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| Prof. Yemi Osinbajo |
The season of essay writing is
fully back. Election is here…Lol!
The Special Assistant to
President Jonathan on the new media, Pastor Reno Omokiri writes on the above
stated topic. Am not sure if many people will disagree with him on this, at
least to the point before he introduced Prof. Osinbajo…enjoy it below
One of the biggest misconceptions
of the world, in my opinion, is the view held by some that members of the
clergy should not participate in politics or government.
I have read The Holy Bible and
The Quran and to the best of my knowledge, nowhere in both books is such a
notion promoted.
As a matter of fact, the first
usage of the word 'government' comes from The Holy Bible and the United States
of America lifted the word 'President' directly from The Bible book of Daniel
(chapter 6 verse 3).
Some of the greatest figures in
The Bible were prophets and political leaders at the same time. Joseph was
Prime Minister of Egypt and political ruler of the then known world but he was
also described as a prophet and diviner of God's will.
Daniel was appointed President of
Babylon by King Darius yet he continued to function in office as a judge and
prophet.
In the New Testament, Joseph of
Arimathea was a counsellor (the equivalent of today's Senator) and he was a
devotee of Our Lord and Saviour, Yeshu'a (whom some call Jesus). Likewise, the
first African Christian, the Ethiopian Eunuch, was a high official in Queen Candace's
government.
So, there is nothing wrong with
men of God coming into politics. It is desired and it will help clean up
politics.
What is wrong however, is for men
of God to come into politics and instead of being agents of transforming
politics with the light of their moral compass, they end up conforming to the
prevailing political culture such that you can not differentiate between them
and a regular politician.
In The Bible, we read how an
anointed man of God, a prophet by name Balaam, allowed his love for power and
money mislead him into accepting to curse the anointed of God after he had been
hired by King Balak of Moab to do just that.
Eventually, Balaam recognized the
folly of his ways after an angelic visitation which prompted his donkey to
speak to him. This divine visitation caused him to repudiate the lure of money
and power dangled by King Balak to whom he uttered the now very famous words
"How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?"-Numbers 23:8.
It was this historical incident
that came to my mind when I read Professor Yemi Osinbajo's words of
condemnation on Twitter where he had said President Jonathan runs a
"visionless" government.
Professor Osinbajo is an ordained
pastor as I am and one of the ethics of our calling, enshrined in the homiletic
code, is that men of God should not criticize out of a desire for personal
gain, but should do so advisedly and only if there are genuine and compelling
reasons to do so.
As a matter of fact, Philippians
2:3 says we should "do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
Rather, in humility value others above yourselves".
So let me ask, is it really true
that President Jonathan runs a visionless government?
In fact, on a day that coincided
with Professor Osinbajo's day of casting stones at President Jonathan, Bill
Gates was celebrating Nigeria's ability to reduce incidences of the Wild Polio
Virus from hundreds of cases just three years ago to only 6 cases in 2014.
Mr. Gates actions only corroborated
those of the United Nations which earlier in the year had given President
Jonathan an award celebrating Nigeria for eradicating the scourge of Guinea
Worm infestation.
The truth is that not only does
President Jonathan run a purposeful and visionary government, one can even
begin to see the crystallization of his vision into tangible benefits for the
Nigerian masses.
Professor Yemi Osinbajo is a
pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God which has perhaps the largest
indoor camp in West Africa along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Every year, millions of Nigerian
parishioners of the RCCG troop to The Redemption Camp. They are faced with
terrible traffic gridlock as the multitude try their best to get to the venue
on time. The sheer number of users on that road overwhelms the capacity of the
highway and members have been praying for an intervention that will ease their
annual journey.
Enter President Jonathan, whose
vision prompted him to initiate the Lagos-Ibadan High Speed Railway which is
underway.
This service will not only
facilitate the movement of RCCG's parishioners to The Redemption Camp thereby
easing the pressure on the roads, it will also make it possible to live in
Ibadan and work in Lagos, with stops along the way.
The world renowned global
consultancy, KPMG, which monitors trends, in November of 2014 included this
High Speed Interstate Railway as one of the world's top 100 infrastructure
projects. KPMG praised the Jonathan administration for its vision in initiating
such a project.
And it does not stop there.
Even the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway,
long abandoned to the elements by previous administrations, is at the receiving
end of some of the fastest construction work in Africa. Two construction firms
are working to reconstruct the road in record time. Julius Berger is working
from the Lagos end while RCC is working from the Ibadan end with the intention
to meet somewhere in the middle so that the work is completed in record time.
As I write this piece, the China
Civil Engineering Construction Company, CCECC, has officially announced that it
has rounded off the track laying work of Nigeria’s first standard gauge railway
modernization project linking the capital city of Abuja and the Northwestern
state of Kaduna.
This is another project that has
come to reality as a result of the vision of President Goodluck Jonathan.
So, when Professor Osinbajo
describes President Jonathan's government as "visionless" it is
obvious that he has left the objectivity of the pulpit for the subjectivity of
partisan politics.
Or else, how can any objective
person call the man under whose guidance Nigeria became the largest economy in
Africa and the 26th largest economy in the world, visionless? Is such a feat
possible without vision, without planning, without discipline?
Or was it President Jonathan's
lack of vision that prompted the United Nations to release data that showed
that under Jonathan's watch, Average Life Expectancy in Nigeria has risen from
47 years in 2009 to 52 years today?
Is President Jonathan
"visionless" when all elections held under his watch have been
adjudged credible and transparent. From Edo, to Anambra, to Ondo, to Ekiti to
Osun and Niger, it has been a case of one man one vote, one woman one vote, one
youth, one vote.
A few Nigerians may not like the
President's Transformation Agenda, but at least, all Nigerians have heard of
it.
The million dollar question is
who has heard of the agenda of Professor Osinbajo's party other than the use of
the cliche 'change'?
Yes, Obama used the key words
'yes we can' to ride to power in 2008, but he had a brain Trust that came up
with a plan.
Are we meant to change for the
sake of change?
I must confess that I am
personally fed up with politicians who speak negatively about Nigeria and its
leaders just because they want power.
Pastor Osinbajo regularly leads
his congregation in prayers. But let me ask him if it makes any sense
physically or spiritually to speak negatively about your nation and pray
positively about yourself as if you can prosper in your home after cursing it
with your mouth?
Nigerians expect Professor
Osinbajo to wake up and smell the coffee and start telling them what he, his
principal and their party plan for Nigeria and not to spend his time throwing
stones at the innocent.
Gone are the days when you
promote a candidate based on his region and religion. And Nigerians are far too
aware in 2014-5 for any politician to grandstand by using highfalutin empty
words to cast aspersions on his/her opponent in order to hide the inadequacy of
their vision and plans.
I understand that when all you
have is a hammer everything begins to look like a nail and so having nothing
but criticism to dish out, Osinbajo is likely to keep throwing stones. However,
seeing as he is a pastor, let me remind Professor Osinbajo of the immortal
words of Jesus to critics in John 8:7-"he that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone".
As we approach 2015, I would like
to point out something to Professor Osinbajo.
In 2011, there were four major
Presidential candidates: President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP, Nuhu Ribadu of
the ACN, Ibrahim Shekarau of the ANPP and Muhamaddu Buhari of the CPC.
Does it not say much about
President Jonathan's vision and his ability to communicate it effectively that
of the three candidates who contested against him in 2011, two of them, Nuhu
Ribadu and Ibrahim Shekarau, today share his vision for Nigeria and are helping
him actualize it within the Peoples Democratic Party?
It says a lot about the
President. And especially, it is evidence of the fact that President Jonathan
is a man of vision.
Who knows, maybe Professor
Osinbajo will see the light and come to appreciate the President's vision after
the 2015 election.
This has been a constant pattern
with Buhari's running mates from 2007's Ume Ezeoke who saw enough reason to
work with the PDP after that election, to Pastor Tunde Bakare, who shared and
participated in the President's vision for a National Conference for Nigeria.
In conclusion, let me say that it
is obvious to all discerning people that God has blessed this man from Otuoke
known as President Goodluck Jonathan. Without godfather, without scheming,
without over ambition, God divinely set him on a trajectory that has seen him
ascend the highest office in the land.
Even when power was within his
grasp, the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan refused to take it, preferring
to wait on God to elevate him.
I can say without a shadow of a
doubt in my mind that God has put President Jonathan where he is. And until He
is done with him, no man, no pastor, no prophet can curse whom God has not
cursed.
Reno
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