My Dear NL,

Could this be a valid reason to own a Jet? Because the authors experience is very rear (if this actually happened), I don't think a Man of GO's status would ever go through this and besides he should be able to fly first class on any airline at anytime whenever he choose to.

What do you think?
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Please, permit me to digress a little. I used to think some people were above, and immune, from the usual vicious darts that Africans were fond of throwing at one another.  One writer once described Africans as a people who behave like babies. His theory was simple. Africans quarrel over every little thing. We are incapable of settling our differences like all responsible people do. We suspect everything and everyone. A man never dies here of natural causes. He must have been killed by someone, usually witches and wizards. We tend to vent our personal frustrations on others. We are a bitter people. Those you invited to wine and dine at your party, free of charge for that matter, are busy gossiping about you, and stabbing you in the back all the way.

It is amazing how we loathe ourselves. Our poverty mentality sometimes beat me hollow. It is as if some of us wake up praying for a rain of misery to fall on us and our neighbours. Many seem to be so melancholic and behave as if they carry all of mankind’s tribulations on their heads. Many of our associates are worse than Judas Iscariot, and more lethal than fake drugs. What baffles me is that these people pray more than praying mantis.  Our case is so critical that no human being can escape the mendacity of our human dragons.

The brouhaha being generated by the purported buying of a private jet by, or for, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, worldwide, is really worrisome.  Before I treat the merits, or lack of it, of the unfortunate and unwarranted controversy, let me try to introduce the man Pastor Adeboye, as much as I know him. I don’t think I ever saw him in flesh on more than three occasions.  It is necessary to clear this fact first before the busy-bodies jump to the conclusion, as usual, that I have been paid by the church to defend the purchase of the jet.

Of course, I’m proud to say I’m a great admirer of this wonderful man of God who has spread the words of evangelism, from Africa to the world, more than any soul I know in the 20th and 21st Centuries. God has obviously inspired this great Nigerian from very humble beginnings in Ifewara, Osun State, to establish His branches practically on all the continents of the world. I have had the privilege of his spiritual company, when I joined about 200 other Nigerians in sailing with the man of God and his dutiful wife, fondly called Mummy G O, by their church members, on a one-week pilgrimage that took us through Florida, Cozumel in Mexico, Cayman Island, and Ocho Rios in Jamaica, about three years ago. I saw Pastor Adeboye in his true meekness despite the awesome influence he commands on our planet. He was such a humble teacher on board as he took us through the scriptures. Even when we requested for a photo-shoot with him, he patiently took his time with all who wanted a snap with him. You can never accuse Pastor Adeboye of flamboyance, in theory and in practice. His children are very well-behaved, unlike Eli’s children in the Bible. This has endeared Pastor Adeboye to members and non-members of his church alike.

Pastor Adeboye’s attention is needed all over the world by those who believe in his anointing. I wasn’t surprised when he was named recently by Time magazine as one of the 50 most influential men in the world. This same man is being rubbished by his own people over a mere toy called private jet. What are the arguments of his attackers? A private jet is too much a luxury for a pastor to enjoy in Africa. The huge cost, and there are conflicting figures as to how much it cost in truth and reality, is a waste in a continent ravaged by poverty and diseases. That money should have been given to the wretched of the earth, they opined. The impression that they create is that it is possible to wipe off poverty from the surface of our universe. This utopian view suggests that no man is entitled to any measure of comfort no matter how hard he has worked. This to me is an extremist view of human existence.  I say with all emphasis that man must live according to his needs and means. An Evangelist of Pastor Adeboye’s caliber is certainly a world traveler. He’s also not expected to travel alone. He would normally travel with his family and aides. He’s like our own Pope. Yes, the Pope travels by Alitalia, and I don’t know what arrangement the Vatican has with the Italian flagship. But Africa is different from Europe. Our airlines don’t really have the capacity to cope with the demands and services of air travels.

Pastor Adeboye obviously travels more than the Pope. His shuttles within Africa alone are extremely tedious, according to those who should know. As a little fry compared to Pastor Adeboye, I know from my personal experience of running international operations that it is always difficult to connect flights within our interesting continent.  On one occasion, I was flying to Seychelles Islands, on the Indian Ocean. I was to fly Kenya Airways from Lagos to Nairobi, and then to Seychelles. Unfortunately, my flight from Accra to Lagos did not land early enough and I missed my Nairobi-bound flight. The guys at Kenya Airways in Lagos were very helpful. They suggested I should go back to Accra to catch their evening flight to Nairobi. I got a flight from Lagos to Accra and was able to check in on my earlier ticket to Nairobi. I was assured I had not yet been off-loaded from Nairobi to Seychelles. And my joy was bountiful.

Now wait for this. Our flight was to leave Accra around 10.00p.m, and I waited patiently. We were told the flight was making the rounds of some West African cities and would eventually land in Accra. Nobody could leave the airport since we weren’t sure when we’ll eventually take off. Anyway, the flight must have come in around 4.00a.m, stealthily like a thief in the night. Most of the passengers were fast asleep, and snoring away in any available corner. Who are we to complain? We dragged ourselves up like some druggies and boarded the flight more than one hour later. When it was time to go, we received bad news. We must fly to Lagos to refuel because there was no aviation fuel in Ghana. What Israelites’ journey was this, I soliloquized. Unbelievably, I had done Accra-Lagos-Accra-Lagos in about 24 energy-sapping hours.

I was so tired and angry that I decided to stage a protest by not opening my eyes throughout our stopover in Lagos. I slept sonorously and woke up in the sky. I was congratulated by those who witnessed my resurrection from a slumber well executed. But my ordeal was not yet over. By the time we landed in Nairobi, I was foolishly elated to find my connecting flight on ground. I sped like Ben Johnson to the connection desk, where I instantly received a bombshell. My seat was gone because of the delayed arrival from West Africa. I thought this whole process was becoming one hell of a joke, and indeed a nightmare. How come our plane was still on the tarmac, I asked. Hear this please, the plane had actually departed but developed engine problems after flying for over one hour and had to return to base. Yeepa!, I exclaimed, like we do in our village.

What’s going to happen now that I’m stranded in Nairobi, I asked. I was politely told I was being considered on the next flight to Dubai, where I’ll be expected to try a connection to Seychelles. Even if Moses had resurrected he would not have done a longer journey than me. I told the harbinger of that bad news that what she was trying to do was not my portion in Jesus name! If my enemies were trying to deal with me through Kenya Airways, they did not meet me at home. I was very resolute that I will never attempt a merry-go-round through Dubai or wherever routes for that matter. Those Nigerians on the earlier flight meanwhile had joined me. Trust Nigerians in our traditional methods of conflict resolution. We all talked at the same time, and in more than a whisper. The Kenyans sensing trouble promptly performed a magic, a seat emerged from God-knows-where for me. By the time we eventually landed in Seychelles, my bones were throbbing violently. I just deposited what was left of my body on a bed after a quick dive into the bathroom.

I have gone through this detailed account of my epic journey to illustrate the frustrations of flying in Africa. Did anyone want, or expect, a man of Pastor Adeboye’s status to go through all this mess regularly? The answer should be a resounding No! In fact, after so many ordeals I suffered at airports, I prayed to God to give me plenty of money from my hard-work. I’ll waste no time in buying a private jet. On one occasion, we spent a total of 13 agonizing hours between taking off from Lagos and several landings through Accra, Abidjan, Conakry, and finally to Banjul. We spent five hours in Accra alone. In Abidjan, there was VIP movement and we were kept inside the scorching plane for several hours. We had the privilege of catching a glimpse of some of their warlords arriving from Europe, as ample compensation for our anguish.

I have come to one conclusion. Our quintessential critics must learn to be practical. Most times many of them act on hearsay, and form opinions based on prejudices. Critics hardly do well in politics and business, for this same reason. They behave like puritans who tend to seek and crave for a colony of Saints where none can ever exist. We can make our world a better place through constructive criticism. Malicious writings can never change anything. Many good people are running away from politics and public service because of this fear of serial critics who see everyone as rogues no matter how hard you try to stay above board.

I’ll rather be an “area boy” in Lagos than a “ghetto boy” in New York. The level of poverty in America is far more excruciating than what the Western media tend to parade on television as the state of squalor in most African nations. Yet the developed countries play host to most of the world’s destitutes and homeless people. But this has not stopped the rich from living large, and the poor aspiring to riches and greatness.

We must desist from promoting poverty and backwardness. There are so many great Africans who have made it the very hard way. They have never done government contracts. They have not collected papers of land allocations and houses from any government. They have not received brown envelopes from governors and ministers. They have done their jobs in God’s way, by adhering to the strict codes of their profession. And they have shown sufficient contentment for whatever God has done in their lives. Such people must not be destroyed at the altar of envy and bellyaching.

Small boys and girls are busy flying private jets all over the globe for holding microphones and singing a cacophony of pop and rock. Some of the showbiz personalities are even paraded on the billionaires’ lists, and are more famous than world presidents. Oprah Winfrey has her private jets and luxury yachts at her beck and call. She sits pretty on the cover of her own magazine every month, and the world is at her feet. It is the reward for her hard-work. How can we achieve such feats here when we are ruled by poverty mentality, and every successful man or woman is a target and victim of poisoned arrows?  I wish to appeal  that our icons be spared this torture, for God’s sake.


http://odili.net/news/source/2009/mar/21/208.html