“…The Church cannot be transformed if it has not been working to develop its own leaders and champions amongst its members. The church must therefore instil discipline amongst its members, sanction erring members and develop new leaders in the way of the Lord. We therefore, need to restore the right values, re-establish high standards in corporate and public governance and social behaviour, and to adopt good discipline, and establish a reliable system for ensuring consistently good performance. In addition, the church should not promote materialism and prosperity gospel, but encourage austere living and generosity” -CCFN
And so, for the first time in the history of our nation, there is an acting president in the saddle. Ordinarily that should be no news, but the battle of near-titanic proportion that brought Dr Goodluck Jonathan to the seat in an acting capacity has made an extraordinary event out of what may well have been received with a bored yawn elsewhere.
All’s well that ends well, then? Don’t bet on it. The procedure used in installing the acting president is not unlikely to be challenged. That, particularly now that Michael Aondoakaa has been redeployed to Special Duties and should have time on his hands for as much mischief as his heart can take; and also the rise of judicial activism of the reactionary type on the Federal Bench. Challenged, it is doubtful that it would stand and even it did, we would simply have benefited from an illegality contrived by a power elite adept at self-serving manipulations of the law. I therefore honestly believe that there is a minefield ahead. Enough said about that for now.
As I began to posit last week, the power hijack by President Umar Yar’Adua’ kitchen cabinet, following his departure for medical vacation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the so-called power vacuum in the country - despicable as it is - did work out for our good in many respects. Thanks to it, a new mass mobilisation front with a well-known cleric in its vanguard, the Save Nigeria Group, was born. Former Heads of States and Chief Justices, normally reticent and supportive of any government in power, came together in a body known as Eminent Elders’ Group. Sectional groups, which had tended to see every issue from ethnic and regional lens, donned nationalist togas. And then there was the Christian Consultative Forum of Nigeria, which weighed in towards the end of the crisis; and which as I said before was the most important single gain of the crisis - from the point of view of this column and its rationale.
As we said last week, it was a welcome rise of the Church from slumber. Though it was said to have predated the power vacuum in conception, having been borne out of “an apostolic summit held by some of Nigeria's front running Christian leaders on November 2, 2009”, it seemed the crisis propelled it from the drawing board to action. Also as we reported, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), convener of the Forum stated that one of its objectives was to get the body of Christ to “transform the nation into a progressive, equitable and developed nation”. Which was why, in their statement on the crisis, the forum was “called on political leaders in the country to adhere to the constitution in efforts to resolve the political quagmire and leadership issue caused by the absence of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.”
Apart from the PFN president, we identified some of those present at the meeting as “eminent Nigerian followers of Christ, with years of incontrovertible Christian witness, such as, former Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade; board room icon and one-time presidential aspirant, Deacon Gamaliel Onosode and a former Chairman of Nigeria Breweries Plc, Elder Felix Ohiwerei.” Also in attendance at the historic meeting were: Former Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Mike Akhibge (rtd.), Femi Pedro and university don, Professor Adamu Baikie among others.
Beyond the immediate issue however, the group’s communiqué read by Mr Femi Pedro, a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, is nothing if not a long overdue wake-up call to the entire church. It reads in part:
“The Forum noted that for the church to lead in the turn around, it must get itself to a level of building a new Nigeria on integrity, which involves attributes like competence, faithfulness, probity, transparency, commitment, courage, ethical values and behaviour and accountability.
“…Therefore, reiterate that the church is neither a social institution nor a political party, but a spiritual fellowship for Christians and its only agenda is that of God. And that is, through this agenda, that our Christian leaders must be consistently courageous to teach all men (both leaders and followers) to observe all things that Christ has commanded;
“…Recognised that the church cannot be transformed if it has not been working to develop its own leaders and champions amongst its members. The church must therefore instil discipline amongst its members, sanction erring members and develop new leaders in the way of the Lord. We therefore, need to restore the right values, re-establish high standards in corporate and public governance and social behaviour, and to adopt good discipline, and establish a reliable system for ensuring consistently good performance. In addition, the church should not promote materialism and prosperity gospel, but encourage austere living and generosity;
“…Concluded that the church must lead in the transformation of our nation, its leaders must lead with integrity, honesty of purpose, and speak out forcefully against the ills of country’s leaders. The church must also teach and develop its members into leaders and must promote integrity and discipline, encourage austere living, and generosity and discourage prosperity and materialism.”
Some communiqué, that! It is saying some of the thing we have said here over time, particularly in a serial titled, “Wake-Up Call to Church Leaders.” It is pointing in the way that the Church must go if it will take its place in providing the leadership in every sector of our national life as indeed it should. Those who argue that the Church has no place in these matters may have forgotten that the Bible said of the then yet unborn Christ, the government of the world shall be upon His shoulder. The relevant passage reads: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). If the Church is the Body of Christ, pray, where is the shoulder of Christ located, if not in his body!
The CCFN has set us an agenda, thanks to one unwritten (or undelivered) letter. All things indeed work together for good…
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