Today, I really want to welcome you into the second half of the year 2009. The match started January 1 this year and it was you vs 2009. It’s a great time to ask yourself what the scores are, and what your strategy for the next half should be. It’s a good time to do your life audit, and a good time to seek Gods face afresh for direction, for grace and for help! While this is something I’ll like to write about very well, I’m sorry that today I must write about something else that really bothers my heart – Nigeria!
I’m sure you read the title and wondered what was going on, I’ll like you to join me in this video I’m about to paint with words. Sorry, I could have done it on You-Tube, but our link in Nigeria is not strong enough to allow most people to watch it, it’s even going to be difficult for me to upload. So bear with me, and use your minds eye to follow me in this journey of our imagination!
Imagine with me if you can, that Pastor E.A. Adeboye indicates interest in becoming the president of Nigeria. What do you think will happen? Let me tell you what I think. First of all he’ll likely win, I do not attend the Redeem Christian Church of God, but I know many people from different churches and religions who will gladly and passionately vote for him. We’ll have the largest voters turn out in the history of Nigeria’s voting. I know many churches that will align, I know many people from diaspora that will fly in if voting was restricted to Nigerian soils. I know that many things will shift, peoples attitude to participating in Nationhood will dramatically change, Nigerians will know that something different was in the air. Â All our dreams and aspirations for a New Nigeria would all of a sudden seem possible to millions of Nigerians who believe in this man of God. Â All these if he indicates interest in becoming president, now imagine what is possible if/when he wins. In case you don’t know who Pastor Adeboye is, he’s the General Overseer of the Redeem Christian Church of God, and Newsweek ranked 49th most influential man in the world and 1st most influential person in Nigeria.
Let’s take our imagination forward a bit before I head for where I am going. Imagine that Pastor E.A. Adeboye actually emerged the president of Nigeria! Apart from the northern perspective that it will be Christianizing Nigeria – a crime we could have blamed most of our past leaders for as regards Islam but didn’t, there are a lot of great things that will happen in Nigeria. First, we’ll have a leader who earned the 49th most influential person in the world on the grounds of honesty as our leader. Being a very revered man, we’ll likely have Nigerian office holders being a lot more careful in looting the countries money and in being corrupt. Being a strict disciplinarian, he’ll definitely set the right standards with his conduct. Being a visonary who envisioned a church every 5 mins apart from each other and actually is making it happen, he would envision and execute, hospitals, libraries and manufacturing companies every 5 mins apart. Being a very humble person who has broken lots of records but has not boasted about them, Nigeria will shortly break new world records and will see it as natural. Nigerians all over the world, would find it easy at his word, to pray for the nation, and even donate money to make the country the most desirable country to live in, in the world! Can you imagine this? With 14,000 branches in the nation and counting, 360 in the UK and about the same number in America, missionaries around Asia and operations in about 110 countries, there is sufficient leadership to drive any organization.
Lets snap out of that imaginary dream world for a while and face the cold facts. It’s not very likely that he’ll indicate interest in Presidency! If that was all, I probably won’t be so sad as the fact that as long as I have followed Nigerian politics I have not seen him or any other influential honest personality in Nigeria throw their influence behind getting a proper leader for Nigeria. Before you crucify me with the argument that Christians or any religious body should not engage in politics, I’ll recommend that you don’t even go there! If we are the light of the world, we should show the way, not hide underneath a bushel under a bed. I listened to Martin Luther King Jr’s speech again recently – he was introduced as the moral leader of America. He spoke for about 30 mins, and you would have no doubt that he was a pastor. For him, getting the blacks their right was a matter of faith, of deep conviction of his perspectives about how God wanted man to live with man irrespective of colour or race. The founding fathers of America were men of faith, you can read their declaration of independence to feel their convictions. Abolition of Slave Trade, Equality of Black and White, and many other movements that have changed world views have been sponsored by lights to the world that decided to shine.
Before you go thinking this is about Pastor E.A. Adeboye, you are wrong. This is about you, and also about me. It’s about the people who can do the job of leading this country and have not stepped up to it. It’s about the people who are old enough to make a difference with thier votes and have not. It’s about the people who have bought the lie that our votes don’t count. It’s about all the people who could make a tremendous difference to this country and have not! It’s for the people who think that those who want to steal money as leaders should be better motivated than those who desire to turn the country the right side up!
I look forward to a 2011 where we have credible leaders joining forces together to position and elect credible leaders. I personally think that it’s sad that there are so many churches in Nigeria, so many mosques and muslims as well, and things are so terrible. Have you seen our roads? I know what it is to be stranded at 2am on one of them. Have you seen our hospitals? I have sat around and watched many who came in alive wheeled away as corpses. Have you seen what the villages look like just 10mins from town? I have been around and no matter how bad the cities are, they are heaven compared to many nearby villages. The state of our electricity is indicative of our true spiritual state, we are a nation in darkness, our agents of light are disengaged  from shining their lights, we have sold our rights to a say in our country to just any charlatan willing to buy. We need to stop this current trend, we need to put our influence and powers behind credible people, and wether they win or not should not be a deterent.
