₦airaland Forum

Pastor Bosun Emmanuel: The political red herring

on November 29, 2014 / in Viewpoint 8:11 pm / Comments


By Richard Akinnola

“In the long term, we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars”- Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon was being futuristic when he made this statement several years ago. He apparently never knew that there would come a time in the history of one country called Nigeria, where political actors, buoyed by some of their friends in cassock, would be fanning the embers of religious war.

I am not, by any stretch of imagination, discounting the several human and material losses of Christians in several sectarian crises in the northern part of the country over the years, accentuated by the Boko Haram insurgency which, unfortunately, have been used to misinform people as being programmed against President Jonathan, being a Christian. Boko Haram did not start under Jonathan. As a matter of fact, the late President Musa Yar’Adua had a running battle with this bunch of demented terrorists. The insurgency actually gained prominence with the killing of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, by security forces in 2009 under the government of Yar’Adua. In 2009, following various assaults in Yobe, Bauchi and Borno states, security forces killed over 1,000 of the insurgents. It would, therefore, be false to claim that Boko Haram insurgency is as a result of Nigeria having a Christian president. As l have always argued, Boko Haram’s variant of Islam is antithetical to the mainstream Islamic teachings, just like the Uganda’s terrorist group called the Lords Resistance Army, purporting to be fighting for my Jehovah God, cannot be representative of Christians.

There is this CD that is being well-circulated among Christians in various churches. It was a political message by a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, where he launched into an Islamophobic tirade against Muslims and the All Progressives Congress (APC) which, he declared as the Islamic Brotherhood of Nigeria.

The General Overseer of Redeemed Church, Pastor E.A. Adeboye, has denounced this divisive message and directed his church members to discountenance it. Unfortunately, the message has gone viral. It was a soap-box rhetoric, using the pulpit as a campaign platform for Jonathan, urging Christians to vote for Christian candidates.

APC-toon

Using the pulpit to campaign for either PDP or APC or any other party for that matter is an abuse of the pulpit. We need to be careful and circumspect, particularly religious leaders in their association with politicians. Religious politics is dangerous, like Roger Ebert once said: “Lebanon was at one time known as a nation that rose above sectarian hatred; Beirut was known as the Paris of the Middle East. All that was blown apart by senseless religious wars, financed and exploited in part by those who sought power and wealth”.

Over the years in the South-West, religious politics had never been an issue. When Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola was the governor of Osun State, Erelu Olusola Obada, a fellow Christian was his deputy, in a state that has a preponderance of Muslims. In Edo State, both Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his deputy, Dr Pius Odubu, are both Christians in a state where there is a substantial percentage of Muslims, particularly in Edo North. But because religion has never been an issue in electoral contests in Edo, it was difficult for anyone to make a political capital of a phantom marginalisation of a religious group in the state.

Due to its cosmopolitan nature and its level of political awareness, Lagosians have never really bothered about the religious faith of their governors, until the politics of 2015 crept in. Yes, in fairness to the proponents of this move, there has been the preponderance of elected Muslim governors in Lagos State. However, my take is that l would rather prefer good governance, bolstered by a didactic leadership, than pander to religious sentiments.

And l say this with due respect to the proponents of Christian governor. Come to think of it, if we look at it from the time of Alhaji Lateef Jakande, till now, with the exception of the lack lustre government of ‘Baba go slow’, Chief Michael Otedola (a Christian) of blessed memory, the state has witnessed remarkable developments and giant strides. And this has nothing to do with the religious persuasion of Tinubu and Fashola but a product of good leadership. The current magnificent edifice of TREM headquarters at Anthony, Lagos would not have been today if not for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Muslim, who overruled his Ministry of Environment which had wanted to stop the construction based on the discovery that the property stood in the path of a major drainage.



Hijab in schools
Interestingly, it’s another Muslim governor, Raji Fashola, that banned the use of hijab in Lagos public schools, a move that irked the Muslim faithful who dragged the governor to court on the issue but the court ruled in favour of the state government. And this is despite the fact that both the governor and the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, are both Muslims. Of what use is you having a Christian governor while it is possible to have a Muslim-dominated state House of Assembly, which, if it wants to push for Islamic-inclined laws, can easily do it and the Christian governor would have no choice but to implement? Since the time of Tinubu as governor till date, Lagos State’s annual thanksgiving service, organised by the governor every January, has always been anchored by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Yet, Tinubu and Fashola are Muslims. Pastor Emmanuel, uncharitably, branded APC as ‘Islamic Brotherhood of Nigeria’. I am not a member of APC. But by using the pulpit to preach hateful politics, he removed whatever credibility that may be attached to his said message. I would have taken the same position if he had used the pulpit to promote APC and demonise PDP. And his premise for labelling APC an Islamic party was so puerile, disingenuous and downright illogical. He went on to authoritatively state that the Chairman and all other officers of APC are Muslims. Let’s pause a bit and look at the following names who are part of the APC Executive. When did John Oyegun, the APC Chairman, Chief Segun Oni, Deputy National Chairman(South), Chief Pius Akinyelure (Vice Chairman, South West, and others like Orji Ugofa, Comrade Timi Frank, Tempe Adigwe, George Moghalu, Senator Osita Izunazo, Paul Chukwuma, among others, become Muslims overnight? If we assume for the purpose of argument that APC is a Muslim party, are we then to assume that PDP is a Christian party led by an Alhaji Muazu, a Muslim. Isn’t that preposterous? I ask because Pastor Emmanuel said that in 2015, Lagos Christians should vote for a Christian candidate as governor but with a caveat that they should not vote for a Christian candidate from an Islamic party!

Leadership deficit
We are playing a very dangerous religious game here. That was how the Hutus and Tutsis pogrom in Rwanda started in 1994, leading to the extermination of over 800,000 Rwandans, to the extent that even the priests became victims- massacred by fellow Christians inside the church.

According to Pastor Emmanuel, there is an Islamisation agenda in Nigeria. Let us assume that it is true for the purpose of argument. Then, what stops Christians from aggressive evangelism, which is their own counter-poise? Afterall, every religion is trying to market its products. How many Christian leaders, particularly the rich ones, support mission endeavours? How many of them key into Pastor Ladi Thompson’s wonderful Macedonian initiative, which is meant to cater for our brethren up North who are victims of religious extremism? Rather, many are comfortable erecting multi-million naira cathedrals as if they are in competition with one another. When Sanusi Lamido was the CBN Governor and the controversy of Islamic banking, with zero loan interest was raging, what stops the super- rich Christian leaders also setting up their own micro-finance banks with zero loan interest? And you are complaining of Islamisation.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/pastor-bosun-emmanuel-political-red-herring/#sthash.R6s4ThSi.dpuf