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| Dana Air crash aftermath |
We
have a song in the Christian Men’s Network Nigeria that’s been playing in my
head these past week or so. Written by one of our own Daniel Nzekwue and
performed by our all-men choir, the Mighty Men of Praise, the lyrics go like
this:
“When men praise Dreams are fulfilled When men praise
Families restore When men praise The Home is warm When men praise The enemy’s defeated…”
Ironically,
as I meditate on the song we have joyfully sang these past few years, what kept
coming to me is what happens when men fail. When men fail to praise and to do
all the things men are assigned to do. The inescapable answer is: disaster.
Yes, disaster writ large!And
it didn’t begin with us.
Adam,
the very first man that lived failed. He not only failed to rein in the
appetite of his wife for exotic fruits, he failed to resist the temptation to
join her in the perfidy of disobedience. The result was the curse, which all of
mankind inherited.
When
the Israelites were nearing the promised land, God, wanting to motivate them
with the the sheer blessedness of the land that was soon to become theirs,
asked them to send twelve men to spy the land. Remember, these were men who are
leaders. But when they came back; the majority report filed by ten of the
twelve failed to see what God and their other two compatriots saw, a land
flowing with milk and honey. Instead they saw a land that devours its people.
Instead of seeing the then inhabitants as “bread” for them, given the might of
god that was available unto them, they saw themselves as “suya” to the enemy.
The result: years of wandering in the wilderness and the death of an entire
generation but two.
The
same scenario is still playing out today; men failing and families, communities
and nations reeling from the repercussions. Just look around you, dear reader
and you’ll see tell-tale sign of men who failed.
Of
course, the most recent evidence of the failure of men is the Dana Airline
crash into the densely populated Lagos suburb of Iju-Ishaga. Ah yes, the
minister is a woman and so has overall responsibility, but look deeper and
you’ll find a legion of men who failed her, failed the system, failed the
nation.
Investigations
are still on and it would therefore be premature to apportion blame and I am
certainly not that inclined, But strictly in context, what we already know
about the circumstances that surround the crash is, to say the least, a wake-up
call. Governor Godswill Akpabio for instance said that he had recently
personally called the Chief Executive of Dana Air to warn him about the state
of airworthiness of the airline’s fleet. This is not the place to ask whether
he could have done much more than that; and, if he had whether the disaster
could have been averted.
A
Dana Air female staff has also been widely reported to have stated that the
crew was forced to fly the aircraft, against all protests about the health of
the aircraft. She even said that the crew that flew was put together when the
assigned team refused. The Obakpolor Investigative Panel will hopefully be able
to confirm the truth or otherwise of this assertion.
But
one thing is clear, if you look beneath all of these and you’ll find at its
very root, a man who failed! Check out the trunk, the branches, the leaves,
you’ll find men who failed to do take their place in the divine plan; men who
charted their course away from God’s assignment.
Dr
Patrick Morley of Man in the Mirror Ministries put it this way: “Look at every problem we. have in our
society. At the root of that problem, is a man who failed, even though,
ironically, he got up that morning, wanting to be successful. None of them
wanted to fail. That is the challenge before us. We will not change our nation
until we change our men…” That is what we have to do, to prevent incidences like this, and
many more like that from continuing, we must change our men, beginning with
each one of us.
Men’s Summit 2012 is a good place to start, or, if you have
started, to continue. With Rediscovering Manhood as theme, the Summit, which is organized
annually by Christ Chapel International Churches through Christian Men’s
Network Nigeria, opens in Lagos, Thursday.
Chief hosted by Rev Dr Tunde Joda, senior pastor of the church and
president of the network the conference will feature Dr Christopher Kolade and
Pastor Taiwo Odukoya as guest ministers. Venue is the refurbished,
air-conditioned auditorium of CCIC, Surulere Centre at Okanlawon Ajayi Street,
off Masha, Surulere, Lagos.
Dr Kolade, Chairman of Subsidy
Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, is a well-known minister of the
word of God, whose integrity credentials are among our nation’s few consensus. He
is an exemplary man from whom every man can learn a lot about Christian
manhood.
Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, senior pastor
and founder of Fountain of Life Church, is also very involved in ministry to
men. He established and has run Discovery for Men of which he is president
about 15 years ago, and has consistently held quarterly rallies since then.
Also ministering at the summit is Rev
Dr John Akachie Ahamzie, senior pastor, Holy Fire Overflow Ministries, who has
presented a weekly radio programme, with the provocative title, “What’s All
This Noise About Sex” for about five years now. He is a teacher of purity,
power and prosperity. He will be ministering specifically on Rediscovering Sex.
Rev Ahamzie will be partnering in that session with a veteran marriage
counselor, Rev Dan Ibekwe, Chairman, CCIC Church Council.
Other men of God slated to minister at
the Men’s Summit 2012, which will run all of eight sessions over four days -
three each on Friday 15th, and Saturday 16th; and one each in the evening of
Thursday 14th and Sunday 17 include
Rev Dr Ronald Eyime, International Optometrist of the Year 2003, and
governorship aspirant who went on to serve as a commissioner in Delta state;
and Rev Ajibola Oluyede, a lawyer, politician and business man who has been
described as a man of the Word, who understands the world.
Come, let’s reclaim our place of
responsible leadership in the divine plan.
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