You already know the author of the above verses. It is no other than Poju Oyemade – the medic turned cleric; founder of the Covenant Nation and the initiator of The Platform, a national conversational podium that has not only provided a veritable outlet for engagement on matters of governance but also on the future of the country.


The pastor’s sins, we are told, is daring to stick a pin into the bubble of the amorphous movement that has now assumed the tag – Obidient – but which is in fact no more than a group of loud distraught supporters of the Labour Party presidential flag bearer, Peter Gregory Obi.

It wasn’t that the pastor spoke out of context; he merely spoke in the background of an evolving national conversation around the presidential politics, the preparedness of the candidates, the imperatives of groundwork and the whole question of the viability of the candidacies.

To be sure, he certainly did not call the candidate’s bonafide into question neither did he as much as call any candidate by name. Although he came across as one of those swayed by the so-called Peter Obi phenomenon, he probably felt compelled to put out some warning just in case someone out there might care enough to pay attention. Hence the well couched verses quoted above.





Even at that, we must make the point that the pastor didn’t say anything new that those with the most elementary knowledge of Nigerian politics have not said in one form or the other. To his hordes of followers, Peter Obi, the man who once ruled the relatively backwater state of Anambra, the ‘squeaky clean’ guy who daily mesmerises with stats, is supposed to be the new messiah at whose appearance all things should take a new turn or pivot. Yes; all of us, without question, must be Obi-dient! And so, nothing ill, no matter how tangential, is to be spoken about him!

Like a man schooled in the hard school of Nigerian politics, the pastor has apparently come to the understanding that the path to the presidency cannot be a walk in the park; that in a country of multiple complexities of faith, tribe, religion and social class, that any candidate for the high office requires a vast network of relationships that requires years of planning and nurture to operationalise; and that without that, the quest is as good as doomed; Only that Pastor Poju didn’t reckon with that Obidient school where dreams and virtual activism rule!



And this is even when he didn’t as much as refer to the rather competitive field in which veterans like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party are running.

See how letting out the odds facing marginal runners as something of one to a million would be akin to grating on the raw nerve of the hordes of our angry netizens who fancy such talks as no more than an affliction of an old plague!

Compare this with the description of the presidential run of Barack Obama by ex-US President Bill Clinton as ‘fairy tale’.

For that reality check, a cautionary note to underscore the organisational imperative in the presidential quest, perhaps to foreclose a future alibi for anarchy in the event of a comprehensive failure that is all but guaranteed; a mob, already sworn to neither rhyme nor reason in their quest for change no matter how nebulous or ill-defined, has gone beyond merely pronouncing it as Satanic Verses to issuing a fatwa. Such benumbing superficiality and disdain for reasoned argument ought to leave the rest of the orderly society truly worried.

It certainly comes as a new twist to the evolving local variant of the cancel culture that seeks the pulling down of the dominion of national superstructure in the march to the fangled Eldorado.

And to think that a good number of the hounds currently baying for the blood of Pastor Poju probably knew nothing of their new found ‘messiah’ until his unveiling at that annual discourse that seeks to showcase the infinite possibilities of the Nigerian dream.

It is a tragedy that the pastor chose to delete the tweet. For an individual that has invested so much energy into the national cause, it is hardly the way to go. On the other hand, being a leader of a faith community – a community of diverse nationalities, he probably felt that the brewing controversies were needless – something of a distraction to his calling – hence the path of discretion.

Of course, the issues provoked by the crass intolerance, and the cancel culture are such that would not be forgotten in a hurry. Not anytime now or in the near future as the season of presidential politics goes into the full swing.

Clearly, if the events of the EndSARS movement and the ensuing tragedy and atavism unleashed in its aftermath are any reminders, it is that Nigerians have a lot to worry about in the activities of the group of tribesmen and other closet revolutionaries so consumed in their rage that they wouldn’t mind pulling the roof down over everyone’s heads.


https://thenationonlineng.net/pastor-poju-and-the-lynch-mob/

Move2:


You already know the author of the above verses. It is no other than Poju Oyemade – the medic turned cleric; founder of the Covenant Nation and the initiator of The Platform, a national conversational podium that has not only provided a veritable outlet for engagement on matters of governance but also on the future of the country.


The pastor’s sins, we are told, is daring to stick a pin into the bubble of the amorphous movement that has now assumed the tag – Obidient – but which is in fact no more than a group of loud distraught supporters of the Labour Party presidential flag bearer, Peter Gregory Obi.

It wasn’t that the pastor spoke out of context; he merely spoke in the background of an evolving national conversation around the presidential politics, the preparedness of the candidates, the imperatives of groundwork and the whole question of the viability of the candidacies.

To be sure, he certainly did not call the candidate’s bonafide into question neither did he as much as call any candidate by name. Although he came across as one of those swayed by the so-called Peter Obi phenomenon, he probably felt compelled to put out some warning just in case someone out there might care enough to pay attention. Hence the well couched verses quoted above.





Even at that, we must make the point that the pastor didn’t say anything new that those with the most elementary knowledge of Nigerian politics have not said in one form or the other. To his hordes of followers, Peter Obi, the man who once ruled the relatively backwater state of Anambra, the ‘squeaky clean’ guy who daily mesmerises with stats, is supposed to be the new messiah at whose appearance all things should take a new turn or pivot. Yes; all of us, without question, must be Obi-dient! And so, nothing ill, no matter how tangential, is to be spoken about him!

Like a man schooled in the hard school of Nigerian politics, the pastor has apparently come to the understanding that the path to the presidency cannot be a walk in the park; that in a country of multiple complexities of faith, tribe, religion and social class, that any candidate for the high office requires a vast network of relationships that requires years of planning and nurture to operationalise; and that without that, the quest is as good as doomed; Only that Pastor Poju didn’t reckon with that Obidient school where dreams and virtual activism rule!



And this is even when he didn’t as much as refer to the rather competitive field in which veterans like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party are running.

See how letting out the odds facing marginal runners as something of one to a million would be akin to grating on the raw nerve of the hordes of our angry netizens who fancy such talks as no more than an affliction of an old plague!

Compare this with the description of the presidential run of Barack Obama by ex-US President Bill Clinton as ‘fairy tale’.

For that reality check, a cautionary note to underscore the organisational imperative in the presidential quest, perhaps to foreclose a future alibi for anarchy in the event of a comprehensive failure that is all but guaranteed; a mob, already sworn to neither rhyme nor reason in their quest for change no matter how nebulous or ill-defined, has gone beyond merely pronouncing it as Satanic Verses to issuing a fatwa. Such benumbing superficiality and disdain for reasoned argument ought to leave the rest of the orderly society truly worried.

It certainly comes as a new twist to the evolving local variant of the cancel culture that seeks the pulling down of the dominion of national superstructure in the march to the fangled Eldorado.

And to think that a good number of the hounds currently baying for the blood of Pastor Poju probably knew nothing of their new found ‘messiah’ until his unveiling at that annual discourse that seeks to showcase the infinite possibilities of the Nigerian dream.

It is a tragedy that the pastor chose to delete the tweet. For an individual that has invested so much energy into the national cause, it is hardly the way to go. On the other hand, being a leader of a faith community – a community of diverse nationalities, he probably felt that the brewing controversies were needless – something of a distraction to his calling – hence the path of discretion.

Of course, the issues provoked by the crass intolerance, and the cancel culture are such that would not be forgotten in a hurry. Not anytime now or in the near future as the season of presidential politics goes into the full swing.

Clearly, if the events of the EndSARS movement and the ensuing tragedy and atavism unleashed in its aftermath are any reminders, it is that Nigerians have a lot to worry about in the activities of the group of tribesmen and other closet revolutionaries so consumed in their rage that they wouldn’t mind pulling the roof down over everyone’s heads.


https://thenationonlineng.net/pastor-poju-and-the-lynch-mob/

I just hope this is not the job you do; conjuring propaganda and receiving payment. It's an ignoble role.