Any fight done in the open is street to me, hence the resolve never to get involved again in passionate public disagreements on emotive issues, regardless of the temptation. By now, anyone conversant with this page should know Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye is not just a spiritual grandpa to me, but my own Elijah. If you want to know the relationship between Elisha and his own Elijah, check 1 Kings 19 and 2 Kings 2. Expectedly, the calls on him by some rag-tag groups of protesters to speak up on the ills plaguing the nation as well as the pulpits have become weapons of mass destruction in the hands of pro-respect and anti-quiet elements to demolish friendship, relationship and extant camaraderie. It was saddening watching an alumni WhatsApp inflamed. Jentu-ladies became fighters because men of God were supposedly being dragged through political mud by associates of decades, perceivably radicalised by ethos of yonder countries.
Well, Daddy can now be discharged on not speaking against lectern ills a-la Biodun Fatoyinbo’s COZA Gbosa, after using the Word to admonish at the July Holy Ghost, but the jury will always be out on the Fulani herdsmen’s takeover of human abattoirs, kidnapping mega-deals and highway security in the South, while tightening their grip on same, in the North. Apart from being a reputable man of God and having a well-regarded persona, I guess Papa is being dragged into the saving-a-drowning nation campaign, because one of his beloved sons, Pastor Yemi Osinbajo, is neck-deep in the Bokoto (cow-leg) politics gripping the nation since the advent of this administration.
In fact, as the VeePee, those believed to be coordinating the Fulanisation agenda, Aremu Obasanjo’s coinage, must have made Osinbajo pee when such flow is not naturally expected, with the way his arms and legs have been conveniently worn into the most controversial of the agenda like Ruga. So, how can Daddy G.O keep quiet when his “son” for whose sake millions of Redeemers grudgingly gave their votes, in 2015 with thousands repeating the ritual in 2019, to a Buhari whose antecedents do not support the Body of Christ, having a swell time under his presidency. And it would be a correct proposition that the votes given by Redeemers to Buhari because of Osinbajo, were actually votes for their confidence in Daddy G.O, not necessarily because Osinbajo inspired any hope of demulcent representation under Buhari, in Abuja. Yes, Papa Adeboye didn’t stand anywhere in the public, to say, vote Buhari for Osinbajo’s sake in 2015 and early this year, but the news was everywhere that Candidate Buhari spoke with him for tens of minute, seeking his approval before announcing Bola Tinubu-nominated Osinbajo as his running-mate. Any better definition of an endorsement?
If you endorsed a brand, now going ranching, the best thing is to apologise to those who patronised the brand for the sake of your impression of viability on it. But more importantly, the brand must be publicly remonstrated for a rebranding if private admonition isn’t paying off. Now remembering the way our local parish pastor then was conducting the Buhari election affair, which I learnt was the standard partisan sentiment then all over, simply for the sake of our “own”, Osinbajo himself would need to stand before the Body of Christ for a heartfelt apology and condemn the evil ravaging the land, before continuing with his peace offering across palaces in the South-West.
Accuser of the bretheren
If you consider my views outrageous, then you don’t really know my Father-in-the-Lord. Yes, Daddy G.O doesn’t want to break protocol by speaking over the head of CAN and PFN leadership, but I can assure that he has not stopped teaching us, millions of his sons and daughters all over the world, the morality and divinity of speaking against evils, anywhere we see one. I also have no doubt that he must have been tapping the lobes of his own, in the midst of the so-called ruling cabal and the out-of-favour, in the power corridor. As a fact, he built his reputation as a reliable Elijah on not just teaching what is right, but doing it, though he may not be honing his international clout and reputation to an advantage in this salvaging matter, because he over-loves Nigeria.
Instead of reaching for cudgels and seeking scalps to reconfigure, I’m of the opinion that Redeemers worldwide should grab cymbals to celebrate perceived heathens holding our Daddy’s feet to fire over his son in government and his own, not hoisting Christ’s flag, befittingly. When those not under your authority, whether divine or administrative, assumed your voice aphoristic enough, to scare stokers off their tinder of bloody neo-colonization, it is an honour only God can bestow. John the Baptist enjoyed the same honour among the generation of vipers. They listened because there was a divine authority to his lone voice in the wilderness.
On Thursday, Daddy G.O spoke loud and clear about the evils in the land. It was a call to duty as contained in the Open Heavens of 2019. He themed it, “Don’t be an accomplice”. It came with a powerful memory verse, “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” Romans 1:32.
He then said in own words; “Today, we will be reflecting on an area of compromise in the Body of Christ which The Lord wants us to repent of. This has to do with partaking in other men’s sin, whether by supporting, celebrating or turning a blind eye to their misdeeds”. Papa may not be saying it like Baba Ota, but isn’t this louder enough?
Written By Lanre Adewole
