THE IGBO GIANT STRIDES AGAINST ALL ODDS
9 years ago
The running mate to General Muhammed Buhari, CPC flag-bearer in the 2011 presidential elections and General overseer of the church of the latter Rain Pastor Tunde Bakare is no stranger to revolutionary sermons. Over the years his fiery sermons on the pulpit have tended to re-echo the liberation theologies that swept across latin America Christendom in the 80s.
Prelude
According to Wikipedia, Liberation theology is a political movement in Christian theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor" and by detractors as Christianized Marxism.
 |
| Bishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador |
While the Vatican rejected certain aspects of Liberation theology like the Marxist-based idea that class struggle is fundamental to history as well as the interpretation of religious phenomena such as the Exodus and the Eucharist in exclusively political terms, however, the movement in general was not condemned, TheVatican explicitly endorsed a "preferential option for the poor", stating that no one could be neutral in the face of injustice, and referred to the "crimes" of colonialism and the "scandal" of the arms race.
One of the ripple effects of liberation theology in the 80s was the assassination of Bishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador. On 23 February 1977, he was appointed Archbishop of El Salvador. His appointment was met with surprise, dismay, and even incredulity. While this appointment was welcomed by the government, many priests were disappointed, especially those openly aligning with Marxism. The Marxist priests feared that his conservative reputation would negatively affect liberation theology's commitment to the poor. But this was change, On 12 March 1977, Rutilio Grande, a progressive Jesuit priest and personal friend of Romero who had been creating self-reliance groups among the poorcampesinos, was assassinated. His death had a profound impact on Romero, who later stated, "When I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, 'If they have killed him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path'".Romero urged Arturo Armando Molina's government to investigate, but they ignored his request. Furthermore, the censored press remained silent.
Tension was noted by the closure of schools and the lack of Catholic priests invited to participate in government. In response to Fr. Rutilio's murder, Romero revealed a radicalism that had not been evident earlier. Traditionally, the church had been complicit in the aims of the state and military to privilege the wealthy and powerful while the majority of the population remained in abject poverty. He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture.[7] Romero was shot dead on 24 March 1980, while celebrating Mass at a small chapel located in a hospital called "La Divina Providencia", one day after a sermon where he had called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God's higher order and to stop carrying out the government's repression and violations of basic human rights. According to an audio-recording of the Mass, he was shot while elevating the chalice at the end of the Eucharisticrite.[citation needed]
Pastor Tunde Bakare has apparently demonstrated his knacks for Liberation theology with his sermons and today's sermon is not an exception. In his sermon today, Bakare declared:
I invited all and sundry here this morning because I can see the sword already upon this land – shall I then blow the trumpet? Not to do so would be a disservice to my nation and outright disobedience to God - a luxury I cannot afford. Therefore, lend me your ears.
For the sake of clarity and to keep within the boundary of the subject of our contemplation this morning – ‘How to Change Government Peacefully and Make Society Better’ -
I have arranged this lecture under four major headings:
1. WHO TRULY RULES IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN?
2. THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IN A NATION
3. HOW TO CHANGE GOVERNMENT IN A PEACEFUL MANNER
4. THE WAY FORWARD
2. THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IN A NATION
3. HOW TO CHANGE GOVERNMENT IN A PEACEFUL MANNER
4. THE WAY FORWARD
I will take the headings one by one.
1. On WHO TRULY RULES IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN? Tunde Bakare asserts thus:
- GOD IS THE SUPREME POTENTATE:Daniel 2:20-22 (NKJV)
-
GOD, THE SUPREME POTENTATE RULES IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN AND GIVES IT TO WHOMEVER HE WILL AND SETS OVER IT THE LOWEST OF MEN:
Daniel 4:13-18 (NKJV) - - WHENEVER THE LOWEST OF MEN OCCUPY APEX POWER POSITIONS, IN THEIR NAIVETY, THEY YIELD TO DEMONIC POWERS WHO THEN RULE THROUGH THEM: (I Samuel 16:14-23).Judges 9:22-23
2. THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IN A NATION
- The purpose of any meaningful government is the welfare and security of the people. In our clime, neither welfare nor security of the lives and property of our people seems to matter anymore. Our malady is not new. History holds records of nations who were bled to death by their rulers and tells how such leaders were ultimately dealt with when the oppressed could no longer bear the heavy weight of their oppressive and insensitive leadership.
3. HOW TO CHANGE GOVERNMENT IN A PEACEFUL MANNER
- The same God who raised David the shepherd boy from the sheepfold and made him king over Israel, and deposed the insane King Saul, still does what pleases Him in the nations of the earth
First and foremost, THE UNQUESTIONABLE GOD FACTOR: - RESIGNATION: Resignation is not a sign of weakness - it is a sign of patriotic truthfulness. It is giving opportunity to those who can do a better job in the interest of the nation to carry on with nation-building where the exiting leader stops.
- IMPEACHMENT: This can only be carried out by the National Assembly and the process has begun. It may be aborted, or it may be carried to its logical conclusion. Either way, it is a worse option and carries a load of shame with it compared to resignation.
- THE PEOPLE’S REVOLT: I seriously wish and fervently pray that it will not get to the stage of a people’s revolt before positive changes begin to happen in the north and south of Nigeria. Without a doubt, if corruption remains king, violence its deputy, and insecurity the treasurer of the ill-fated status quo Federal Republic of Nigeria, we might as well write the gravestone epitaph today:
“Here lie the remains of a potentially great country whose ruin came because leadership did not give a damn; her filthiness was in her garments, her collapse was awesome, because she did not consider her destiny.”
4. THE WAY FORWARD
- Without a doubt, the catalogue of scandalous mismanagement of national resources, the unbridled stealing of public funds, and the bewildering exposure of the level of corruption in almost every arm of government as well as governmental agencies and parastatals, call for a change of guards – more so when the president has openly admitted that the security situation in the country has changed his pre-election agenda. And in spite of the president’s promises to deal with insecurity head-on, this government appears helpless because it cannot see the linkage between corruption and violence.
0 comments:
Post a Comment