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Religion
And The Obasanjo Administration
By
G.A. Akinola
culled from GUARDIAN, March 19,
2006
Nigeria's reputation as a deeply
religious country is firmly established. A former head of state spends his
retirement organising prayers across the country, while the incumbent
proclaims his born-again Christian status at every opportunity. The
president's men include religious faithful like the "daughter of Zion", as
well as latter-day inquisitors who determine citizens that must be denied
"attention" because they do not believe in God. In spite of these displays
of piety, Nigerians, especially their rulers, appear more vicious today than
they were before sanctimonious religious rituals became a vogue. Is
religion, especially in the context of what looks like an emergent
neo-Christian culture, becoming some kind of alibi or hypocritical garb,
particularly for people in power?
There is indeed a budding
neo-Christian culture in Nigeria, side by side with the entrenched
Islamic culture. The country, though officially secular, now features
religious rituals in public offices, institutions and functions.
Churches and chapels compete with mosques in government houses and
students' college hostels. In western Nigeria, many traditional rulers,
once famed custodians of indigenous culture, are now acquiring a new
identity as "born-again" oba. But what defines the emergent
neo-Christian culture more than anything else (apart from the Christian
cultural content in the legacy of colonial rule) are the world view and
the beliefs and practices which are being propagated by the Pentecostal
arm of evangelical Christianity. Thus, in an increasingly normless
society, where the educational system has practically collapsed, the
aforementioned neo-Christian evangelical world view may already be
shaping the country's future more than we realise.
In the universities, for
example, there is a growing pre-scientific outlook which accepts as
reality the ideas and views, the legends and myths, usually
associated with agricultural pastoral communities of prehistoric
eras. Accordingly, Biblical stories are now widely viewed as
literally true, even though this tends to reduce aspects of
evangelical Christianity to the level of the anthropologist's
concept of primitive religion and magic. A significant element in
the neo-Christian world view are the prosperity gospellers'
doctrines on illness, misfortune, and accidents which are
interpreted as due to malevolent or demonic forces, or to "spiritual
attack".
Customary practices
of a religious character are demonised as being of the devil,
and names that reflect some families' historical association
with religious-cum-legendary figures and institutions like Ogun,
Sango, or Ifa, are denounced as accursed, and caused to be
changed by ignorant fanatical "pastors". The neo-Christian
unabashed identification of God with mammon has reduced the
teaching of Jesus to a hankering after material success,
including the acquisition of power and influence, often at the
expense of the lives and happiness of others. Since a
quasi-blind faith in the new doctrines is guaranteed to produce
a solution to all problems, many evangelicals cultivate or
affect a bland optimism, whose effect is comparable to that of a
narcotic. Merely "believing" and declaring that all is well,
without a reinforcing and pragmatic ethic, is yet to produce
lasting results, especially in the tragic mess that pervades
life in the country today.
For good or for
ill, then, evangelical Christianity, as understood and
practised in Nigeria, enjoys wide popularity. But the
sincerity of the advertised faith of our rulers and their
minions is questionable. These rulers' actions, some of
which are brazen and evil, portray them rather as believers
in nothing save the pursuit of power, in the quest for which
no rules or values are too sacred to be trampled on. The
parade of piety and rectitude is therefore mostly a cover
for, and a diversion away from official villainies.
Naturally one
cannot expect a consensus on this judgement, least of
all from those fervent Pentecostals who work for the
Obasanjo regime, and some of whom are unable to see
their co-religionist boss in terms other than those in
which he projects himself. Dr. Ezekwesili is one such
person. On page 69 of the Sunday Guardian of January 1,
2006, she states that "the President is living by
purpose. And God establishes that purpose for the nation
and God is using him to prepare a people for the Lord".
Further, on the same page, the minister adds, "Some
Christian leaders criticise the President from A-Z. I
used to say ah! May God help us o..."
The above
questions from an interview laced with rambling
doctrinal jargon, is enough to show that Dr.
Ezekwesili is incapable of making an objective and
rounded appraisal of her boss and apparent spiritual
soul-mate. When she complained of the president
being criticised, even by his fellow Christians, one
wonders what her response would have been if she had
been told that Obasanjo had a rare opportunity of
erecting the foundations of a democratic political
culture in Nigeria in 2003; that his administration
chose instead to preside over the most blatant
electoral fraud in the country's history; and that
he has since then set a record in undermining the
rule of law! Has the minister ever heard of the
General's role in the sordid Anambra affair, or of
the latest instance of presidential infamy in Oyo
State?
The
minister's views agree perfectly with those of a
charismatic court evangelist, who recently
argued that it was wrong to expect him to
criticise his friend, the president, in public,
like the Biblical prophets of old, since this
was contrary to his canons of friendship. Little
wonder this "prophet" is always seeing a great
future for Nigeria, as if greatness is another
"miracle" that can be conjured out of decadence.
On the issue of the state of the nation
under its devoutly religious ruler, however,
both Dr. Ezekwesili and the "prophet" are
like many Nigerian Pentecostals, whose
attitude to public life and governance is
conditioned by what may be called the Sheikh
Gumi syndrome. The latter is a peculiar
disorder which induces an endorsement of a
ruler, no matter how incompetent or vicious,
as long as he is an adherent of one's faith.
Sheikh Gumi it was who declared, some years
back, that General Yakubu Gowon was a good
ruler, being a Northerner, and that he would
have been a better head of state still, if
he had been a Moslem.
The wider significance of punctilious
religious observance, devoid of basic
humanity, is constantly manifested in
recurrent sectarian riots and upheavals,
particularly in Northern Nigeria. For
the rest, the people simply ape their
rulers and their "pastors" in hypocrisy.
Even the most highly educated of the
latter are starkly ignorant and lacking
in creativity with respect to bringing
the teaching of Jesus to bear on
societal problems.
This is not surprising since they
are ill-informed about, or
prejudiced against their own
culture. Their imported doctrines,
which promise a panacea to all
mundane problems, serve only to keep
a lid on popular discontent, to the
advantage of reprobate rulers. The
latter, perhaps in appreciation,
neither tax the churches, nor
inquire into the fortunes they make
in the enterprise of commercialised
evangelisation.
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Dr. Akinola is with the
Department of History,
University of Ibadan. |
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