IN ARCHBISHOP PETER AKINOLA’S SHOES

The greatness of this man of God is easily gleaned from this fact that it has taken at least three great men to step into his shoes. The Most Rev’d Gregory Venables, Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone was elected to replace him as Chairman of the Primates Council of GAFCON on April 5. He handed the mantle of leadership of Global South Anglican (GSA) on April 15 to the Most Rev’d John Chew Archbishop of the Diocese of Singapore which hosted their recent meeting. Add to that Primate Okoh in Nigeria and you’ll agree, his was a giant pair of shoes indeed.

And so, Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola has retired. The erstwhile Primate of All Nigeria of the church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) formally stepped down from his exalted position exactly five weeks. In his place has stepped a former Nigerian Army colonel, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh. He would be sorely missed in his many roles in Nigeria and in the global Anglican Communion where he is so deeply revered by the majority and equally deeply reviled by a tiny but vocal minority.

Henry Orombi, Anglican Archbishop of Uganda likes to call him “the Lion of Nigeria.” Rick Warren, the famous American pastor and author of international best-seller, Purpose Driven Life says “he has the strength of a lion” and “that when he speaks, far more than just Anglicans pay attention.”

The Most Reverend (Dr) Peter Jasper Akinola, was that Bishop from Africa no one could ignore. Forged in the fire of adversity and hewn from the rock of purist theology, destiny placed him right at the centre of a war for the soul of the Christian faith, and he is standing rock solid in the vanguard.

The first salvo in the war that was to define Akinola’s leadership opened right at the onset of his consecration as Archbishop, Primate and Metropolitan, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) in 1998. It was his first Lambeth Conference as helmsman having just taken over from the highly regarded church-planter extraordinaire, Most Reverend Abiodun Adetiloye.

At that meeting, a ten-yearly gathering of leaders of the 77million-strong Anglican Communion worldwide, liberals from the western wing of the church, which also happens to be major financiers of the worldwide communion, canvassed a change in the Church’s position on homosexuality. They wanted the Church to see it as an orientation, a sexual preference, rather than a sin, and therefore accord its gay members equal rights, including the rights to marry and become priests. These liberals argued that since God is love, He does not discriminate against any one, including those who have same-sex attraction.

Akinola was outraged. So were many others, mostly from the relatively poor, grant-receiving global-south wing of the church. They challenged the view as running counter to God’s divine plan, describing it as outrageous deviance from Biblical teaching. He found himself in the vanguard of this opposition, partly on account of his church being the largest single communion of Anglicans internationally. He rallied the troops, as it were, and the proponents of gay rights were defeated.

He recalled: “As a family, we came together (at the Lambeth Conference) in 1998 and we said, overwhelmingly: We cannot endorse same-sex union, because it's incompatible with scripture. We cannot endorse the ordination of active homosexuals to the ministry, because a minister is supposed to be a wholesome example to all people. When you have a person who has a particular orientation, he's acceptable only to his own clique and that you cannot have that in the church. So, we agreed on those two things. Democratically - we voted.”

If Resolution 1:10, as that democratically agreed upon decision became known, had been adhered to by all, Akinola would most probably have remained in the relative obscurity of feeding and

In 2003, Akinola remembers, “we got word that they (the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, ECUSA) were going to consecrate an open, active gay to the episcopate; we met at the gracious invitation of our leader, Dr Rowan, in his palace in London and we warned: 'Please don't do this! Please don't do it! It will destroy our church.' We said: 'If you do this thing' - I am quoting the communiqué directly now - 'it will tear the fabric of our communion at its deepest level.'”

ECUSA defied the Akinola-led opposition. On November 1, 2003, it installed Gene Robinson, an openly gay clergy man as the Bishop of New Hampshire at a well-attended ceremony, with at least 3,000 persons and 54 bishops in attendance. Gene had separated from Isabella, his wife with whom he had two daughters, in 1986 upon concluding that he was gay, and had been partnering with a certain Mark Andrew.

Akinola, in the meantime had become the rallying point of the struggle. He was elected Chairman of Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), the Nairobi, Kenya-based umbrella body of 42 million Anglicans in all the 12 Anglican Provinces in Africa and the Diocese of Egypt in October 2003. Two years later, he was also named chairman of Global South Anglican which represents the interest of the 50 million-strong body of Anglican Churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

He reacted swiftly. In a statement issued on behalf of GSA, he not only strongly condemned Robinson’s ordination; he proclaimed “a state of impaired communion” within the worldwide Anglican family.

That state of impaired communion remains till today entrenched, as it were, following the holding in June 2008 of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem, ahead of Lambeth 2008, giving birth to what its conveners described as “a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans have received it”. It was attended by “1,148 lay and clergy participants, including 291 bishops representing millions of faithful Anglican Christians”. And GAFCON eventually went on to create a Akinola was eventually unanimously elected as first chairman of the group’s Primates’ Council.

The rest as they say is history. The greatness of this man of God is easily gleaned from this fact that it has taken at least three great men to step into his shoes. The Most Rev’d Gregory Venables, Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone was elected to replace him as Chairman of the Primates Council of GAFCON on April 5. He handed the mantle of leadership of Global South Anglican (GSA) on April 15 to the Most Rev’d John Chew Archbishop of the Diocese of Singapore which hosted their recent meeting. Add to that Primate Okoh in Nigeria and you’ll agree, his was a giant pair of shoes indeed. (Culled from a Report of the same title in the forthcoming edition of KINGDOMPeople magazine)
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THAT GOODLUCK MAY BECOME "GOOD NEWS

…But it is hard to see how this nation can progress unless we have an administration with an “interimist” mind-set. As we said in “Why Jonathan Should Not Run” last week, flawed elections have been one of Nigeria’s major problems. This, we situated in the fact that those who have the duty and power to conduct elections invariably become interested parties, and brazenly employ all the leverages they have in favour of themselves or their chosen successors and to the disadvantage of the opponents. It is precisely for this reason that we suggested that Dr Jonathan should free himself from all such temptations and encumbrances by not running in the forthcoming elections. That “interimist” approach will stand him head and shoulder above the general run of self-serving politicians who dominate our national space.

Dr Tunji Braithwaite is a man of great conviction. An activist lawyer of several decades standing, he was a political activist who became a politician and presidential candidate, but retired to political activism about a year ago. You may not always agree with him, but you can never fault the patriotism and consistency. He does not whisper his convictions; nor is he ever afraid to stand alone on such convictions.

I have only just read the full text of a statement made to the press by this great man about two weeks ago. Speaking on the platform of the Nigeria Intervention Group (NIG), He reiterated his earlier call for an Interim Administration to conduct the forthcoming elections.

Rationalising his call, he described the process that brought Dr Goodluck Jonathan to office as Acting President as one of “hook and crook, willy-nilly,” contrived by a “parliament, comprising largely of unelected legislators’” and therefore, “illegal and self-serving” and which “has only exacerbated Nigeria’s National woes.”

He stated that the “administration of Nigeria under Jonathan’s Acting Presidency can never lay the proper foundation for a peaceful, strong and harmonised democratic federation” because, among other reasons, “the PDP government has corruptly appropriated all levers of power in the country to ensure that democracy and due process remain a mirage. Their avowed policy is to run a government of exclusion – a policy that impoverishes the Nigerian people in their homeland and is insensitive to their plight...”

Continuing, “The No. 1 challenge in Nigeria today is not lack of energy or power, it is CORRUPTION… We say without any fear of contradiction, ‘tackle vigorously, if you can, the monster of corruption, and there will be uninterrupted flow of electricity to homes industries and streets throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria’…So much looting by identifiable persons in the country has gone on for too long, the country is almost drained dry. Apart from the general insecurity in the land, there is anarchy and mayhem. The recurrent slaughter of hundreds of Nigerians in some parts of the country – Jos, Bauchi, Borno State – does not seem to impinge on the conscience of the impostors in government…Well, all these trouble us greatly, as it is beyond this corrupt administration to address these national tragedies…There is also the major problem of constitutional review to take care of weighty matters, as the decentralisation of power and its devolution to the ethnic nationalities in a truly Federal Republic for a rapid and blanket development of the entire nation-state.”
He declared: “All these and more are the imperatives of our proposal for an immediate Interim Administration for Nigeria if we are to avoid terrible anguish of an unpredictable calamity for this nation.”



Now, one may argue about the feasibility of an interim administration, given the challenges of constitutionality that it will pose. And you can be sure that were the Acting President to be willing to consider it, there would be no shortage of litigants to urge the courts to declare any such move as ultra vires the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But it is hard to see how this nation can progress unless we have an administration with an “interimist” mind-set. As we said in “Why Jonathan Should Not Run” last week, flawed elections have been one of Nigeria’s major problems. This, we situated in the fact that those who have the duty and power to conduct elections invariably become interested parties, and brazenly employ all the leverages they have in favour of themselves or their chosen successors and to the disadvantage of the opponents. It is precisely for this reason that we suggested that Dr Jonathan should free himself from all such temptations and encumbrances by not running in the forthcoming elections. That “interimist” approach will stand him head and shoulder above the general run of self-serving politicians who dominate our national space.

Another major issue raised by Braithwaite’s group has to do with Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the widely speculated plan by Jonathan to appoint him as a Special Adviser on Anti-Corruption. Dr Braithwaite said to the press: “…it is reported that Jonathan intends or has nominated Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the former Chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission as his Special Advisor on corruption, and that all charges against him are being or have been dropped. Now, if such reports were true, we ask whose interests is Jonathan serving? Besides all else, we know that Nuhu Ribadu during his fugitive sojourn abroad had the ears of some foreign governments. Is Ribadu now being made an advisor to Jonathan to satisfy foreign governments? We sincerely hope not. Such an appointment is condemnable on another ground. Is the current leadership of the EFCC who have been meticulously prosecuting big-time criminals, even in the face of stiff resistance, sometime at the risk of their lives – now to come under Ribadu? Someone, who was a fugitive from the law, who is behind all these?

If you’ve been a reader of KINGDOM Perspective for a while, you are most probably familiar with my stand on Ribadu. In addition to the points made by Braithwaite, I am fully persuaded that Ribadu, no matter his successes, was a willing tool of intimidation in the hands of his vindictive boss. He was a propagandist against corruption rather than a substantial fighter of the cancer. He knew how to play on our emotions (in some cases tending to sadism) as victims of corruption, through Gestapo-style humiliation of accused persons, and tokenist show trials, while protecting his boss and those who, for the time being, are in his boss’ good books.
When Braithwaite asked the question, “who is behind all these”, the answer is obvious. It’s got to be the same man who found Ribadu malleable when he was in charge…who understands the power of a malleable anti-corruption czar in the cowing and elimination of potential opponents and who is probably in the vanguard of prompting Jonathan to run. It is the same man, who considers Nigeria his personal estate to run as he likes… who thought he had a surrogate in Yar’Adua and who now sees the current situation as his chance to take back his estate.

Dear Dr Jonathan, remember the scripture we quoted here last week: all power belong to God; He gives it to whom He wills and when He wills it. Please listen for His voice; His voice only. Then you’ll be remembered, beyond good luck, as Good News.

WHY GOODLUCK JONATHAN SHOULD NOT RUN

I have refreshed your memory to paint a picture of what people do to come to power or hold on to it, even if peripherally. And how, once tasted, the longing for it never ends. Those around President Yar’Adua don’t give a fig about what becomes of Nigeria, for as long as power remains within their purview. The same goes for certain elements in the North in the campaign against Jonathan’s acting presidency. The Jonathan group also has its fair share of power-hungry people. It is obviously the jostle for power and position that has kept the mega party project on the drawing board for this long, though it’s the group that I belong, at heart. The least said about Atiku and IBB, the better. Yet, the Bible is clear about the one and only source and sustainer of power: “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongs unto God (Psalm 62:11). And I wonder beyond consulting with themselves and the sycophants around them, do these people in, around, or seeking power ever bother about the God-angle? In other words, where is God in all of these hustling and scheming and manoeuvring?

We live in interesting times, in Nigeria. The months since November 26, when President Umar Yar’Adua disappeared from public view, have been particularly dramatic. We have treated to, as has already been noted, theatre of the absurd which has the potential of running interminably, unless something gives.

Replay some of the scenes in your head, if you will. A president, mortal as they come, falls sick and he’s flown abroad for treatment - like they do everyone who is rich or powerfully connected. His ailment was promptly diagnosed and announced to the public, as is the convention where public figures are concerned. And then, black-out. Predictably, the rumour mill set to work churning out unsubstantiated information. “Now, he’s alive; no, he’s not. Yes, he’s brain damaged; no he’s recovering.” In the midst of all of that, the president reportedly returned to the country in a air ambulance, was transferred into a land ambulance taken to his official residence where rumours had it, a special “ward” had been prepared for him.

For weeks thereafter he remained out of sight and incommunicado. Then reports started filtering through: “he is recovering fast; he played squash with this person or was it tennis.” Once it was reported that his convoy was seen driving round the villa grounds, as if to remind people that he was still alive and well. Then two weeks ago, he was said to have started receiving visitors. First, it was a team of mullahs who reportedly prayed with him, shook his hands, but had to fall back on their lip-reading prowess to communicate with him. Some Christian clerics followed. As we noted here last time, this command performance is in high demand, though it seems to have gone abruptly into recess.

Of course, other dramatic scenes were also playing side-by-side those. There were the many court scenes featuring some activists and groups including the Bar Association on one side, and a certain Senior Advocate of Nigeria who held the office of Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Andoakaa on the other. Justice Dan Abutu was the arbiter who was, at least in these matters, a kind of soul-mate to the AG, handing him and those on his side of the argument one victory after another.

Then, there were the street scenes and the upsurge of eminent persons urging that the ship of state be not grounded because of the illness of one man who couldn’t or wouldn’t hand over power to his deputy and was constitutionally or at least conventional required. Recall how that the Senate had to unearth a so-called doctrine of necessity to resolve the problem and finally have Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan recognised as Acting President.



As I write this, Jonathan is in the United States officially to attend a nuclear summit. But, he has had the opportunity to articulate his vision for what might be the briefest civilian tenure in the history of Nigeria. He wants electoral reform; he wants to conduct free and fair election. This latter one he says will require him to drop the election commission boss, Maurice Iwu, who he says, has a credibility problem that’s more of perception than reality. He also wants to draw up a comprehensive power programme which he will begin to implement within the time available to him. But, analysts also conjecture that Jonathan would use the trip to test his international acceptability. This must be why he was not categorical about whether he would run in the forthcoming election or not – which, of course, is within his rights. I shall come back to this presently.

The epic drama of course has other sub-plots, which of course would be upgraded as the months go by. A mega party was being formed. Professor Pat Utomi says it will be known as Social Democratic Mega Party (SDP) and be inaugurated by end-April. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has all but returned to the Peoples Democratic Party, in obedience, he says, to the wishes of his people. And, of course, the self-styled evil genius, General Ibrahim Babangida has thrown his hat in the ring for the 2011 presidential election. And for good measure, he has let it be known that he’s not depending solely on PDP to actualise his dream.

Now, have I done all this review to fill space? Not on your life! I have refreshed your memory to paint a picture of what people do to come to power or hold on to it, even if peripherally. And how, once tasted, the longing for it never ends. Those around President Yar’Adua don’t give a fig about what becomes of Nigeria, for as long as power remains within their purview. The same goes for certain elements in the North in the campaign against Jonathan’s acting presidency. The Jonathan group also has its fair share of power-hungry people. It is obviously the jostle for power and position that has kept the mega party project on the drawing board for this long, though it’s the group that I belong, at heart. The least said about Atiku and IBB, the better.

Yet, the Bible is clear about the one and only source and sustainer of power: “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongs unto God (Psalm 62:11). And I wonder beyond consulting with themselves and the sycophants around them, do these people in, around, or seeking power ever bother about the God-angle? In other words, where is God in all of these hustling and scheming and manoeuvring?

Now back to Acting President Jonathan. The history of our nation is replete with failed elections because elections have been conducted and supervised by people who are either running or have personal interest in certain candidates in the election they are handling. What the nation needs therefore is the opposite. Jonathan can be that man, if he disqualifies himself from the 2011 presidential race. In fact, I strongly believe that he is in office in the current political circumstances exactly for that God-ordained purpose. If he does that and concentrate on having a man in Aso Villa truly elected by the people, a grateful nation will someday bring him back. And even if he is not brought back, he would then, like we once said to Yar’Adua, not be Nigeria’s longest serving president, but he would be our greatest, yet.

NOW SHOWING AT ASO VILLA THEATRE…

“Like “Weeping Generals”, “Presidential Prisoner” is showing to a select audience in a series of premieres. First to view the spectacular show is a group of mullahs, one of whom was generous enough to tell the story line to the international media. This, according to media reports, was followed by a team of Christian clerics, who, unlike the mullahs, have not been as generous in their reportage. I understand that leaders of the ruling party, The Peoples Democratic Party, led by chairman Ogbulafor, have also taken their turn. As I write this, it wasn’t clear which group is next, but I understand that advance bookings for this special show are rolling in very fast from across the nation and perhaps internationally. Of the groups, only Soyinka has gone public on behalf of traditional religionists. He might put in a booking for the Association of Seadogs, Nobel Laureates Group and many more. So, I might as well stand up for my own constituency too - the Council of Men’s Ministries of Nigeria. We promise to be as generous or not, as we might be debriefed to do at the viewing!”

Story, story? Story!!! Not so far away and not so long ago, there was a king. His name was Sain Batcha. He loved dark glasses. Many say, he used the glasses to shield away an even darker heart, though all appearances tended to indicate otherwise. Behind those glasses, those who know said, was a handsome face with a boyish grin. He loved life, you know, the wine, women and song variety. He was democratic in his own peculiar way. He, some analysts recall, democratized corruption, in that he embraced what is known in his part of the world as “you chop I chop.” He also liberalized the use of violence, such that those who styled themselves as activists or refuse to do the will of the king and/or any of his courtiers risked being bumped off at anytime, whether they be a pretty billionaire’s wife seeking to actualize their husband’s electoral mandate, or a rich old man meddling in politics.

But, one of the least remembered of his achievements was his highly successful foray into movie making! Till today, I cannot understand why the flick he scripted, directed and produced with a lot of help from his chief of security, failed to make it to Cannes or get nominated for an Oscar. Yet “Weeping Generals” also known as “Phantom Coup” was watched by the crème de la crème of Nigerian society, crowned bedecked monarchs in oversized “babanriga” not exempted. And not one of them failed to testify to how convincing the production was; how true to life; how the actors were geniuses in projecting the characters they acted, and therefore how mercy must triumph over justice if the actors were not to be punished for their excellent interpretation of their roles! Perhaps it’s not yet too late to give the late great producer/director a posthumous award. And they better do quickly, before his legacy is dwarfed and forever forgotten.

If you are wondering what can possibly dwarf such a prodigious work of art, you probably haven’t heard about another production currently running at the same Aso Villa Theatre. It is of course slightly different. The medium is neither celluloid nor video, it is stage! And to make it the most convincing stage production since Professor Dapo Adelugba’s “Langbodo” wowed the world at FESTAC ’77, the play starring none other than President Yar’Adua as “Yar’I-do-or-die” (apologies to Professor Soyinka), the main scene is staged in one of the living rooms of the Presidential wing of the Villa.

Like “Weeping Generals”, “Presidential Prisoner” is showing to a select audience in a series of premieres. First to view the spectacular show is a group of mullahs, one of whom was generous enough to tell the story line to the international media. This, according to media reports, was followed by a team of Christian clerics, who, unlike the mullahs, have not been as generous in their reportage. I understand that leaders of the ruling party, The Peoples Democratic Party, led by chairman Ogbulafor have also taken their turn. As I write this, it wasn’t clear which group is next, but I understand that advance bookings for this special show are rolling in very fast from across the nation and perhaps internationally. Of the groups, only Soyinka has gone public on behalf of traditional religionists. He might put in a booking for the Association of Seadogs, Nobel Laureates Group and many more. So, I might as well stand up for my own constituency too - the Council of Men’s Ministries of Nigeria. We promise to be as generous or not, as we might be debriefed to do at the viewing!

If I know anything about this wonderful nation, peopled by the happiest people in the world, the clamour will reach a crescendo soon! The Association of Witches and Wizards, the Association of Prostitutes and Sex Workers, Ex-Prisoners Fraternity, Kidnappers’ Guild, Militants Forever Club (MFC) will all soon join the fray. God help those vetting the bookings, if they fail to ok those of the last two immediately!

I am laughing at all this theatre of the absurd playing out in this nation, so richly endowed, so fantastically blessed, but so famished of values, morality and good old fear of God! I am laughing at the folly of one woman surrounded by a handful of men who have held an otherwise good man hostage, because he is sick. I am laughing at the antics of people who, having tasted power, have decided that they’ll rather die than part with it! I am laughing at the stupidity of those who mouth godly rhetoric, pray several times daily and thereafter proceed to deny His existence by their every action and omission.

And I am just following in the steps of my Father. For, He laughs and heartily too, says the Bible: “In heaven the Lord laughs as he sits on his throne, making fun of the nations” (Psalm 2:4 CEV). But let’s get that verse in context and see how so very prophetic of the current scenario in our nation. The first six verses of Psalm 2 read: “Why do the nations plot, and why do their people make useless plans? The kings of this earth have all joined together to turn against the Lord and his chosen one. They say, ‘Let's cut the ropes and set ourselves free!’ In heaven the Lord laughs as he sits on his throne, making fun of the nations. The Lord becomes furious and threatens them. His anger terrifies them as he says, ‘I've put my king on Zion, my sacred hill.’"

They gather, they make useless plans, plans they are incapable of actualising, they do not seek the will of God and where they do, they ignore it unless it tallies with their own plans! God laughs first and then acts. When He does, I wonder who of this motley crowd of power-mongers would be standing. Until then, let the nightly drama continue! Can I have my group’s ticket please? Thank you.

RESURRECTION POWER, ALL AROUND!

“Unknown to many, including this writer, the earlier defeat of the Senate Leader Teslim Folami’s motion for an extension of sitting beyond 6pm was to set the tone for one of those subtle divine interventions. Think about it, had the sitting been extended, Bello and his supporters would have had more time to try the patience and civility of the passionate nominee, who was visibly beginning to lose composure. With no choice than to end sitting within minutes, presiding officer, David Mark was able to accommodate only a few safe rebuttals before asking her to take a bow. Yet even this writer condemned the senators as unserious for refusing to sit beyond 6pm! Saved by the bell, you might say, but I see God’s fingerprints all over it. Akunyili’s ministerial prospect was all but dead, but it came alive again.”

You may or not see or see or feel it, but I do. And I am not just talking about resurrection at the personal level, which, for me is incredibly real and is manifesting in ways that even the blind would see - eventually. I am talking about resurrection power in and around us, sending powerful signals of the incontrovertible, if often disputed by the so-called intellectual, presence of the divine in the affairs of nations, including our own.

I’ll give a few seemingly insignificant examples from the just concluded screening of ministerial nominees who, by the time you read this, would have become Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

There were many near death situations which were reversed. Professor Dora Akunyili didn’t make the first list, in spite of the popularity she enjoys as a result of the uncommon courage she exhibited in the process that led us to the current dispensation. And when upon getting on the list she appeared at the Senate, there was that unfortunate encounter between her and Senator Kanti Bello, one that I have characterized at a different forum as between the “beauty and the beast.” Unknown to many, including this writer, the earlier defeat of the Senate Leader Teslim Folami’s motion for an extension of sitting beyond 6pm was to set the tone for one of those subtle divine interventions. Think about it, had the sitting been extended, Bello and his supporters would have had more time to try the patience and civility of the passionate nominee, who was visibly beginning to lose composure. With no choice than to end sitting within minutes, presiding officer, David Mark was able to accommodate only a few safe rebuttals before asking her to take a bow. Yet even this writer condemned the senators as unserious for refusing to sit beyond 6pm! Saved by the bell, you might say, but I see God’s fingerprints all over it. Akunyili’s ministerial prospect was all but dead, but it came alive again.

It you followed the exercise closely; you would also know the cases of Dr Shamsudeen Usman and the Taraba state nominee, Umaru Nuhu. As of Wednesday morning, there ministerial ambitions were virtually gone, according to media reports. Their nomination was said to have been withdrawn by the Acting President. But of course they were screened and confirmed the same day. And so, by the time you read they would have taken their place in the Executive Council of the Federation.

The case of Sanusi Daggash was even more dramatic. He had served as Yar’Adua’s National Planning Minister during the first term. He was dropped in circumstances that many thought was akin to betrayal. That was because in his zeal to serve the Executive Branch, he was said to have taken on his erstwhile colleagues at the National Assembly in a manner they consider as betrayal. He was subsequently sacked. Newspaper reports had it that it brought tears to his eyes!

But on Tuesday, all was forgiven. His long night in the cold ended. Given an opportunity to speak on the floor of the Senate, he admitted to erring, apologized to his colleagues and expressed joy and excitement at being asked to merely say a few words, take a bow and leave. In other words, he was accorded his privileges as an ex-Senator, against all expectations.

Then he said something, the import of which one hopes was not lost on too many of us. Saying that he was looking forward to being given a second opportunity to prove himself, he continued: “This is history in the making. In one government, the same government, I was asked to bow out, in the same government I was asked to come in; clearly for anybody, in a lifetime, this is a record, from 1960 to date.”

In other words, Daggash’s return to the same government that sacked him was unprecedented. And had anyone told him at the time he was sacked that he would return, it would have sounded like consolatory nonsense. But there it was, Daggash’s ministerial dream was resurrected, even as his erstwhile principal lay incommunicado somewhere in the vicinity. He might have merely seen as a record, but the discerning knows that it goes beyond that.

Is this about Easter then? Yes and No. Yes, because the annual commemoration of the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the most profound evidence of the capability and willingness to restore, even in the seemingly most irreversible circumstance. No, because, Christianity is nothing, if not a call to live the resurrected life everyday. It also a call to faith in God that no matter how long gone you think your dream is, if you’ll give it to Him, He is able and willing to breath new life into it.

Trust me, dear reader, I should know! I have so many dry bones around me – seemingly dodo-dead, irredeemably so. I’ve held on to them year after year awaiting the breath of life until it seemed it will never happen. But I see a stirring all around me. I see new life springing where there had been nothing but lifelessness; I feel suppleness in place of the rigor mortis of death. I urge you to look closely too and you’ll find God is set to restore on an unprecedentedly scale – if you’ve been trusting in Him.

I sense the same thing in the political life of our nation. Yes, I did say there was a flood on the way and it’s already on, even if it’s early days yet. But the aftermath of the flood is a new breath of life for those who will survive it. And that’s you – if you don’t give up or give in.

Here is my wish for a Happy Easter to everyone. May resurrection power forever be real to you and all yours, in the redeeming name of Jesus.

GADAFFHI: MESSAGE IN THE “MADNESS”

“…However, not all men of God disagree totally with Gadaffhi. The immediate past National Secretary of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Joseph Ojo is one. Ojo, a close associate of the late faith movement icon, Archbishop Benson Idahosa told the Champion newspaper: ‘I agree with him. Nigeria should be split into six different nations. Gadaffhi said the country should be divided into two because of his religious sentiments but the reality is that this nation should split into six different nations...Any church leader who is saying that the country should not split is speaking through his nose; such a person is saying that because of fear of arrest. The Amalgamation has not helped us at all. In fact it has not helped anybody.’”

"Gadfly" Muammar Gadaffhi recently did what he enjoys most - raise some dust by weighing in on international issues in his own peculiar way. The controversial Libyan leader who doesn’t seem in hurry to hand over power to anyone, got on Nigeria’s case at a meeting with African students and, the dust he raised has taking on something of the significance of a weather event.

According to a widely quoted Libyan State News Agency (Jana) report, he recommended the division of Africa’s most populous, oil-rich nation into two countries, a Muslim North and Christian South. The objective: to “stop the bloodshed and burning of places of worship" as a result of recurring incidences of violent conflict between Christians and Muslims.

Rationalising his recommendation, Gadaffhi characterised the incessant violence in Jos, which in recent times has claimed tens of thousands of lives, as a "deep conflict of religious nature." This in his view resulted from the federal structure of the country, "which was made and imposed by the British in spite of the people's resistance to it." He cited the example of India and Pakistan, where according to him, a similar "historic, radical solution" applied, and it saved the lives of "millions of Hindus and Muslims".

Predictably, reactions came fast and furious with Senate President David Mark leading the attack. In a most unstatesman-like manner, he dismissed the Libyan President as a mad man who should not be taken seriously. Reacting to a suggestion from Senator Ayim Ude that the Senate should issue a warning to Gadaffhi for making inflammatory comment about Nigeria said, Senator Mark said “Why do you want to give a mad man that level of publicity. He said the same thing about Switzerland, he said the same thing about England and it did not work. In my own opinion, I do not think he needs that publicity at all."

Many other legislators towed similar lines, all positing that Gadaffhi was “mentally unstable,” “a man…really out of his senses" and “a reckless leader”, whose “madness is incurable” and whose statement was “condemnable”, amounting to “nonsense” and should therefore “be disregarded."

Some prominent men of God also joined the attack. Most Reverend Peter Akinola, then out-going Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) described Ghadaffi’s statement as irrational, arguing, “how can you be calling for the split of Nigeria into separate Christian and Muslims countries when you have Christians who are indigenes of the north and Muslims who are indigenes of the South and vice versa within the country?”

Most Rev. J. O. Akinfenwa, South-West Chairman of the Christian Association Nigeria said we don’t need A Gadaffhi to tell us what to do. His words, according to newspaper reports: “We don’t need anyone from outside to tell us that. We find its utterances unacceptable. Not from somebody like Gadaffhi, who has no good record; who we always known to be an international rogue, a trouble maker and religious fanatics.” He went on to warn that the Libyan leader’s comment should not be taken with “kid-gloves”, noting that “for him to have come out to say that, “maybe there are lot of things on ground which we don’t know. He has been in the vanguard of religious jihad for long, causing religious problems all over the world. Our security agencies should not take it low.”

Another prominent leader, Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde, who presides over Methodist Church Nigeria, issued a statement describing Gadaffhi’s comments as “not only an affront on the people of Nigeria but an insult and a worthless attempt to rubbish the sweat and blood of the founding fathers of this great Nation who did not only envision a one and indivisible nation state but did everything to guarantee the oneness of the entity called Nigeria as they eschewed tribalism and never politicized religion.”

However, not all men of God disagree totally with Gadaffhi. The immediate past National Secretary of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Joseph Ojo is one. Ojo, a close associate of the late faith movement icon, Archbishop Benson Idahosa told the Champion newspaper: “I agree with him. Nigeria should be split into six different nations. Gadaffhi said the country should be divided into two because of his religious sentiments but the reality is that this nation should split into six different nations...Any church leader who is saying that the country should not split is speaking through his nose; such a person is saying that because of fear of arrest. The Amalgamation has not helped us at all. In fact it has not helped anybody”.

There are several others, but easily the most significant is the about-face by Archbishop Akinola who at a media meet to marking the end of his tenure as Head of the Anglican Church declared: “He said, initially I dismissed him, thinking he was only being true-to-type, because he is the kind of person who could say such thing. After a week of pondering over the whole thing, I said to myself, may be the man should not just be dismissed. Perhaps what he has said is divine in the sense that it would serve as a wake up call to Nigerian stakeholders to find ways of finding lasting solutions to the issues at stake”.

Akinola said what Gadaffhi meant was that the time has come for Nigeria to sit and discuss her continued existence as one country under one God wondering, “where are the murderers and arsonists that caused mayhem in all the crises we have been having in this country. We need to come together and discuss the terms of our staying together if we want to be honest with ourselves…I support one Nigeria, but we have to discuss our continued existence as a nation. If Nigeria should burn, nobody will be spared. The time is ripe and due for discussion to settle Nigeria’s unity, that is what Gadaffhi’s statement portends. If Hausa-Fulani can do their business in the South unmolested, Kola and Ugochukwu should be able to do their businesses in Kaduna or Jos unmolested, and if molested, then government and the police have a duty to fish out the perpetrators and deal with them decisively.”

My take is this: like Akinola, I believe there’s a message in this “madness”. Let’s stop deceiving ourselves about the sanctity of the Nigerian union. If tyranny and injustice begot secession, even in Israel, it can anywhere (see 2Chronicles 10). Is any one listening?

HERE COMES THE FLOOD

We saw that in the experience of Noah’s time. The flood of God came; the tide turned. Noah and his family, who most certainly were the butt of many cruel jokes; who were fit only for the oddities page and never for the celebrity pages of newspapers, became God’s celebrities; they became God’s partner in the onerous task of rebuilding the world. So, of course, will it be for the minority presently tediously swimming against the powerful current of evil in the land. They would be God’s partners in rebuilding our land. Everything God does follows a pattern and is according a Kingdom principle. Nigeria’s case will not be different. The evil that’s been currently touted as our culture; the perfidy that’s been projected as a foundation upon which we can “move the nation forward”; the on-going attempt to employ a reasonably good builder to build on quicksand will fail.

Monday, November 23, 2009 would just have been another day on the calendar, but for one momentous event. The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua fell critically ill and had to be hurriedly flown to hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Thus began a series of events which has taken eminent Nigerians including some clergymen to the streets in protest and last Tuesday led a group of youths to attempt to force their way into the National Assembly. An acting president is in place feeling his way through the exercise of executive power over the largest population of black people in the world. The power equation is fast changing.

As I reflected on the situation, I was reminded of a warning I was led to issue on this page on June 3, 2007. I shall quote it extensively, not for want of anything else to write, but because I believe, we are virtually there. So, here goes:

“You see, when you take a close look at the Nigerian condition brought sharply into focus by the events before, during and since the last elections, one cannot but remember one of the sayings of the Lord Jesus himself in the book of Matthew. He said: “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe (Noah) entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away…” (Matthew 24:38-39).

“Of course every one who has some acquaintance with the Bible knows that the Lord was referring to the pre-flood days recorded in Genesis chapter 6. For ease of reference however, let’s recall the story. Evil was bestriding the world, as I enjoy putting it, colossus-style. So bad was the situation that God was broken-hearted. The Bible says: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart (Genesis 6:5-6).

“Many of course were either oblivious of the situation; or too were too wrapped up in their desires or enjoying the fruits of their perfidy so much that nothing else mattered. They were having fun, holding banquets to celebrate ill-gotten wealth or fraudulently acquired power to notice that the drama was approaching a not-so-pleasant denouement. To borrow the contemporary word-paint of my dear pastor who inspired this piece, they were enjoying having their pictures, those of their many women and their palatial mansions on the pages of the magazines. They were the celebrities; the rave of the moment. They could afford to laugh to scorn, those who do not belong; call them names; even make them feel foolish, stupid etc. Noah was therefore a fool, or worse; he needed a shrink.

“The flood of evil was on, threatening to cover every inch of space and drown both the willing and the unwary. But God is never helpless. He would not let evil ride roughshod on his earth forever. So he decided to do something about it. He identified his uncontaminated remnant; the uncorrupted seed from which a new plantation can be cultivated. He found Noah. He decided to preserve him and wipe out the rest. The bible account in Genesis 6:7-8 states it like this: “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

“Please let’s note the last part of verse 8 above. It says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I particularly love the Message Bible translation of this verse: “But Noah was different. GOD liked what he saw in Noah.” Are you different? Is God likely to like what he’s seeing in you? The Life Application Bible renders that same verse this way: ‘Noah was a pleasure to the Lord.” Are you a pleasure to the Lord? Or are you simply being a pleasure to that strange trinity that many currently worship – me, myself and I?

“This question is important because, every flood of evil is unfailingly followed by the cleansing flood of God. The current flood of evil in our nation manifesting in the unabashed celebration of fraud, illegality, abuse of power and sundry vulgarities will inexorably be followed by the flood of God. And our nation will be the better for it,

“We saw that in the experience of Noah’s time. The flood of God came; the tide turned. Noah and his family, who most certainly were the butt of many cruel jokes; who were fit only for the oddities page and never for the celebrity pages of newspapers, became God’s celebrities; they became God’s partner in the onerous task of rebuilding the world. So, of course, will it be for the minority presently tediously swimming against the powerful current of evil in the land. They would be God’s partners in rebuilding our land.

“Everything God does follows a pattern and is according a Kingdom principle. Nigeria’s case will not be different. The evil that’s been currently touted as our culture; the perfidy that’s been projected as a foundation upon which we can “move the nation forward”; the on-going attempt to employ a reasonably good builder to build on quicksand will fail.

“Mercifully we are in the dispensation of grace and the Noahic covenant symbolized by the occasional occurrences of the rainbow assures that the world would never again be wiped out by floods of water. But the floods of righteousness will yet come and it will sweep away all inequities, all injustices and all violence done to the psyche of God’s people. And God help the perpetrators and beneficiaries of these things. It is then and only then that Nigeria shall take her place in the end-time plans of God. Beware the flood to come.”

Dear compatriots, a flood is imminent.