BARRISTER JITI OGUNYE’S DILEMMA

“It is this. An election holds. It is roundly adjudged to be far from being free, fair and credible. Therefore, those declared winners and who subsequently assume office could not have been said to be freely chosen leaders of the people. But no sooner have they resumed office illegitimately, than prayers for their success begin to ring out from pulpits across the land, presumably including his own church. Mr Ogunye traces this to the English tradition of praying for the King or the Queen, as is currently the case. He didn’t see why he should be called upon to pray for vote riggers and usurpers. And I won’t be surprised if on each such occasion, he chose to excuse himself.”

You probably have heard him speak. He is a lawyer and public affairs commentator who serves as a regular resource person on news and current affair programmes on a couple of television stations. Last Sunday, he was on Galaxy Television’s “Democracy Today” programme where, as usual, he spoke passionately about the ills of our dear nation. As the show was drawing to a close, he opened up on what I consider one of the deepest dilemmas of the politically conscious Christian. Jiti Ogunye is his name and as he said on the programme, he is a Christian, a member of the Anglican Church and a communicant. A communicant, for the benefit of the uninitiated, is someone qualified to and who receives the Holy Communion regularly. It also signifies his commitment to his faith in Christ Jesus. But there is something that bothers him.

It is this. An election holds. It is roundly adjudged to be far from being free, fair and credible. Therefore, those declared winners and who subsequently assume office could not have been said to be freely chosen leaders of the people. But no sooner have they resumed office illegitimately, than prayers for their success begin to ring out from pulpits across the land, presumably including his own church. Mr Ogunye traces this to the English tradition of praying for the King or the Queen, as is currently the case. He didn’t see why he should be called upon to pray for vote riggers and usurpers. And I won’t be surprised if on each such occasion, he chose to excuse himself.

I truly feel his pain. I share his dilemma. As readers of this column might remember, I had a thing or two to say about the place of God in the aftermath of the elections of 2007. When Vice President Goodluck Jonathan said their election was the Lord’s doing, I challenged him. In a piece titled, “The Lord’s Doing? No Sir!” (April 29, 2007), I concluded on this note: “Goodluck Jonathan, the Vice President-elect says their election is the Lord’s doing and I say no, it’s the doing of one man and his courtiers and that man is Obasanjo. How do I know? God is a God of justice and equity; He is also a God of due process. So committed to due process is our God that, he did not snatch control of the world from satan unilaterally when Adam foolishly handed it over to the serpent. Jesus had to come as the second Adam to pay the price for Adam’s rebellion and thus become qualified to retrieve what the first Adam lost. That is due process. Were God to want to install Yar’Adua and Jonathan, he would not use a flawed, fraud-filled and violent process. God is therefore not in this charade and because he is not in it, it cannot stand….”

When Professor Iwu described his INEC’s ability to commission, print and receive ballot papers for the Presidential election within 48 hours as a miracle and an evidence that God loves this country, I reacted this way: “Thank God that we are in this wonderful dispensation of grace! … Iwu allowed himself to be drawn away by his own pathological desire to do his master’s bidding in the exclusion of candidate Atiku Abubakar; attempted to play God by foreclosing the man’s participation in the presidential race and when a just, due-process committed God upturned their plan, he turns round to pat himself on the back for expensively half-solving the problem! And horror of horrors, he brings the name of God into it! Now how close to sacrilege can you get!” [On the Wings of Sacrilege (May 20, 2007)].

In that same piece, I recalled the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo as saying to an audience of congratulators: “although sceptics had doubted the conduct of the 2007 elections, it has come and gone and to a majority of Nigerians and God the results are acceptable.” In reaction, I wrote: “…It is clear even to the blind that majority of Nigerians do not find the elections acceptable. As for God finding the result of fraud and brazen manipulation acceptable, all I can say is “which god?” Certainly not the God that many of us know and worship. He is too holy, too just, to be a part of the massive rigging of April 2007. Surely as a Sunday school teacher, the president would certainly know that one of the most basic things taught children in churches is “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). One Bible scholar explains that this commandment is not only against false swearing, but also against ‘all profane, trivial, and irreverent uses of God's name.’ Can anything be more profane and irreverent than these? Lord have mercy.”

From the foregoing, I am sure you’ll agree that Barrister Jiti and I are virtually on the same page in these matters. But let’s take a close look at the issue. The first point to make is that the practice of praying for leaders is not peculiar to the Anglican Church; it is therefore not a British export. It is a biblical injunction that can be found in chapter two of the First Epistle of Paul to Titus, verses one and two thus: “I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving thanks be made for all men, For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” This passage does not say pray for those who deserve to be in authority or those who got to office legitimately. It did not discriminate! So, in praying for “kings and for all that are in authority,” we are simply being called to obey the injunctions of God who spoke through the mouth of one of His apostles.

Mr Ogunye also found unacceptable the usual rationale given by the church for urging acceptance of usurpers and going the extra mile of praying for them, namely that all powers belong to God and He gives it to whomsoever He wills. Again, I am with the learned barrister. It’s just that that is what the Bible says! And we either accept the Bible as the word of God, which cannot be broken or reject it in its entirety.

Psalm 62:11 says, “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.” In the Book of Proverbs, God declared, “By me kings reign…” Since only the one who has it can give it, then we must accept this as the gospel truth. But does that mean God supports injustice and inequity? Does it suggest that God Had a hand in, for instance, the charade of April 2007 or the most recent devil-may-care, in your face imposition of Mr Segun Oni upon the Ekiti people? I am absolutely certain the answer is NO!

So where does that leave us? If He does not approve of the method, why should He ask us to pray to sustain them in office? I do not claim to know the answers, but the following passages of Scripture reassure me of God’s unchanging attributes.

First and foremost that His ways are beyond my complete understanding: " For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9). Next, I know He is faithful and just: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." (Deuteronomy 32:4). And lastly that He always has our best interest in mind: “For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome (Jeremiah 29:11 AMP).

My final take on this is this. Evil may seem to be on the rise in our land, but I assure you, for as long as we pray without ceasing and work the works of the One who has sent us diligently, doubting nothing, compromising nothing, evil will burn itself out. Its greatest capability is not in replication, although it does replicate for a season, its ultimate attribute is self-destruction - in due season. What we do by praying for them is to secure peace in the land even as we pour hot coal upon their heads.

Peace, my dear brother.

PIX: Mr Jiti Ogunye...Why pray for election riggers?