Doing Politics God’s Way

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By Tunde Bakare

With a heavy heart and great trepidation, I stand before you this first Sunday of the year, 2011 bringing you a message of hope in our seemingly hopeless  situation. In the apostolic tradition of the likes of Saint Paul, the apostle, I stand in the place of weakness trusting God to make His strength perfect in  our weakness. Hear Paul as recorded for us in 1 Corinthians 2: 1- 5 (NKJV):

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be  in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Why so much weakness, fear and trembling? Because, according to Scriptures again, those who know the terror of God should persuade men: 2 Corinthians 5: 7 –  11

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good  or bad.

Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

Permit me this morning to speak on the theme: Doing Politics God’s Way. For those who think God is apolitical, you may have to do a re-think, because the  Good Book says: “The Most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever he wills. And sets over it the lowest of men.” (Daniel 4:17) Not only  that, “He changes the times and the seasons, He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.  He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.” (Daniel 2:21 – 23)

Looking across our nation, it appears the political class has forgotten one critical factor, namely the God factor. The year 2010 ended with bomb blasts in  Jos and Abuja, the Federal Capital. Churches were burnt down, innocent citizens were murdered in cold blood in their hundreds and many are left wounded in  hospitals. What is so diminishing about this entire sad event is the arrogance of the bombers and the helplessness of the victims. Even the government at the  state and federal levels appear incompetent to handle the grave situation and bring order to our chaos. Right under the watch of our elected officials,  including the Commander-in-Chief, our nation is fast becoming a terrorist enclave in spite of years of denial. One of the most bizarre pictures I saw in the  newspapers was that of the Director General, National Emergency Management Agency and a victim of the Jos, Plateau State bombings at the Jos University  Teaching Hospital (front page, The Punch, Thursday, December 30, 2010). What kind of national emergency is this? Self-inflicted emergency perpetrated by  known ‘special citizens’ and sacred cows who are above the law? It is clear that the political class has rolled out the drums of war and they have begun  shedding the blood of war in the time of peace. So far, both those in power and those seeking power have said nothing concrete condemning these dastardly  acts across the nation or provided counter-measures by fishing out the bombers and their sponsors and bringing them to justice.

The root of our present dilemma can be traced to the utterances of the leading candidates in the contest for the PDP presidential ticket. Their provocative  and unfortunate comments have portrayed them as power mongers who do not mind if Nigeria is set ablaze as long as they can grab power. The fallouts of their  reckless comment are already bearing fruits of destruction as evident in various bomb blasts in Jos, Yenagoa, in Abuja on New Year’s eve, violence in Borno,  and political killings in Ibadan and other places.

It is a shame that at the same time Nigeria is at the head of the ECOWAS plan to use military might to resolve the logjam in Cote d’Ivoire, our political  elites are brewing a crisis in our nation that would make the situation in Gbagbo’s republic a child’s play.

It is now incumbent on all who want the peace of Nigeria not to watch as these desperate people go on sinking the nation’s boat. In 2011, the political  gladiators themselves should reflect soberly on the story in 1 Kings 20, especially verse 11, as they draw strength from their forces and proverbial war  chests:

So the king of Israel answered and said, “Tell him, ‘Let not the one who puts on his armour boast like the one who takes it off.” This, to us, is ‘VERDICT  2011.

Now, the God factor in politics

In ancient history, the likes of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, learnt the God factor the hard way, not to mention some of  the sit-tight oppressors, military predators, and their civilian counterparts in our own clime. I perceive very strongly in my spirit that Nigeria is about  to experience the God factor in governance in a way that men will fear, tremble and come to the understanding that God truly rules in the affairs of men.

Does God truly rule in the affairs of men? If He does, how does he do so? I am glad you asked. Let me give you at least six (6) ways I have seen in the word  of God:

(i)    God rules in the affairs of men by sending a deliverer to rescue an oppressed people.  When He does, He backs up such a deliverer with all the powers  of heaven and the oppressor would have no choice at the end of the day than to let the people go, especially when the hearts of the people are stirred up and  their minds are unblocked to see the reality that they are more in number than their oppressors and they are mightier than them. A case study is the  deliverance of Israel from Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron (Exodus). Pause and think for a moment. The people tampering with our collective  destiny constitute less than 1% of our population. When God sends a credible leader our way, as against the incompetent generation of See nothing, Hear  Nothing, and Say Nothing leaders, the people’s spirits will be stirred up. It has happened before and it can and will happen again. Social mobility is not  frozen in our country. It is credible leadership that is lacking.

(ii)    God rules in the affairs of men by asking His prophets to anoint or ordain a leader and equip him to serve in leadership capacity. For as long as  such people fear God, obey Him and serve the people, Almighty God sends the same prophet to anoint another, and in one political enclave, you have both de  jure and de facto governments. You all know the story of King Saul and David as well as the role of Prophet Samuel in this regard. God still removes kings  and raises kings.

(iii)    God also rules in the affairs of men by exalting the law and making it honourable, so that the government of laws replaces the government of men. In  such a state, the people robbed and plundered by the law less have their freedom restored to them and the lawless are brought to book. You don’t have to look  far. Liberia is a classic example. Where is Charles Taylor today? Isaiah 42: 21 – 22 (NKJV).

The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honourable.

But this is a people robbed and plundered;

All of them are snared in holes,

And they are hidden in prison houses;

They are for prey, and no one delivers;

For plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore!”

It is in this connection that all men and women of goodwill must rise and with a common voice decry the attempt by forces within INEC to perpetrate an  illegality in the coming Delta State re-run.

We have insisted all along that we would give INEC under Professor Attahiru Jega the benefit of the doubt but no trust until after the elections. That  cautious optimism seems justified in the build up to the gubernatorial re-run in Delta State which is the first major litmus test for the Jega-led INEC.

The signals coming out of Delta call for serious concern from all those who crave free, fair, credible and peaceful pools in 2011.

a.    Unlike in Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Edo states where the courts held that there were elections but voided some results to determine the winners, the  Court of Appeal sitting in Benin on November 9, 2010, voided all April 2007 elections in Delta State on the grounds that there was no voters’ register for  the elections as INEC failed to produce any in court. It is therefore tragic that INEC is planning to hold are-run election in the state on January 6, 2011  with a non-existent voters’ register. The CD of the voters’ register that has been circulated to political parties has 13 out of the 25 local government  areas totally blank.

b.    As if this isn’t bad enough, INEC, on December 4, 2010, observed the primary held by the Republican Party of Nigeria, RPN, to pick a candidate who  lost in the PDP primary in 2007 to replace the RPN candidate who is now deceased. Would INEC claim that it is not aware of the decision of the Supreme Court  in the landmark case of Labour Party Vs. INEC delivered on February 13, 2009, where the question of who can participate in a re-run election was settled?

The Supreme Court did say in that decision; “All the candidates on exhibit P 3 are the only fit and proper persons to contest fresh elections, the date and  period for calling for nomination having lapsed. This is because as rightly and correctly contained in the said order the date and period for calling for  nomination had elapsed. Period. By INEC time table for the 2007 general election in compliance with section 36 (1) and (2) of the Electoral Act 2006  withdrawal, change and substitution of candidates lapsed on the 13th February, 2007. that is not more than 60 days to the Governorship election of April 14th  2007.”

The matter becomes more serious when the running mate of the deceased RPN candidate went to court to be declared as the only eligible candidate to  participate in the re-run. The court asked that all the parties be served and adjourned till January 11 but INEC preemptively fixed January 6 for the re-run  elections without announcing candidates running as at the time of giving the notice.

Professor Jega-led INEC must investigate the role allegedly played by the sister of the RPN candidate who was heading the political monitoring department of  INEC in misleading the commission into being part of the RPN primary.

The least the commission can do not to forfeit its credibility is to cancel all the illegal processes that have trailed the re-run and do the right thing.  The whole world is watching.

How does God rule in the affairs of Men? Answer number 4:

(iv.) God rules in the affairs of men by stirring up the spirit of the people to demand their rights and smash the culture of impunity being meted out to  them  by power-drunk megalomaniacs who do not understand that the purpose of government is the welfare of the people. Case in point: Rehoboam, the King of  Israel, versus the oppressed people of the land. The kingdom split in two and God said to Rehoboam it was from him.  See 1 Kings 12: 23 – 24 (NKJV).

(v.) God rules in the affairs of men by sending the spirit of ill will and disaffection against their ruler, until such a ruler’s influence wanes and his  rule is terminated. Judges 9: 22-24 (NKJV).

(vi.) Ultimately, God rules in the affairs of men by destroying tyrants, power drunk despots, using their own hands to destroy them or sending invisible  forces to snuff life out of them. Ask King Saul who ended up consulting witches and Herod Agrippa who slew Apostle James (See 1 Chronicles 10: 13-14; Acts  12: 1-4; 20-24).

Fellow citizens of our great country, do not despair and throw your hands up in defeat as if there is no solution to our myriad social, political and  economic problems. There are solutions. You and I must rise up, take our destinies in our hands and shake off the yoke of oppression put on us by  self-serving politicians.

The last few months have seen us at the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, going round Nigeria and even the Diaspora to galvanize our people to be alive to their civic  responsibilities as we inch toward the 2011 elections. The SNG has declared 2011 The Year of The Voter and the word VOTE is our acronym for VOICE OF THE  ELECTORATE. We, for the umpteenth time, call on our people to ensure that from the 15th of January, 2011 when INEC commences Voters’ Registration, you all  troop out en masse to fulfill this civic right and duty.

Some may ask, is this a biblical thing to do?  Yes, it is. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ was born about the time of massive registration of citizens of His  country of birth. See Luke 2: 1-7 (NKJV). I perceive that God is giving us a fresh opportunity to resurrect dashed hopes and shattered dreams and birth a New  Nigeria with visionary leadership that will bring about our national transformation. There may be no room for us in the inn just as there was none for the  Lord, but the progressives – men and women of good will who desire change – may have to LABOUR in the manner till we birth the Nigeria of our dream,  especially now that the cancer of god-fatherism is being removed from our body politic and eliminated from our political lexicon as clearly evident in the  father-son crisis engulfing Kwara State. We fervently hope that this will snowball and permeate the entire political landscape of our nation so that the  best, the fittest, the most credible and the most competent will come to power with our collective effort. GET READY. Change is in the air. God on our side,  Nigeria will be Saved, Nigeria will be Changed and Nigeria will become Great in our life time.

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