Recent criticisms generated by the increasing number of our religious leaders acquiring aircrafts should be expected. This is so because such men of God are seen to be above the board and should be men not cut-out for worldly things. They are supposed to be men that should be distracted by the vanities of this world so that they can effectively discharge their duty of winning souls for Christ.
They are expected, against all odds, to stand firm in faith even in the face of daunting earthly trials, persecutions and tribulations.
But failure to adhere to this disciplined life is fast on the increase among a reasonable number of such high-flying Nigerian pastors.
Basically, the church is founded on the principles of virtue and sacrifice for the sake of Christ – a foundation laid on the threshold of propagating Christ’s teachings – to win souls by helping to bring those who have gone astray into the fold and to lead the faithful to salvation, being the ultimate desire of every devout Christian.
It is regrettable that many of our pastors and churches today have strayed away from this original obligation and purpose of pursuing righteousness, at the altar of chasing earthly material things as they never practiced what they preached.
But contrary to popular position, the ownership of private jets among pastors is not a luxury but a necessity and an essential tool for their pastoral and public duties. These pastors claim that evangelism will be made easier and more efficient through the use of jets.
However, the wealthy American, Warren Buffet recently punctured this line of argument when he said, “Everyone who says he needs a private jet to make important appointments is a liar. They need it for their ego. Name one of them that is busier than I am or who owns more US corporations than I do”. Buffet, who was once the richest man in the world, does not even own a jet as he often flies in commercial aircrafts!
Forbes magazine claimed that the nation may have spent about $6.5 billion in the purchase of private jets by government officials and pastors, a trend that had grown exponentially from about 20 jets in year 2000 to the current level of more than 160.
Top on Forbes’ list are pastors, especially, those of the Pentecostal churches, which have allegedly spent over $250 million on their new found hobby.
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigerian is, perhaps, the latest but he’s really not the only one who now flies around the world in the comfort of his luxurious aircraft.
Pastors David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church (Winners’ Chapel) is also said to own three private aircrafts, namely the Gulfstream G550 said to cost over $40 million, Gulfstream V Gulfstream G450 and a Lear Jet, which cost about $15 million and $14 million respectively.
Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, is said to own a Gulfstream Jet 5 brand worth $30 million. Pastors Joseph Agbodi of the Victorious Army Ministries, Sam Adeyemi of the Daystar Ministries and Temitope Joshua are said to own private jets, among others.
With the array of jet-owing pastors, the general feelings among the
people is that the expensive lifestyles of these pastors are in contrast with the teachings of Christianity, especially, amid the glaring poverty and hardship in the land.
Such resources committed to flamboyance and misplaced priorities like the purchase of jets as well as the cost of maintenance could have been deployed into more useful activities that will have direct impact on the lives of the pastors themselves and the people, in terms of generation of employment, social services and municipal facilities that will, in turn, spawn income for the churches and invariably reduce the burden of imposing frequent levies on the already drained members.
Apart from the controversial private jets, churches are now seen as places where religious leaders own choice properties, fortunes and to an extent, join the political train, to acquire power to become relevant in the
society. This is made worse when religious leaders compete among themselves to own fleet of aircrafts, travel in expensive jeeps in convoys of siren-blaring vehicles or have chains of businesses – these acts call to question, the sincerity of those who claim to have such divine calling.
Apart from some missionaries such as the orthodox and the Catholic Churches that have established schools, hospitals and other social services for both the rich and the poor, most of the churches that we now have run such ventures to secure their investments.
In a desperate bid to get money, some religious leaders go extra miles to make clearly unsubstantiated, cynical and spurious claims from their followers, who attend these churches, in a bid to get miracles, which in most cases, are non-existent.
From time-to-time, they organize vigils, crusades, deliverance services
and other crowd-pulling revivals, to bring together as many multitudes of worshippers to contribute to a pool of offerings that are managed absolutely with largely low level transparency and devoid of accountability.
Many of the so-called men of God are highly dictatorial as they engage in various antics such as divide-and-rule that tend to nefariously solidify their grip on the financial fortunes
of their churches and weaken the collective will of their congregations and resist any form of lawful challenge.
Proliferation of churches is, no doubt, a recent phenomenon in Nigeria as most of the existing ones were born in the late 1980s, after the economic depression occasioned by the Structural
Adjustment Programme and the painful Breton Wood institutions induced policies. This is coupled with the prolonged military rule that had induced some negative socio-political consequences
for the nation – endemic corruption, unemployment, sectarian crises and increased poverty.
These societal problems, fostered by bad governance over the years had led not a few adherents to quickly wish for a way out of such problems that governments, as a constitutional duty, had failed to offer any succour – so the fastest and easy way-out – visit mushroom churches, dance and smile away sorrow.
And at the end, people’s pitiable conditions remain same or even become more critical as the religious leaders smile home with financial resources at the detriment of these hapless people. It is instructive to note that recently, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev Matthew Hassan Kukah, observed that ‘the acquisition of private jets by Christian leaders diminishes the moral voice of the church in the fight against corruption’.
Kukah spoke against the backdrop of the presentation of a private jet to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, by members of his church, at the 40th anniversary of Oritsejafor’s ministry.
The Prelate, who was guest speaker at the annual Founder’s Day Anniversary lecture of Providence Baptist Church in Lagos, described the exhibition of such opulence by church leaders as ‘embarrassing’.
“The stories of corrupt men and women being given recognition by their churches or mosques as gallant sons and daughters and the embarrassing stories of pastors displaying conspicuous wealth as we hear from the purchases of private jets and so on clearly
diminish our moral voice”, he had stated.
The nation is in dire need of change, due to the near collapse of all known social institutions – government, economics, education and marriage. For other pastors that may be contemplating of
purchasing their own private jets – which in all frankness is nothing but a status symbol – they should shelve such plans and be made to realize that the church, more than ever before, must be real agent of the much-desired change in the nation.
•Kupoluyi wrote in from
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
