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| Jonathan Before Pastor Adeboye |
It remains a vivid image in many minds. I refer to the graphic picture of President Goodluck Ebele ‘Azikiwe’ Jonathan kneeling ever so humbly before the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, to receive divine blessings at the 2010 edition of, the church’s Holy Ghost Congress. It was shortly before the 2011 general elections. Before then, a clearly desperate President Jonathan had appealed to our emotions by regaling us with tales of his shoeless childhood. Little did we know that our votes for him would only foist a clueless leadership on us. At the last edition of the Holy Ghost
Congress, President Jonathan once again was on hand to play the kneeling game. He went on his knees before Pastor Adeboye ostensibly seeking prayers to lead the country successfully. I have read some material online from gullible Nigerians commending the President’s carefully choreographed humility, modesty and simplicity. I am sure not many Nigerians are deceived. Surely, we cannot be taken for a ride twice or we would be utter fools. The revered man of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, a spiritual leader of impeccable integrity and undeniable credibility, has absolutely no excuse for allowing this desecration of his sacred altar by this theatrical exhibition of fake presidential holiness – especially at this sensitive time in the evolution of our country.
The Holy Ghost Convention has clearly made its mark as one of the most important events in the spiritual calendar of our contemporary world. It has turned the Redemption Camp along the exceedingly disgraceful and disgusting death trap called the Lagos -Ibadan Express Way into a centre of universal attraction. The unprecedented expansion of the church under Pastor Adeboye’s leadership and the astounding success of the Holy Ghost convention provide evidence that he is genuinely called of God. Yet, you can trust the Nigerian elite. Everything bright and beautiful, they taint and distort. The Holy Ghost convention has become difficult to distinguish from what Pastor Tony Rapu once wittily described as the ‘Holy Ghost Supermarket’.
At this vast spiritual shopping mall, all kinds of characters including charlatans, perverts, brutes and political opportunists come shopping trusting in the eternal grace of an indulgent Holy Ghost Father Christmas to meet their every want (not necessarily need). President Jonathan was easily the most prominent shopper at the last Holy Ghost convention. He came shopping for the support and sympathy of Christians ahead of the 2015 elections but he went about it in his usual cleverly deceptive manner. Now, Daddy G.O. is not an ignorant man. He holds a first class degree in Mathematics and a doctorate in the same discipline. Why he would allow his highly venerated altar to be so brazenly and cynically manipulated for political ends simply beats me.
On what grounds was President Goodluck Jonathan given the opportunity to make political remarks at the last Holy Ghost convention, which is supposed to be a purely spiritual event? It would appear that at the
Redemption Camp, all worshippers are equal but some are more equal than others. For the past two years, the Boko Haram insurgents have effectively banished President Jonathan from the Eagle Square in Abuja, reducing him to the sorry and ridiculous spectacle of marking the country’s national day within the precincts of the Presidential Villa. The Boko Haram is making the insane demand that Nigeria become an Islamic theocratic state. Is this not the time for the Nigerian President to demonstrate a higher rationality and morality by affirming at all times through his words and actions the secularity of the Nigerian state? Is this the time for him to engage in the hypocritical posturing of kneeling before the leader of a spiritual sect in a multi-religious state under fundamentalist religious siege? Will President Jonathan find a convenient Friday to join worshippers. at the Central mosque in Abuja, Kano, Maiduguri or Sokoto to demonstrate that he is the President of all Nigerians and not just Christians?
While addressing the congregation at the Redemption Camp, President Jonathan thanked them for their prayers, which he claimed aided his ascension to power in 2011. Well, having experienced his pathological cluelessness thus far, I hope that Nigerian Christians will begin to pray fervently for urgent deliverance from the country’s current lackluster leadership. In his characteristically crafty manner, the President said it was still too early for him to start thinking of the 2015 election but hinted that the power situation in the country has improved. But the question is if this is the level of power supply we should be enjoying today with over $16 billion gone down the drain over the
last 13 years? He equally seized the opportunity to promise Nigerians free and fair elections in future asserting that the last election in Ondo State was free and fair. Now, I have commented extensively on the Ondo governorship elections and have moved on. However, President Jonathan and his spin doctors should stop creating the impression that they are doing Nigerians a favour by allowing credible and transparent elections. The current level of electoral credibility we have achieved has been through the sweat and struggle of Nigerians and we still have a long way to go to strengthen the country’s electoral reforms. President Jonathan has no choice in the matter. If he seeks to manipulate the electoral process against the will of the people, they will resist him and the people will win. The forces of truth and justice are irresistible.
But still talking about the Ondo elections, is President Jonathan aware that some of the aggrieved aspirants are in court as they are perfectly entitled to pursue their grievances legally? Is he not pre -emptying the courts by unilaterally declaring the elections free and fair? Of course, one of the heinous acts of injustice, which this pretentiously holy President has perpetuated, is the continued suspension from office of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, despite the advice of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to the contrary. The President seeks every opportunity to exhibit his religiosity. Even while unjustly preventing a man against whom no wrong has been proven to resume his position; Jonathan has the temerity to wear the sanctimonious garb of self righteousness. at the Holy Ghost convention. Is he aware that in Christian theology, the Holy Ghost is the third arm of, the spiritual trinity that superintends the affairs of the universe? If he can deceive man, can he deceive the Holy Ghost? Does he realise that Martin Luther once famously said that the world is erected on moral foundations and that, in the words of Wole Soyinka, justice is the first condition of humanity? I am convinced that the Holy Ghost will be most embarrassed at the brazen injustice perpetrated by President Jonathan in the Justice Salami case at the behest of his party hawks. Yet, he hypocritically throws his holiness in our faces with insulting insolence. Is his treatment of Salami the action of a God fearing man? In any case, with the President’s victimization of Justice Salami for partisan reasons, will any judge ever again summon the courage to annul elections rigged in favour of Jonathan’s interests? Is our democracy not in grave danger?
Kneeling so innocently before Pastor Adeboye that night was a President who on the very first day of this year announced the sudden removal of the purported fuel subsidy immediately resulting in the skyrocketing of, the product’s price. Vehement nationwide protests brought the country virtually to a stand still for almost two weeks. The President and his economic team insisted that the economy would collapse without the removal of the subsidy. Of course, the government was forced to reduce the price of fuel and the economy has not collapsed. Rather, various probes have demonstrated that a substantial chunk of the purported subsidy is a huge fraud and that the NNPC is a cesspit of corruption. Yet, the Minister in charge of the petroleum sector sits pretty pretending to be carrying out reforms to sanitize the sector. She is her worshipful majesty who cannot be touched. The Holy Ghost must find all this terribly embarrassing. Indeed, if the Holy Ghost had a whip, I am pretty sure somebody would have received a heavy thrashing on Pa Adeboye’s altar that night and you can guess who. Just like Jesus did to the traders desecrating his father’s house, the Holy Ghost would have thundered “turn not my redemption camp into a den of charlatans, hypocrites and opportunists”
Source: The Nation
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