In an attempt to respond to Osinbajo’s comments,
the Special Assistant to President Jonathan on New
Media, Reno Omokri, on Thursday, December 25, 2014,
took to his official Twitter handle and condemned the
running mate of General Muhammadu Buhari
for criticising President Jonathan out of a desire for
personal gain.
According to Omokri, Osinbajo’s words of condemnation
on Twitter does not befit an ordained pastor.
The Special Assistant to President Jonathan stated
that instead of Osinbajo serving as an agent of
transforming politics with the light of his moral compass,
with his recent comments, he is conforming to the
prevailing political culture such that one can not
differentiate between a clergyman and a regular
politician.
One of the biggest misconceptions of the world, in my
opinion, is the view held by some that members of the
clergy should not participate in politics or government.
I have read The Holy Bible and The Quran and to the best
of my knowledge, nowhere in both books is such a notion
promoted.
As a matter of fact, the first usage of the word
‘government’ comes from The Holy Bible and the United
States of America lifted the word ‘President’ directly from
The Bible book of Daniel (chapter 6 verse 3).
Some of the greatest figures in The Bible were prophets
and political leaders at the same time. Joseph was
Prime Minister of Egypt and political ruler of the then
known world but he was also described as a prophet and
diviner of God’s will.
Daniel was appointed President of Babylon by King
Darius yet he continued to function in office as a judge
and prophet.
In the New Testament, Joseph of Arimathea was a
counsellor (the equivalent of today’s Senator) and he
was a devotee of Our Lord and Saviour, Yeshu’a (whom
some call Jesus). Likewise, the first African Christian,
the Ethiopian Eunuch, was a high official in Queen
Candace’s government.
So, there is nothing wrong with men of God coming into
politics. It is desired and it will help clean up politics.
What is wrong however, is for men of God to come into
politics and instead of being agents of transforming
politics with the light of their moral compass, they end up
conforming to the prevailing political culture such that
you can not differentiate between them and a regular
politician.
In The Bible, we read how an anointed man of God, a
prophet by name Balaam, allowed his love for power and
money mislead him into accepting to curse the anointed
of God after he had been hired by King Balak of Moab to
do just that.
Eventually, Balaam recognized the folly of his ways after
an angelic visitation which prompted his donkey to speak
to him. This divine visitation caused him to repudiate the
lure of money and power dangled by King Balak to whom
he uttered the now very famous words “How shall I curse,
whom God hath not cursed?”-Numbers 23:8.
It was this historical incident that came to my mind when
I read Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s words of condemnation
on Twitter where he had said President Jonathan runs a
“visionless” government.
Professor Osinbajo is an ordained pastor as I am and
one of the ethics of our calling, enshrined in the homiletic
code, is that men of God should not criticize out of a
desire for personal gain, but should do so advisedly and
only if there are genuine and compelling reasons to do
so.
As a matter of fact, Philippians 2:3 says we should “do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in
humility value others above yourselves”.
So let me ask, is it really true that President Jonathan
runs a visionless government?
In fact, on a day that coincided with Professor Osinbajo’s
day of casting stones at President Jonathan, Bill Gates
was celebrating Nigeria’s ability to reduce incidences of
the Wild Polio Virus from hundreds of cases just three
years ago to only 6 cases in 2014.
Mr. Gates actions only corroborated those of the United
Nations which earlier in the year had given President
Jonathan an award celebrating Nigeria for eradicating
the scourge of Guinea Worm infestation.
The truth is that not only does President Jonathan run a
purposeful and visionary government, one can even
begin to see the crystallization of his vision into tangible
benefits for the Nigerian masses.
Professor Yemi Osinbajo is a pastor of the Redeemed
Christian Church of God which has perhaps the largest
indoor camp in West Africa along the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway.
Every year, millions of Nigerian parishioners of the RCCG
troop to The Redemption Camp. They are faced with
terrible traffic gridlock as the multitude try their best to
get to the venue on time. The sheer number of users on
that road overwhelms the capacity of the highway and
members have been praying for an intervention that will
ease their annual journey.
Enter President Jonathan, whose vision prompted him to
initiate the Lagos-Ibadan High Speed Railway which is
underway.
This service will not only facilitate the movement of
RCCG’s parishioners to The Redemption Camp thereby
easing the pressure on the roads, it will also make it
possible to live in Ibadan and work in Lagos, with stops
along the way.
The world renowned global consultancy, KPMG, which
monitors trends, in November of 2014 included this High
Speed Interstate Railway as one of the world’s top 100
infrastructure projects. KPMG praised the Jonathan
administration for its vision in initiating such a project.
And it does not stop there.
Even the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, long abandoned to
the elements by previous administrations, is at the
receiving end of some of the fastest construction work in
Africa. Two construction firms are working to reconstruct
the road in record time. Julius Berger is working from the
Lagos end while RCC is working from the Ibadan end with
the intention to meet somewhere in the middle so that the
work is completed in record time.
As I write this piece, the China Civil Engineering
Construction Company, CCECC, has officially announced
that it has rounded off the track laying work of Nigeria’s
first standard gauge railway modernization project
linking the capital city of Abuja and the Northwestern
state of Kaduna.
This is another project that has come to reality as a
result of the vision of President Goodluck Jonathan.
So, when Professor Osinbajo describes President
Jonathan’s government as “visionless” it is obvious that
he has left the objectivity of the pulpit for the subjectivity
of partisan politics.
Or else, how can any objective person call the man under
whose guidance Nigeria became the largest economy in
Africa and the 26th largest economy in the world,
visionless? Is such a feat possible without vision, without
planning, without discipline?
Or was it President Jonathan’s lack of vision that
prompted the United Nations to release data that showed
that under Jonathan’s watch, Average Life Expectancy in
Nigeria has risen from 47 years in 2009 to 52 years
today?
Is President Jonathan “visionless” when all elections
held under his watch have been adjudged credible and
transparent. From Edo, to Anambra, to Ondo, to Ekiti to
Osun and Niger, it has been a case of one man one vote,
one woman one vote, one youth, one vote.
A few Nigerians may not like the President’s
Transformation Agenda, but at least, all Nigerians have
heard of it.
The million dollar question is who has heard of the
agenda of Professor Osinbajo’s party other than the use
of the cliche ‘change’?
Yes, Obama used the key words ‘yes we can’ to ride to
power in 2008, but he had a brain Trust that came up
with a plan.
Are we meant to change for the sake of change?
I must confess that I am personally fed up with
politicians who speak negatively about Nigeria and its
leaders just because they want power.
Pastor Osinbajo regularly leads his congregation in
prayers. But let me ask him if it makes any sense
physically or spiritually to speak negatively about your
nation and pray positively about yourself as if you can
prosper in your home after cursing it with your mouth?
Nigerians expect Professor Osinbajo to wake up and
smell the coffee and start telling them what he, his
principal and their party plan for Nigeria and not to
spend his time throwing stones at the innocent.
Gone are the days when you promote a candidate based
on his region and religion. And Nigerians are far too
aware in 2014-5 for any politician to grandstand by using
highfalutin empty words to cast aspersions on his/her
opponent in order to hide the inadequacy of their vision
and plans.
I understand that when all you have is a hammer
everything begins to look like a nail and so having
nothing but criticism to dish out, Osinbajo is likely to
keep throwing stones. However, seeing as he is a pastor,
let me remind Professor Osinbajo of the immortal words
of Jesus to critics in John 8:7-“he that is without sin
among you, let him first cast a stone”.
As we approach 2015, I would like to point out
something to Professor Osinbajo.
In 2011, there were four major Presidential candidates:
President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP, Nuhu Ribadu of
the ACN, Ibrahim Shekarau of the ANPP and Muhamaddu
Buhari of the CPC.
Does it not say much about President Jonathan’s vision
and his ability to communicate it effectively that of the
three candidates who contested against him in 2011, two
of them, Nuhu Ribadu and Ibrahim Shekarau, today share
his vision for Nigeria and are helping him actualize it
within the Peoples Democratic Party?
It says a lot about the President. And especially, it is
evidence of the fact that President Jonathan is a man of
vision.
Who knows, maybe Professor Osinbajo will see the light
and come to appreciate the President’s vision after the
2015 election.
This has been a constant pattern with Buhari’s running
mates from 2007’s Ume Ezeoke who saw enough reason
to work with the PDP after that election, to Pastor Tunde
Bakare, who shared and participated in the President’s
vision for a National Conference for Nigeria.
In conclusion, let me say that it is obvious to all
discerning people that God has blessed this man from
Otuoke known as President Goodluck Jonathan. Without
godfather, without scheming, without over ambition, God
divinely set him on a trajectory that has seen him ascend
the highest office in the land.
Even when power was within his grasp, the then Vice
President Goodluck Jonathan refused to take it,
preferring to wait on God to elevate him.
I can say without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that
God has put President Jonathan where he is. And until
He is done with him, no man, no pastor, no prophet can
curse whom God has not cursed.
source: www.naij.com/349596-fg-replies-osinbajo-with-bible-passages.html