Osinbajo at it again! By Bola Bolawole

Christian leaders have become a play thing for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Osinbajo gives himself the liberty to talk down on them at will, taking them to the cleaners without justification. Osinbajo himself is supposed to be a top-flight Christian leader and more so the highest office-holding Christian leader in the country at the moment – but he has scant regard and little respect for fellow Christians. When he ridicules Christian leaders, he spares no one, not even the man he purports to be his own father-in-the-Lord. When some people fall into things, like the late Ugandan poet, Prof. Okot p’Bitek, argues in his seminal songs – Songs of Ochol and Songs of Lawino – they invite their Chi, as our own Chinua Achebe graphically paints in Things Fall Apart, to a wrestling duel. I have lost count of the number of times Osinbajo has ridiculed himself disparaging the elders of his own faith – and he has dared not, not even once, look leaders of the other faith, Islam, in the eyes. Recently, at the 30^th biennial conference of the Students Christian Movement of Nigeria held at Enugu, the VP washed his mouth on Christian leaders again, accusing them of only preaching prosperity while ignoring the fight against corruption. But that is a lie from the pit of hell! If there is any group of Nigerian leaders preaching against corruption and holding the country’s feet to the fire of accountability, transparency, justice, fairness, and equity, they are Christian leaders.

I am of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). What does our General Overseer, the highly revered Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, preach? He preaches holy living, transparency, and humility. He rails against corruption in all its ramifications. What does Rev. WF Kumuyi of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry preach? Baba preaches righteousness and rails against ostentatious and worldly living. What does Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Ministry, aka Winners’ preach? He preaches faith in God, which moves mountains and can do all things. At Dr. Olukoya’s Mountain of Fire, they preach the power and efficacy of prayers for effective deliverance from life-threatening challenges; Sam Adeyemi preaches leadership training for national/kingdom building. There are those church leaders who specialise in deliverance, miracles, signs and wonders. Only a few are prosperity preachers – and even this is biblical. My own bible carries teachings by Christ Jesus on prosperity. My bible contains quotations such as “money answereth all things”. I grew up hearing and knowing that money is the wheel of evangelism. I have heard my own father-in-the-Lord, EA Adeboye, preach that poverty is to be treated by Christians as anathema. He still said so at the recent 66^th Annual Convention of our church. For Osinbajo to leave that convention and go straight to Enugu to trash Christian leaders for not lapping up his and his administration’s warped interpretation of anti-corruption war is a travesty. There is nothing wrong if Christian leaders preach prosperity. It is part and parcel of the scriptures. Christians are meant to prosper in this world. Prosperity is not for unbelievers or the Osinbajos of this world alone. Our fathers were blessed of God – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc. And Abraham’s blessings are ours. Our God promises us the wealth of the heathen – such as belong to those presiding over the killing fields that Nigeria has become today. Our God also boasts that all silver and gold belong unto him. All treasures beneath the earth and above it are our God’s and He has promised not to withhold any from us. Christians, therefore, must eschew poverty. Christian leaders have the bounden duty to preach prosperity to their members. But just as we have stated above, prosperity is not the only sermon that they preach. Our pulpits resonate with all-round preaching on righteousness – which Osinbajo correctly repeats after the Bible that it is righteousness that exalts a nation. If our nation is not exalted all the same, it is because people like Osinbajo have failed to heed preaching. And this is not the fault of Christian leaders.

I am proud of Christian leaders in general; there are bad eggs everywhere but Christian leaders have been up and doing on the average. It is the likes of Osinbajo that we must now ask why they have failed to heed preaching. Why do our leaders feel secure, safe, and comfortable in the midst of evil doers? Is Psalm one not in their own Bible? Why do they turn a blind spot to the daily shedding of innocent blood, more so the blood of fellow Christians, and still sit pretty in office? They even rationalise and defend the mindless killings going on unabated in the land. I was at the RCCG event where Pastor Adeboye warned that if the killings in the country continued, there might be no election in the country in 2019. Osinbajo, were you there? Could you raise your head up at the event? Did you not lower your head? After that, what have you done to stop the killings? What have you done to at least voice your objections to the killings? It continues, even under your watch as acting president. The most basic and important of rights are the right to life and property. The first duty of government, therefore, is the protection of life and property – not the fight against corruption. Stop the pretention! It is when you are alive that you can enjoy the attributes of a corruption-free society. The dead have no need of the lies of any anti-corruption war. Besides, it is another lie from the pit of hell that the Muhammadu Buhari administration is fighting corruption. It is not! What it is doing is using the anti-graft war as a cover to witch-hunt, oppress, and victimize political opponents as well as settle personal scores.  While it is true that every past government has swindled Nigeria – not the Goodluck Jonathan government alone – limiting the fight against corruption to the Jonathan era is another travesty. Unadulterated and undiluted truth which Nigerians know is that corruption is as alive and well under the present government as in previous governments.

So massive is corruption under this government that they are now paying more than Jonathan paid as fuel subsidy. Suddenly, Nigeria alone now consumes more petrol than what West Africa plus Nigeria itself consumed under Jonathan! Suddenly, the NNPC cannot account for the monies it receives on behalf of the country, so much so that monies could not for over a month be distributed to all the three tiers of government. Yet, Buhari is the Minister of Petroleum Resources! Yet, he is Mr. Integrity! If only Osinbajo could understand that he has become the butt of cruel jokes! If only he can imagine what, if any at all, remains of the huge goodwill he entered government with! If Osinbajo grabs a Bible today and climbs up a pulpit, many conscionable Nigerians will walk out of the church! Is he not aware that once a corrupt person defects to his own party, APC, he automatically becomes a saint? How can he be unfazed with the National Assembly shenanigans being stringed together by the government in which he is Number Two, even if titular, and still pretend to retain a modicum of integrity? Our service shall not be unto man but unto God. By the way, Mr. Yemi Osinbajo: Where is Leah Shakibu? Did you consider yourself as holding a fellow Christian duty?

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