ThisDay newspaper had reported exclusively in its Monday, December 7 edition, that the President actually wrote and sent a letter to the Senate informing it of his “vacation”. He was said to have sent it through his Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Mohammed Abba-Aji, who on reading it, thought it was politically inexpedient to deliver it. The erstwhile Senator, for the record, denied it, demanded a retraction of the report and an apology from the newspaper. He is yet to receive either; instead, the newspaper stated “categorically that it is standing by its story”.
All things, says the Bible, work together for the good of those who love God; those called according to His purpose. That, for me, sums up what we are going through in this wonderful land of ours. Like Joseph’s brothers in the Holy Book, the hawks around President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, who have held him and us hostage meant the current situation for evil, but I see that God is allowing it for our good.
When over 70 days ago, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was rushed out of his Aso Rock palace in Abuja, to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for medical attention, not even Pius Okugbere, reputed to be Nollywood’s master story-teller could have scripted the events, as they have unfolded or said to have unfolded, since then.
Cast your mind back to the days immediately after Yar’Adua’s hurried departure. ThisDay newspaper had reported exclusively in its Monday, December 7 edition, that the President actually wrote and sent a letter to the Senate informing it of his “vacation”. He was said to have sent it through his Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Mohammed Abba-Aji, who on reading it, thought it was politically inexpedient to deliver it. The erstwhile Senator, for the record, denied it, demanded a retraction of the report and an apology from the newspaper. He is yet to receive either; instead, the newspaper stated “categorically that it is standing by its story”.
Were the letter written and delivered, we would have been spared all the inconveniences of the last six weeks. There would have been an acting president in office, legitimately able to take decisions on behalf of the sovereign state of Nigeria. That president would most probably have been able to speak with President Barack Obama of the United States in the wake of young AbdulMuttalab’s abortive terror attack on a US-bound aircraft on Christmas day, and possibly prevent Nigeria from getting on the so-called terror watch list. That president may also have had the authority to sign the 2009 Supplementary Appropriation Bill into law and, through it, acquire the muscle to go full blast ahead with the Niger Delta post-amnesty programme. Then the threatened resumption of militancy in that region of our nation, by Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) might have been unjustifiable.
We may not know for sure in the immediate whether the letter was written or not; and whether it was truly hijacked and by whom. But let me show you what we would have missed, if the letter had been written and delivered. And these are the real and tangible gains of the on-going crisis.
For one thing, we would never have discovered or rather confirmed beyond all reasonable doubts, the depth of disdain and contempt the power elite in this country have for those outside their bloc; such that we are, every single one of us, no more than mere puns of their giant power chess board. For another we would never have confirmed that the devil has the soul of many of our leaders firmly under his filthy thumb! Forgive me, dear reader, if that offends your sensibility, but there’s really no better way to put it.
But those are not all the gains. Consider the formation of Save Nigeria Group. Ah, yes, we’ve had all kinds of special-purpose vehicles to fight one socio-political battle or the other, over the years since flag independence fifty years ago. What’s different about SNG is simple: men of God have joined the vanguard of the activists. Rev (Dr) Tunde Bakare, who has been known to spit fire from the pulpit, was in the thick of the protest marches in Abuja and, later, in Lagos. And he wasn’t there to pray! Bishop Emmah Isong, chairman, Cross River State chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, and international president of the Association of God’s Servants was also involved. Were things to be at the level of abnormality we’ve learnt to live with, they and others like them would probably have remained pulpit activists. But their “enough is enough” carried much more weight on the streets than from the pulpits, obviously because many in the pews had been waiting for corresponding work, to give life to the faith that they had taught and preached over the years.
Were the letter written and duly delivered, we would not have seen the hitherto highly unlikely sight of a motley group of former heads of states and chief justices of the Federal Republic of Nigeria coming together to publicly disagree with any action or omission of a sitting, even if “not on seat” president. Yet that was what we saw last week when a group calling itself the Eminent Elders’ Group lent its voice to the call on President Yar’Adua to write and cause to be delivered that now famous “medical vacation” letter.
But, from the point of view of this column, easily the most salutary by-product of the current devil-inspired tomfoolery of the myopic, power-drugged cabal in and around the presidency is the rise of the Church from slumber through a body known as the Christian Consultative Forum of Nigeria. Said to have been borne out of “an apostolic summit held by some of Nigeria's front running Christian leaders on November 2, 2009”, it was convened by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). Stating that its objective was to “the body of Christ to transform the nation into a progressive, equitable and developed nation”, the forum was reported to have “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.”
The meeting, which was attended by a number of 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; a former Chairman of Nigeria Breweries Plc, Elder Felix Ohiwerei and university don, Professor Adamu Baikie, also addressed the long neglected issue of the role of the Church in nation building. We’ll look at what they have to say here next week, if the Lord tarries; and let’s see if you find my excitement out of place. (CONTINUES)
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