Coments:
CLETUS BASSEY: PRIDE OF A CLERGY

James Okrok, mcwa

Proverbs 16:18 (KJV) Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

For the past four weeks, I have refrained from making comments on Archbishop Cletus Bassey and his hysteria over the control of the political temperature of Akwa Ibom State.

I have watched moved with zest with the singular goal of installing his preferred candidate, so that he could become the spiritual father of Akwa Ibom State governor.

The person to produce the next governor, he has boasted, is not the incumbent governor' but himself.

He has announced that only his preferred choice; someone he would be able to influence and get the pecks of office as his spiritual father will succeed current governor.

Dear reader, I am not making this up myself, the archbishop has said so in the public.

Before you start throwing stones at me, let me remind you that several local media platforms have published several headlines on this subject, with the archbishop photographer superimposed on the covers.

Amongst several boasts of his are that the governor will not be able to produce a successor, that ignoring ACA will be the greatest undoing of the governor, that the governor does not have the monopoly of hearing God's voice, etc.

Very lately, he was quoted to have said that if the governor has not heard from God, he (archbishop) has already heard and that the governor should consult him.

This is where I have not been able to resist penning down these comments. In journalism, comments are sacred, and I am vouching for the sacredness of these comments.

Prophet Balaam was a popular seer in his days. He was consulted by many, including political heavyweights who needed his services for handsome rewards.

The Prophet Balaam, many thought is a true prophet but he isn't. He's more of bohemic spiritist who could divine.

The Balaam of old had the command of foretelling, the charisma and the language but he was driven more by greed and pride than God's purposes. His major interest was reward, not the kingdom.

Apostle Jude describes him as a greedy prophet: "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core, "Jude 1:12.

The mystery about these Balaamic prophets is that even when people know they are lying and deceiving them, they still blindly follow because of crumbs promised them.

In our climes, we find more of Balaams in clerical attire than God's true prophets.

Some of the attributes of a Godly prophet are humility and respect to governmental authority. So when you see someone priding himself to be the archbishop of Akwa Ibom State, when fathers like Archbishop Elijah Mboho, Prelate Emeritus Dr .Sunday Mbang, CON and Prelate Prof. Isaiah Issong are still preaching and impacting lives, then such a archbishop of Akwa Ibom State is tipping towards a calamitous fall.

I need not remind Akwa Ibomites that Archbishop Cletus Bassey was once embarrassed publicly for displaying pride and impudence before Chief Godswill Akpabio.

I recall when Godswill Obot Akpabio was working hard towards his succession plan in 2015, it was this same archbishop who wanted the then Chief Godswill Akpabio to do his biddings.

His pride made him to disagree with the then governor at an event at Ibom Hall. Enraged, Governor Godswill Akpabio shouted him down, it was such an embarrassing scene to behold of a clergy.

He was the State CAN chairman then and had used his position to benefit from Chief Godswill Akpabio but because, just as he's jangling now, he wanted his own candidate and not the Governor's that drenched on him torrents of embarrassment.

But unfortunately, the archbishop is not a good student of history, else he would have humbled himself and not attempt to bite the fingers that feed him.

I need not remind Akwa Ibomites of the embarrassment he brought the church in Akwa Ibom State into over his ignominy at Asan Ibibio, where he was booed at and railed against by the Ibibios who felt that as a clergy, he ought to be an impartial abbiter in socio-political issues.

He has started again! This time his pride is edging him on to challenging Deacon Udom Emmanuel on his succession plan.
He will fail again!

Mocking His Excellency's decision that Akwa Ibomites should wait till God tells him who his successor is, the archbishop replied that if the governor has not heard from God, himself has heard. What a pride of a clergy!

At a public outing recently, he charged that the governor doesn't have the monopoly of hearing from God on who to succeed him.

It seems the archbishop has forgotten that kings have the exclusive privilege to determine who succeeds them.
As an ordained Deacon in a foremost denomination, Mr. Udom Emmanuel cuts into the two offices of a priest and a king.

You cannot fault him when he said, he's waiting for God to show him who the successor is.
If for anything, the Governor Udom Emmanuel's position on waiting on God has helped to bring calmness to the state, else by this new year several Balaams would have ignited fire on the polity with their dozens of prophecies on who will be the next governor.

If Cletus Bassey actually understands the place of the priests and kings, he shouldn't be so forward on the issue of succession but should exercise restraint while praying for God to reveal the person to His Excellency.

The fact that Cletus Bassey has gone into an unholy alliance with a candidate he wants to succeed Udom Emmanuel doesn't mean he should insult the governor and heat up the polity with his infamous rants.

The Governor has shown him enough respect, the governor has supported him and his church hugely, and he deserves some honour from him.

That the governor is quiet, a man of peace; does not mean the archbishop should throw spats at him because, as pride goes before a fall, the archbishop should be careful, else he is simply tipping to a disgraceful fall. And how great that would be!

©Apostle James Okrok is a member of Christian Writers Association; lives in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo