Systematic Stripping Of The Church Under Buhari
By Favour Afolabi
As you go to church this morning, and as a CHRISTIAN, do meditate on my next line of thoughts.
It was the CHRISTIANS that largely produced this new government with ‘their body language’ and now ‘The Most Senior CHRISTIAN LEADERS’ in Nigeria [including Pastor Tunde Bakare, who carried the placards around the nation for the emergence of this new government] are being asked, via an OBNOXIOUS Law that was inserted through the backdoor into the Nigerian Constitution to STEP DOWN from leading the brethren in their churches in Nigeria!
When you ask Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Pastor Kumuyi, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, Pastors Adefarasin, the elder and the younger ones, Bishop Okonkwo, Pastor Ashimolowo, Pastor Adeyemi, etc – all who have led their ministries for ‘the stipulated 20 years’ from leading their churches, the obvious question is “What is left of the leadership of the church in Nigeria?”
When you enact a law that says “a church leader cannot hand over the leadership of his ministry to a family member’, you ask yourself – so what becomes of how so many of such examples occurred in the Bible? And what becomes of the story of the Hagins? And many others?
The elitists Christians in Nigeria have always applauded as the church is stripped in Nigeria – they were happy when ‘Christian businessmen were being stripped of the leadership of the banking industry’ – they didn’t mind as scores of churches were being burnt and hundreds of Christians killed in the aftermath of the 2011 elections pogrom; they have been silent as another round hundreds of Christians are being killed in Northern Nigeria; they ask critical questions of why a governor listened to security reports to remove students from class in the largely non-Christian environs but rejected such advice by keeping the largely christian community Chibok in their classes leading to the abduction of the Chibok Girls – the elites in the Nigerian church movement are very good at speaking ‘very big English’ – they are always super intellectuals on all subjects but obviously ‘lack critical wisdom of the place of the church in Nation States.’
When you ask Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Pastor Kumuyi, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, Pastors Adefarasin, the elder and the younger ones, Bishop Okonkwo, Pastor Ashimolowo, Pastor Adeyemi, etc – all who have led their ministries for ‘the stipulated 20 years’ from leading their churches, the obvious question is “What is left of the leadership of the church in Nigeria?”
They love to quote examples of how things are done around the world BUT when it comes to standing up for the CHURCH in Nigeria, they soon become quiet and when they are loud begin to even justify such atrocities against the church in Nigeria.
It is very important to ask the question – “where were all the hashtags as this ere being passed in Nigeria?” No, our Christian brethren were still very busy, chasing on Twitter “the missing Billions” – the monies that would never be transferred to their bank accounts when recovered – for which they will get no contracts awarded to them. Of course, it is also these Christians that major “on the opulence of Pastors” – that seems to be their one goal in life – to making sure their Pastors become paupers – what a life ambition to have as a Christian?
Of course, Politicians, in Nigeria, have always “believed that the CHURCH was growing with too much influence” – they have always been afraid of the CROWDS we pull together, for free, which they, have ‘to pay stolen monies to get’; they have always been afraid of our Prosperity, which, they see, we get without toil, as they do; and they have always wondered how they can ‘pocket’ the church; and our brethren have stood by, applauding them as they do such things because they are the ones that provide the online materials for the ridiculing of the Church in Nigeria – well, to these ones, I say, it is time for you to brace up for the leadership of the Church in Nigeria – you have very big shoes to fill so you had better begin ‘to fast and pray’, away from your ‘DSTV Sessions.’
To the larger Christians in Nigeria, I say “Congratulations!”
I thank the Holy Spirit for always being my WITNESS on these matters – HE knows that I have never found myself on the side of such display of cheap populism in Nigeria.
Favour Afolabi is a political commentator who runs fbablogs.com in his spare time; and owns a real estate brokerage services company. He tweets via @favourafolabi.
