Afolabi Gambari
It no longer matters at all what denialists government apologists spokespersons or sundry hirelings say these days. The reality is that things have fallen apart economically and socially in Nigeria. Even whatever logic has been proffered so far has proved illogical. It is, therefore, no surprise that the faith business has continued to attract almost the same boom it attracted from the late 80s to the mid-90s when the Pentecostals reigned supreme in Nigeria; except that at that time it was more of a fashion statement while at this time it has become a matter for survival than anything else.
It is common in the country now, especially since the advent of the current political dispensation in May last year, to witness very serious issues of the state that demand the height of logic and reason descend to plain divinity – with seminars, symposia and lectures that dwell on purely economy usually wound off with the phrase “let us turn to God for rescue”. Perhaps, the very height of this has seen a scientist attribute the free fall of the naira in recent time to divinity, proudly making a public declaration of how the national currency could have been reduced to using N10,000 to fetch only one US dollar, if not for the intervention of prayer warriors who probably included himself. In summary, a lot of Nigerians have been reduced to praying to move the country. Not for them any effort to hold political and economic leaders at all levels accountable for stewardship. It just has to be God to cater to all the needs of over 200 million people, many of whom God, in His infinite mercy, has already gifted with the capacity to cater to themselves.
The manner the call to prayer oozes from the political and economic leaders can sometimes be embarrassing, if not ridiculous. But the call has not ceased, one bit. Whatever occasion, especially the one that has religious colouration, is not spared to use to make such a call and the callers always expect the listeners to listen and obey. For it is now almost a national creed and unanimity that only prayer can make Nigeria progress,
The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, typifies the prayer caller. No opportunity eludes her to make the call across the country. In all fairness, though, it is no less expected of her – for obvious reasons. However, for the benefit of those who do not know, she is a Christian as well as an ordained Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, whose ordination took place in 2018. When the Director-General of the National Prayer Forum, Segun Afolorunikan, announced on November 7 that a prayer session was being planned for November 10, to be coordinated in alliance with Christian and Muslim religious leaders in the country, it was not unexpected that the First Lady would have a hand in it; not only as one who had always exhorted the people on the power of prayer in national affairs but also as a mother of the nation – as she is affectionately called.
But for some curious reasons, Senator Tinubu issued a swift denial of her involvement in the prayer session, even though the organisers said the effort was targeted at the “prevailing hardship in the country”. It could well have been tagged “hunger prayer” in consonance with the “hunger protest” which organisers of the August 1 nationwide protest called their action. Yet, the First Lady would have none of it.
A spokesperson for Senator Tinubu, Busola Kukoyi, fell just short of saying Afolorunikan and company had set out to drop the First Lady’s name to swindle unsuspecting Nigerians. “This is to clarify and inform the general public that the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, is not organising a National Prayer,” Kukoyi said.
For further clarification, the spokesperson also said: “The news making the rounds in some conventional and social media platforms are unfounded and misleading.”
As a note of warning to the unwary, she then said: “Consequently, anyone who might have come across the purported news of the Joint National Prayer for Nigeria should disregard it as false.”
Kukoyi did not say her principal had stopped being a prayer warrior though: “While the First Lady, a christian and strong advocate of prayer and praying for Nigeria, believes that prayer is an act that must be done willingly, conscientiously and correctly, she also believes that praying for Nigeria is the responsibility of every Nigerian, irrespective of religious belief, political affiliation, tribe or tongue.”
Curious! If Senator Tinubu’s philosophy of prayer rhymes with that of Afolorunikan and his followers, why did she deny them so resoundingly? It must be, then, that the National Prayer Forum, organisers of the “Joint National Prayer for Nigeria”, had merely sought to cash in on the unprecedented widespread deprivation in the country to eke their own survival and only sought the First Lady’s signature to concretize their enterprise. Little wonder, from November 9 when the denial was issued by Senator Tinubu till this moment, a counter statement has yet to be made by Afolorunikan. Nor even did the joint national prayer held as scheduled.
It is just as well that hopefully, soon, the prayer merchants in Nigeria will embrace the reality that as much as faith is necessary and indeed required, hard work and hard resolve must also accompany the faith to make it whole. But not until their captive followers stop being gullible by asking for clarification on divinity-embroidered orders being dished out to them.
