By Oremade Oyedeji
Let me start this piece with a transcript from Rev. Badejo’s memorial service held in his honour, a great man of God.
For those who don’t know him, Rev. Badejo was the first General Overseer in Nigeria to leave office after completing his term. He left veterinary work in the 90s and worked on many farms as mentioned at the memorial. The last was the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) award-winning Hackon Farm Limited in Ewu Oliwo, Sagamu, Ogun State, where he “shepherded a flock of chicken” before he went into pastoring flocks of men.
At the event, former President Olusegun Obasanjo described him in many kind words and reiterated that “there is God in the affairs of men.”
The Nigerian ecosystem is still often referred to as poor and is characterized by weak civil society institutions (e.g churches) and government institutions, producing committed tithers, who in most cases evade taxes, and have limited or sometimes no access to limited public institutions available nor civil society run organization like schools and hospital, but will rather produce strong rich and powerful individuals who are pastors, General Overseer or General Overseer Worldwide in specific cases.
Some of them even run for elective political office or influence bad leadership by supporting some elements of political office, one of which has resulted in the poorly run Buharinomics’.
I recently had a meeting with Alhaji Olaitan, a successful printer, who had benefited greatly from Mike Adenuga’s businesses and I brought one of the players I manage, Olawale Oremade. He is a goalkeeper in Nigeria’s U20 football squad, the Flying Eagles.
This was a familiarization meeting of sorts as I have been trying to secure a club for him in Europe. At the meeting, Alhaji asked Wale a few questions; the last being what his religion was, to which responded that he was a Christian.
I was surprised and wasn’t sure why he said so because I knew for a fact that he is Muslim. I looked at his face because I know that answering the correct form would have made Alhaji happy. I had to intervene and replied that he was in fact, a Muslim and in order to win his affection, I pitched that he was a committed Muslim just like you. Wale replied to Alhaji that he was in between. The conversation was smooth, with no hard feelings, I am a Christian myself.
This led Alhaji to share his experience with us when he was a member of a popular Pentecostal church in the 80s. He said his former boss from whom he learnt the printing trade was a member, and since he was living with him at the time, his parent didn’t have a problem with him becoming a member of the CAC at the time.
So, I asked him why he changed back to Islam after experiencing a praying church like that. In many words, he narrated his ordeal with the church generally and why he had to change back to Islam. The most touching for him was after the death of one of the senior pastors’ sons in the church. He was discouraged because, in his words, they were not seeing anything. To drive home his point, he indicated that the CCTV camera in front of him sees more than them.
In a relative view, a similar event occurred with one of the biggest churches recently. Alhaji believes he changed because the Muslims were more united and when people are united, they are difficult to conquer.
Without deviating, his remarks really got me thinking about the Nigerian political scene where a Muslim-Muslim ticket was presented. Can a “united Muslim population” truly win an election in Nigeria amid fears that they want to Islamize Nigeria? Are Muslims truly united? A real test of this unity you will say, as City Boy Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (a Yoruba native) accepted the challenge to field a Northern Muslim, who has been called by many for what is considered extremist, as his running mate.
Are Muslims from Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria practising the same way? This will be an uphill task for the City Boy to demystify.
Back to my story, Alhaji ended his point with a rather conflicting view of his earlier point. He said most of his staff are Christians (perhaps 80% or more). Does that mean his business will not perform well if he hires only Muslims or sells to only Muslims as a show of unity? As his consultant, I know he doesn’t bank with the crop of Islamic banks, and I know most of his immediate family are still Christians.
Well, those descriptions of Alhaji Olaitan or using another example of the City Boy, who is married to a pastor, can only be seen in a Yoruba country (in Southern Nigeria). The Hausas (Northern Nigerian Muslims) are perhaps united by religion (homogenous by religion).
My submission is that the Yoruba in the West is not united by religion but by purpose. This is contrary to the belief popularized by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi that there is no 100 per cent homogeneous state.
His (God’s) Purpose Church
Another of my submission is that most churches in Southern Nigeria are united by purpose, maybe not by religion as Alhaji pointed. In churches in the West, I have seen Muslims allowed to speak freely.
For example, former Governor Raji Fashola (a Muslim) spoke at the Excellence in Leadership Conference at Daystar Christian Centre a few years ago and just this year, Abike Dabiri Erewa (also a Muslim) also spoke at the Covenant Christian Centre, among many others.
Trust me, the non-homogeneous churches (self-righteous churches) will never allow other Christian brothers to speak at their congresses, let alone a Muslim.
Well, the permutation (united by purpose) may not be correct with the Northern part of Nigeria as they may be truly united by religion, evidenced by the existence of radical Islamic group (Boko Haram) in the North East and Sharia practices in most northern states (All supported by the government of the states).
Roll call of a self-Righteous Church
In my article, the New World Order, I explained that the New World Order is any new period of history evidencing a dramatic change in world political thought and the balance of power. It is interesting to know that this order also includes the churches and their influence on our society and way of life.
Also, in another piece, Pandemic of the Prodigal Generation – 4IR Economy or Politics, I wrote about the Nigerian economy realigning to coming post-pandemic changes.
I did emphasize in that piece that politics will reset, thereby having an unimaginable impact on people, communities, companies and economies, this also does not exempt the churches who technically contribute little or no material input to GDP directly.
I must admit this is a very difficult subject to discuss, especially because I am not an expert in it or a pastor, but I speak with pastors.
Pastor Mark, a former RCCG pastor outside Nigeria, had this to say, “I love the church, I love the pastors, but the church is going in a wrong direction. RCCG only keeps people active, they are not growing in the Lord anymore and they are not growing in the Word.”
He also said RCCG, like others, is following the commandment of men and not of God. The institution has its own agenda and only cares about its own kingdom and not the kingdom of God. He added that the system man created is forcing them (pastors and members) to do that.
Generally speaking, he said people are more addicted to the environment of the church than the home church. Churches all over the world (he said) are watering down and adulterated and after the orthodox churches, Pentecostal churches also got corrupted they said.
For some reason, I strongly believe the “confederation of Nigeria” will learn a lot from the United States of America. Nigeria still has a lot to learn in building a sane society. God bless President Joe Biden, God bless the United State of America.
Let me conclude this piece by highlighting a few facts about religion in Nigeria.
Nigeria has far more Muslims (+75 million) than Saudi Arabia (22 million). There are more Muslims in Nigeria than there are in other African countries. The world’s largest Christian gathering is the Holy Ghost Congress of RCCG. The world’s largest church auditorium is Dunamis Church Abuja. The largest church in Diaspora UK, Ukraine, Kenya, and Tanzania are owned by Nigerians.