Ovation Magazine boss, Dele Momodu, has warned the Redeemed
Christian Church of God, saying it might face moral crisis if it supports
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Presidential ambition he’s allegedly
nursing.
Recall that RCCG, headed by
Pastor Enoch Adeboye, had created the Office of Directorate of Politics and
Governance to engage members willing to be involved in politics and “mobilise
support for them when required”.
The announcement led to speculations that the Church is
gearing to mobilise support for the alleged Presidential ambition of Osinbajo
who is one of its pastors.
Reacting, RCCG Head of Media and Public Relations, Pastor
Olaitan Olubiyi, who spoke on Saturday , said the newly created Office has
nothing to do with the Vice-President or any person who may have political
ambition in 2023.
He said the Office was to sensitise members towards active
politics as Christians cannot continue to stay off politics.
However, Dele Momodu, in a post, titled, ‘My Kobo Advice To
The Redeemed Christian Church Of God(RCCG),’ warned leaders of the Church,
saying the easiest way to create trouble in Nigeria today is to attempt to mix
religion with politics.
He said, “Naturally, I feel that I owe it a duty to tell our
Church leaders, and our Church in general, the Gospel truth and nothing but the
absolute truth. In the light of my relationship with the RCCG, this duty is
even more imperative and compelling. I believe the leaders of the RCCG have
laboured so hard to build one of the most formidable churches in the world.
Nothing must be done to inadvertently cause a cataclysmic storm in the House of
God. And the easiest way to create trouble in Nigeria today is any attempt to
mix religion with politics. It goes beyond lighting the blue touch paper. It is
like combining some highly combustible ingredients together in a chemical laboratory.
It is not just that the effect may not be too pleasant, it is that the result
and consequences will be catastrophic. God forbid.
“As soon as I read the memo establishing a political arm of
our Church, I realised this was nothing but an invitation to Armageddon, if
true. For that reason, at first, I assumed the memo was a joke, a fake document
that was merely meant to stir the hornets’ nest, so I did not pay too much
attention to it. However, when it started flying in from every direction to my
phones, I knew someone had touched the tiger by the tail. I started working the
phones to speak to a few contacts who should know about it and be able to
confirm the veracity or otherwise of the document. The outcome was a resounding
yes, the document had emanated from the Church and was acquiesced to by the
upper echelons.
“I asked for what the motive(s) could have been, and the
general conspiracy theory was that our church was setting up an extensive
network for the obvious Presidential ambition of the current Vice President,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, although couched in terms which ostensibly suggested
that the Church wished to support all of its congregation who wished to contest
the next general elections and made their aspirations known to the newly formed
Church department. Personally, that theory didn’t jell with me. To the best of
my knowledge, Professor Osinbajo is not the only member of the church
contesting the Presidential election. And it was not the church that nominated
him as running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari. He got the job primarily
because of his closeness to his former Principal, then Governor of Lagos State,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and also because of his admirable credentials,
ability and capacity. His religion was necessarily a factor because a Northern
Moslem must perforce pick a Southern Christian as his running mate in the
current Nigerian clime. That was the only reason religion came into it, I
believe. It had nothing to do with the fact that he is a senior pastor of the
RCCG.
“Even if the Vice President has now decided to bear his own
father’s name by dropping that of his avuncular godfather, the church will
still face a moral crisis if it wishes to jump on the bandwagon by drumming up
support for Professor Osinbajo on religious grounds alone for many reasons,
some of which I will now highlight.”
Dele Momodu reminded the RCCG that Osinbajo is not the only
member of the Church who might have an ambition for the Presidency. According
to him, he’s also a member of the RCCG with his ambition for the 2023
Presidency already public.
This is as he pointed out that Senator Remi Tinubu is a
member of the Church who is married to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Muslim that has
declared his ambition for the 2023 Presidency.
He said, “Although Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a Muslim,
his dear beloved wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is a staunch member of the
Redeemed Christian Church of God and one of the leading lights of the Church.
Asiwaju, her husband, is a frontline Presidential aspirant on the platform of
APC, just like his godson, the Vice President. Even if the RCCG has a
preference in Professor Osinbajo, mainly because of his status in the Church
and his current position in Government, I expect the RCCG to “pretend” a little
and behave as if it is not so. Not to do that would be tantamount to picking a
child out of one’s children and say, “this is my favourite!” It is simply not
right or proper for the RCCG to demonstrate such blatant and flagrant
partisanship.
“As if that is not a tough cookie to handle, there is the
fact that that there is a third contender, yours truly, Dele Momodu, who’s also
a member of the RCCG and the youngest of the contending Church aspirants so
far. I’m also the only member of the RCCG aspiring on the platform of PDP, as
far as I know. Would the Church then ask its congregation to vote for one party
over the other merely because it has decided to support one candidate in
preference to the other regardless of the strong points one may have over the
other? What a conundrum and crisis this portends for the Church and its unity
and peace.
“The church cannot even afford to ostracise any aspirant on
the basis of religious persuasion or denomination. It is the job of the church
to seek out and promote the best candidates and then pray for them and galvanise
support for them perhaps clandestinely.
“I also imagine that there is some degree of
unconstitutionality to this attempt by the RCCG to descend into the political
arena. Nigeria is a secular state as the constitution provides. To suggest that
one candidate is the preferred candidate of a particular church or religious
group and is being effectively sponsored by that church will breach not just
the morality and ethos of the Church but also the deeply enshrined principles
and ground norm of our constitution, which are embedded and engraved for good
reason.
“Furthermore, there are no guarantees that being a church
Pastor or otherwise would make you a competent and truthfully honest leader.
The church is too massive and extremely influential to reduce itself to such a
level of myopia. Since what most Nigerians desire today is good and accountable
leadership, our Churches should smartly work towards identifying the best
materials in different political parties and support us spiritually and
materially from the humongous resources it has pleased God to bless them with.
“Specifically, it is my belief that our churches should
avoid anything that could further escalate the huge religious and
socio-political conflagration already ravaging our long-suffering nation. Just
imagine what would happen if other church denominations or other religions
decide to support their own members only. It would be palpable anarchy in the
making. Nigeria will then end up with a Babel of voices and a cacophony of
noises which would not augur well for the wellbeing of us all, but only cause
misery and upheaval.
“I sincerely hope and pray that our Church, the RCCG, will
douse this unnecessary fire and recant and retrace its steps before it is too
late.”
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