Dear Venerable Pastors:
After a lot of inner turmoil concerning the situation in Nigeria, I
decide to write you this open letter. Each time I visit Nigeria I
experience a deep inner threat as to the direction of the country.
I have deliberately addressed this open letter to the two of you out
of more than dozen Nigerian Pentecostal and Charismatic Preachers with
Mega Churches both at home and overseas. Three of you including Pastor
Tunde Bakare in my view, are the only influential men of God in our
country that Nigerians hold in awe and high esteem.
Pastor Bakare is not included in this letter because he is already a
proven combatant in the war against oppression, corruption, and
injustice that have become the trade mark of the Nigerian ruling class.
You’re a target of this letter in order to conscript you as it were,
into the people’s army of non-violence to be soldiers in the long
running battle of oppression that has decimated Nigeria as well as her
citizens.
Fifty three years ago, Nigeria became independent after a century of
British rule. October 1, 1960 became a momentous occasion and a beacon
of light and hope to millions of Africans and other oppressed people in
the world.
Fifty three years after independence, Nigeria remains a symbolic
elephant casting off the colonial yoke; and today is being replaced with
a new authoritarian yoke of a representative democracy.
Since independence, the antecedents of Nigeria’s crisis has acquired a
drama all its own. The historical genesis of the Nigerian crisis is
well known to you. Therefore, I don’t intend to bore you with annoying
repetition.
Just as the prophets of the eight century BC under the mandate of
“thus saith the Lord,” deployed their Gospel of Liberation to fight
religious, political, social, and economic injustice and oppression in
their hometown and far beyond the boundaries of their land; so also
you’re called to take up the mantle of the struggle in today’s
contemporary Nigeria.
Like Apostle Paul, who initiated, instigated, encouraged, and fought
for the oppressed in the Greco-Roman world, and championed the gospel of
freedom, likewise you must NOW respond to the Macedonian call for help!
I’ll like to remind you that to fail to confront when confrontation
is required for the freedom of the oppressed represents a spiritual as
well as moral failure. To confront or criticize is a form of exercising
leadership. It is nothing less than an attempt to influence the course
of events human or otherwise. When we confront or criticize someone it
is because we want to change the course of the person’s life.
The two of you are highly regarded for your enviable humility. The
paradox of being humble is the more humble one is, the more one is awed
by the fear in exercising leadership with activism: Who am I to
influence the course of human event? By what authority am I entitled to
decide what is best for my country or the human race? Who give me the
right to dare to believe in my own understanding and then to presume to
exert my will upon Nigeria? Who am I to play God? That is the risk.
For whenever we attempt to influence the course of the world, of
humanity, we’re thereby playing God. To act is to play God. Yet, we also
know that there is no alternative except inaction and impotence. Within
this consciousness the apostles of old assumed the responsibility of
attempting to be God and not to carelessly play God, but to fulfill
God’s will without mistake.
I’m troubled by your deafening silence and inaction to the
subjugation, repression, oppression, exploitation, injustice, and
impoverishment of the poor by the greedy and corrupt ruling class. I
realize that siding with the poor against your friends in government may
not be most politically correct thing for you to do. But your inaction
is coming at the cost of our God given freedom and the pursuit of
happiness.
Many Nigerians remain confused about the ways religion relates to
government and the way politics intersects with religion. For this
reason, some people actively discourage political participation and most
will remain silent.
I believe the church should be involved in political activism with
the primary objective to fight tyranny of government whenever and
wherever it exists. Some pastors see themselves as religious leaders.
They believe the role of the church is to focus on the spiritual needs
of their congregation and perform charitable works to aid the needy. To
this group of pastors, the social-political activism I’m calling for
amounts to dangerous radicalism.
I’m the least qualified to stress to you the importance of discipline
of theological reflection: it causes one to constantly aware of God’s
hand and leading in every aspect of life. It is expected therefore that
you should lead from a posture of being led.
If I may ask, what role if any, do you see for yourselves as
religious leaders in a political society with tyrants, oppressors,
thieves, and wolves as rulers who are devouring the very sheep you’re
called to shepherd and save? The twin expectations of your discipleship
are serving the spiritual needs of your congregants while at the same
time serving the “outsiders.” This is the meeting point of interaction
between religion and public life.
The challenge before you now is to go where you would rather not go –
to lead the people to confront the tyranny of the majority in Abuja –
Aso Rock and the National Assembly. This is the challenge of “somebody
else will take you” by Jesus to Peter:
“In all truth I tell you
When you were young
you put on your belt
and walked where you liked;
but when you grow old
you will stretch your hands
and somebody else will put a belt around you
and take you where you would rather not go.” (John 21:18)
Soon after Peter has been commissioned to be a leader of his sheep,
Jesus confronts him with the hard truth that the servant-leader is the
leader who is being led to unknown, undesirable, and painful place.
Just like Jesus told Peter that he would be an old man being led by
others to place he would rather not go, so also Nigerians are pleading,
urging you to be willing to plunge yourselves into the indescribable
crisis of political, economic, and social injustice destroying the
multitude of the Nigerian poor caused by the ruling class. To be in the
forefront leading the poor, confronting a tyrannical government to end
its wickedness in high places, I believe will be the high octane
attention and expectations of your discipleship.
As you well know, the way of the Christian leader is not upward
mobility the mantra of the world, rather the downward mobility which
ends on the cross. The Christian leadership I’m calling you to embrace
is not a leadership of power and control, but of powerlessness and
humility. By powerlessness and humility I do not mean a weak leadership
position that renders Christian leaders as passive victims. It is not
Christian leadership without spine who let people make decisions for
them. It is a Christian leadership that is “radically poor, journeying
with nothing except a staff – “no bread, no haversack, no money, no
spare tunic” (Mark 6:8). The “radically poor,” leadership allows you to
be led and suffer with the poor.
I understand that there is the temptation for you to be relevant to
your congregation and to influence the new converts to the Lord as in
what you can offer in terms of their needs and their desires, etc. You
don’t need to be relevant leaders only to your congregants. I believe
now is the time for you to adopt a radically counter-culture tactic: to
be like Jesus you must give your power away, divest yourselves of human
privilege and status, and practice the downward mobility of Christ.
It is now – this is it – the opportunity for you to radically
redefine the meaning of your spiritual leadership. It’s time to put off
the yolk of Mega Churches and ally yourselves with the oppressed poor of
this nation so that you can make impact and be more relevant to the
99.9% poverty stricken Nigerians.
You are positioned and privileged to be the Christian leaders of the
future (and the future is now) who are called to be completely
irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but your own
vulnerable selves. That’s the way Jesus came to reveal God’s love.
If you’re sick, you need a competent doctor, if you are poor, you
need a competent politician, if there are technical problems, you need
competent engineers, if there are wars, you need competent negotiators.
Is Nigeria a sick nation? Yes you bet! Are Nigerians poor, no doubt. Do
we have competent politicians from the president to governors to
federal, state, and local government legislators? Absolutely not!
God and ministers have been used for centuries to fill the gaps of
incompetence. It happened in the Bible. It was replicated in the United
States. And of course it was duplicated in South Africa and elsewhere.
Needless to remind you, Nigerians are hurting, they are sick spiritually
and physically, they are hungry, they are homeless, they are jobless,
they are useless, they are hopeless, they are helpless, they are
pulverized by extreme poverty, neglect, abuse, and disuse. These
Nigerians are extended families of your congregations – mothers,
fathers, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, cousins,
uncles, nephews, and nieces.
You will find God’s charge to Prophet Isaiah instructive and
compelling to mobilize, organize, and lead the masses like Martin Luther
King Jr. and other clergy men of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), Reverend Leon Sullivan (Lion of Philadelphia), Bishop
Tutu, Albert Luthuli (author of the bestselling book Let My People Go)
and other preachers too many to mention.
Isaiah, one of the greatest prophets in Jewish history and one of the
most powerful models in the Bible was known in his days for his
uncompromising convictions, and clear vision that drove him to continue
speaking out despite the unfaithfulness of his people. His convictions
teach us about avoiding ungodly compromise. Isaiah furnishes a beautiful
case study of a leader who led from vision that brought about national
reforms.
Listen to God’s mandate to Isaiah:
“Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My
people (the wicked, corrupt Nigerian rulers) … To loose the bonds of
wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed (Nigerians)
go free.” …”If you take the yoke from your mist, The pointing of the
finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the
darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday … And you shall be
called the Repairer of (Nigeria) the Breach, And restorer of Streets to
Dwell in.”
Evangelization is good. Planting churches all over the world is
desirable. But God delights not merely in his people going without some
daily staples, but in loosing the “burden of wickedness” and undoing
“heavy burdens” of the oppressors in government.
God is calling on you to fight the destructive agenda and oppressive
attitudes of the ruling class. Ethics supply the foundation of our
values. Values supply the power that drives leadership. Moses led
without compromise because his life was controlled by his popularity
with God, not popularity with people.
It’s time for you to leave the theological elite world of popularity
to experience and tell the Biblical story of Jesus and his compassionate
and loving kindness to the poor and the oppressed by leading the
protest and agitation against the oppressors of God’s children.
Nigerians remain shackled in many ways to the past and face a
difficult and unpredictable future. They are living a suffocating
existence. Here is my suggestion on what you could do to help free
Nigerians from oppression, injustice, and poverty:
Form a non-violence and Civil Rights organization of Christian
leaders patterned after the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
founded in 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other Baptist
ministers. The organization will fight on behalf of the poor using the
non-violent method – civil disobedience – the idea of not cooperating
with evil system:
(a) Organize a poor people’s campaign to address issues of economic justice – economic bill of rights for poor Nigerians.
(b) Set up mobilization committees to end unemployment and
corruption, to fight for decent housing for the poor, voting reforms,
education reforms, judicial reforms, police reforms, and
infrastructures.
(c) March on Abuja for jobs, social welfare, and social security
for senior citizens, and provision of 21st century hospitals.
As leaders of the proposed organization, you should maintain policy
of not publicly endorsing any political party or candidate. This would
allow you to look objectively at the parties and be the conscience of
all – not the servant or master of any of the parties. The parties have
not served Nigerians well.
The record of non-violence/civil disobedience has been very
impressive. Successful precedents of non-violence include Mohandas K.
Ghandi’s challenge to the might of British Empire and Dr. King’s
objection to White America racism. They used and relied solely on the
weapons of truth, soul force, non-injury and courage.
Just like Ghandi and King had been influenced by Jesus’ teaching on
nonresistance to evil force so also as Christian leaders you should
follow their examples and make Nigeria a better country. Revolt against
injustice is not only honorable, but it is imperative.
One of the greatest remedies for our own suffering is serving others.
Servant-leadership becomes a solution for both the one serving and the
one being served.
Venerable Pastors, consider this: your righteousness on this matter will answer for you in time to come!
Sincerely,
BJO
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