OLD ENOUGH TO DIE? (2)

For those statistically inclined, who might want to know what could be considered as the scriptural long life, the following truths of the Bible should be of help. I might as well address the famous “threescore and ten years” or “fourscore” years supposed Biblical prescription oft-quoted from the Psalms. It reads: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). Over the years I’ve heard this verse quoted as God’s idea of long life today. I am sure you’ve heard it too! But is it true?

I did not plan to return to the subject of longevity and death when I signed off the column last time. But as the last week wore on, I kept getting the feeling that I was a wee bit facetious about a serious matter or isn’t that how issues of life and death are described? I sensed that those who, upon reading the headline might have expected a deeper Scriptural perspective on the subject were probably underserved. My sincere apologies.

We concluded last week that David Livingstone, the explorer, hit bull’s eye when he said: “I am immortal until my task is accomplished.” And that is simply the truth for those who have a revelation of their true position in Christ Jesus. I might as well just explain this perspective at its most basic. The Bible says we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for certain pre-assigned tasks. My favourite rendition of the relevant verse of the Bible is from the New Living Translation and it says: “…we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:10). The Bible also quoted God the Father as saying in Psalm 91:16: “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” The Hebrew root word translated “satisfy” here is sabea, and it connotes “enough”, or “suffice,” in addition to “satiate.” The combined effect of these two verses of scripture is that God has assigned each of us to certain tasks, equipped us for them and provided us enough “length of days” to accomplished them. That is the reason Livingstone could boldly make the assertion he was quoted as making. That is the reason; every child of God can make the same claim.

For those statistically inclined, who might want to know what could be considered as the scriptural long life, the following truths of the Bible should be of help. I might as well address the famous “threescore and ten years” or “fourscore” years supposed Biblical prescription oft-quoted from the Psalms. It reads: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). Over the years I’ve heard this verse quoted as God’s idea of long life today. I am sure you’ve heard it too! But is it true?

The direct answer is “No”. If it were it wouldn’t have been said of Aaron: “And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor (Numbers 33:39). Nor would the Bible have recorded of Moses himself: “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated “(Deuteronomy 34:7). And remember Miriam? She was believed to be the sister who “stood afar” watching what would happen to her baby brother, Moses as he laid helplessly in “the ark among the flags” in Exodus chapter 2. Yet, she outlived both Aaron and Moses.

More important however is the historical context of Moses’ declaration in Psalm 90. Studies have located it at shortly after God had pronounced judgement upon the rebellious children of Israel in the book of Numbers. He had told Moses pointedly: “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun… (Numbers 14:27-30). It was the curse of the Law foreshadowed at its deadliest, and Moses was simply echoing the status quo in his prayer recorded in this Psalm. It was a status quo limited to a season of unconscionable, mindless repudiation of God’s faithfulness and omnipotence, by a people who, above all else had tasted of both.

But the enemy had sold the lie for so long and so successfully that a vast majority of us Christians begin to wind down our activities from age 60, fully persuaded that it would take a miracle to go beyond the next 10 or 20. Yet 60 is but middle age! No, don’t laugh. It’s the truth of God’s word, if you’ll check out the sixth chapter of the book of Genesis. The Lord God, the Source of life, said in verse three: “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” Yes, God’s life span floor for his children is 120 years, not 70 or 80. And if you consider the circumstance against which this floor was set, you’ll see that it was a big come-down, the result of the then on-going perversion.

You see, brethren, we need to renew our minds to the truth of Scripture, reject the lies of the enemy, no matter how long entrenched; so we can come into the fullness of our inheritance in God. That is what the likes of Evangelist Otis Clark, approaching 107; unbent, medication-free, clear-sighted enough to thread a needle, certified as having the heart of a 35-year-old, prove conclusively. And all it takes, says this man who still enjoys cooking his “own breakfast of steak and eggs or bacon and eggs…and make a pot of beef stew with garlic cloves, tomatoes and potatoes” is, “get on God’s side and stay there. No matter how many times you mess up, repent and stay on the winning side.”

OLD ENOUGH TO DIE?

Incidentally, the oldest person that ever lived, according to GRG records, was another female. Jeanne-Louise Calment was aged 122 when she passed on in August 1997 in Arles, France. This is not surprising because the top ten persons on the longevity table are all women, while the oldest man alive, Walter Breuning who will be 113 tomorrow (September 21) is number 15. In fact, of the 72 persons confirmed aged 110 and above, only four are males. This raises the question: Will a man ever be confirmed the oldest person on earth? Well, current statistics suggest that this is unlikely in the nearest future. But check out the man, Otis Clark.

Dr Mrs Joe Okei-Odumakin, president, Campaign for Democracy (CD), does not need any introduction. She’s the First Lady of Civil Society in Nigeria. No less a person than Professor Wole Soyinka once described her as "a tireless fighter whose frail bearing belies an inner strength and resilience of purpose…an inspiration to men and women, old and young." Among this Amazon of democratic struggle’s many attributes is her “straight-from-the-hip” rhetoric. This was demonstrated amply in the days since the departure of the late legal icon, Gani Fawehinmi. At one of the many events preceding Gani’s burial, she said of his adversaries: they shall “die unsung”. The teeming crowd of the masses at the event must have responded with a deafening chorus of “Amen!”

But it is a phrase in her tribute on behalf of CD that indirectly triggered this piece. In a brief moving oration in which she noted that “the last 11 days have witnessed a festival of grief that has not been witnessed in recent years even for a departed Head of State”, she said among other things: “The oppressed people whose cause Gani fought for years have been thrown into the deepest mourning, not because Gani was too young to die (emphasis added) but because in him they have lost a worthy friend, a trusted defender and a selfless advocate who sacrificed all for their sake.”

That got me thinking. Was Gani, at about 71, old enough to die? When is a man too young to die or old enough to die? Let me state from the onset that my interest in the subject has nothing to do with me, as a person. By the time this is published, I shall have been three days into my 62nd year and if the Lord tarries, I have no doubts that I shall be around for a long while yet. How do I know that? My Bible assures me that with long life will God satisfy me and I am not anywhere near “long life” yet. Which brings us back to the issue: when is a person old enough to die or, to relate it to the word of God, what is long life?

The Gerontology Research Group seems to consider people below 110 as not yet there! They classify this group of people as super-centenarians and they are given close attention, not just with an eye on the statistics, but more importantly as some kind of guinea pigs in the study of longevity- promoting lifestyles. That explains why in announcing the death on September 11 of the former world’s oldest person, Mrs Gertrude Baines at over 115years, the world was regaled with tales of her love for crispy bacon and fried chicken and disdain for drinking, smoking and fooling around. Her doctor, Dr. Charles Witt was quoted as telling Associated Press: "I saw her two days ago, and she was just doing fine…she was in excellent shape. She was mentally alert. She smiled frequently."

Baines, who became the world's oldest person in January when erstwhile title holder, Maria de Jesus died in Portugal at the same age of 115, however never did attribute her longevity solely to her lifestyle preferring to give the credit to God. She has since been succeeded by Japanese, Kama Chinen whose birthday is recorded as May 10, 1895 and is therefore 114.

Incidentally, the oldest person that ever lived, according to GRG records, was another female. Jeanne-Louise Calment was aged 122 when she passed on in August 1997 in Arles, France. This is not surprising because the top ten persons on the longevity table are all women, while the oldest man alive, Walter Breuning who will be 113 tomorrow (September 21) is number 15. In fact, of the 72 persons confirmed aged 110 and above, only four are males. This raises the question: Will a man ever be confirmed the oldest person on earth? Well, current statistics suggest that this is unlikely in the nearest future. But check out the man, Otis Clark.

Otis, an evangelist, was born on February 13, 1903, in Oklahoma, USA, which means that he’s already about five months shy of his 107th birthday, which in turn means he’s a mere three years to the super-centenarian club. But it is not just Otis’ age; it’s his state that marks him out. He caused a stir when he showed up at the Fort Worth Convention Centre in Texas, USA for the South West Believers’, hosted annually by Kenneth Copeland Ministries on August 5, 2009. Brother Copeland, a man not given to frivolities, interrupted what he was doing to acknowledge him. He had been warmly introduced to the crowd at the 2008 edition.

Evangelist Clark, who participated in the Azusa Street Mission, which was started by William J. Seymour in 1906, still lives independently and has his own car. He is not on any form of medication and has all but one of his teeth intact. He was quoted as saying that the dentist who pulled the missing tooth did not know what he was doing! He does not wear glasses except for reading purposes and he is not on any special diet; he eats anything and everything put before him. He recently told the Believers Voice of Victory magazine: “I enjoy cooking my own breakfast of steak and eggs or bacon and eggs. I like to make a pot of beef stew with garlic cloves, tomatoes and potatoes…I work in the yard and exercise in the pool. I take walks and always stop to smell the flowers. The doctor says I have the heart of a 35-year-old man. I can still thread a needle and mend my own clothes.”

Asked what the single most important step toward long life is, the world’s oldest travelling evangelist who was in Zimbabwe in 2006 and 2007 where he ministered at several meetings said: “Getting on God’s side! If you’re going to live long, get on God’s side and stay there. No matter how many times you mess up, repent and stay on the winning side.”

So, when is a person old enough to die? I believe the answer is: we are never old enough to die; we are ready when we have finished your God-given assignments. David Livingstone, the explorer, was famously quoted as saying: “I am immortal till my work is accomplished…” He was right and still is.

A NATION DOUBLY BEREAVED

...And to think that it all began with some top civil servant’s greed. Remember him? He was secretary to a state government in the early days of military rule. Like King David, he had time on his hands and ogled a lowly man’s wife, lusted at what he saw and decided to make her his own. Somehow, Gani got the brief and headed for the courts. But he didn’t go far. When all entreaties to hands off the matter failed, he was simply locked up and it took quite a season before they could relocate his cell key to eventually let him go! By the time he came out of detention, Gani was hardened. No, he didn’t become a hardened criminal, he was never one; he was a hardened human rights and civil liberties crusader. Over the rest of his life, he was to go in and out of detention centres and jail houses many more times than some of his colleagues entered court rooms...

That was the weekend that was. The last one, that is. Saturday morning, Gani Fawehinmi departed. And on sunday evening, Nigeria’s senior football team, the Super Eagles, all but crashed out of FIFA World Cup 2010, the very first to be hosted on the African continent. We are a nation doubly bereaved. How sad!

I know that many of us won’t see the connection. I might even be accused of trivializing the death of such a great man as Gani by daring to link it with a mere game. But look at it this way: the same reason Gani died is the reason we almost certainly won’t hoist Nigeria’ flag at football’s world cup in South Africa next year. That reason is blinding greed.

O, yes Gani died of lung cancer. But you don’t require much brainpower to figure out where he got it from, being a non-smoker all his life. And to think that it all began with some top civil servant’s greed. Remember him? He was secretary to a state government in the early days of military rule. Like King David, he had time on his hands and ogled a lowly man’s wife, lusted at what he saw and decided to make her his own. Somehow, Gani got the brief and headed for the courts. But he didn’t go far. When all entreaties to hands off the matter failed, he was simply locked up and it took quite a season before they could relocate his cell key to eventually let him go! By the time he came out of detention, Gani was hardened. No, he didn’t become a hardened criminal, he was never one; he was a hardened human rights and civil liberties crusader. Over the rest of his life, he was to go in and out of detention centres and jail houses many more times than some of his colleagues entered court rooms. Guess why he was gaoled each time: he was fighting somebody’s direct or indirect greed for gain.

Eventually, the irrepressible lawyer’s health began to fail. But a health sector stunted by greed-driven policies could not even diagnose his ailment correctly, until he had to go outside our shores at the behest of his family. It wasn’t until then that he became aware of the cancer that was eating up his lungs. It is a cruel irony that the very thing he spent his lifetime fighting was the root cause of his death.

It is unfortunately a similar scenario that’s playing out in our sports, particularly football. Last Sunday we all but concluded our World Cup 2010 journey – going from being a potential host to probably the best African champion which didn’t even play! You see, not many people saw it at the time, but trust me, it’s true. Nigeria had the best chance to be the one preparing to host the world next year. I know because I was involved with the Bid that never took off. I know because I was in the thick of things, working with some of the most selfless and patriotic Nigerians you never knew existed, under the leadership of one of Nigeria’s most visionary sportsmen, Segun Odegbami. That attempt floundered not, as many people thought, because it was ill-conceived. It failed because it was subjected to the most vicious, most virulent and most mindless attack by a section of the sports establishment with its media wing in tow, for no other reason than greed. This perennial wing saw a World Cup Bid as just another gravy train, which, like every other source of ill-gotten wealth, must be driven by them or be grounded. They had the fortune of having an emperor on the throne that saw his personal interests threatened by the success of the bid, and for once played along with a so-called phantom public opinion. A memoir by one of the key actors will hopefully someday reveal the selfish personal reasons the then potentate had for letting the bid die.

The sad truth is that the same wing of the sports establishment has held the sector in its stranglehold almost like forever, recycling their foot soldiers, nurturing others, journalists not excluded, by compromising them over time, and then pressing them into action as often as necessary. They ferociously protect their turf. You either play it their way or you are out. And if you are perceived to be too dangerous to be out, they do you the favour of putting you on committees where you cannot make any impact. The result is the outright failure and near-misses that have been the hallmark of our achievements in sport. The result is that it will now take a miracle for the green-white-green national flag of the largest country, with possibly the highest concentration of talents in Africa, to fly in the first World Cup on African soil.

Interestingly, it is not often that they manifest ineptitude. Sometimes they even strive to get it right, throw money around, organise friendly matches etc, yet things don’t work Take the match against Tunisia. Do you think those boys didn’t know what was at stake? Do you think they do not want to go to the World Cup with all that it would do for their career? Are they not experienced enough to know what to do to defend their one goal advantage five minutes to a crucial match? Think again.

Dr Adeleke Olaiya, President, Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), I believe put his finger right on it, when he said during the week “that our football problem is intricately spiritual and we must apologise to Ibrahim Galadima, former Nigeria Football Association (NFA) boss for all Nigerians wronged him by disgracing him out of office with just no cause. If he was unable to take us to the World Cup, who will? This is the bitter truth and I stand to be challenged. Nigeria must not be careless with her spiritual life by taking things for granted, we must be sensitive in our public life and ask for forgiveness from God. Then our football will wake up with genuine developmental agenda. God will be with us and give strength to our leaders.”

Save for the fact that the injustice in our football predated the Galadima episode and has not ceased since, I am absolutely in agreement with Olaiya. The point is this. It is an inviolable moral and spiritual law that you cannot build something on nothing. One of my dear readers, Mr Akintunde Makinde once put it very powerfully on this page in a similar context. Quoting Charles Spurgeon he said “You cannot steal a goose and offer God the gosling” and added “Amalekite oxen are unacceptable as burnt offering. Might is not right but right is right. This is the way forward for the country.”

Gani died a day before our World Cup dreams died. Gani was a source of succour and hope for the common man. So is football. While we can keep Gani’s essence alive by picking up the gauntlet against greed which is the father of virtually all other vices, we can resuscitate our sports by exorcising the spirit of greed that has held it bound. Are we going to even try?

PIX: Chief Ganiyu Oyesola FAwehinmi, SAM, SAN in one of his valedictory outings

AKINGBOLA, IBRU AND COLLEAGUES (3)

But just like the Bible said, the prosperity of the fool kills him. One day the gravy train left the station. Its content exposed for what it was, air, which had added zero value. Soon an ill wind blue from distant lands and shook the armada that had taken the place of the lone gravy ship off their moorings. One by one they set sail too headed for safer harbours or at worst to the safety of home. Citizens in their thousands were left holding on to air. Banks too had strong rooms loaded with hot air. Petroleum marketers didn’t fair any better. The result is what you call non-performing loans; but the antecedents are poor corporate governance triggered by sudden wealth and crowned by greed. A nation is not great by virtue of her wealth, a nation is great by the wealth of her virtue.

A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service reporter in Lagos rubbed it in really hard in her report of the arraignment of four former bank chief executives and some directors for sundry criminal offences in Lagos last week. The reporter, Caroline Duffield, I think it was, told the news anchor, and therefore the entire listening world, that the fifth chief executive who had yet to be docked because he was said to be on the run, was a pastor with Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). Of course, you know who she was referring to. It’s none other than Dr Erastus Akingbola, until the Central Bank of Nigeria’s sack was Group Chief Executive of Intercontinental Bank Plc, who as at midweek, was still reportedly abroad and being hunted by the International Police (Interpol), at the instance of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

What the reporter didn’t say was that virtually all those who were arraigned before the court, that fateful Monday afternoon, were Christians, some like Oceanic Bank’s Chief Mrs Cecilia Ibru very publicly so; others at least by name. In fact of the lot only two, Isyaku Umar and Sanni Adams, both non-executive directors of Intercontinental bear names that signify they could be Moslems. Arraigned along with these three were: Mr. Okey Nwosu, FinBank Nigeria Plc; Mr. Sebastian Adigwe, Afribank Nigeria Plc; and Mr. Bartholomew Ebong, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, all former CEOs. Henry Onyemem and Niyi Opeodu, who were in charge of two Union Bank subsidiaries, were also charged. Others were Intercontinental Bank Chairman, Chief Raymond Obieri, and some of his board colleagues, Hyacinth Enuha, Christopher Adebayo Alabi, Samuel Adegbite, and Bayo Dada all said to be in the senior citizen age bracket of 65 years.

Ponder this for a minute, dearest reader. Of the twelve persons currently accused of financial crimes, nine or more Christians, of whatever hue. This is a statistical embarrassment, don’t you think! Readers of this column would remember that we drew attention to a similar situation among political actors of the Obasanjo Years who were charged with grave offences by the then Nuhu Ribadu-led EFCC.

For the avoidance of any doubts, I am mindful of the truth that these brethren are innocent until proven guilty by the courts. It is indeed one’s hope and prayer that they be found not culpable of any of the offences. But, man, this truly rankles! At the onset of the crisis, the possibility that any kind of criminal conduct could be pinned on these top bankers, particularly two of the CEOs whose Pentecostal antecedents I was familiar with, was, in my incredulity, next to nil. This explains why I said on this page two weeks ago and repeated myself last week that “…of the questions that have arisen …I consider the most important as how did these banks get into the mess that the facts and figures suggest they are in?” I went on to posit that central to the answer would be risk management issues which we conceded might have “their roots in a variety of soils” including “inadequate expertise at risk evaluation, lack of depth in their management cadre; support for government policies or, greed for gain leading to the rush to the gravy trains that the capital market and oil and gas were up to 2007”

I also raised such questions as “whether sacking of the executive boards of the banks was the only effective solution (whether) appropriate care (was) taken in determining the extent of bad loans… (whether) an organ of government like CBN (could) have helped with recovery of policy-support loans where government is the ultimate debtor and most germane of all, in relation to this column … the implication of these developments for the place of faith in decision making as corporate helmsmen – for those who profess their faith.

Although in my wonderment at the untoward twist of things I failed to attempt to offer my viewpoint on these issues last week, for which I sincerely apologise, it really doesn’t take a genius to chart our path to this sorry pass. It is indeed a classic case of public and corporate governance driven by the basest of human instincts. Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a country with about 100 so-called universal banks in various shapes and sizes. In size they were all relatively small and in no position to do big ticket deals, even as consortia. This relative size was mainly the result of historical currency devaluation. In terms of shape, some had grown as far as they could. Some were prudentially unsound. For an economy transiting from near-total governmental control to a private sector-led one, the banking system had to be overhauled. Entered Mr Fix It! With an eye admirably fixed on history and his place in it, he set out to restructure the banks with a great deal of emphasis on size, and scant attention to shape. In other words, while recapitalisation and consolidation shored up bank sizes, they did not shape up in the area of corporate governance, including, risk management. Many giants emerged but they stood on feet of clay.

In the meantime one gravy train pulled into the business capital of the country. This train's gravy was labelled stocks and shares, but in actual fact its content was inflated balloons. The people went for it, driven into a frenzy created by the banks. Money was made in tonnes and it was made by many. But of course you can’t have too much of a good thing, otherwise known as greed became the credo. In the midst of that a gravy ship landed at the coast. It was oil-laden, petrol, that is. Petronaira smells sweet, ask anyone. Like ants drawn to sugar, everyone, banks, merchants and sundry jobbers went for a piece of the action. The more I get, the more I want was the singsong.

But just like the Bible said, the prosperity of the fool kills him. One day the gravy train left the station. Its content exposed for what it was, air, which had added zero value. Soon an ill wind blue from distant lands and shook the armada that had taken the place of the lone gravy ship off their moorings. One by one they set sail too headed for safer harbours or at worst to the safety of home. Citizens in their thousands were left holding on to air. Banks too had strong rooms loaded with hot air. Petroleum marketers didn’t fair any better. The result is what you call non-performing loans; but the antecedents are poor corporate governance triggered by sudden wealth and crowned by greed. A nation is not great by virtue of her wealth, a nation is great by the wealth of her virtue.

My brothers and sisters, let’s reason together. When Soludo asked the banks to recapitalise astronomically, how much real money came into the economy? When you bought shares and made a kill from the market, did the fact that no real value was added to the economy cross your mind? Whether as policy makers or implementers, players on the money or capital market or bank managers, senior executives or CEOs, how many of our decisions were not about that unholy trinity – me, myself and I? And that includes the Christians among us with access to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, of purity, of holiness, and above all of love. Let’s think on these things.

Bank CEOs and directors may have fallen from grace. If they have done anything wrong, some might even go to jail. But do not rejoice at their downfall. Believe me, their case is better; those of them who got it wrong can no longer live in delusion; so they have a chance to repent and make peace with their God. But what about the rest of us? Are we going to learn the appropriate lessons and start living out our faith in every area of our lives, private or public? Are we going to let the Spirit of God be in the driving seat of our lives? Are we going to take on the divine nature, the Zoe life that Jesus purchased for us with his precious blood, such that we would not just be above reproach, we would also be powerful.

You see, I do not believe that the sync between Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi’s recent decisions and the Vanguard newspaper report of March 23, 2009 is an accident. But imagine how the malfeasances being unearthed at the banks, if true, have made his job easy.

In closing, did you notice his choice of CEO for Intercontinental Bank, which has been a strong outlet for Christian literature? Will it surprise you if the devotional, The Word for Today soon becomes unavailable there? Is the debate about Islamic Banking which Sanusi recently kicked off and touted as “a credible alternative to the existing order” just an academic exercise? In the fullness of time that which is hidden shall be revealed and in any case only the counsel of God shall stand. (CONCLUDED)
PIXES: CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA GOVERNOR, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Left) and his predecesor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo