OSUN GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS: MATTERS ARISING

Glory to the Almighty and only-wise God as He calmly continues to unfold His agenda in the affairs of men. Over all, we can thank the LORD for the relative peace in the gubernatorial elections in Osun State, even though there were reports of a few casualties and several hospitalizations. The election of 22^nd September, and the re-run on the 27^th brought out some facts, dispelled certain myths, and hold valuable lessons for the Church.

One of the stark revelations was the utter desperation demonstrated by the APC government to win the election.  Despite several documented manipulations of the electoral process and actual fiddling with the results in the initial election, the ruling party still lost. Thereafter came the bare-faced  resort to technicalities (currently being challenged) resulting in the election being declared inconclusive and the call for a re-run during which every attempt at civility or camouflage was thrown aside as the will of the people was rudely  trampled over.  It is clear that the duel is far from over, as the other party is already heading for the courts.  A joint statement by observers from the EU, UK, and the US affirms that many things were indeed wrong and that they are keenly watching the developments.

The efforts and resources deployed, and the brazenness displayed made it absolutely clear that what is at stake is not just who controls the modest resources of Osun state for the next four years,  but what happens in Nigeria come February 2019 and possibly into the foreseeable future. Now that the desperate Islamists have been forced to reveal their hand, hopefully thinking men and women, especially of the Church, would realize that what is going on is no tea party. Even if this were the only gain from the Osun gubernatorial elections, it is a significant one.

Senator Omisore’s surprising capitulation was another major lesson.  The Church barely stopped short of formally declaring him her anointed candidate, and the Senator’s last minute campaign line was that Christians should contend for the faith and refuse to sell their votes.  Many Christian folks proudly heeded the charge, boasting how they refused the tempting cash being offered to any who would agree – accompanied by a self-placed curse in the event of any betrayal - to vote for the designated party.  Alas, Senator Omisore, without regard for the interests of the faith he had only recently appealed to, nor even his party at the national level, declared that he now believes the APC government he had stridently criticized is now better-placed to provide the good governance he yearned for his “beloved” people of Osun state.

Now, considering our current situation, what would the Church have lost had she endorsed one of the new breed candidates with excellent Christian and professional credentials who had boldly come out to contest the election?  As we wrote before the election, sensitizing and mobilizing Christians towards well-defined Kingdom issues would have been the winning step for the Church, irrespective of who eventually occupies the government house at Osogbo. 

This situation remains valid even at the present time.  It matters little how the coming Court cases would end, as long as the Church can use the opportunity of the heightened interests and awareness in political issues to define Christian positions and rally her constituency round these as we seek to build our nation. The Church should endeavor to build a formidable bloc transcending ethnic and other divides, which no government can ignore or  trifle  with. As a first step, the new breed Christian candidates who contested in the recent elections should be rallied together to constitute the nucleus of the political strategy group for the Christian Association of Nigeria in Osun State.

It was at Osogbo that the original Islam-laced fulanization agenda of Usman dan Fodio was check-mated, in 1840.  History could yet repeat itself again. The PDP is heading for the courts and the whole world is keenly watching.  The battle, not just for the control of Osun State but for the soul of Nigeria, is just beginning.  The Church is not supposed to be a mere passive observer. While we are at this side of the Rapture awaiting the Trump, our job description is clearly set out for us: ensuring by all means possible, that God’s will is known and done on earth as is in Heaven.  By giving the unbelievers a glimpse of God’s kingdom, many blind eyes may yet be opened and many prisoners set free from satanic yokes and oppression even in these dying minutes of the endtimes. Would the Church ever grasp this understanding and rise to the occasion?

Desparado Politicking everywhere: Osun State, the United States...

As we see the ongoing intrigues in the re-run election in Osun State, with a series of offers, stupendously huge enough to literally buy a whole Chief Omisore, whose war cry had earlier been: Christian, sell not your vote!; an even heavier titanic battle is going on in the United States.

In a dual battle for the crucial Nov 6 mid-term elections (so critical, Trump riled China about it during the UN Security Council meeting); as well as the confirmation of a conservative Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

It's incredible that obvious desperate would-be spoilers should be given such attention as the detractors of Mr Kavanaugh are being given.  With almost all his classmates attesting to an impeccable character, an outrageously unwarranted disproportionate attention is being given to one or two voices whose only cry is for FBI investigations - which of course would derail the voting and final confirmation of Mr Kavanaugh before the epic Nov 6 elections.  Copied from an ongoing intense commentaries from Breitbart [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/09/26/live-updates-avenatti-circus-throws-brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-into-chaos/] is this posting quoting an outraged Kavanaugh. It is a fitting description of the ongoing saga:

8:48 PM — From Senate transcript… Kavanaugh “outraged” by the New Yorker story with Deborah Ramirez’s allegations:

The New York Times says as recently as last week, she  was calling around to other classmates saying she wasn’t sure I had done this. And you know, I think — I think we’re — this is an outrage for this kind of thin, uncorroborated, 35-year-old accusation to be leveled in this fashion at this time. I’ve been in the public eye for 24 years, since I started with the independent counsel in the fall of 1994, very public at various points in my life. I’ve been through six background checks. I worked in the White House at the highest levels, senior staff, traveling with the President all over the world, seeing the most highly sensitive secrets of our Nation for years. I went through a difficult confirmation process for the D.C. Circuit that was public with two separate confirmation hearings in 2004 and 2006.
I’ve been a judge for 12 years in a very public way. I’ve been identified repeatedly as a potential Supreme Court nominee. Whether that was accurate or not, I’ve been publicly identified. My decisions have been publicly discussed. I’ve been very much a presence at the Yale College reunions. I’ve been on multiple panels there. So I’ve been active in the class. The class newsletter has talked about me. The people in my class have been at those reunions and those events.
In all that time, not a word. And then 4 days, you know, when just right before a vote for the Supreme Court, after the nomination itself has been pending for months,  and I’ve been through the hearings and 65 Senate meetings and all the written questions, and then — and then, after all these years, with all this time, and all these descriptions with no corroboration and with her best friend saying she never heard about it, you know, I’m — I’m really just, you know, stunned. And outraged.

CHURCH’S PRIORITY IS TO DISCERN GOD’S WILL AND BOLDLY PROCLAIM IT WITH A UNITED VOICE

This is an official Statement from Church Arise! on the coming gubernatorial election in Osun State. It is also applicable to the coming general elections in February 2019 - from the Ward level to the Presidential election.

Summary: The CAN should dare to have a single candidate (transparently chosen), and should dare to give him maximum legitimate support; and we have won, irrespective of the outcome of the election on September 22!

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CHURCH’S PRIORITY IS TO DISCERN GOD’S WILL AND BOLDLY PROCLAIM IT WITH A UNITED VOICE

“But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.   Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:13-17)

Our God is the true God, the living God, and the everlasting King (Jer. 10:10).  He is not scratching His head concerning who should be the next governor of Osun state.  He has a candidate in mind.  The Church, being God’s ambassador in this space has the duty to understand God’s will and proclaim it authoritatively with a united voice (Eph. 5:17).

So far, with respect to the coming elections, the Church can best be described as having been more or less “playing politics” – of course with a godly intention, seeking the best for the State in general, and Christians in particular.  The leadership rather than putting the Church’s full weight to back the candidate discerned to be God’s will, is trying to cautiously calculate which candidates have sufficient clout to win the election and consequently guard her pronouncements so that the Church will not “lose out” should the wrong candidate win!

Producing the winner into the gubernatorial office is very good and desirable.  However, it is far more important that the Church learn to discern God’s voice, agree on it, and mobilize her constituency appropriately, than the Church being in the good books of the eventual winner of the election – whether such be her candidate or not.

Leah Sharibu: Exposing the Islamists’ reign of impunity in Nigeria

Leah Sharibu

It is no longer news that Islamists have arrogated to themselves the right to convert people of other faiths to their religion by use of force. Using techniques ranging from subtle intimidations to outright physical massacres, Islamists in Nigeria have stridently pushed on with Usman dan Fodio’s agenda seeking “to dip the Koran into the Sea,” and bringing the entire nation under the Sokoto Caliphate by the blade of the sword.

Apologists however have always had alternative narratives for all the scheming and violence.  When not met with outright denials, persecution of Christians can always be explained away as inter-ethnic tension, religion-neutral assaults by Boko Haram or Fulani herdsmen, regular geo-politics, war against corruption, or some other cliché.

In April 2014, 276 girls were abducted from the Christian village of Chibok in North East Nigeria. They couldn’t have been targeted for being Christians, we were told.  And as if to confirm that, there was a shameful repeat abduction of another set of female students, this time from the largely moslem community of Dapchi in February 2018.  However, unlike the Chibok case, where 112 still remain in captivity till date, all the abducted girls from Dapchi were released within 4 weeks, reportedly unmolested and laden with gifts.  All of them, that is, except the only single Christian girl involved – Leah Sharibu!

Both government negotiators and the released peers of Leah confirm that the singular reason the 14 year old was not released was her refusal to renounce her Christian faith for Islam. Watch here on our blog, the moving musical video by Amir Shata demanding that all concerned should rise and secure the release of this precious Jewel of the Lord

On a related note, the latest national hero in Nigeria is the Imam who saved the lives of 300 Christians in Barkin Ladi, Plateau state by hiding them in his mosque and introducing them as Moslems to the rampaging mujahedeen. However, while not detracting from the courageous and innate humaneness of Imam Abdullahi Abubakar, we will like to observe that the story pointedly belied the official government claim that the killers were not after Christians!

And come to think of it, there is only a thin line between requiring a Christian to keep mute on being introduced as a Moslem, and requiring him to use his/her own mouth to claim being Moslem.  We recall the story of Pastors Sabo Yakubu, Sylvester Akpan, and Rev George Orji who in 2009 refused to hide their Christian identities even in the face of the jihadist’s blade (see http://churcharise.blogspot.com/2009/10/tell-my-people-i-died-well-rev-george.html

While we thank God that the 300 in Plateau state were spared, we must be concerned that such situations are being taken as normal in present-day Nigeria.  Even in a situation that saw over 200 Christians massacred by Islamists, the only focus and talk-point is the compassionate Imam, while the long-suffering faceless Christians, with their dead and maimed, remain mere statistics.

Now, what if the murderous mujahedeen had not trusted the Imam sufficiently to accept his word on behalf of the Christians?  A simple announcement that all Moslems move to one side into liberty would have resulted in a Leah Sharibu situation!

Meanwhile abductions and forceful marriage of Christian girls under the sponsorship of Islamic authorities continue unabatedly in Nigeria. Mostly in the north, but not limited to it. (Recall the infamous case of Ese Oruru abducted from Bayelsa state to Kano by Yunusa “Yellow” Dahiru in 2016).  Thank God for the Hausa Christian Foundation, HACFO, which is now systematically bringing these cases to light and fighting them within the limits of the resources available to the Foundation.  Thank God also for the spate of successes in recent times.  Please see moving details at www.hacfo.org. Contacts: Voice of Hausa Christians.ng@gmail.com; +234 805 754 3004