‘Pastor Sunday how dare you support a Muslim candidate’’?
This is the fifth part of Pastor Sunday Adelaja's explanations for throwing
his weight behind the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket. You can read the previous posts here, here, here and here
Ecclesiastics 10:16-17
16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,
And your princes feast in the morning!
17 Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles,
And your princes feast at the proper time—
For strength and not for drunkenness
‘Plato is my friend— Aristotle is my friend — but my greatest friend is the truth’. Therefore I say ‘Jonathan is my president, Goodluck is a Christian, but Nigeria is my greatest love’
1) Apart from the points that I have highlighted in the previous parts (1-4), I think it is legitimate for me and any other Nigerian to support any good ticket even if the representatives are not of your own religion. As long as the flag bearer for that ticket is a Nigerian, he has the right to be elected as the president or into any other position, because he is a citizen of this country. Fellow Nigerians, brothers and sisters, what if somebody comes up to say a Muslim should never vote for a Christian, that means no Christian will ever win the presidential elections in Nigeria because without the Muslim votes from the north, south, east and west, it just won’t be possible. So it is not fair to say no Christian should vote for a Muslim, because we are not talking about religion here but about good leadership.
2) What determines whom I support depends on the personality, competence, integrity and reputation of the person involved. Another factor is the program the candidate puts forward. If I believe in the program, I will support them even if they are Muslims. I am aware that many Nigerians have the habit in the last decades of traveling to Dubai which is an Islamic nation, ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, yet we go to learn from them. They are doing better than us, they have built a better country, so what is the argument about? Hey, let’s use our minds. Let’s wake up, let’s face reality, let’s be less religious and ambiguous in our thinking.
3) I support the Buhari ticket because I believe in the leadership attributes of the man. Gen. Buhari is one of the most disciplined, diligent, focused and hardworking Nigerian leaders alive today. His track record confirms this. Gen. Buhari ruled Nigeria for less than 2 years and accomplished much more than what most governments in Nigeria history has ever accomplished. Let’s see the facts.
Some of his Achievements:
i) His administration initiated a public campaign against indiscipline known as "War against Indiscipline (WAI)" when he realised the civilian government he took over from as head of state was HOPELESSLY CORRUPT. The campaign is still lauded by many to have instilled the most orderly conduct of public and private affairs in Nigeria since its independence in 1960.
ii) In his time as head of state he reduced inflation from 23% to 4%, by fiscal discipline and a homegrown economic team (not achieved under any other era both civilian and military).
iii) He supervised and birthed our only existing refineries (1976-1978)
iv) What he did in road construction while in the PTF hasn't been matched in 16 years of democracy.
v) The hospitals and universities around the country never witnessed as much benefits as they got from the PTF than any other government after or before his time.
vi) The Buhari regime rebuffed all entreaties by IMF and World Bank to devalue the naira, remove subsidies on services and increase pump price on fuel.
vii) The Nigerian Naira was exchanged between 0.724 -0.894 to 1 Us Dollar during Buhari's regime (1983-1985). Imagine our Naira was more than the dollar just 29 years ago when I left the country to study in Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_naira
4) Please check out these facts about Gen. Buhari. By the time you confirm the information below, you will agree with me that this is not just the best presidential candidate we have running today, but maybe he is one of the best citizens Nigeria has ever produced. I hope after finding out about the statistics below you will also join me in praying and hoping that Buhari/Osinbajo ticket takes the day.
While former leaders came to line their pockets with the national wealth by promoting themselves to ‘Generals of fortune’ and by naming some important streets, edifices, and towns in Nigeria after themselves, it was not so with General Buhari. He was driven by patriotic zeal to serve Nigeria. Even after being the Head of State for 20 months, he never promoted himself to a four-star general like others who came before or after him. It’s also important to note that he did not create the office of First Lady, which others did as a means of stealing the national and common wealth.
• Gen. Buhari presently has 2 houses, one owned by his father and one he built with his pension
• He has no house or land in Abuja
• No property or savings abroad
• He has 2 cars (one belongs to his wife)
• He has no oil wells, no petrol station.
• His monetary assets was 6.5 million naira which now remains 1million naira after he paid 5.5 million naira for his presidential nomination form (compared to 750 million declared by GEJ)
• Gen. Buhari and Nelson Mandela were the only private African individuals invited to the white house during president Barrack Obama’s inauguration, why? Because they are men of integrity.
• Above all, he is not associated with corruption of any form or sort.
5) Gen. Buhari being a septuagenarian, and knowing that not too many people are given a second chance in life, would like to exceed his previous achievements. So I believe it is better to give Gen. Buhari the chance to render his best service and to leave the best legacy he could possibly leave for the posterity of Nigerians. President Jonathan has already been given 6 years to prove his worth and Nigerians can now give a similar chance to Gen. Buhari. If he fails to deliver then we are free to remove him as well and give the chance to another person. If we reelect President Jonathan now it means he will be ruling Nigeria for 10 years and the only person to have ruled Nigeria for that long was Gen. Gowon (9 years).
6) Gen. Buhari achieved so much in his war against corruption between Dec. 1983 and Aug. 1985. He is a man of integrity. He is the only or one of a few ex-leaders not living in opulence. Gen. Buhari’s government jailed over 600 corrupt politicians and businessmen and refused to release them until their loot was recovered. I must admit though, that there were probably a lot of excesses in his government’s fight against corruption, yet we cannot but commend his efforts. Only those who do nothing make no mistakes. He even tried to forcefully kidnap President Shagari's defence minister from the UK, who had stolen from the coffers of the government. This action was necessary after British government refused to send him back to Nigeria. During his rule, there was less crime. He took a hard line on all crime especially armed robbers and drug traffickers. Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, that many Nigerians admire, actually modelled himself after Gen. Buhari.
Nigeria's number one problem is corruption. Once corruption is tackled, all other challenges facing the nation from credible elections to economic development and infrastructures like electricity, water, transports would work better.
7) I believe that if Pastor Bakare will agree to be a running mate to someone, then that must be a good person, because Pastor Tunde Bakare is a no nonsense pastor yet he agreed to run with Buhari in 2011. After that experience, even now Pastor Bakare though not running still says he will never speak against Gen. Buhari because he has seen the content of his character. Now if Pastor Osinbajo is supporting the same presidential candidate, it means there is something in this man that Nigerians should pay attention to. These are not people that can be easily manipulated or bought over. These two Nigerians cannot be bought over by any amount of money.
8) I have heard from reliable sources about Gen. Buhari’s impeccable reputation people whose names I will not like to disclose here without a prior agreement. These are men of integrity, Christian men, pastors who have met one on one with Gen Buhari and their testimony is that they have never seen a man of such quality, humility and strength of character in Nigeria. These are pastors talking of how impeccable Gen. Buhari’s character is among all the people they have ever met. I would rather vote for that kind of man than support someone who is just a ‘Christian’ without character or integrity. Another friend of mine who is also a pastor of a great repute whom I don’t have any basis to doubt, told me that Gen. Buhari himself disclosed to him that his personal driver of over two or three decades is a Christian. He also disclosed that Gen. Buhari told him that his personal cook, is a Christian woman. These are two of the closest and most trustworthy people in any body’s life as your life depends on them - your cook and your driver. Gen. Buhari surrounds himself with Christians not just Muslims. I don’t believe such a man hates Christians. More so I also have another firsthand information from another friend about Gen buhari’s quality. This friend of mine is a Christian from the south-south region of Nigeria, and he wanted to get some assurances from Gov. Tinubu about the personality of Gen Buhari, He therefore asked Gov. Tinubu the question, if Gen. Buhari was a Muslim fundamentalist that did not like Christians, to which Tinubu said, ‘you don’t need to believe my words, come here tomorrow morning, Gen Buhari will be here then you can sit down with him and ask him whatever questions you have yourself’. The meeting took place and at the end of this meeting this south-south Christian leader became a converted believer in the integrity and credibility of Gen. Buhari as one of the soundest, most realistic and most sincere persons he has ever met in his entire life. Dear friends these are people I know personally with character of the highest level, I believe them, so I choose to support Buhari /Oshibajo ticket.
9) The next reason why I support the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket is because I believe God has used Gen. Buhari to highlight and to bring to the forefront one of the best men that was ever born in the nation of Nigeria, which is Professor Yemi oshibajo. I believe that by the grace of God, this ticket has a very good chance of winning just at least for Nigerians to have something to write home about their nation. So that this next generation will not be a wasted generation. Believe me friends if anyone can do it Gen Buhari/Prof Oshibajo can. They have what it takes. These men, friends are the real deal.
10) Even though I have high regard for President Jonathan as a person and for other Christian gentlemen that are in his government, but I dare to say that there is no body that brings a better representation of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Nigerian Government like professor Osinbajo. I believe with him as vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Christian world view and the kingdom perspective will have a better expression than what we have right now.
11) Though Gen. Buhari is strong and I pray and believe God will give him long life, strength and vigor, yet he might not want to go for the second term, but might prefer to step down for his vice president for the second term. He might decide that he is too old to go for the second term after the first 4 years when he will be seventy six years old which could present the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo a chance of supernaturally emerging as the next president of Nigeria. If that happens I believe that might be the best dream for the next generation of Nigerians.
12) I believe that Gen. Buhari has what it takes to unite Nigeria like no other leader today in the country. Why? Because his biography and his track record proves that he is a committed Nigerian. I don’t believe that Gen. Buhari wants to divide Nigeria, because he risked his life by going to war for Nigeria. He went to war to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria. He was ready to die for Nigeria. He sacrificed his comfort, his youth, and his family’s comfort. He risked everything to allow us to grow up in a united Nigeria. His life is a better proof that he is a better Nigerian than most of the people who are criticising him now. Most of the people criticising him have not made the sacrifice he has made for Nigeria.
Gen. Buhari has held the following positions in Nigeria enough to understand better than most people how to govern and unite Nigeria:
I) Governor of North-Eastern State of Nigeria (August 1975 – March 1976)
II) Minister For Petroleum and Natural Resources (March 1976- June 1978)
III) Chairman Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (June 1978- July 1978)
IV) 7th Head of State of Nigeria (Dec 31,1983- August 27, 1985)
V) Chairman PTF(Mid 1994- July 1999)
Antecedents of individuals are very important in human history. Therefore General M. Buhari's antecedents speak for themselves. Whenever the history of corporate Nigeria is written, Gen. Buhari's contribution will be written in Gold!!!
My dear brothers and sister don’t let us be overly agitated. God still rules in the affairs of men. I remember I had this type of feeling when Gen. Obasanjo was coming out from the prison to rule Nigeria in 1999. Then also, so many Christian leaders and believers refused to support him, because they said he was a stooge of the northern Muslims. Even most Yorubas in the south west where he himself comes from refused to vote for him. But because it was the will of God and because God rules in the affairs of men, His will could not be stopped. Gen. Obasanjo emerged as the president in spite of the opposition from his own people and from his own Christian brethren. There are times when God will use the Cyrus’s of this world and the Babylonians to accomplish his purpose on earth for which He calls them his servants and his army. I believe this ticket Buhari/osibajo is God's dream team to rescue Nigeria from an imminent ship wreck. God bless Nigeria!
To be concluded tomorrow
*Pastor Sunday Adelaja is the founder and senior pastor of the Embassy of God, an evangelical-charismatic megachurch in Kiev, Ukraine, reputed to be the largest charismatic church in Eastern Europe.
i) His administration initiated a public campaign against indiscipline known as "War against Indiscipline (WAI)" when he realised the civilian government he took over from as head of state was HOPELESSLY CORRUPT. The campaign is still lauded by many to have instilled the most orderly conduct of public and private affairs in Nigeria since its independence in 1960.
ii) In his time as head of state he reduced inflation from 23% to 4%, by fiscal discipline and a homegrown economic team (not achieved under any other era both civilian and military).
iii) He supervised and birthed our only existing refineries (1976-1978)
iv) What he did in road construction while in the PTF hasn't been matched in 16 years of democracy.
v) The hospitals and universities around the country never witnessed as much benefits as they got from the PTF than any other government after or before his time.
vi) The Buhari regime rebuffed all entreaties by IMF and World Bank to devalue the naira, remove subsidies on services and increase pump price on fuel.
vii) The Nigerian Naira was exchanged between 0.724 -0.894 to 1 Us Dollar during Buhari's regime (1983-1985). Imagine our Naira was more than the dollar just 29 years ago when I left the country to study in Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_naira
4) Please check out these facts about Gen. Buhari. By the time you confirm the information below, you will agree with me that this is not just the best presidential candidate we have running today, but maybe he is one of the best citizens Nigeria has ever produced. I hope after finding out about the statistics below you will also join me in praying and hoping that Buhari/Osinbajo ticket takes the day.
While former leaders came to line their pockets with the national wealth by promoting themselves to ‘Generals of fortune’ and by naming some important streets, edifices, and towns in Nigeria after themselves, it was not so with General Buhari. He was driven by patriotic zeal to serve Nigeria. Even after being the Head of State for 20 months, he never promoted himself to a four-star general like others who came before or after him. It’s also important to note that he did not create the office of First Lady, which others did as a means of stealing the national and common wealth.
• Gen. Buhari presently has 2 houses, one owned by his father and one he built with his pension
• He has no house or land in Abuja
• No property or savings abroad
• He has 2 cars (one belongs to his wife)
• He has no oil wells, no petrol station.
• His monetary assets was 6.5 million naira which now remains 1million naira after he paid 5.5 million naira for his presidential nomination form (compared to 750 million declared by GEJ)
• Gen. Buhari and Nelson Mandela were the only private African individuals invited to the white house during president Barrack Obama’s inauguration, why? Because they are men of integrity.
• Above all, he is not associated with corruption of any form or sort.
5) Gen. Buhari being a septuagenarian, and knowing that not too many people are given a second chance in life, would like to exceed his previous achievements. So I believe it is better to give Gen. Buhari the chance to render his best service and to leave the best legacy he could possibly leave for the posterity of Nigerians. President Jonathan has already been given 6 years to prove his worth and Nigerians can now give a similar chance to Gen. Buhari. If he fails to deliver then we are free to remove him as well and give the chance to another person. If we reelect President Jonathan now it means he will be ruling Nigeria for 10 years and the only person to have ruled Nigeria for that long was Gen. Gowon (9 years).
6) Gen. Buhari achieved so much in his war against corruption between Dec. 1983 and Aug. 1985. He is a man of integrity. He is the only or one of a few ex-leaders not living in opulence. Gen. Buhari’s government jailed over 600 corrupt politicians and businessmen and refused to release them until their loot was recovered. I must admit though, that there were probably a lot of excesses in his government’s fight against corruption, yet we cannot but commend his efforts. Only those who do nothing make no mistakes. He even tried to forcefully kidnap President Shagari's defence minister from the UK, who had stolen from the coffers of the government. This action was necessary after British government refused to send him back to Nigeria. During his rule, there was less crime. He took a hard line on all crime especially armed robbers and drug traffickers. Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, that many Nigerians admire, actually modelled himself after Gen. Buhari.
Nigeria's number one problem is corruption. Once corruption is tackled, all other challenges facing the nation from credible elections to economic development and infrastructures like electricity, water, transports would work better.
7) I believe that if Pastor Bakare will agree to be a running mate to someone, then that must be a good person, because Pastor Tunde Bakare is a no nonsense pastor yet he agreed to run with Buhari in 2011. After that experience, even now Pastor Bakare though not running still says he will never speak against Gen. Buhari because he has seen the content of his character. Now if Pastor Osinbajo is supporting the same presidential candidate, it means there is something in this man that Nigerians should pay attention to. These are not people that can be easily manipulated or bought over. These two Nigerians cannot be bought over by any amount of money.
8) I have heard from reliable sources about Gen. Buhari’s impeccable reputation people whose names I will not like to disclose here without a prior agreement. These are men of integrity, Christian men, pastors who have met one on one with Gen Buhari and their testimony is that they have never seen a man of such quality, humility and strength of character in Nigeria. These are pastors talking of how impeccable Gen. Buhari’s character is among all the people they have ever met. I would rather vote for that kind of man than support someone who is just a ‘Christian’ without character or integrity. Another friend of mine who is also a pastor of a great repute whom I don’t have any basis to doubt, told me that Gen. Buhari himself disclosed to him that his personal driver of over two or three decades is a Christian. He also disclosed that Gen. Buhari told him that his personal cook, is a Christian woman. These are two of the closest and most trustworthy people in any body’s life as your life depends on them - your cook and your driver. Gen. Buhari surrounds himself with Christians not just Muslims. I don’t believe such a man hates Christians. More so I also have another firsthand information from another friend about Gen buhari’s quality. This friend of mine is a Christian from the south-south region of Nigeria, and he wanted to get some assurances from Gov. Tinubu about the personality of Gen Buhari, He therefore asked Gov. Tinubu the question, if Gen. Buhari was a Muslim fundamentalist that did not like Christians, to which Tinubu said, ‘you don’t need to believe my words, come here tomorrow morning, Gen Buhari will be here then you can sit down with him and ask him whatever questions you have yourself’. The meeting took place and at the end of this meeting this south-south Christian leader became a converted believer in the integrity and credibility of Gen. Buhari as one of the soundest, most realistic and most sincere persons he has ever met in his entire life. Dear friends these are people I know personally with character of the highest level, I believe them, so I choose to support Buhari /Oshibajo ticket.
9) The next reason why I support the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket is because I believe God has used Gen. Buhari to highlight and to bring to the forefront one of the best men that was ever born in the nation of Nigeria, which is Professor Yemi oshibajo. I believe that by the grace of God, this ticket has a very good chance of winning just at least for Nigerians to have something to write home about their nation. So that this next generation will not be a wasted generation. Believe me friends if anyone can do it Gen Buhari/Prof Oshibajo can. They have what it takes. These men, friends are the real deal.
10) Even though I have high regard for President Jonathan as a person and for other Christian gentlemen that are in his government, but I dare to say that there is no body that brings a better representation of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Nigerian Government like professor Osinbajo. I believe with him as vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Christian world view and the kingdom perspective will have a better expression than what we have right now.
11) Though Gen. Buhari is strong and I pray and believe God will give him long life, strength and vigor, yet he might not want to go for the second term, but might prefer to step down for his vice president for the second term. He might decide that he is too old to go for the second term after the first 4 years when he will be seventy six years old which could present the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo a chance of supernaturally emerging as the next president of Nigeria. If that happens I believe that might be the best dream for the next generation of Nigerians.
12) I believe that Gen. Buhari has what it takes to unite Nigeria like no other leader today in the country. Why? Because his biography and his track record proves that he is a committed Nigerian. I don’t believe that Gen. Buhari wants to divide Nigeria, because he risked his life by going to war for Nigeria. He went to war to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria. He was ready to die for Nigeria. He sacrificed his comfort, his youth, and his family’s comfort. He risked everything to allow us to grow up in a united Nigeria. His life is a better proof that he is a better Nigerian than most of the people who are criticising him now. Most of the people criticising him have not made the sacrifice he has made for Nigeria.
Gen. Buhari has held the following positions in Nigeria enough to understand better than most people how to govern and unite Nigeria:
I) Governor of North-Eastern State of Nigeria (August 1975 – March 1976)
II) Minister For Petroleum and Natural Resources (March 1976- June 1978)
III) Chairman Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (June 1978- July 1978)
IV) 7th Head of State of Nigeria (Dec 31,1983- August 27, 1985)
V) Chairman PTF(Mid 1994- July 1999)
Antecedents of individuals are very important in human history. Therefore General M. Buhari's antecedents speak for themselves. Whenever the history of corporate Nigeria is written, Gen. Buhari's contribution will be written in Gold!!!
My dear brothers and sister don’t let us be overly agitated. God still rules in the affairs of men. I remember I had this type of feeling when Gen. Obasanjo was coming out from the prison to rule Nigeria in 1999. Then also, so many Christian leaders and believers refused to support him, because they said he was a stooge of the northern Muslims. Even most Yorubas in the south west where he himself comes from refused to vote for him. But because it was the will of God and because God rules in the affairs of men, His will could not be stopped. Gen. Obasanjo emerged as the president in spite of the opposition from his own people and from his own Christian brethren. There are times when God will use the Cyrus’s of this world and the Babylonians to accomplish his purpose on earth for which He calls them his servants and his army. I believe this ticket Buhari/osibajo is God's dream team to rescue Nigeria from an imminent ship wreck. God bless Nigeria!
To be concluded tomorrow
*Pastor Sunday Adelaja is the founder and senior pastor of the Embassy of God, an evangelical-charismatic megachurch in Kiev, Ukraine, reputed to be the largest charismatic church in Eastern Europe.
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