Politicians’ desperate appeal to religion as a
resort of last line of hope when confronted
with firm failure is at once ubiquitous in nature
and repetitive historically. Ordinarily,
politicians ought not to be thugs and rogues;
they ought to be leaders chosen by the larger
society to administer the land on behalf of all
members of the given society. The constitution
and other extant laws of the land make that
otherwise difficult administrative job a very
easy one. Unfortunately, as events have
revealed over the years, particularly in our
nation Nigeria, politicians, because of their
materialism and acquisitiveness, are more of
problem-creators than problem-solvers. They fail again and again where they should
have succeeded; they steal where they should
not have stolen; they lie where simple truth
should have been told; and they deceive where
acting in a straightforward manner would have
sufficed. This is the tragic situation of our
shameless and dishonourable politicians in
Nigeria. Then, when it becomes certain that the
failed leader is about to be thrown out of
office, having incurred the justifiable anger of
the electorates, he suddenly begins to appeal
to religion. He claims that he is a Christian or
Muslim; he openly identifies with some
religious leaders of his proclaimed faith, and in
turn, expects all adherents of the faith he
bogusly lays claim to, to support him. And this
just for political benefit.
This is President Goodluck Jonathan’s situation
at the moment as he faces a more than cloudy
presidential election in 2015. It is clear that
Nigeria, a not so fortunate country with regard
to qualitative leadership, is terribly divided
along politically created religious fracture lines.
The fact remains that no President, in the
history of this nation, has succeeded, through
complicit actions and inactions, in polarising the
nation as much as President Goodluck
Jonathan. This fact is already in the public
domain. My concern however, is to expose the
underbelly motivation of Mr. President’s
handlers’ religious hoodwinking of Christians in
Nigeria. Christians need to know that they need
not rush to give support to just any leader who
mouths Christianity, without carrying out
diagnostic examination of such a leader. The
Bible enjoins us to “prove all things; hold fast
that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
To begin with, there’s nothing wrong with
Christians in Nigeria giving wholehearted
support to another Christian who aspires to any
political office in the land, provided that the
said Christian is a Christian indeed, and that he
possesses leadership qualities to move the
nation in the right direction. As a matter of
fact, in our pluralistic nation, just anyone who,
irrespective of religious affiliation and
inclination, has character, wit, insight, generous
spirit, self-control, resolve, honesty and a clear
picture of where the nation ought to be, as well
as the understanding of how to get there, can
aspire to be anything in the country and get the
support of the electorates.
In President Jonathan’s case, the undeclared
reason for his appeal to religion is simply to
take advantage of the numerical strength of
Christians among the Nigerian electorates. This
is sad. The rush and push currently going on in
certain quarters within Christian circles in
Nigeria today is totally political and shameful;
and all is being done to give undue support to a
non-performing president because he is
supposedly a Christian. This is not the Bible.
The God of the Bible, in actual sense, hounours
only responsible people. He demands that
leaders be accountable and faithful (1Cor.4:2).
Therefore, Christian leaders ought to help Mr.
President become more accountable, and
rescue him from terribly political pettiness
being displayed at the moment.
Let’s consider this important question: should
we even consider President Jonathan a
President with Christian character? I think not!
But wait a minute; am I in a position to
determine whether or not an individual is a
Christian? Scripturally speaking, the simple
answer is yes. In Matthew 7:21, the Lord Jesus
said, “Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven” . The implication of
this passage is that open declaration of one’s
religious standing, church membership,
hobnobbing with credible and influential
Christian leaders, as well as financial donations
to churches does not confer Christianity on
anyone. In fact, the above is totally useless
without the heart and attributes of Christianity.
To know who a Christian is, the Bible
recommends that you look at what he does,
and how he does it; check his character.
And then, the Holy Scripture also tells us that
we know people – genuine Christians, fake
Christians, genuine leaders, not-so-genuine
leaders, totally corrupt leaders etc. – by their
fruits. The Lord Jesus said, “A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know
them” (Matthew 7:18 & 20). The Lord Jesus
simply said, just look critically at people, see
what they do, how they do it, check the fruits
they produce, and you will easily understand
where they belong. They may claim they are
God’s, but when you check the fruits of their
lives, you will understand to whom they
belong.
The word of God then explains how a Christian
– and this, all the more, applies to a leader –
should conduct himself. The first of these
points to be considered here is that a Christian
is expected to keep his word. His word should
be his bound. He should keep his promises and
not be given to frivolities. This is how the Bible
puts it: “So speak ye, and so do, as they that
shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James
2:12). This is God’s standard. Do what you say
or promise with your own mouth. Now does
Mr. President keep his word? I’m sure he does
not! I’ll give some examples shortly. But before
the examples, please understand that he can
still be supported by those who still wish to
support him; however, that support should not
be based on the fact that he says he is a
Christian. Not at all! This is so because he’s not
a man who keeps his word, and Christians, real
Christians, do keep their words.
In 2011, while going around begging for votes,
these were the words of Mr. President: "I do
not make empty promises in my campaign
because whatever I promise to do, I had
already carried out adequate study to make
sure I can accomplish it in the next four years."
This was on the 27th of February in Onitsha,
Anambra State. But the truth, as available to us
all, is that he did promise, but then he failed to
fulfill his promises.
On the 12th of March, 2011 in Abeokuta, he
promised to revive ailing oil refineries and
build new ones. The available fact, as at today,
is that Mr. President merely deceived people
into voting for him with that empty promise,
because as we all know, no ailing oil refinery
has been revived, not to talk of building new
ones. I know his supporters can come up with a
million and one reasons why he didn’t fulfill
that promise; but the fact still remains that he
did not fulfill his promise. Then on the 31st of
March, the same year in Abuja, he promised to
expand and develop the downstream sector of
the oil and gas industry to provide about one
million jobs. Today, we are still waiting for
these jobs in the downstream sector of the oil
and gas industry.
Earlier, in Awka on February 26, he said he
would construct all the major roads which link
Anambra with its neighbors; complete the
ongoing aero-dynamic survey of gas in the
Anambra River basin; complete the second
Niger Bridge; and complete the Onitsha Inland
Port. Nigerians would not be talking about
generators by the time his four years in office
would have ended, he guaranteed. It is about
four years since these promises were made;
however, if a Nigerian today does not have his
own generator, it is because he is financially
incapable to procure one. The promises were
largely unfulfilled. Did Mr. President lack
anything he needed in fulfilling these
promises? Did he lack money, hands, time or
occasion? None that I know. He just won’t do
what he said he would do.
The above are few of the many unfulfilled
promises, pledges and vows of Mr. President. I
want to say that no Christian in Nigeria should
be deceived into voting for Mr. President in
2015 because he lays claim to Christianity; he
should simply be judged by his performance in
office. He should be seen as a person – the
current President of the country, who made
several promises in 2011 while campaigning,
and who failed to fulfill those promises – and
be treated as such. This is the foundation upon
which his re-election or rejection in 2015
should be based, not some useless religious
mawkishness.
But then, there are other two important points
we need to consider in this discourse: integrity
and skillfulness. As far as God is concerned,
these two qualities are central to leadership,
and without them, no one in any leadership
position, in the eyes of the Almighty God, could
be considered successful. Hear the Bible: “He
chose David also his servant, and took him
from the sheepfolds: from following the
ewes great with young he brought him to
feed Jacob his people, and Israel his
inheritance. So he fed them according to the
integrity of his heart ; and guided them by
the skillfulness of his hands” (Psalm
78:70-72).
That’s the Bible talking about David. In this
passage, David’s background as well as his
emergence to leadership was examined. God
took David from following animals and made
him a King. He named him His servant and
empowered him for just a reason: to feed His
(God’s) people, the Israelites. Now this is one
important purpose of leadership: feeding,
supporting, sustaining, nourishing, nurturing,
encouraging, maintaining, strengthening and
bolstering the led. Can we say this is what is
currently obtainable in the nation under
President Goodluck Jonathan? I think not. With
the very basic requirement for meaningful
living in the 21st century – electricity – almost
totally missing in most homes, it is clear that
the major focus of this administration is not to
feed the poor, but to feed on the poor.
King David, having understood his assignment,
settled down to lead his people, employing two
important qualities in the process. First, he led
his country with the integrity of his heart. He
was a man in possession of very firm
principles; wholly dedicated to his business,
and displayed uncommon veracity in his
dealings with his followers. Integrity requires
that a leader be open and truthful. Integrity
drives a worthy leader to eschew corruption
and fight it. It equally demands that the leader
be true to the laws of the land and not try to
circumvent any aspect of it. A leader with
integrity has nothing to hide from his
followers, and he constantly fights and
punishes, according the laws of the land, those
engaged in sleaze. Can we say this is the
situation in our nation under President
Jonathan? Again, I think not.
Nigerians have not forgotten the recent
stinking revelation of how the current Minister
of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-
Madueke, squandered 10 billion naira while
junketing around. In the revelation, which the
House of Representatives later passed a
resolution to probe, it was alleged that the
minister spent the amount to charter and
maintain a jet for her personal use. As shocking
as the embarrassing news was, the President
has not found any reason to reprimand the
minister for spending 130 million naira per
month to maintain the aircraft in just two
years. Were we blessed with a President who
understands integrity and deals with us in the
integrity of his heart, this reckless act would
have been thoroughly dealt with. There won’t
be any reason to bother you with other well-
known corruption issues and cases around this
government. But what is plain and obvious to
all is that this is one administration that lacks
integrity.
Now if President Jonathan willingly and
consciously flouts important scriptural
requirements and recommendations; if he
chooses to scoff at the divine principle of
integrity, should I then blindly follow him,
simply because he claims he is a Christian just
like me? This is my point. No Christian
anywhere in the nation should allow himself to
be sold a dummy. We should not be herded
into wrongdoing simply because we have a
“professing”, but in actual sense, a scripture-
breaking Christian as our president. However,
if an individual Christian, given his own
conviction of the president’s performance and
integrity, decides to vote for him next year,
fine. The issue being that the Christian is
voting, not because he is glad that the aspiring
leader is a “Christian” and not a Muslim, but
because the would-be leader is worthy and
owns integrity.
The second virtue employed by David in his
leadership adventure was skillfulness. Political
and administrative skillfulness is possessing
competence, adeptness, dexterity and
proficiency in handling issues and situations in
a way that avoids sloppiness, clumsiness and
wastage. It is the hallmark of very capable
leaders. It is a virtue that a nation like Nigeria
needs in her leaders because of the inherent
ability of this singular virtue to clean up built-
up political muddle and clutter. Where
unfortunately this quality is lacking in a
leadership endeavour, as is currently the case
with President Jonathan, disorder, disarray and
chaos ensue. It is lack of skillfulness that causes
a president to confer unconstitutional powers
on ex-militants, freeing them to move around
in convoys with security men, while reputable
men are being hounded for saying their mind.
Imagine the one big ball of mess the nation has
suddenly become, all because political and
administrative skillfulness in missing. The way
political issues and other sundry happenings in
Nigeria have been handle by this
administration really puts mud on the faces of
Nigerians. It is the case of continual falling into
one scandal after another, with the most recent
one usually being more potent than the
previous. Consider the latest in the series of
misadventures of an administration void of
political dexterity and steeped in error – the
invasion of the National Assembly by security
men.
While this act has been roundly condemned by
people of wit and imagination in the country,
the President is yet to see anything wrong with
that assault and insult. And why would he? The
unfortunate blitz obviously serves hisF
purpose. It makes one to wonder whether the
President have people who advise him at all.
After all, even when a president is not
particularly skillful, he still can tap into the
skillfulness of brilliant and able souls within the
country. With the way things stand at the
moment, it is clear that the nation is being
ruled by someone with shortage of political and
administrative skillfulness, and Christians need
to be reminded that God demands skillfulness
in leaders that must deliver.
As a function of the above, the important
question all Christians, indeed all Nigerians,
need to ask before being goaded into voting
based on religious or political sentiment is
whether we are ready to withstand and
stomach another four years of unproductive,
completely messy political space dominated by
shoddiness, corruption, unresponsiveness and a
sense of despair never known to Nigerians
since the end of the civil war. The crucial
question is whether we are willing to endure
President Goodluck Jonathan till 2019!
That idea, that thought alone, for me, is
frightening! A president who doesn’t keep his
own words, fights dirty, institutes and
promotes ethnic racketeering, unable to
manage rather commonplace and
uncomplicated situations is, undoubtedly, not
the person Nigerians need for the next four
years of our national life.

Indeed!!!

2015 Valentine's day should please come and go. The noise from both sides is getting too much.
One says "stealing is not corruption" while the other said "Abacha did not loot". And Nigerians are to choose one of them as their messiah which kind assignment be that?

Are there no important parts of this epistle that can be highlighted and pasted?

Op do you expect me to read this badly formated novel?

Am allergic to epistles

Geezzz!

I know the OP has many things against Paragraphing.

More like reading the dead sea scrolls.

Op, go and read this epistle to them at the National Assembly.

After all, they get "sitting" allowance...

https://www.nairaland.com/2022854/lies-president-jonathan-being-christian .....old topic

https://www.nairaland.com/2022854/lies-president-jonathan-being-christian .....old topic