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KWENU! Our culture, our future |
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The Nigerian messiah Max Gbanite Wednesday, February 20, 2002
The Holy Bible described 'Messiah' literally as "anointed one"; one sent by God to save others. In Hebrew belief, he is the coming savior of the Jewish people; in Christianity, Jesus. In America during the early nineties, the Hassidic Jews lost their Messiah, Rabbi Mier Schnersson, and he is today interned in a Queens's cemetery next to Kosciusko Bridge. Nigeria is a nation filled with prophets, spiritual healers, overseers, futureseers, pastseers, bishops, reverends, pastors, mallams, ullamas, shieks, and believers all serving different churches and mosques. The prevalent truth is that many of these seers are known to be false prophets, and yet people flock to them in droves while the prophets enrich themselves. I remember being taken to one by a good friend. The prophet asked for my name and date of birth. My friend urged me to give it to the man. I simply retorted that the man should know the answers and the reason why I came there in the first place, especially, if he was a true futureseer. Of course the man got angry and asked us to leave. I also came across another friend of mine who narrated to me how he went to see a spiritualist. The spiritualist told my friend pointblank not to venture outside the next day. My friend asked him why? He answered, "I saw your death." My friend asked him what else he saw, and the spiritualist said nothing else. Well my friend countered, "You are not a good spiritualist if you saw my death and couldn't see that I have no money to pay you for my visit." If you reside in Nigeria, you will think that God belongs to the nation exclusively. There are garage churches in every street corner; mosques, in every market; and spiritualist havens in every space available that it's not a wonder President Chief (General) Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd.) recently said that he was "waiting for God" to tell him what to do come year 2003. God must have moved into Aso Presidential Villa since a Christian chapel was built there when Obasanjo took office. Previously, people there in Villa were only able to speak to Allah. As a people, we seem to have forgotten our past history with transmutation sagas. It really smacks of religious idiocity when the likes of Methodist Church Primate Sunday Mbang insists that Obasanjo must continue in office as if he (Mbang) is the God Obasanjo is waiting for. In 1998, many Nigerians went to the late General Sani Abacha to force him to extend his stay. It is on record that he never accepted. Many mallams had promised his followers that he would indeed be the next Caliph. However, Abacha waited for Allah's decision, and ultimately fooled his followers when he went God's way. When pressmen cornered President Obasanjo in South Africa, following the annulment of 1993, and he said that the late Chief M. K. O. Abiola was not the 'Messiah' Nigeria was waiting for, little did he know that God had a special assignment for him. So in 1995, a Lt. Col. (Judas) Fadile, a fellow Yoruba, fingered him as a participant in a coup to topple the government of Gen. Abacha. He was tried and sentenced with others by Gen. (Pontius Pilate) Aziza, who to this day still insists that the coup was real. He was defiant at the Oputa Panel, and offered no regrets for his role; however, unlike the real Roman Pontius Pilate, he forgot to wash his hands. Obasanjo 'forgave' him by revoking his lands in Abuja and asked that he should be probed. Whilst President Obasanjo was sentenced to prison, his morality and psyche was killed and almost destroyed, but after three years he rose again from the depth of Yola gulag, 'walked through the valley of the shadow of death,' to become born-again anointed. To God be the Glory! Amen. Let's look at how God spoke to Obasanjo and prepared him for this role: "As I put my pen to paper, I had a feeling that God was preparing me for a unique service by allowing me to go to prison. It was a divine providence, recreating a smooth protective path through a very dangerous terrain." (Excerpted from the book, Olusegun Obasanjo: Sermons from the prison) I once posited in the Daily Trust (Feb. 22, 2001) that one couldn't argue with the statement for the obvious fact it exudes. Going by the man's history, for instance, it's the same man that was almost killed in Congo, during his tour of duty with Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu in the sixties. By act of God, he missed participating in the wickedly executed coup of January 15, 1966 and, when the reprisal rioting and countercoup started in Kaduna, he was again saved by the late Gen. Hassan Katsina, on whose orders he, Obasanjo, was whisked to Alhaji Mai Deribe's residence in Maidugiri, until the wicked winds of killing non-indigenes passed. During the civil war, he was twice wounded, and was twice saved by God. On the fateful day that General Murtala Muhammed was murdered by the late Colonel Dimka and his acolytes, Obasanjo was again spared and, thus, found himself transformed to become the Head of State. And finally, during his sojourn as an unwilling guest of the Nigerian Prisons Hotel in Yola, he was again saved from (Dr. Death) Col. Yakassai's needles. Therefore, God must have reserved the role he's playing today: thanks to the love of the Northerners, Easterners, and South-Southerners (and without the West -- his Yoruba kindred) who voted him to become the (Messiah) President. The journey to becoming the (Messiah) President would not have been possible had God not spoken to the three wise men [Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd.), Gen. Aliyu Gusau (rtd.), and Chief Solomon Lar] to visit the gentile members of PDM and influence them to accept Obasanjo's candidacy within the PDP. When the party stalwarts finally capitulated to the wishes of the three wise men, they (the wise men) went back to Obasanjo and ambushed him to accept the honor. On November 3, 1998 Obasanjo stated in a press conference titled 'The Challenge of Service': "Many notable personalities called on me, at home, individually and collectively, many telephoned, and others wrote, urging me to be ready to serve our country again. Some, I must add, expressed contrary views, I believe, however that, both sides, those for and those against, mean well, and I thank them all. I have weighed every advice, appeal and caution very coolly, calmly and carefully; meditating, reflecting and praying. It is apparent from the numerous counsel and exhortations offered me in private, and the equally interesting and stimulating arguments presented in the mass media, including those on the Internet, that the matter has assumed such weight and importance far greater than my humble self. But it has come to the point that can no longer delay a decision. I am here to inform you that I have decided to offer to serve our country again. I therefore intend to seek the nomination of our party, the People's Democratic Party, as its Presidential candidate. By this declaration, I do not see myself as the anointed nominee of any particular group or individuals. Rather, I will seek the mandate through the Party which is as national as any Nigerian organization ought to be. As you may all be aware, last week I became a member of the People's Democratic Party. I did this because I endorse the Party's approach to reviving the fortunes of our country. The details are in the Party Manifesto. I subscribe to the Party's aims and objectives. In particular, I fully approve of the party's appeal to the broadest section of Nigerians, cutting across socioeconomic groups, and bridging ethnic divide." As interesting as the speech might be, true to Obasanjo's pledge, the following incidents as chronicled by the Nigerian press has happened during the President's very serious attempt at "bridging the ethnic divide": In total over 10,000 innocent Nigerians have been sent to their early graves by acts of ethnic clashes, riots, religious clashes, disasters, police and military violence, OPC-induced riots, Afenifere members-sanctioned killings, PDP members-sanctioned killings, and many others. 1999: May-June -- over 200 killed in inter-communal
clashes near Warri. 2000 February -- about 3000 people killed in an
ethnic/religious riots between the people of southern Kaduna/non-indigenes and
Hausas. 2001 June-July -- more than 100 killed in communal
fighting in Nasarawa. 2002 January -- More than 100 people killed in
communal clashes in Taraba. The country is so blessed with abundant people that it can afford to lose people like that without the people in power addressing the issue. My guess is that 'they are waiting for God.' The President, we were told, must not be blamed for these unfortunate incidents. Going by his latest statement to BBC, "It could have been worse under another President"! He forgot to mention that it was God's will for over 10,000 civilians to die during his three years in office. Well, I am not surprised at all. I remember when we had the late Gen. Yar'Adua's Foundation lunching in Abuja last July. Gen. Buhari (rtd.) in his address attributed Gen. Yar'Adua's death to the will of Allah. That didn't augur well with President Obasanjo; when it was his turn to speak, he quickly corrected Gen. Buhari in an almost admonishing voice. Obasanjo said that Yar'Adua's death had nothing to do with God/Allah, but with man, and that that man was Gen. Abacha. That remark probably angered God, if He was in attendance that day. 'While Obasanjo is waiting for God,' his number one law officer, Chief Bola Ige was murdered by unknown but known notable Yoruba persons. The next day, he was at Ijebu attending the 'Ibogun Festival,' where he condemned the killing and attributed the killing as an act of God. We must be missing something here: God must have a special way of speaking to him directly or through the primate-overseers. President Obasanjo wrote in his book, Sermons from Prison: "The tongue is the most eloquent and useful part of our body in working with God and humanity. We exercise our Christian faith and Christian life for growth and development through the use of our tongue in many ways. The tongue is used to confess our sins, acknowledge Christ as the Son of God and our personal Saviour, exalt and praise God, witness for Christ, proclaim the nature and attributes of God and to edify others and glorify God. And yet used negatively, the same tongue can hinder the development of our Christian life. Lies, slander, gossips, tale-bearing, falsehood and backbiting are sharp swords that kill slowly or promptly. Perversity, corrupt and ungodly talks separate us from God (Exo. 20:16; Pro. 4:24; 6:7; 10:18; 12:22). The Psalmists portrays liars, slanders, perversers more graphically, 'Not a word from their mouth can be trusted, their hearts are filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit' (Psa. 5:9).' "James shows how dangerous the tongue can be and how firmly it needs to be controlled and put in check. According to James, 'The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison' (James 3:6-8). Our tongues also have the potential to make our lives rich, pleasant or miserable and to affect our destiny. The tongue must be frugally and judiciously used. The more we talk, the more we are likely to go astray into areas of gossip, slander, backbiting, corrupt and ruinous talks. But if we keep quiet when we should speak up against evil being perpetrated by the wicked, we will be accomplices in the crime and we would have sinned and earned the wrath of God." The diatribe on tongue is very interesting going by the remarks credited to the author since he became the 'Messiah' President of Nigeria. Remember the 'SHUT UP, I DON'T HAVE TO BE HERE,' said to the grieving gentiles of Lagos who lost their relatives and belongings to the explosion. Well, maybe they were talking or crying too much and may as well have earned the admonition. Maybe God told him through the overseers to soothe the people with harsh words. What about the abusive tongue-lashing of a Nigerian in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., and the poor Nigerian in Tokyo, Japan who ran out the conference center in humiliation after being tongue-lashed by Obasanjo. Oops! The academic Staff Union of the Nigerian Universities, who were accused of fornicating with young students on campus instead of giving them education, got their god-sent turn. We must recall the false statement attributing the cause of the civil war to resource control of Nigerian oil by the East while on a state visit to Bayelsa State. With the same tongue, he conspired with some members of PDP to rig Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Chief Barnabas Gemade and their executives out of office. The same tongue, after eating amala with ewedu soup, was used to set Senate President Chuba Okadigbo's downfall after inaugurating his new house the day before. The same tongue was used in the attempt to remove Alhaji Umar Ghali Na'Abba, Speaker of the House. The same tongue was used to insert Clause (80) into the electoral '419' bill and to stall the registration of new political parties. Where is God while all these things are happening? Maybe God has left for his permanent home in Jerusalem to preside over the Middle East crises, and from there he will send an angel, or a wise man like IBB, to again convince Nigerians that Obasanjo should be given another four years to finish with his tongue what he couldn't tell us in his first four years. When one reads President Obasanjo's books, the reader is left with the belief of reality coming from a man who has seen and has communicated with God and, therefore, is mindful and cognizant of human feelings. However, going by what the man has allowed to happen in the Nigeria of today, one then begins to wonder if the God he speaks and communicates with is the 'Iron God' of Ogun or the 'Fallon Gong's God.' For instance he wrote in his book, This Animal Called Man: "I believe that the present suffering of the masses and the majority is meant as discipline. But the leaders who bear great responsibility and who wreck havoc on the nation politically, socially, economically, morally, emotionally and consequently spiritually will not go unpunished here and hereafter. That is the promise and assurance of God. Sin has adverse consequences and frequently, the innocent suffer because of the misdeeds of the wicked, particularly wicked leaders. God desires that all people everywhere should turn from evil to good. Even men of God like Ezekiel and Daniel were carted away into captivity when the cup of Israel was full and the sin of the nation was visited on the people. Ezekiel was even made to put others' sins on himself as an example. What he did represented punishment he endured for the sins of the people." Very cleverly put. Obasanjo probably suffered the sins of the people when he was carted away to Yola. While in Yola, God prepared him for a second coming as the 'Messiah' President. The Northern, Eastern, and South-South voters -- without the West -- anointed him. Yet, the sins of the nation have not washed away, and are still being visited upon the same people who gave him a mandate. The danger is that those who have systematically, psychologically, and through the acts of subterfuge impugned on his God-given mandate are his people from the West -- through the assertive and aggressive posturing of Afenifere, Yoruba Leaders Council, Yoruba Elders Council, and the ever-militant OPC. These elements constitute the fifth column that has made the nation ungovernable by Obasanjo. They have succeeded in crippling his administration. Obasanjo is not helping the matter either, especially when he practices 'see no evil hear no evil' when it comes to the numerous atrocities such as gang-style killings being committed by members of his ruling PDP who are well-placed in government against perceived opposition. Over 500 people have been killed because they proffer change in their various communities. When President Obasanjo accepted his nomination as the Presidential flag bearer for PDP, he said of corruption and governance of the country: "I cannot end this parley without addressing the issue of corruption: a cancer which has eaten deep into our society. What is worrisome is that corrupt practices have become acceptable and people are no longer shocked by the magnitude of official corruption, which come to light regularly. Those accused of corrupt practices are often welcomed home by their communities with pomp and pageantry and often honoured. Definitely, we have to regain our values. We have to stem the damage which corruption inflicts on our progress and economic well-being". "Let me make a solemn pledge before all of you, before the whole world and before God, that I will devote all my energy and all I possess in my power to serve the people of Nigeria and humanity, in justice and with fairness, I pledge to build a team of worthy Nigerians to join me in the great task of uplifting this nation and its people to be worthy members of the world community. Let us build in the next four years strong bridges that will bind our great and diverse people. Let us also build a strong bridge between our country, indeed, our continent with the outside world." He was indeed right on the money when he launched the anti-corruption bill, which was subsequently passed by the house, and he appointed a retired fearless judge to head it. But the Judge has consistently cried for lack of funds to have an office and effective prosecutors to work with him. Hence, the bill is 'sine-die.' The President has since coming to office sacked eight of his ministers, who were supposed to be amongst the best the nation could muster. During his retreat at Kuru, Jos, he accused them of being corrupt and harboring corruptive tendencies. The anti-corruption bill is yet to be put into action against these sacked ministers. Why? Because Obasanjo is 'waiting for God.' Recently many executive Governors were accused of embezzling the ecological funds--2.5 billion naira and Poverty alleviation funds--2.5 billion allocated to each state, the corruption bill cannot be used against them because of article 308 of the Constitution, which extends immunity to them. What a joke. While the President is waiting for God to decide whether he will contest the next election come year 2003, he should at least remember that God also talks through the masses of Nigeria, and they (the masses) are crying in pain and asking him to exit. The Yoruba Elders Council, Yoruba Leaders Council, Egbe Omo Yoruba, and OPC have at least made the Western part of the country ungovernable for him. They know very well that their votes are irrelevant in all the National elections held since 1960. But in their dogged way, they have ostensibly influenced all the military coups that have come to passé in the country. It is a given fact that must be accepted by Nigerians: the Yoruba people are the most influential political mavericks in the country. They are either very consistent with their inconsistencies or Lord Lugard was probably drunk when he asserted in 1916: "Lagos has for 20 years opposed every Governor and has formented strife and bloodshed in the hinterland… I have spent the best part of my life in Africa, my aim has been the betterment of the natives for whom I have been ready to give my life. But after some 29 years, and after nearly 12 years as Governor here, I am free to say that the people of Lagos and indeed the Westerners are the lowest, the most seditious and disloyal, the most purely prompted by self-seeking money motives of any people I have met." If you disagree, I commend your view. But, look at what my people did to Chief M. K. O. Abiola; how Kudirat was fingered by his assistant, how my uncle Bola Ige was killed by us; how we did not vote for Obasanjo; and now we want to claim him. Well we will all wait for God to return from Jerusalem, His local government area, to preside over our election in 2003. However, for the time being it appears President (Messiah) Obasanjo came to serve his term with a vision, but somewhere along the corridors of PDP power struggle, he lost his vision; and God cursed his government for not putting their tongues in check. Hopefully when God finally speaks to him, God should tell him to hand over quickly to another President with a vision. Obasanjo cannot afford to contest and lose an election in Nigeria. It diminishes his international stature, which took many years to cultivate. God should please advice him to seek the Nelson Mandela option so that peace could reign in Nigeria. God should also enter his heart and get him to follow the people's mandate, not the party's mandate on matters regarding the electoral bill. May God forgive him for enriching himself just because he wants to win elections for PDP. May God give him the wisdom to consider the welfare and lives of Nigerians who will die pre-election, during election, and post election due to political-electoral violence. Nigerians born and unborn may never forgive him if the next election is not free and fair as he Obasanjo has always professed. As we wait for God, may He send the true messiah because, judging by what is going on currently, Nigerians can clearly see that Obasanjo is not the expected messiah. Finally, may God remind him of Our Lords Prayer, especially the part that says "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us." If Jesus Chris the true Messiah could ask God to forgive his persecutors for they do not know what they are doing, and Nelson Mandela had tea with the wife of the judge that jailed him as an act of forgiveness, then President Obasanjo should have the heart to forgive the Abacha family, and let Mohammed Abacha, Hamza Mustapha, and General Ishaya Bamaiyi and others to go home. . Enough is already enough. Afte rall, Ndiigbo have forgiven him for using the Howitzer 22 shell launchers, which killed over 10,000 civilians during the lunching of 'Operation OAU' (Owerri - Aba - Umuahia), under his command of 3rd Marine Commando division during the civil war.
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