Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser
to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, has urged Nigerians to listen to
Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi in order for the country to overcome its severe
security challenges.
Adeshina stated this in his
weekly column titled “NIGERIA WILL FLY AGAIN: WE CAN BELIEVE KUMUYI.”
Adeshina said, unlike other
pastors who used their pulpits to preach ill will against their country, Kumuyi
chose the path of peace and unity.
Adesina also used his statement
to respond to people who labeled President Buhari a religious bigot.
He said President Buhari is far
from a bigot because he could identify Kumuyi without introduction.
Please read Femi Adesina’s
article below
You rarely hear his voice in
public when it comes to secular or controversial issues.A bruised reed shall he
not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He just faces the work he
is doing, and how very well he does it. Gently.
But early this week, Pastor
William Folorunsho (popularly known as WF) Kumuyi came out to speak. He
addressed the media as part of a weeklong crusade titled ‘Soaring Above,’
holding electronically in Abuja and the 19 northern states.
What did the simple,
self-effacing man say? A lot, which can be distilled into the following points:
*Nigeria is down today, faced by
many challenges, but it can still fly again, if only the people can stop hate,
killing and divisive utterances.
*God is still interested in
Nigeria, but we must eschew utterances that could damage the expected change.
*Don’t give up on Nigeria, but
believe things will get better with focus on God.
*Love one another and use
resources God has blessed the nation with, for the good of the people.
The former university
don-turned-preacher declared: “I believe that we will fly again. Things are
going to turnaround. We are praying and if we are praying and criticizing, we
have hatred for one another, in that environment prayer cannot work in an
optimal and maximal way. But if we understand and stop identifying; this person
is my enemy and problem, that tribe is the problem, and if we stop all that and
just look up to God, and love one another,” then the expected change will come.
What deep, penetrating words from
the former Mathematics teacher, who heads one of the largest Pentecostal
churches in the country. And how perspicacious, encouraging, comforting, unlike
the things we hear from some pulpits, organizations, and preachers today. Those
ones have become veritable parts of the problems of the country.
But permit me to digress a
little, and we will then return to the subject matter. In October 2018, we had
invited Pastor Kumuyi to speak at the Aso Villa chapel to commemorate the
Independence anniversary of the country. He came, with his wife. He declared
the gospel in his usual simple but powerful way. It was truly a divine
visitation for us.
It was my duty to speak to
President Muhammadu Buhari that Pastor Kumuyi was in town, and could he please
receive him in a courtesy visit? I did, and while I was trying to tell the
President who the impending visitor was, the man amazed me when he said: “I
know him very well. Is he not the mathematician?”
I was amazed. What else does this
President know, that people don’t know about? He received Pastor Kumuyi and his
wife in the residence the next day, and it was such an endearing session,
concluded with prayers. Bigot? Those who say so should look for another person.
Not the Buhari that I know.
Back to Kumuyi and the state of
the nation. Nigeria can fly again. There will be a turnaround. But that’s not
what we hear from most preachers today. They talk of doomsday, encourage their
members to hate the country and its leadership, give negative prophecies that
keep falling flat on their faces, because “God is still interested in Nigeria,”
as Pastor Kumuyi said.
Do those other preachers read
copies of the Holy Bible different from the one Kumuyi reads? I wonder. Why are
they then full of bile and ill will against their country and the leadership?
Was it because the sluice gate got closed?
Did money stop flowing to them
unlike in the recent past? Why do they exhibit such hatred, and make outlandish
claims in the name of God? Why don’t they preach hope, but rather provoke their
members to hate? There are questions to answer on the Last Day. Judgment will
truly begin from the household of God.
Stop hate, killing, use of
divisive utterances, Kumuyi said. You hear incendiary utterances all over the
place today. On radio, television, social media, and even from the pulpit. All
these eventually boil over, and lead to wanton killings.
Don’t give up on Nigeria, but
believe things will get better, the preacher also said. He asked all and sundry
to focus on God, and not say this or that ethnic group is the problem. Really?
That is not what they tell us from some pulpits. The gospel of man, as opposed
to the gospel of God.
When we have hatred for one
another, Kumuyi submits, prayer cannot work in an optimal and maximal way.
Bullseye. But that is not what some others tell members of their flock. They
encourage hatred, dissenting and civil disobedience.
During the last EndSARS campaign,
many preachers were seen, egging the protesters on, and giving them tacit support.
And when anarchy flared, those preachers went underground. Not a word did you
hear from them, suing for peace and end to bloodshed and destruction.
Stop identifying; this person is
my enemy and problem, that tribe is the problem, Kumuyi said. Stigmatization
and stereotyping are parts of the problem of the country today. If only we can
listen to people like Kumuyi, then we will have a better country. “Let France
have good mothers, and she will have good sons,” Napoleon Bonaparte said. And I
extrapolate it to say: let Nigeria have good preachers in the mould of WF
Kumuyi, and she will have good citizens.
Nigeria has severe security
challenges. It’s like hell has opened against the country, and foul creatures,
evil through and through, have been unleashed against the land. But have we
ever seen darkness overcome light, and evil hold sway over good? No, and never.
We shall overcome. Nigeria shall fly again.
Let us listen to Kumuyi. Let’s
hearken to his words. Paul the Apostle said: “Be ye followers of me, even as I
am also of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Nigeria shall indeed fly again. But
we must first renounce hatred, from the churches, mosques, media houses,
everywhere.
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