that the General of your army, your principal, has come to set free; the same people for whom he sets out to give the abundant life. That then has to be your reason for resisting any corrupt tendencies in your own life and joining in the fight against corruption, he concluded.

Easily one of the greatest obstacles in this latter respect, Dr Kolade pointed out, is the feeling by many that they are not capable of fighting this war; the enemy is too strong because the cancer has eaten too deep into the innards of society. But, this man of God has good news, or a powerful reminder, for the doubters, the weak kneed: you are a child of God and so you are able to do all things!

Why should you believe that? God said so in the bible and he cannot lie! Also the bible gave us what Dr Kolade said might be called case studies. Joseph was the dreamer who got into trouble with his brothers for his dreams. He was sold into slavery and just when things were looking up for him, having been put in charge of Potiphar, his master’s home and enterprise, he got an offer most red-blooded, calculating men would find hard to refuse– to sleep with the master’s wife! So desperate was the woman that she got hold of him one day and tried to rape him. He resisted and ended up in jail. His sojourn in jail led him to become what soldiers call second-in-command to the king of Egypt! But why did Joseph do what he did? Was it so he could become the prime minister of Egypt? No, not even this dreamer could have envisioned that! The answer is in Genesis 39:9 – “… how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?“

Job was a man who pleased God so much that the almighty boasted about him to the enemy. The enemy sought and got leave from God to try him. He lost all, including his wife and friends. No, they didn’t exactly abandon him; they stayed around to make his life a living hell. They gave him advice and analysed his situation in ways that would have led someone else to curse and repudiate God. But in spite of everything, he never really departed from his earlier reaction: And said…blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21).

Dr Kolade also cited Caleb and Daniel and concluded with a question: Why did each of these persons do what they did? They did not want to upset God. Why did they not want to upset God? The Lord Jesus showed mankind the new face of God, the God who loved so much, he gave us his best! Love begets love. When you love somebody, you do not want to upset them! They did not want to upset God because they loved Him! If we borrow a leaf from these ancients, he said, we would daily determine not to upset him. That way, whatever we do we would do to please God. The only reason good enough for fighting corruption, therefore, is because you are God’s agent and you love him. The only reason good enough to do anything is because of our love for God. That is why it’s all a matter of the heart.

First published in a Nigerian Daily, the Sunday Independent, published in Lagos Nigeria.