Fellow citizens of Nigeria, I have a very heavy word to deliver to both the church and the nation today and my heartfelt prayer is that we will heed the warnings of Jehovah in order to avert His unbearable blows. I hope it is not too late already.
As is my practice, let me start with some portions of Scripture that will govern my contribution to the issues currently bedeviling our nation. Turn your Bible with me, if you will, to:
Psalm 141:1-6 (NKJV) -
1 “LORD, I cry out to You; Make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.
2 Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice wicked works With men who work iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.
6 Their judges are overthrown by the sides of the cliff, And they hear my words, for they are sweet.”
And Proverbs 15:28 and 29 (NKJV) -
28 “The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.
29 The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous.”
And verses 31 and 32 (NKJV) -
31 “The ear that hears the rebukes of life Will abide among the wise.
32 He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.”
I have chosen a title drawn from the scriptures just quoted:
THE HEAD THAT REFUSES A LIFE-GIVING REBUKE WILL BE THROWN DOWN THE CLIFF OF PERDITION.
In the past week, the media has been awash with emotive distractions from what is apparently a national calamity and shame. But in the midst of the fury, noise and emotional outbursts, there have been voices of wisdom and courage both from the press, some in government as well as patriotic citizens. Let me start with the Leadership Newspaper editorial on Justice in Nigeria sent to my e-mail box by a well-respected veteran journalist, Chief Tola Adeniyi, yesterday:
Two judgments delivered within the last one week by two different courts send powerful messages to both the poor and the rich in the country. On Wednesday, in Abeokuta, a magistrate court headed by Idowu Olayinka sentenced 49-year-old Mustapha Adesina to two years in prison for stealing vegetables valued N5, 000. This Monday, in Abuja, a former director of the Police Pension Board, Yakubu Yusuf, who admitted he stole N32.8 billion, received an even lighter sentence from Justice Abubakar Talba of the FCT High Court: two years in jail or payment of N750, 000 fine. In other words, the latter convict was told to pay 0.0015 of what he stole and walk home free while the former, who probably could not pay the N10, 000 fine given him as an option, would spend two years in jail.
With these contrasting judgments, no one needs to be reminded anymore that justice in Nigeria is a travesty. Little wonder why the prisons are brimming with the poor and the unknown while the rich and the powerful who commit more grievous crimes get away scot-free. Indeed, convicts like Yusuf have become the new normal. Former Edo State governor Lucky Igbinedion, who was found guilty of stealing N9 billion, was fined N3 million after a fraudulent process called “plea bargaining”. Cecilia Ibru was said to have crippled Oceanic Bank plc after stealing more than N190 billion, but she spent just four months, not in jail but in a hospital; there are now even reports that she has reclaimed most of her properties that had been confiscated. Former inspector-general of police Tafa Balogun stole N17 billion but was sentenced to six months in jail – and he spent most of the term in a hospital too.
Those are among the few celebrated cases that ended up in the court slapping the influential convicts on the wrist. The cases of many others have either been buried in endless litigations or forgotten altogether. The man who stole vegetables – most likely out of poverty and probably to feed himself and his family – will spend two years in jail while all the suspects in the murders of Bola Ige, Marshal Harry, Aminoasari Dikibo, Funsho Williams, Dipo Ojerinde and others have been freed.
While members of the executive arm of government are the usual culprits in embezzlement of public funds, it could be safely concluded that the Nigerian judiciary is the greatest cog in the country’s wheel of progress. For all the public outcry against corrupt judges, the temple of justice in this country is still tainted with the putrid smell of corruption. Almost always, it is chicken thieves who steal to stay alive that get sentenced while those who steal billions of naira can buy their way out of trouble. Knowing that it is money that can set them free, treasury looters have learned to steal very huge sums: “the bigger the loot, the safer.”
Is it strange, then, that no “big man” in Nigeria is in jail today in spite of the monumental corruption witnessed every day? No. What exists in the country is like a cult of the rich and influential who control the executive, legislature and judiciary. Convict Yusuf is lucky to belong to that club. And it has earned him the freedom he needs so much. Out of the N32.8 billion he embezzled, he would have lost less than N1billion through forfeiture of his properties, payment of a fine and getting “justice” done speedily. He may even buy back the confiscated properties with the balance of the looted billions remaining with him. And he will enjoy the rest of the money in the most beautiful cities of the world – and live happily ever after.
The vegetable thief from Abeokuta must be full of anguish now, knowing that Nigeria is hellish to poor thieves but magnanimous to the rich ones. In this country, the judiciary has since ceased to be the last hope of the common man; it has become the last refuge of crooks. Is it surprising then that many of our young people are carrying arms against the state via one terrorist group or the other?
As if that is not enough food for thought, the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) was quoted by Daily Post as saying that: “Jonathan does not have what it takes to solve Nigeria’s problems”. Let me quote from the Daily Post:
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) has declared that President Goodluck Jonathan-led federal government lacks the requisite knowledge and capacity to tackle Nigeria’s problems, saying that there is the need to effect a change at the centre in 2015 for the country to achieve positive development.
Fashola, who stated this during an exclusive interview with a team of LEADERSHIP editors in Abuja yesterday, was giving the rationale behind the ongoing merger talks by his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) towards dislodging the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the centre in 2015.
Explaining that their push for political alignment was not only to seize power but to use it to better the lives of the people, he likened Jonathan’s government to an unskilled auto mechanic who consistently failed to correctly service a vehicle, causing it to continuously break down, a fallout that would necessitate the owner to try another technician.
“You buy a car and it breaks down and you go to a mechanic and he fixes it in the morning, and it breaks down again in the afternoon. You go back in the evening, he fixes it but it doesn’t take you home. You go and call him again; he tosses it up and says you should come back by 6am the next day.
“You take it at 6am and it doesn’t take you home. Are you going to stay with that mechanic?” he asked.
“Nigeria needs a new mechanic. The country’s problems need a new pair of eyes and pure heart that can see, and clearer minds that can articulate the problems better. That is the heart of the matter. It is now left for the electorate to decide whether they are satisfied with this mechanic.”
For how long are they going to bewitch us like foolish Galatians?
It is rather unfortunate that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that should bring understanding to the simple on matters like this has chosen to confirm its description by the Catholic Church as an arm of the government in power by fanning the propaganda of agents of the administration that Nasir El-Rufai is a “bigot” for a statement that did not originate from him and whose meaning should be clear to a non-mischievous person.
This is nothing but feeding on mass neurosis and widening the gap between people of different faiths in our country. Is CAN saying the gentleman who wrote the “offending” statement who happens to be a Christian is a “bigot”?
If they are not saying so, they are only showing selective integrity by picking on El-Rufai who re-tweeted simply because he is a Muslim!
And can El-Rufai justifiably be called a “bigot” by any stretch of the imagination? I say NO as he has worshiped with us at the Latter Rain Assembly on several occasions and shared Christian messages from our services with all who follow him on Twitter. He is a liberal Muslim who respects the faith of others. Given the fragile state of our country today, we need faith leaders who are voices of moderation across the faiths who will preach harmony and not divisions.
It must be pointed out that CAN’s bellicose posture came after El-Rufai publicly apologized for the re-tweet. Jesus Christ, who asked the Father to forgive those who nailed Him to the cross when they didn’t even acknowledge they did anything wrong, must be wondering what those who are supposed to be His servants are doing in His name to a man who asked for forgiveness.
http://saharareporters.com/report/squander-67-billion-nigerian-christian-leaders-are-engaging-sinful-silence-%E2%80%93pastor-tunde-baka 
|
