As The Church Slept… (8) Wed, 10/08/2011 - | SHARON FALLYA CHAM So these are the structures the PDP has been using to “win” elections – diluted integrity? I use to think that the structures a political party should use for winning elections are roads, electricity, jobs, water supply, healthcare, medicare, transportation, good salaries, education and security, I didn’t know that the global standards have changed and that the new structures are a gang of party thugs ready for a dime to snatch ballot papers and boxes and to kill if need be, a gang of criminals wearing clean clothes masquerading as party officials and loads of cash originally meant for public works and services. Well, the General can rest assured that even his detractors know that he has unimpeachable character, which the people want. But the corrupt elite and the beneficiaries of corruption have deployed the entire arsenal at their disposal, including co-opting uninformed clergy whom they know the people revere to abuse the minds of the voters against him. The General can rest knowing that no one in Nigeria can point a finger at him and say “you are a thief”, whereas the criminals in power cannot have this singular honour. Even their supporters know they are thieves. Somehow, I think deep down among the PDP elite circle they know, and will not admit publicly, that those youth corps members gruesomely murdered were murdered because of them, hence the guilt-driven gift of five million Naira to each of their surviving families. Otherwise, youth corps members have been killed in national service before, why was such gesture not done to them before? And come to think of it; a life is a life, so what happens to the several other victims of the violence? It is even more irritating and annoying that the thieving PDP seemed to have benefitted even more from the riots, because several of their corrupt governors that were set to lose the gubernatorial elections capitalised on the curfew they imposed with glee to snatch, stuff and rig the ballot because the voters could no longer monitor and protect their votes. A case of eating your cake and having it! Well, a wise man said somewhere that you can only keep a man down only if you are sure he will not rise again. The PDP’s mischief will crystallise into their final consumption by the inferno they have stoked all over the country. That is why I find these so cheap for hire funny characters like Yunana Shibkau and his newly created and equally so cheap for hire organisation who are calling for the arrest of General Buhari and even calling for the deregistration of the General’s party, the CPC on the laughable claim that the party is a terrorist organisation as people lacking in sound values and can be conveniently described as, morally bankrupt and therefore shameless. Pray, if any organisation in Nigeria qualifies to be called a terror organisation in reference to Shibkau’s context is there any one that will snatch that inglorious name or title from the PDP? Who are the politicians that have been importing arms since 2003 to rig elections? Who are the politicians that have been recruiting our able bodied youth to be party thugs since before 2003 elections? Who are the politicians that have been murdering political opponents since before 2003 elections? Who are the politicians that have been stealing the nation’s wealth since 1999? Who are the politicians that created the national monster called, the Niger Delta militants? Who are the politicians that officially migrated a hitherto street and motor park phrase, “do–or–die” into our political lexicon and way of life? In case he and his ilk don’t know let me quote a part of the post 2011 elections report of the Human Rights Watch: “… Human Rights Watch documented how ruling party politicians in the oil-rich Niger Delta mobilised and funded armed groups to help rig elections. That led to a sustained increase in violence and criminality in the region.” So, between the CPC which is just a little over one year old and the PDP, which one of them is the terrorist organisation, considering this available evidence by the Human Rights Watch? By this evidence, all the kidnappings, oil bunkering, armed robberies and all other crimes that got their roots from the Niger Delta and which have spread like wild fire to other parts of the country are the handcraft of the PDP. So, shouldn’t the PDP be reported to the United Nations and World Criminal Court of Justice at The Hague for corrupting and criminalising our country? That’s why I find it strange that the Church should be found supporting any one in the PDP. Is President Goodluck Jonathan not among the PDP elite in the Niger Delta indicted by this Human Rights Watch report? Could he have come this far without being part and parcel of them? Greed, selfishness, lack of compassion and lack of sense of sacrifice and justice have polarised the nation now as evidenced by the aftermath of the presidential elections. Before the death of President Yar’Adua there was some relative peace and national unity, but all that have been frittered away by opportunism. There are screaming voices from southern Nigeria, including some Christian clergy for the review or the scrapping of the NYSC scheme, a subtle way of asking southerners to avoid the north. And what about the Churches in the north, mostly attended by southerners doing business or working for federal agencies? Do we review their existence in the north also? If yes, then what happens to evangelism? So, who bails the nation out of this? Who will unite the nation for national peace and harmony? Evidently, President Jonathan cannot, for the north, excluding his fans in the middle belt, views him with contempt. The traditional rulers in the north have lost credibility; therefore they cannot be a uniting force. You cannot even try it with any PDP big wig in the north for obvious reasons. So, who then? The only group that can successfully unite this nation and make it work now is the Church. Yes, the Church. The Church has taken sides in the cantankerous elections, which makes her an interested party but she has what it takes to restore the peace and unity of the nation. How? By simply making sure there is accountability and integrity in governance in Nigeria, for when the Church is seen, not just heard, taking steps and making sure governance works to the benefit of the majority and not a few the Church will not only recover her public prestige before men but also before God. A simple case of turning the Salt which has lost its savour from good for nothing to good for something, and then the Lord, the Owner of the Salt will cause her not to be trodden under foot of men. Dr. Francis Bola Akin-John, the founder and president of Church Growth Ministries International and the International Centre for Church Health, Lagos in an interview published on page 40 of The Nation newspaper of Saturday, April 30, 2011 said, “The Church should stand for the oppressed and pray for leaders. If there is failure in government and there is also failure of the Church, we are finished as a nation.” This is scary – the possibility of government and the Church failing at the same time. But we have been having failed governments for a long time, and this is why the Church cannot afford to fail. She must step up to the plate to ensure governments do not fail; to make sure governments provide high quality services to the public. God buttressed this mandate thus: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” Ezekiel 3:17. This is a prophetic call to accountability given the Church, which the Church must not fail in. Remember, “For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God…..” The only hope or remedy out of the fierce judgement of God is for the Church to restore her mandate, which is ensuring accountability in the society. And what a perfect way to start, she can start with the Goodluck Jonathan government which is her baby. And here is how: 1. On the eve of the presidential election there were media reports that President Goodluck Jonathan spent N250 billion to influence the election his way. This sum excludes the N100 million per day, which Prof. Pat Utomi alleged that the president spent per day during his campaign tour. The President has not denied these allegations up till now. The electoral law requests that presidential aspirants or candidates are not expected to spend more than N1 billion in campaigns. Therefore the Church leadership should demand the President and all other presidential candidates and gubernatorial candidates to disclose to the public how much they spent, and what were the sources of their funding. The Church must not relent on this, even if it means calling on the entire congregation on the streets.   2. Where anyone of the candidates has been found wanting in breach of the electoral finance law the Church should ensure such a one is dealt with as the law requires. 3. The Church should send a bill to the National Assembly requesting for the removal of the immunity clause from our constitution. This clause has not helped Nigeria and Nigerians one bit, rather it has been serially abused and used to steal public funds massively. We have seen recently how a serving governor was arrested in the U.S.A. for committing a crime. President Jonathan will not and cannot canvass for the removal of this clause; it was never in his campaign promises, for it has helped him and his party to plunder this nation. Rather it was General Buhari and the other candidates that have made it one of their priorities. So, the Church must vigorously pursue this as a goal even if it means marching on the streets for days, weeks and months non-stop. 4. The Church should actively canvass for a law that will make it a crime against the three tiers of government for any village, town or city to be found without well asphalted roads, pipe borne water, electricity, well equipped hospitals, schools and sanitary facilities. 5. The Church should also actively canvass for the removal of the privilege of Governors and Presidents enjoying unaccountable funds called “security vote”, with such funds channeled to the budget of security agencies, since they are the bodies saddled with security of lives and property. 6. The Church should march massively and severally non-stop to the National Assembly demanding them to revert to the genuine salaries and allowances lawfully prescribed them by the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission, demand the abolition of them doing or collecting funds for “constituency projects” which is clearly the job of the executive arm and to also demand a drastic cut in the budget of the parliament, for even with their hefty allowances they have turned their “oversight functions” into money spinners for themselves, otherwise why are the very places they do “oversight” on full of corruption and other sharp practices? 7. The Church should canvass for the adequate funding of the education sector in both the federal and states level. 8. The Church should canvass for the institutionalization of a social service welfare scheme where the aged and the jobless can be catered for. 9. Finally, the Church must continue to exert her influence in demanding accountability and good governance irrespective of who is in government.   The Church can do all of the above and more by engaging the services of the abundant lawyers in her midst and her members in the parliament. That way the Church will be reckoned with, and any government or a part of it or any agency that wants to misbehave will reckon that the Church will come after her. This is where and how the Church will have dominion and real power over the affairs of the nation, but not in merely endorsing questionable politicians. In engaging government to be accountable the Church must expect reactionary forces and the beneficiaries of corruption to begin to say the usual nonsense like, “the Church should leave politics alone”, “the Clergy have no business with governance”, “there should be a separation of the State and religion”, blah, blah, blah. But we know this is false. Religion is best placed to serve the purpose of regulation and moderation of human conduct. A nation with active religious presence and influence is well placed to avoid being a banana republic, which Nigeria seems headed to, and we cannot afford to be a banana republic. A wise man, Peter Kay said humorously of such a republic that, “You never know where to look when eating a banana.” I know the Church can force a positive turn around for our nation for one reason. In the heat of the rage over the killing of the ten youth service corps members in Bauchi, the Bishop, Diocese of Lagos West Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Dr. Peter Awelewa Adebiyi was reported on page 55 of the Nation newspaper of Friday, May 13, 2011 in a story captioned Bishop threatens showdown on NYSC reform and written by Dada Aladelokun (Assistant Editor) saying, “We will continue to harp on it and I enjoin every member of this Church and all well-meaning Nigerians to support us in this crusade. And I make bold to say that if the government will not heed our call, I will lead this congregation on a march on the National Assembly. We can no longer condone this wanton killing of our future leaders.” The Bishop was making a case for the review of the N.Y.S.C. scheme where possibly graduates could be posted to their states or regions to serve. But what struck me was the realization that the clergy knew they could bring out their congregation to march on the street or march on any arm of government to demand for change and yet, all this while that government upon government were serially raping and plundering our resources they kept mute. Don’t tell me that they have been speaking to rulers privately, for the Bible says in Proverbs 27:5 that “Open rebuke is better than secret love.” I was excited that at least the Church has jerked back to life and to her calling. So, let us move on. In the thick of the dilly dally by the National Assembly and late President Yar’Adua’s cabinet last year over whether to pass a resolution declaring the then sick President incapacitated in order to make way for then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to become Acting President, Pastor Mrs. Sarah Amakwu, Senior Pastor, Family Worship Centre, Abuja pulled her Church congregation to join the march organized by the Save Nigeria Group led by Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), Mrs. Naja’atu Mohammed, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Wole Soyinka and other leaders of Civil Society Organizations calling on the National Assembly and the cabinet to declare the sick President incapacitated. The unrelenting pressure they mounted caused the dithering Senate to do the right thing, and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was declared Acting President. I have observed with amusement how shady politicians and some media people are now attributing that feat to Senate President David Mark in order for him to retain the senate presidency, conveniently forgetting that he led the most over paid, underperforming and most corrupt parliament in the world. The same pressure was exerted by the same individuals and organizations to compel an also dithering President Goodluck Jonathan to send Prof. Maurice Iwu to an inglorious retirement, for it seemed he and his party were intent on retaining Prof. Iwu’s injurious services which had served them well at the expense of the nation. The same pressure by the same persons and groups caused government to look outside some suggested questionable characters that were being bandied about as possible replacement for Prof. Iwu. President Jonathan is now being cleverly credited with that feat also; in fact it was part of his campaigns songs. As time flies, if you are not careful, it will carry your memory along its wings into mental recession. That’s my quote.   The point here is the Church can take the lead in organizing marches, walks or sit-ins against cases of injustice, corruption and sit-tight rulers. Great man of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the G.O. of the Redeemed Christian Church of God was widely reported last year to have said he will lead his Church in protest if the 2011 elections were fraudulent. This is commendable. The presidential elections, and even the other elections could not be said to have been fair; the rigging commenced when the ruling party rigged out a zone that was supposed to produce the candidate for the election, and the rigging continued up to the presidential primaries where delegates had their status changed to dollargates, and it went through to the general elections where money and incumbency proved decisive. This much was also testified by Rev. Moses Iloh, the Shepherd-in-charge of Soul-Winning Ministries, Lagos. The man of God was quoted by Gabriel Dike, a Sun newspaper reporter on page 13 of their Tuesday, May 17, 2011 edition in a story titled 2011 polls, most sophisticated electoral fraud – Rev Moses Iloh as saying, “the secret agendum was to ensure victory at all costs for Mr. President at the polls in the full consciousness that Nigeria parades the most disreputable, conscienceless and despicable judiciary when it comes to election tribunals…..there was no control limit placed on funds to be expended on the election campaign. There was no question that it was government’s scarce funds that were irresponsibly wasted on campaign funding by the incumbents.” Earlier in the story the reporter said the man of God referred to the election as the most expensive, sophisticated, highly educated and well-mannered electoral fraud in the history of the country despite the determination of Nigerians to protect their votes. On the consequence of the Church’s bias in the elections the man of God said, “The polity was violently raped and now pregnant with two dangerous bastards: religion and tribalism. When the pregnancy matured and these monsters are delivered, they will at birth, show up with 32 fully matured teeth.” Scary situation Nigeria has been walked into, you might agree. Well, the protest marches as proposed by God’s servant Pastor Adeboye should not be limited to elections issues alone; it should be commenced and sustained for good governance. This is one of the ways in which the Spirit of the Church will be felt in society compelling positive change. It is this attitude that fuelled and is still fuelling the mass uprisings in almost all the Arab States, whose living standards are far beyond those of Nigerians. Yet, they are determined to create a better society for themselves. Some Christians may be scoffing at them, even assuming that it could be a divine confusion set among them, but the Lord has a Word for them thus: “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Luke 16:8. So, the children of light (the Church) watch idly and even endorse corrupt politicians to be plundering the resources of God and as they are plundering they will be praying for them in Church for “wisdom and divine guidance” while others elsewhere are determined that such plunder cannot be. So, who is wiser? That Scripture has given the answer clearly. The Church must rise up to her calling of societal accountability, so that thievery in government will stop, for no society can afford to have people with inherent inclination to stealing public funds as leaders because of the spiritual implication of this negative inclination: “….This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off…. I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.” Zechariah 5:3 & 4. So, the penalty for a thief and those who use God’s name fraudulently is shared with their household without exemption. Little wonder Nigeria has not been doing well in spite of prayers like, “O’ Lord, bless our leaders with wisdom and guide them.” If the Church leads the way in the fight against mis-governance she would of course be joined by the rest of society, bringing healing and unity of purpose in the society and ultimately restoring the honour of the Church. Do I even have to say the Church will be feared by evil forces? The book of Acts of the Apostles does not read Prayers of the Apostles. No, it showed the Apostles engaging in civil disobediences against what was wrong. While they were praying they were also acting. Good example of faith without works being dead. Nigeria must rank as the most praying nation in the world, but it should not stop there. There must be physical involvement. God will not come down in Person to remove evil from society, no. He works with us and through us. There should be no reason why Nigeria with plenty of Churches should not be better off than churchless nations like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Indonesia, etc. The Lord Jesus Christ said a parable about the sleeping Church and the consequence thus: “…..The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” Matthew 13:24 & 25. So, as the Church slept, the devil came and sowed the tares of corruption, kidnappings, thefts, robberies and all manner of violence and evil, and Nigerians are in tears caused by these tares! As the Church slept, the devil anointed political leaders for the nation and masterfully, characteristically and deceptively presented them to the Church for their signature. This sleep should end! Ironically, a Nigerian pastor, Sunday Adelaja was used mightily by God to bring a revolutionary change in Ukraine in 2005 by pulling out his large congregation unto the streets of the capital, Kiev. He detailed his story in his book CHURCH SHIFT. In Nigeria, we have pastors that pull large crowds in miracle or healing conventions. The congregations revere them to the point of total adoration and submission. Can they now harness this gift to change this nation radically in order to escape God’s imminent judgement? It is called Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR. It is time.