Leaders of the Christian fold in the country should not turn the body to a partisan platform
Every time analysts and scholars dissect the Nigerian crisis of development, they are unanimous in returning the verdict that leadership is the bane. It appears that that same challenge has crept into the Christian fold as leaders of treasured moral platforms now take advantage of their positions to feed primordial predilections.
It is unfortunate that a platform as formidable as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is being transformed into an organ of the presidency. Since Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor took the leadership of the umbrella Christian association, the Nigerian people, Christian and non-Christian alike, have observed that the relationship he cultivated with President Goodluck Jonathan and so flaunted has generally eroded the dignity of the office. Observers are sometimes tempted to see CAN as a parastatal of the Federal Government.
This is a far cry from the standards set by Christ for all those who would follow and serve him and derogates from the vision of the founding fathers of the body. The recent scandal regarding the use of an aircraft owned by the CAN President to ferry $9.3 million to South Africa in circumstances that are yet shady is a blight on the organisation and suggests that many such things might have been on unknown to Nigerians. While it is taken that the CAN President merely owns the aircraft so used, there are still questions as to the role he might have played in getting the contract for the lessee. Besides, Pastor Orisejafor would not have been enmeshed in the moral crisis if he had not strayed from his primary calling – preaching the gospel. The rate at which pastors chase material things has become so alarming that Church leaders should call themselves to order.
As if that was not enough, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) chose to give a Primatial award to the President last week. Everything about the award was wrong. First, why was it created? There is no record that anything like a Primatial award was ever given anyone before. Besides, the Church, beaming the light of the gospel ought to have acted above worldly standards. In Nigeria today, there are all sorts of awards worth nothing. They promote vanity and are designed to extract financial support from those in power. The Anglican Church failed to tell Nigerians the criteria for the award.
Second, we feel uncomfortable by the timing of the award. There are so many questions that Nigerians are asking of their President. Insecurity has never been this bad, the Chibok girls are still in captivity, nothing has changed in critical sectors like education, health and employment. How then did the Church arrive at the decision? We can only imagine that the Church, wittingly or otherwise, has been dragged into the President’s re-election bid. The coincidence is too striking to go unnoticed – Primate Nicholas Okoh is Oritsejafor’s deputy in CAN and he is from Delta State, too.
This time calls for discernment. Leaders of the Church should realise that they are meant to be ambassadors of Christ and shine the light to dispel darkness. We call on leaders of CAN to return to standards set by Prophets of old who spoke truth to power and were not fazed by the grandeur of the office of the monarchs.
This is a critical time in the life of our country. It calls for true men of God to rise to the occasion and ensure that leaders are kept on their toes. The churches are non-partisan platforms and should not be dragged in the mud. Christians are of different political persuasions and should not be willy-nilly herded into narrow partisan choices. Primate Okoh and Pastor Oritsejafor should beware as we move closer to the next general elections.
The reason this comment is necessary is not Christianity per se. But a huge chunk of the Nigerian population professes the faith and it has become a template of conduct and human relations in societies where they prosper. Its mores and values have permeated our society. Therefore, those who are charged to fend for the spiritual health of that critical cultural group must understand that their burden goes beyond the faith but it is also about faith in the sense of justice and wellbeing of Nigerians, whether Christians or non-Christians.
For the leadership of one of the oldest Christian bodies in the country, even the world, to enmesh itself in a partisan stake is to demean what religion applauds in its highest form.
Oritsejafor and Okoh ought to realise that faith belongs in the realm of the spiritual and not in the murky waters of the temporal. As the good book itself says, “to whom much is given, much is required”.
