Politicians’ desperate appeal to religion as a
resort of last line of hope when confronted
with firm failure is at once ubiquitous in
nature and repetitive historically. Ordinarily,
politicians ought not to be thugs and rogues;
they ought to be leaders chosen by the
larger society to administer the land on
behalf of all members of the given society.
The constitution and other extant laws of the
land make that otherwise difficult
administrative job a very easy one.
Politicians’ desperate appeal to religion as a resort of
last line of hope when confronted with firm failure
is at once ubiquitous in nature and repetitive
historically. Ordinarily, politicians ought not to be
thugs and rogues; they ought to be leaders chosen by the
larger society to administer the land on behalf of all
members of the given society. The constitution and other
extant laws of the land make that otherwise difficult
administrative job a very easy one. Unfortunately, as events
have revealed over the years, particularly in our nation
Nigeria, politicians, because of their materialism and
acquisitiveness, are more of problem-creators than
problem-solvers.
They fail again and again where they should have
succeeded; they steal where they should not have stolen;
they lie where simple truth should have been told; and they
deceive where acting in a straightforward manner would
have sufficed. This is the tragic situation of our shameless
and dishonourable politicians in Nigeria. Then, when it
becomes certain that the failed leader is about to be thrown
out of office, having incurred the justifiable anger of the
electorates, he suddenly begins to appeal to religion. He
claims that he is a Christian or Muslim; he openly identifies
with some religious leaders of his proclaimed faith, and in
turn, expects all adherents of the faith he bogusly lays
claim to, to support him. And this just for political benefit.
This is President Goodluck Jonathan’s situation at the
moment as he faces a more than cloudy presidential
election in 2015. It is clear that Nigeria, a not so fortunate
country with regard to qualitative leadership, is terribly
divided along politically created religious fracture lines. The
fact remains that no President, in the history of this nation,
has succeeded, through complicit actions and inactions, in
polarising the nation as much as President Goodluck
Jonathan. This fact is already in the public domain. My
concern however, is to expose the underbelly motivation of
Mr. President’s handlers’ religious hoodwinking of
Christians in Nigeria. Christians need to know that they
need not rush to give support to just any leader who mouths
Christianity, without carrying out diagnostic examination of
such a leader. The Bible enjoins us to “prove all things; hold
fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
To begin with, there’s nothing wrong with Christians in
Nigeria giving wholehearted support to another Christian
who aspires to any political office in the land, provided that
the said Christian is a Christian indeed, and that he
possesses leadership qualities to move the nation in the
right direction. As a matter of fact, in our pluralistic nation,
just anyone who, irrespective of religious affiliation and
inclination, has character, wit, insight, generous spirit, self-
control, resolve, honesty and a clear picture of where the
nation ought to be, as well as the understanding of how to
get there, can aspire to be anything in the country and get
the support of the electorates.
In President Jonathan’s case, the undeclared reason for his
appeal to religion is simply to take advantage of the
numerical strength of Christians among the Nigerian
electorates. This is sad. The rush and push currently going
on in certain quarters within Christian circles in Nigeria
today is totally political and shameful; and all is being done
to give undue support to a non-performing president
because he is supposedly a Christian. This is not the Bible.
The God of the Bible, in actual sense, hounours only
responsible people. He demands that leaders be
accountable and faithful (1Cor.4:2). Therefore, Christian
leaders ought to help Mr. President become more
accountable, and rescue him from terribly political pettiness
being displayed at the moment.
Let’s consider this important question: should we even
consider President Jonathan a President with Christian
character? I think not! But wait a minute; am I in a position
to determine whether or not an individual is a Christian?
Scripturally speaking, the simple answer is yes. In Matthew
7:21, the Lord Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” . The
implication of this passage is that open declaration of one’s
religious standing, church membership, hobnobbing with
credible and influential Christian leaders, as well as financial
donations to churches does not confer Christianity on
anyone. In fact, the above is totally useless without the
heart and attributes of Christianity. To know who a Christian
is, the Bible recommends that you look at what he does,
and how he does it; check his character.
And then, the Holy Scripture also tells us that we know
people – genuine Christians, fake Christians, genuine
leaders, not-so-genuine leaders, totally corrupt leaders etc.
– by their fruits. The Lord Jesus said, “A good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know
them” (Matthew 7:18 & 20). The Lord Jesus simply said,
just look critically at people, see what they do, how they do
it, check the fruits they produce, and you will easily
understand where they belong. They may claim they are
God’s, but when you check the fruits of their lives, you will
understand to whom they belong.
The word of God then explains how a Christian – and this,
all the more, applies to a leader – should conduct himself.
The first of these points to be considered here is that a
Christian is expected to keep his word. His word should be
his bound. He should keep his promises and not be given to
frivolities. This is how the Bible puts it: “So speak ye, and
so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of
liberty” (James 2:12). This is God’s standard. Do what you
say or promise with your own mouth. Now does Mr.
President keep his word? I’m sure he does not! I’ll give
some examples shortly. But before the examples, please
understand that he can still be supported by those who still
wish to support him; however, that support should not be
based on the fact that he says he is a Christian. Not at all!
This is so because he’s not a man who keeps his word, and
Christians, real Christians, do keep their words.
In 2011, while going around begging for votes, these were
the words of Mr. President: "I do not make empty promises
in my campaign because whatever I promise to do, I had
already carried out adequate study to make sure I can
accomplish it in the next four years." This was on the 27th
of February in Onitsha, Anambra State. But the truth, as
available to us all, is that he did promise, but then he failed
to fulfill his promises.
On the 12th of March, 2011 in Abeokuta, he promised to
revive ailing oil refineries and build new ones. The available
fact, as at today, is that Mr. President merely deceived
people into voting for him with that empty promise, because
as we all know, no ailing oil refinery has been revived, not
to talk of building new ones. I know his supporters can
come up with a million and one reasons why he didn’t fulfill
that promise; but the fact still remains that he did not fulfill
his promise. Then on the 31st of March, the same year in
Abuja, he promised to expand and develop the downstream
sector of the oil and gas industry to provide about one
million jobs. Today, we are still waiting for these jobs in the
downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.
Earlier, in Awka on February 26, he said he would construct
all the major roads which link Anambra with its neighbors;
complete the ongoing aero-dynamic survey of gas in the
Anambra River basin; complete the second Niger Bridge;
and complete the Onitsha Inland Port. Nigerians would not
be talking about generators by the time his four years in
office would have ended, he guaranteed. It is about four
years since these promises were made; however, if a
Nigerian today does not have his own generator, it is
because he is financially incapable to procure one. The
promises were largely unfulfilled. Did Mr. President lack
anything he needed in fulfilling these promises? Did he lack
money, hands, time or occasion? None that I know. He just
won’t do what he said he would do.
The above are few of the many unfulfilled promises,
pledges and vows of Mr. President. I want to say that no
Christian in Nigeria should be deceived into voting for Mr.
President in 2015 because he lays claim to Christianity; he
should simply be judged by his performance in office. He
should be seen as a person – the current President of the
country, who made several promises in 2011 while
campaigning, and who failed to fulfill those promises – and
be treated as such. This is the foundation upon which his
re-election or rejection in 2015 should be based, not some
useless religious mawkishness.
But then, there are other two important points we need to
consider in this discourse: integrity and skillfulness. As far
as God is concerned, these two qualities are central to
leadership, and without them, no one in any leadership
position, in the eyes of the Almighty God, could be
considered successful. Hear the Bible: “He chose David
also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: from
following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed
Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them
according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by
the skillfulness of his hands” (Psalm 78:70-72).
That’s the Bible talking about David. In this passage,
David’s background as well as his emergence to leadership
was examined. God took David from following animals and
made him a King. He named him His servant and
empowered him for just a reason: to feed His (God’s)
people, the Israelites. Now this is one important purpose of
leadership: feeding, supporting, sustaining, nourishing,
nurturing, encouraging, maintaining, strengthening and
bolstering the led. Can we say this is what is currently
obtainable in the nation under President Goodluck
Jonathan? I think not. With the very basic requirement for
meaningful living in the 21st century – electricity – almost
totally missing in most homes, it is clear that the major
focus of this administration is not to feed the poor, but to
feed on the poor.
King David, having understood his assignment, settled
down to lead his people, employing two important qualities
in the process. First, he led his country with the integrity of
his heart. He was a man in possession of very firm
principles; wholly dedicated to his business, and displayed
uncommon veracity in his dealings with his followers.
Integrity requires that a leader be open and truthful.
Integrity drives a worthy leader to eschew corruption and
fight it. It equally demands that the leader be true to the
laws of the land and not try to circumvent any aspect of it.
A leader with integrity has nothing to hide from his
followers, and he constantly fights and punishes, according
the laws of the land, those engaged in sleaze. Can we say
this is the situation in our nation under President Jonathan?
Again, I think not.
Nigerians have not forgotten the recent stinking revelation
of how the current Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke, squandered 10 billion naira while
junketing around. In the revelation, which the House of
Representatives later passed a resolution to probe, it was
alleged that the minister spent the amount to charter and
maintain a jet for her personal use. As shocking as the
embarrassing news was, the President has not found any
reason to reprimand the minister for spending 130 million
naira per month to maintain the aircraft in just two years.
Were we blessed with a President who understands
integrity and deals with us in the integrity of his heart, this
reckless act would have been thoroughly dealt with. There
won’t be any reason to bother you with other well-known
corruption issues and cases around this government. But
what is plain and obvious to all is that this is one
administration that lacks integrity.
Now if President Jonathan willingly and consciously flouts
important scriptural requirements and recommendations; if
he chooses to scoff at the divine principle of integrity,
should I then blindly follow him, simply because he claims
he is a Christian just like me? This is my point. No Christian
anywhere in the nation should allow himself to be sold a
dummy. We should not be herded into wrongdoing simply
because we have a “professing”, but in actual sense, a
scripture-breaking Christian as our president. However, if
an individual Christian, given his own conviction of the
president’s performance and integrity, decides to vote for
him next year, fine. The issue being that the Christian is
voting, not because he is glad that the aspiring leader is a
“Christian” and not a Muslim, but because the would-be
leader is worthy and owns integrity.
The second virtue employed by David in his leadership
adventure was skillfulness. Political and administrative
skillfulness is possessing competence, adeptness, dexterity
and proficiency in handling issues and situations in a way
that avoids sloppiness, clumsiness and wastage. It is the
hallmark of very capable leaders. It is a virtue that a nation
like Nigeria needs in her leaders because of the inherent
ability of this singular virtue to clean up built-up political
muddle and clutter. Where unfortunately this quality is
lacking in a leadership endeavour, as is currently the case
with President Jonathan, disorder, disarray and chaos
ensue. It is lack of skillfulness that causes a president to
confer unconstitutional powers on ex-militants, freeing
them to move around in convoys with security men, while
reputable men are being hounded for saying their mind.
Imagine the one big ball of mess the nation has suddenly
become, all because political and administrative skillfulness
in missing. The way political issues and other sundry
happenings in Nigeria have been handle by this
administration really puts mud on the faces of Nigerians. It
is the case of continual falling into one scandal after
another, with the most recent one usually being more
potent than the previous. Consider the latest in the series of
misadventures of an administration void of political
dexterity and steeped in error – the invasion of the National
Assembly by security men.
While this act has been roundly condemned by people of wit
and imagination in the country, the President is yet to see
anything wrong with that assault and insult. And why would
he? The unfortunate blitz obviously serves hisF purpose. It
makes one to wonder whether the President have people
who advise him at all. After all, even when a president is
not particularly skillful, he still can tap into the skillfulness
of brilliant and able souls within the country. With the way
things stand at the moment, it is clear that the nation is
being ruled by someone with shortage of political and
administrative skillfulness, and Christians need to be
reminded that God demands skillfulness in leaders that
must deliver.
As a function of the above, the important question all
Christians, indeed all Nigerians, need to ask before being
goaded into voting based on religious or political sentiment
is whether we are ready to withstand and stomach another
four years of unproductive, completely messy political
space dominated by shoddiness, corruption,
unresponsiveness and a sense of despair never known to
Nigerians since the end of the civil war. The crucial question
is whether we are willing to endure President Goodluck
Jonathan till 2019!
That idea, that thought alone, for me, is frightening! A
president who doesn’t keep his own words, fights dirty,
institutes and promotes ethnic racketeering, unable to
manage rather commonplace and uncomplicated situations
is, undoubtedly, not the person Nigerians need for the next
four years of our national life.
Source: GABRIEL OLALEKAN POPOOLA.
Pastor Gabriel Olalekan Popoola, a former University of
Port Harcourt Students’ Union Leader, worships with Living
Faith Church and can be reached at gabrolap@gmail.com
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