THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN NIGERIA’S REVOLUTION

THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN NIGERIA’S REVOLUTION

The recent agitations in Nigeria over the unconscionable increase in the pump price of premium motor spirit (petrol) led by Nigeria’s umbrella body of workers in the public sector, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), with ample support from numerous civil society organizations and several other amorphous bodies in which Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latterrain Assembly and the Save Nigeria Group he helped convene in the difficult days of the Late President Umaru Musa Yar Adua administration took on a lead role got me thinking following the bitter attacks on the fiery clergy man both within and outside Christendom for the role he courageously and selflessly played in the occupy Nigeria rallies.

The attacks on the pastor though numerous and expressed in diverse languages and forms have a thread running through it all; to wit, that Bakare being a servant of God Almighty, and a respected shepherd had no business and ought not to partake in civil disobedience and more mundane is the charge that he is still bitter being the Vice Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change which lost to the Peoples Democratic Party and incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in the last general elections. Dispensing with the latter charge is easy and simple. The pastor merely did his duty to his nation as an opposition figure in Nigeria. What did the Government expect? What is the work of the opposition if not to oppose Government policy, offer an alternative route and ultimately seek to replace the Government in the event that it falls from power. And to oppose this Government on the principled pedestal that the unjustified recent hike in the price of petrol will bring untold hardship to the majority of Nigerians who have roundly and unequivocally rejected same is to obey God. Will these virulent critics do well to remember that the voice of the people is the voice of God still!!.

On the earlier point of criticism which has always fascinated me because the Church in Nigeria does not seem to have a well defined and calculated strategy to intervene in the secular world when it is right and just to do so. The Church in Nigeria does not seem to realize that there is as much prayer can do. The Church does not realize that to help berth a new nation that will respect the rights of citizens, rein in corruption and provide the opportunity for their millions of adherents to thrive is obedience to God’s word. The Church has not factored in the fact that If you pray for a million years, if a man is unable to find work and sustenance he will not be a true Christian for long. This is why we must appreciate the kind of work the likes of Bakare puts into nation building. For faith without works is dead. It profiteth nothing. Many church leaders in Nigeria will only rather remain in their comfort zones because Apostle Paul has admonished them not to be conformed with the world; that they live in this world but are not part of the world. They will gleefully tell you that the believer will not be evenly yoked with the unbeliever, but pray, have Christians (true or false ones) escaped the misery the successive kleptomaniac Governments in Nigeria have unleashed on the citizenry?

The Church in Nigeria now sadly reminds me of the brothers Apostle James admonished in his letter thus: “Dear brothers, what’s the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren’t proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone? If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, and you say to him, “well goodbye and God bless you: stay warm and eat hearty,” and then don’t give him clothes or food, what good does that do? So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all – it is dead and useless”. Does anyone notice how the Church in Nigeria today only seemingly mouth the several clichés like “it is well with you brother”, “the Lord will meet you at your point of need”, “your life will not remain the same”, “sister the man God is preparing for you will show up at the appointed time” and many other such annoying and meaningless tripe without more or is it just me? As things stand now, the impression one gets is that the Church and many Church leaders are only interested in the tithes and offerings of the faithful. This ought not to be so.

It is high time the Church in Nigeria and her leaders left the comfort zone. It is time to get into the trenches as Bakare has always done because the Church is an immense and powerful tool for change in our World, especially in a society like Nigeria. The Church and her leaders in our skewed society has great influence and affluence which must be harnessed as a force for good in society and in doing this, the Church in Nigeria has great and worthy examples. Western civilization was built on Judo – Christian principles even though much of this has been eroded and the nations of the West are no longer just Christian nations, whatever they once were. It is true that many of their Cathedrals have become empty monuments to Christianity but it cannot be denied that many mighty men of the clergy and even the laity have risen in the past to demand change and affect the cause of history thereby transforming their societies profoundly and leaving legacies that are until this day a shining beacon to the good the Church and men of God can do in society. Men like the German, Martin Luther of the old European Church. American preacher and civil rights leader of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Great leader of the Catholic Church of recent memory, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II.

King’s life is particularly inspiring in this regard. He confronted tyranny, segregation and poverty on the streets of America (in the slums of the South and in the glittering streets of the North). The civil rights movement he led awakened the conscience of America and today his life, struggle, writings and speeches inspire still.

Bishop Eivind Berggrav of Norway, a Lutheran Bishop known as the primate of the Church of Norway and remembered for his unyielding resistance against the Nazi occupation of Norway during World War II even though he was under isolated house arrest during most of the war, battled the evils of Nazism while remaining loyal to God and his beliefs. The renowned Bishop wrote “when a Government becomes lawless and acts with arbitrary despotism, the result is a demonic condition, that is to say, the Government is Godless. To obey such a satanic government would be nothing short of sinful…In circumstances of this kind, we have as a matter of principle the right to rebel in one form or another’’.

Irish Carmelite Bishop, Donal Raymond Larmont, the Catholic Emeritus Bishop of Umtali (now Mutare), Zimbabwe opposed the racist policies of the then Rhodesian Government of Ian D. Smith and its efforts to establish a racially segregated State on the South African model. He similarly wrote on the duty of the Church and Christians to actively seek the good of Society by works and action thus: “Have not those who honestly believe that they fight for the basic human rights of their people a justifiable claim on the Church for the Spiritual administration of the Clergy. How can one counsel loyalty and obedience to your ordinances when to do so is tantamount to giving approval to the manifold injustices you inflict? To keep silence about one reign of oppression in order the better to combat what you alone consider to be another, is wholly unacceptable’’.

These powerful men of faith and humble servants of God I believe have fittingly pointed the way in which the Church in Nigerian should go though I appreciate why the Church may be reluctant or is unable to willingly do this at this time in history but the Church in Nigeria will do well to consider these words of Reginald Stackhouse in the book “Christianity and Politics” that “On the one hand, it is clear that the Church has a mission to the political part of the world. On the other hand, there are reasons why many Christians hesitate to undertake their mission. Obviously, the solution to the dilemma is not simply to choose between two wrongs, but as it were, to go through the horns of the dilemma”.

If the Church in Nigeria will go through the horns of the dilemma as one man, Bakare has done, then the Church will take a lead role in the Nigerian revolution which was partially ignited at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park (named in honour of that indefatigable and indomitable lawyer, human rights crusader and freedom fighter of distinction) Ojota, Lagos whilst the protests tagged ‘’occupy Nigeria’’ lasted. The Church is the body of Christ on earth. It must therefore stand for the truth and stand for the political and economic wellbeing of her millions of adherents for you may not any longer divorce those from spiritual wellbeing. These are very dark times in the life of our nation and the Church as the harbinger of truth and life must seek to shed light in the nook and dark crevices of our nation.

The struggle is non violent and the Arab spring has shown that the weapon of non violence which was effectively used by Mohandas Ghandi in the liberation of India and which was a potent weapon in the hands of the American Civil rights crusaders led by King is still relevant in our world today. I believe the Church in Nigeria can wholeheartedly and with no sense of betraying her Christian faith identify and actively partake in Nigeria’s revolution for as King wrote describing one of the several Civil rights marches “There is nothing wrong with marching in this sense. (Yes, sir) The Bible tells us that the mighty men of Joshua merely walked about the walled city of Jericho (Yes) and the barriers to freedom came tumbling down’’. Let us march if we must march with the Church in Nigeria in the forefront for if the Nigerian State collapses, if it goes down in ruins, there will be no Church, there will be no adherents and there will be no Church leaders.

The Church in Nigeria cannot remain silent and indifferent in the face of monumental corruption, deprivation, poverty and disease. The Church must go beyond rhetoric’s. The Church must fight corruption in the body of Christ and in Society. The Church must provide both material and logistics support to the cause of Nigeria’s revolution. The Church can no longer acquiesce in prayer alone for Bakare also prays and we all pray. If all we did was pray and go about our businesses without the occupy Nigeria rallies at Ojota then chances are that we will all be buying petrol at One Hundred and Forty One Naira (N 141, 00) or more today. We would not have been able to send them the message that our country has changed, that we will be back to occupy and take back our country one day soon.

Stephen O. Obajaja Esq. is a Partner at the Lagos Law Firm of Fountain Court Partners.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA

Fountain Court Partners

Block 36B, LSPDC Estate

Ogudu Road

Ojota – Lagos.

08052066172.