As controversies rage over the veracity or otherwise of the leaked telephone conversation between Mr Peter Obi and Pastor David Oyedepo, the General Overseer of Winners chapel, some people are beginning to thank God that Peter Obi did not win the 2023 Presidential election after all. They wonder what would have been the fate of the country if he had won the election, which he was heard refer to as “a religious war” in the said telephone conversation.
In a multi-religious country as Nigeria, it will be desperation carried too far to make such an inflammatory comment. No wonder most of his campaigns were done in churches where you hear him make such declaration as, “Church take back your country”.
More shocking was the fact that most of the churches in Nigeria converted their altars/pulpits from which solemn & sacred messages of the gospel are supposed to be administered to campaign podiums, thereby desecrating the house of God , campaigning for their anointed candidate, Peter Obi. They abandoned the cardinal objectives of preaching love, tolerance, charity and righteousness, which are the hallmark of Christ’s attributes and teachings.
It became so worrisome and surprising that some pastors publicly & unbelievably opened their mouths from these pulpits to reign curses, insults, and abuses on the person of Bola Ahmed Tinubu .
I praise the courage of Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka who saw these anomalies in the church and openly appologised on behalf of the Nigeria churches and pastors. The big question is, are these so-called churches truly God’s own, that are supposed to propagate the virtues of Christian religion as exemplified by Christ Himself?
When you observe what happens in churches these days, you will be right to answer no to the above question, thus lending credence to what our Lord Jesus Christ said in the Bible, “Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter the kingdom of God, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven”. In this regard, the view expressed by Mahatma Gandhi of India about Christianity made sense & cannot be faulted, when he said, “I love your Christ, but I hate your Christianity, your Christians are so unlike your Christ”. I wonder what he would have said of Nigerian Christians currently.
Those who do the will of God are Christly Christians who are imbibed with the virtues of charity, tolerance, and hospitality in love.
When you place Peter Obi side by side with Bola Ahmed Tinubu in terms of observance of these virtues, Bola Tinubu ranks higher, especially in charity, which is one of the bedrocks of Christianity and Godliness.
Emphasising the importance of charity, Francis Quarles, an English poet said, “Flatter not thyself in thy faith in God if thou hast not charity for thy neighbour”. Still about charity, St. Thomas Aquinas enthused, “Charity brings to life those who are spiritually dead”.
Also, Aesop, a Greek fabulist said, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”.
Mother Teresa, mother of charity underscoring the importance of charity, stated thus, “Charity is not about pity, it is about love”.
Mahatma Gandhi of India also said , “ The simplest acts of charity are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in Prayers”.
Bola Tinubu, in his act of service/governance as Lagos State Governor was charitable and generous enough not to restrict his cabinet appointments to Lagosians alone, but spread the same to other ethnic nationalities, including Igbos. Again, in his acts of charity and generosity, he had empowered and mentored countless numbers of persons without placing emphasis on ethnicity and religious background. Compare these Christian virtues of his with the other candidates, including Peter Obi.
Still comparing Peter Obi’s charity disposition with that of Bola Tinubu, may I narrate a personal experience. Some time in 2007, I was invited to Peter Obi’s presentation of his account of stewardship in the house of Late Commodore Ndubuisi Kanu in Victoria Island, Lagos in my capacity as the then President of Catholic Brothers United.
After the event, I and the person I attended the event with approached Mr Obi privately to solicit for his personal financial support for the charity and evangelical works of the Catholic Young Men Association, now Catholic Brothers United, for which he was/is one of the patrons right from when I was the President. He shocked us by saying that he was looking for money to develop Anambra State and so he could not give anything.
Meanwhile, we did not ask that he gives us Anambra State’s money, but his personal donation. About the same year, at one of our annual lecture series to which we invited all our patrons/patronesses, including Peter Obi.
During donation time, one Honourable Michael Ogunnusi, who is also one of our patrons, gave his personal donation and thereafter presented a donation of N150,000 from Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Now, who actually acted like a Christian? Is it Peter Obi, our patron and a Christian who said he was looking for money to develop Anambra State and didn’t give anything for the works of charity or Bola Tinubu, who is neither a Christian nor the patron of a Christian organisation but gave something for our charity works ?
When you trace back to the State of Anambra in 2014 after Obi’s 8 years of stewardship, there is nothing spectacular, compared to the tenure of Tinubu as governor of Lagos State. Tinubu performed excellently as the Governor of Lagos State, laying a solid foundation for a modern Lagos and bequeathing to Lagosians, the legacy of development that subsequent governors have been building upon.
I know that in response to the above narration, some people will be tempted to begin to “cast the first stone” by usurping the power of God to judge Tinubu, that “he did that and stole that”. To such people, may I admonish that they be cautious and take counsel from the saying of Mother Teresa that, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them” and from Joy Marino/Pinterest who said, “Every time you judge someone, you reveal a part of yourself that needs healing”.
Assuming, without conceding, that they were right that Tinubu did that and stole that, don’t you reason that his act of charity would have saved him from death, purged him of or covered his multitude of sins, if any, according to the Bible in 1 Peter 4 : 8, Tobit 12 : 9 and 4 :10-11? Do you not also think that, according to Mahatma Gandhi of India, Tinubu’s “simplest acts of charity are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayers”?
Indeed , Tinubu’s acts of generosity, track record of achievements, detribalised standing , religious tolerant attributes and mentorship acumen are by far more than Peter Obi’s frequent visits to churches for campaigns. It is not surprising that despite the prayers of thousands of churches and their pastors, at the end of the day, Bola Tinubu won the election.
Unfortunately, after Tinubu’s election victory, some churches, and their pastors have started again to curse, insult and abuse the President-elect, saying that the election was rigged, discrediting the electrol system, employing all manner of hate speeches, provoking the so-called “obidients” to embark on violent protests, not withstanding that Peter Obi had gone to court to challenge the outcome of the election.
The “obidients” should know that as you stretch one finger to point to a rigger, the rest of the four fingers are pointing back to you. I say this because I personally witnessed intimidation and beating of some voters who I convinced to vote for Tinubu in the polling unit in my village during the February 25 Presidential election by the so-called “Obidients”. They nearly lynched me, which resulted in my rushing back to Lagos the next day from my village after the Presidential election.
Let me say this and I say it as a Christian with clear conscience & with out making any bones , that the 2023 Presidential election , though with some pockets of irregularities here & there perpetuated by the three major political parties ( APC, PDP & LP) , was one of the freest and fairest elections in Nigerian history and Tinubu won clean and clear to become the President-elect . Consiquently he is God’s annointed candidate and if Obidients or other voilent opposition groups like , let them activate their voilent protests to double the ones done in the United States of America in January 6, 2021 by Trump supporters, Tinubu will be inaugurated as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come May 29, 2023, Q.E.D .
• Uba is the National Coordinator, no alternative to Tinubu 2023 (NATT 2023) .