The disturbing tendency for President Goodluck Jonathan to utter statements which amount to a virtual abdication of responsibility made an unwelcome reappearance at the 2012 Holy Ghost Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), where he announced that he had entrusted Nigeria to God’s care.

In addition, he reassured the congregation, comprising thousands of worshippers, public office-holders and prominent clerics that he would continue to ensure that his administration is transparent and expressed the conviction that the nation would overcome its challenges. He also attributed his victory at the 2011 elections to the RCCG’s respected General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and the support of the church’s teeming followers.

At first glance, it would seem that the President did not do anything out of the ordinary. National leaders routinely invoke the protection and blessings of God upon the countries they lead. Regular reassurances that a people will eventually overcome difficult times are a staple of committed governance in most participatory democracies. If the country in question is one in which strong religious beliefs are common, as is the case in Nigeria, the constant invocation of God’s name is certainly in order.

However, as is so often the case with President Jonathan, a virtue has become a vice. At the RCCG event, he appeared to have forgotten that while Nigerians fervently worship God, He was not on the ballot in 2011. The person they voted for was Goodluck Jonathan. The President did not remember that he made several promises on the campaign trail. He forgot that he swore a solemn oath to work for the upliftment of Nigeria and its people. Instead of taking responsibility for his extremely well-paid office, he sought to turn the burden of governing over to the Creator, while keeping the considerable perks of office for himself and his cronies.

Turning his presidential responsibilities over to God is only the latest in a continual stream of statements in which Jonathan has sought to dodge hard choices and avoid responsibility. When Abuja was bombed during the Independence Day celebrations of 2010, he claimed that terrorism was a global phenomenon and that it was now Nigeria’s turn to experience it. When the Boko Haram menace began to spread, he complained that the fundamentalist sect had infiltrated his government without giving any indication of what he was doing to resolve it. As disappointment with his policies became widespread, he told the nation in a recent media chat that he never promised to end poverty.

Far from reassuring a populace that is becoming increasingly sceptical about his capacity to lead, the President’s remarks at the RCCG convention simply increased growing doubts about his leadership. He spoke about a continuing commitment to transparency and to doing “what is right,” but has lamentably failed to demonstrate this commitment in practice.

Throughout 2012, a succession of scandals in pensions administration, the capital market and the oil subsidy programme provided Jonathan with golden opportunities to demonstrate his adherence to transparency, accountability and the rule of law. Instead of grasping them with both hands, he has shamefully failed to live up to expectation. As can now be seen, his main tactic is to deflect attention from the issues and play for time by setting up committees to investigate scandals, only to undermine them and thereby ensure that their findings are never implemented. It happened in the Dana crash report, the Lawan-Otedola subsidy bribe scandal, the privatisation of power stations and the Ribadu committee report.

To make matters worse, President Jonathan decided to turn a purely religious gathering into a political convention by his dubious references to the alleged support of Pastor Adeboye and the RCCG as a whole in his political campaign. Regardless of what he may think, neither Adeboye nor the RCCG is on record as having endorsed Jonathan’s presidential campaign; to imply that they did so is disingenuous and dishonest. His poor judgement is all the more amazing, given the tensions which currently characterise Nigeria as a multi-religious entity.

Such manipulations like this should serve as a warning to the nation’s religious leaders not to get too close to politicians, especially those holding public office. Such is their fixation on elections that they will use anybody whom they think can help them to achieve popularity. Nigeria’s clerics should follow the example of an individual like South Africa’s Bishop Desmond Tutu, whose commitment to political freedom and social justice was not tainted by any intimacy with those in power.

As for President Jonathan, he should realise that the citizenry is tired of promises, excuses, explanations and committees. He was elected in his own recognition to lead Nigeria to a brighter tomorrow of freedom and prosperity. It is time for him to start leading. God is a hard-working God and He has been playing His part in the country’s affairs; President Jonathan should play his.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/editorial/goodluck-and-god/

For residents of Lagos State, especially those who work or reside adjacent to the broken and ill-maintained Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, it is now an annual fear that they will suffer a total lockdown and traffic stoppages extending to as much as five hours, just because President Goodluck Jonathan would pass to attend the Redeemed Church’s seasonal gathering in Ogun State via Lagos.

It happened last year. It again happened this year. It has become something of great concern to most people because he routinely comes at night to disrupt their lives and livelihood. If so many people have to suffer for just one man to worship God, then, there is something fundamentally wrong in our perception of God and His worship.

The only record of such august nocturnal visitor to the Temple of God in all Christendom is that of legendary Nicodemus. According to the story, “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night…” While it is true that both Jonathan and Nicodemus are leaders in their own right, who went to meet spiritual personalities at the dead of night, there is, however, the serious and immutable difference between the two.

As for Nicodemus, he pointedly asked Jesus, without disturbing the peace of his neighbourhood: How can a man be born when he is old? A question that Jesus answered directly and which has now become the foundation of the Christian faith, namely, that “God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

It was understandable why Nicodemus had to visit Christ under the cover of darkness. As a leader of the Jew, he was probably ashamed to be seen with Jesus whose status, vis-à-vis God, had yet to be fully revealed at that time.

But with Jonathan, his stampeding and riotous coming to Pastor Enoch Adeboye annually and at night is a bit worrisome for the simple fact that Adeboye, in all his acclaimed reverence, is not Christ in whose name all knees must bow. In fact, while Nicodemus could justly go to the abode of Jesus at night, Jonathan, on the contrary, does not need to go to anyone at the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway because, with the Lord’s ascension to heaven and the subsequent dominance of the Holy Ghost, he can now be reached anywhere, including Aso Rock, especially whenever “two or three are gathered.” It is more of lack of faith and undue show-off that anyone would embark on such a distant religious safari when God is actually accessible to all those who genuinely seek his face anywhere.

I have no quarrel with anybody going to anywhere he likes to “seek the face of God” and I was indeed glad to see the picture of my president kneeling wretchedly before a man of God in total submission; but there is something ecumenically out of place to think that he has to travel all the way from Abuja, and for just one night in the year, to pray. Is Mr. President suggesting that the Almighty God is persona non grata in Abuja and, in Aso Rock in particular, that he has to annually come all the way to “seek His face” in Lagos?

As a leader of a polity that is religiously variegated as Nigeria, he should not conduct himself in a way that will unduly give away his sectarian zealotry or bias. I am not suggesting that anyone should, within the general protection of our constitution, be ashamed of his faith. Not at all. What I am saying is that even within Christendom, such actions of Mr. President may not go down well with some Christians, let alone with those who do not profess Christianity. It is to avoid situations like these that the Founders of our Constitution prescribed a secular ideology for Nigeria, even though we have found that difficult to comply with all to our collective ruination.

Aside from the spiritual angle to the presidential questionable frolic, such high-profile visits have turned out to be untold hardship to the citizens who are denied their freedoms of movement and personal dignity, as all roads are closed for hours, with the result that even other Christians who also wanted to attend the prayer sessions could not make it. It was certainly worse for those citizens who did not care much about the Church or its beliefs.

In any case, the Holy Bible actually enjoins that we “work and pray” and not “pray and work;” notwithstanding the apparent presidential preference for “praying without working.” I don’t know how many hours of prayers and supplication by the President that will curb the unbridled corruption in Nigeria if there are no practical official efforts at dealing with the challenges, matched with the requisite political will. I also do not see how such lengthy and loud prayers will fix the bad roads in the country or improve on the debilitated national economy if there are no practicable policies in place to redress the gaping mess.

Quite frankly, the Jonathan that we saw while on his knees the other night was very much a troubled man who truly needs urgent salvation, be it spiritual or material. He didn’t appear quite confident and settled and it is most likely that he was forced into the Lagos journey by the daunting challenges facing him.

What is, however, not acceptable is to betray an obvious lack of personal capacity as a national leader. God has given us the brains to solve the problems of our environments and that is why Man has been to the moon and is still aspiring for more feats. The primary duty of a leader is to inspire confidence and faith in the national process, but when it looks as if he, too, is subdued and intimidated to his knees, then, there is serious trouble.

As the elected leader of the nation, the President should, at all times, exude confidence and personal capacity; but when, for whatever reasons, he unwittingly hands over the affairs of the state to tribesmen, fake visionists, spiritualists, juju men, marabouts and “men of God,” then, the mandate to govern is not only diminished for himself but also debased in the eyes of those who elected him.