Politicians Are Liars, Pastor Adeboye Concludes
The General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye has branded politicians liars and cannot be trusted. Adeboye spoke today at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, at a two-day interdenominational prayer.
According to the cleric, politicians in most cases hardly fulfill their promises, even as he justified his position by giving an illustration with the story of three travellers – an Indian, a Jew and a politician.
According to him while on their journey, the three travellers had some challenges, and went to a farmer for help but the farmer said he could only accommodate two.
He said the Indian volunteered to sleep in the barn but returned a few minutes later that there was a cow there. The Indian, according to the illustration, said he can’t sleep there because cows are gods, worshipped in his country.
Adeboye said the Jew also came back complaining that the pig inside where he was placed was unclean, adding that the politician volunteered to go and sleep among the pigs.
Instead of the politician to come back complaining, Adeboye said, it was the pig and cow that came knocking that the politician be sent away because he had promised to make the environment, including the barn, conducive with air-conditioner.
“I don’t trust politicians; politicians are liars. They don’t fulfill most of their promises. A politician can tell you that they will give all of you (students) chicken each, which we all know it is impossible.”
The RCCG general overseer, whose one of his pastors, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), is the vice-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), asked Nigerian to stop worrying themselves about who would emerge winner in the next election.
He explained that God is a “master planner,” who already planned the leadership development of Nigeria.
“Stop disturbing yourself about who will be the President of Nigeria. God has already planned who will be the President of Nigeria. God has already planned that before we were born. God is not like human beings, who doubt what is to be done. He has plan for everything.”
Vice-Chancellor of OAU, Professor Bamitale Omole commended Adeboye for his yearly presence in the university, saying his divine intervention is having positive impacts in the school.
“We appreciate the love of Pastor Adeboye. With God and his presence last year, we had no calamities and also emerged as the best university in Nigeria. I urge students to be prayerful and cautious of what they do as God will continue to protect us.” [myad]
Goodluck 2015: The Light Goes Dim, BY Fola Ojo
President Goodluck Jonathan surfed to power six years ago on the back of widespread national approbation. His approval rating spiked through the roof in a historically-unprecedented fashion. He was Goodluck the beloved, Goodluck the saviour, it was all about Goodluck! Nigerians from all tribes were determined to make his battle their battle; wherever he led them, they had braced themselves to follow; and his God they were prepared to make their God. The good and virtues Nigerians saw in Jonathan were probably much more than the virtue Jesus saw in Judas Iscariot when he appointed him a disciple overseeing his treasury.
Today, the President’s political fireplace has gone frigid, the fire-in-the-belly of his government has waned as Boko Haram and widespread economic uncertainties have come hitting Nigerians like an unannounced swirling killer-blizzard. And the President’s men, like a losing kick-boxer are flailing at anything and anyone real or imagined with the sharp instruments of presidential incumbency in an attempt to win the fight.
My President is in the fiercest battle of his political life against Muhammadu Buhari, an astute, stout and sharp-witted retired Army General who is backed by an undying, increasing, and resolute following across Nigeria. Previous fights the President had won were fought by godfathers and the few powerful who believed in him. Many of the exalted positions Jonathan has so far occupied were brought to him by Goodluck. And where are those ardent and true supporters now? One by one, they have fled and found new friends in the arch-rivals of Mr. President as his ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, continues to run out of clue. Strip by strip, the carpet of support is pulled from under his feet, and the haemorrhaging appears to have just begun.
Nine governors did not show up in his reelection declaration in Lagos; a buddy-priest of his, Enugu-based Father Ejike Mbaka, went on an endless tirade that our own Goodluck has actually brought Nigeria and especially the Igbo bad luck. On Monday, behind closed-doors in Abeokuta, the President smooched up in a room with two reputable Nigerian clerics and his estranged benefactor, Olusegun Obasanjo, begging the latter for support. But “Baba” told his late-coming penitent son that someone else already sought and received his support. I learnt that this was the most depressing moment of Jonathan’s Presidency.
From state to state, Mr. President is losing steam, ground, and men in thousands to the opposition party APC on a daily basis. I cannot recall in Nigeria’s history where a ruling party and an incumbent President have lost so much support in a rumbling sequence of 30 days before an election. Jonathan’s electoral chances in this election are getting dimmer by the day.
His story can be likened to that of the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, whose administration was a train-load of unending scandals that ranged from cover-ups of shady business deals and large scale corrupt activities by members of his cabinet. Like Harding, no one has accused Jonathan of corruption; and like Harding, Jonathan’s Achilles heels are those around him who are believed to be the cruella-de-vil of greed, graft and gluttony. Money in the hands of Jonathan’s lieutenants at all levels of government, many believe, is like ice cream in the mouth of a child; it melts fast and easy through the conduits of corruption and thievery, and you will not remember it ever was.
Because of the complex and intricate nature of Nigeria as a country, Nigerians could have probably been more forgiving if non-performance in government were the only shortcoming of this administration. But dismal performance conjoined with supersize corruption is not a transgression that Nigerians easily forgive. Profligacy has been rumoured to be at a scary scale with Nigerian politicians; and in the world of the ruling party, the PDP, it appears as if it is a necessary and desired undergarment.
There is too much conscious or unconscious coddling of graft by this President. If former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, believes that his administration should be considered an angelic being regarding corruption compared to Jonathan’s, then this administration must be the unrepentant Lucifer of larceny and a dashing baron of daylight robbery that ever existed in the annals of Nigerian history. We all remember Babangida and his men. When the President said that corrupt government officials will not see the four walls of a prison under his authority, it was an announcement that depraved minds will always have a free pass with him. Incarceration of those adjudged corrupt, Mr. President, is a very powerful deterrent for those who steal public funds.
A heavy portion of this year’s budget was set aside for entertainment in the Villa, “estacode” for gazillion of aides travelling with the President all around the world, and the acquisition of more airplanes. The government is proposing to spend N517.9m this year on meals and refreshments for the Presidency, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, ministries of power and petroleum resources as well as their parastatals. For the office of the President, N142.47m was earmarked for 2015 for refreshments and meals, and N25.58m was earmarked for meals and refreshments for the office of the VP. In a country where over 100 million people are considered poor, this is nothing but a legacy of waste.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Enwistle, has now told us that his country had intended to train a battalion of the Nigerian Army up to world standard; and the agreement was that the US would provide the trainers and the Nigerian government, the equipment. After a few weeks of training, the US had to back out because no equipment was provided by Nigeria. What happened to the N1tn the Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, publicly announced was in the 2014 budget for the military? What happened to the first-class equipment that should have been procured? The minister had said; “Defence spending is top in everything, you know that military establishment needs new things to assist in its work and ours will not be different…To be specific, the military has about N968.12bn and we have disbursed N130.7bn between January and April 2014.”
With this huge sum, why is Boko Haram controlling more than 20,000 square miles of the Nigerian sovereign territory, an area larger than Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Israel and 144 other countries of the world? Why must our soldiers be ill-equipped, badly-managed, and morale badly bruised? About 17,000 innocent people have been killed so far more than those who died in the first US Gulf War. Presidents of nations make surprise visits to men and women who are laying down their lives for their countries in battles, but why is Jonathan not in that league? The music is fading for Mr. President, the light is dimming for the ruling PDP, and a shellacking train is about tearing through Abuja into Aso Rock taking the President and his men on a first-class cabin back to abodes of their choices. Nigerians can’t wait!
Having expressed this opinion, Dear Readers, I want you to mark this: It will be at your peril and pitfall to count out an incumbent African President called Goodluck. The battle will get dirtier as we draw close to February 14. But what shines in the horizon is that candidate Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who took the centre stage of global attention four years ago is not the same candidate today. No doubt, the light has dimmed drastically upon him, but he remains the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria throughout the election period. You never know, President Jonathan may still have some oil of Goodluck left in his presidential jar. [myad]