Another Sunday morning, and I and my family dutifully attended the Morning service. The Overseer, a gifted preacher’s theme is: Respect divinely constituted authority and his text guide, Romans Chapter 13.
He stated that wives ‘respecting your husbands mean obeying the biblical injunction to respect the authorities as established by God’. In like manner kids would obey their parents, and husbands of course are subject to the Christ’s own authority.
Then the clincher; but before that lets see the full rendering of Romans Chapter verse 1: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except by God, the presiding authorities have been established by God; therefore he that opposes the authorities oppose God, and will bring judgement on themselves”.
The injunction then is that I must respect and honour the leader of my country as God’s appointee! I got confused when he said this. I couldn’t restrain myself so I blurted out: ‘But Pastor, what if my president is a thief’?
Yes my fellow countrymen, is the current president of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua; a thief, a usurper, or my President and commander-in-chief of the Federal Government of Nigeria, to whom the Lord commands me to respect and honour as “His Excellency”?
This question applies not just to Yar’Adua but to all the men that have been privileged to occupy the government house; from Dodan Barracks to State House Marina to Aso Villa.
Nigeria presently have six living ex heads of state, these have been honoured as members of the Council of State, with hefty pensions for life, state provided protection and security, and other appurtenances of power - all at our expense.
But, should I really revere Gowon, Buhari and Babangida as my ex leaders bearing in mind their manner of ascension to power? Where the constitution of Nigeria expressly provides that: “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”. (Chapter 1) does that not make these men criminals?
Our criminal codes criminalise robbery – it goes ahead to define stealing as: “A person who fraudulently takes anything capable of being stolen, or fraudulently converts to his own use or to the use of any other person anything capable of being stolen, is said to steal that thing”. (Chapter 34)
So if the evidence shows that Babangida stole 12 billion dollars from the Gulf Oil windfall, does that not make him a thief?
Does that not make him liable to imprisonment in harmony with Section 390: “Any person who steals anything capable of being stolen is guilty of a felony, and is liable, if no other punishment is provided, to imprisonment for three years”? – Instead of a seat at the National Council of States?
Moreover, seeing that he forcefully took over the government by the use of armed soldiers, thus forcefully acquiring the keys to the vaults of our central Bank, is he not an armed robber? Shouldn’t he be condemned as such and made to face the firing squad?
If time does not run against crime, and we are now in a democracy and the rule of law, should the National Assembly allocate these hefty material and sundry benefits to these ex heads of state; rewarding them for their acts of brigandage?
Ok, alright; many Nigerians believe that Obasanjo did not win the 1999, and 2007 elections, and yet he served for 8 years as president. In the end, CALCOL have submitted evidence of criminal acts perpetrated by Obasanjo while in power, should I really be offended and come to his defence when a BBC journalist suggested he is a corrupt president? Should I respect him as my president, even as he is now implicated in the Halliburton scandal?
And now to our man of the moment; Does Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has the mandate to be the president of Nigeria. He himself admitted that the election that brought him to power was fraudulent.
Should the fact that the Supreme Court legalised his election make it legitimate? What about reports that the presidency bribed the Supreme Court Justices to get the judicial result and sources (very reliable sources) even mentioned the hands through which the bribe money was channelled.
The source added that in fact the legal fee for Yar’Adua’s solicitors was in the neighbourhood of 1 Billion Naira! 1 Billion Naira of our money, and that the money was delivered in cash? If the payment was legitimate, why pay in cash?
Is Yar’Adua aware that he should not use government money to pay the legal fees for his election tribunal case? That if he does that, he is stealing? And that it makes him a thief and a robber?
So is Yar’Adua a thief then? If so, should I still regard him as my president? Should a robber, who stole our collective property, be honoured as my leader? If he illegitimately bought and rigged an election to become the president, does that not make him a usurper, and if so, should I respect him as my president?
At the inception of Yar’ Adua’s presidency, many Nigerians decided to give him the benefit of doubt, not just because we are powerless to change the situation, but also because of his antecedents as an ascetic simple man, less prone to corruption.
If fact, during the first years of his presidency, I called a friend in Nigeria to complain that Yar’Adua seems so slow, he agreed but prefers him still. He reasoned that it is better for Yar’adua to be there and do nothing instead of allowing the “PDP thieves” to loot the whole money.
I also believe Yar’Adua when he proclaimed at his inauguration that he will maintain a “zero tolerance to corruption”.
Quote: “What is interesting is not that Umaru Yar’adua is deeply steeped in corruption, but the way he goes about his corrupt activities, regarding crude oil lifting contracts, Yar’Adua methods of enriching himself closely resemble those of the late General Sani Abacha”.- Saharareporters
You may choose to disregard Saharareporters on this, that is your call but look at the men surrounding Yar’Adua, his AG Aondoakaa in particular.
When Saharareporters alleged that Aondoakaa has collected bribes to compromise the Pfizer case, I sniggered. But recently other sources who should know are confirming the story. The source asserted also that a compromising agreement would soon be reached, but most unfavourable to the interest of the country. Lo and behold, the news came around that the Federal Government has reached agreement with Pfizer!
Would we go on about Siemens, Willbros and now the Halliburton scandal?
What is most nauseating about the latest case is not just that this administration winks at corruption but treat us like a bunch of idiots; they are pretending to investigate the case by setting up a stupid panel, making a fool of us?
Pocketing more money on top of the Halliburton scandal and having a laugh at our expense!
I am really confused because I am not just a concerned citizen, I am also a devout Christian and I take my Bible seriously. Now my Bible has commanded at Romans chapter 13 verses 1: “Let everyone be subject unto the governing powers”; and at verse 6&7: “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing… Give everyone what you owe him… if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour”.
But just I later posed to the overseer: does not the same Bible say, “Those who honour me I will honour, but those who despise me will be disdained” (1Samuel 2:30) - Have PDP honoured me if they disregarded my vote, took away my right as a Nigerian citizen to elect my president, and arrogantly gave it to Yar’Adua?
Quote: “Umaru Yar’Adua’s fraudulent ascension to power and his use of financial inducement to the judiciary to enable him to keep a mandate secured under the most corrupt, if not bizarre, electoral circumstances, has given him away as a greedy and shameless scammer”. -Saharareporters.
If successive Nigerian leaders dishonoured me by stealing us dry, mismanaged our commonwealth and made me a second class citizen in my own country, Should I honour a thief even if he is the President?
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