Seun Kuti: God is the Tool of Oppressors

Straight Talk With Kadaria

Of Pentecostalism, Pastors, and Politics

Pastor Adeboye praying for President Jonathan

Keeping Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s Feet To The Fire

By Pius Adesanmi

Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the Daddy General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has been in the headlines for all the right reasons lately. In August 2010, several newspapers quoted him as he declared war on election rigging and riggers.

"We shall resist election riggers in 2011", the famous preacher was reported to have fumed decisively. He ended 2010 on a grand note: Goodluck Jonathan went to beseech God at Daddy General Overseer’s feet, creating a famous photo-op in the process. Our internet commentariat went gaga for the wrong reasons, condemning Goodluck Jonathan for contacting God through the pastor’s intermission. Jonathan’s genuflection before God became the issue. Nobody paid attention to Pastor Adeboye’s iteration of his warning that election riggers would not be tolerated in 2011. He even fired a warning shot at Attahiru Jega and threatened to lead protests against fraudulent elections in 2011.

This is a heartening development. Pastor Enoch Adeboye is welcome to the Pastor Tunde Bakare corner of our collective struggle to take Nigeria back from the vultures in Abuja and the state capitals. What took him so long? Hopefully, his residency in this auspicious corner of the struggle shall not be temporary. For now, we shall pretend that we don’t mind the fact that Pastor Adeboye is spending too much time warning INEC and Jega instead of just kuku directly telling the scurrilous Presidents, state governors, ministers, senators, reps, chieftains, stakeholders, elder statesmen and such other ridiculous characters who regularly go to him for kneeling sessions and photo-ops that their irresponsibility and corruption will no longer be tolerated.

Religion & Politics in Nigeria by Simon Kolawale

If you want to scare me about Nigeria, throw religion into politics. Nothing frightens me more than that. I find it hard to live with ethnically coloured politics, but I am even more frightened when religion is added to the equation. I shiver. Religion, in my experience, whips up the highest emotion in most Nigerians. There are people whose perspectives are based entirely on religion. They either accept or reject you because of your religion. This wouldn’t matter too much, however, if not that politicians are exploiting this fault line for political gains. They do not worry that once the fire starts, it is very difficult to quench. They do not worry that innocent people end up losing their lives because of religion. Nigeria can burn to ashes, for all they care. I cannot but shiver.

In recent times, religion has been a topic of discussion on the lips of politicians. As the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continue their desperate media war ahead of 2015 elections, religion has taken the driver’s seat. The APC has consistently been accused of having a Muslim bias.

It has been “positioned” by the PDP as the Nigerian equivalent of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, APC chieftains have also described the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) as a wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has been openly supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan. Also, the fact that Jonathan openly knelt down before Pastor Enoch Adeboye some years ago has also been highlighted as a promotion of the Christian agenda.