Chris Okotie And Apostolic Incursion Into Nigerian Politics
by Obinna Akukwe
Chris Okotie is the first cerebral pastor in Nigeria to make an apostolic incursion into Nigeria’s dirty presidential politics. In 2003 he contested under Justice Party, placing 8th out of 29 candidates with 119,547 votes. Okotie formed FRESH Democratic Party and used the FRESH platform to vie for the presidency of Nigeria in 2007, netting in 74049 votes, coming 8th among 20 candidates.
Security report and some independent electoral observers believed that the actual figures of the elections shows that Okotie actually got up to a million votes in each occasion but the trio of Olusegun Obasanjo ( former president), Tony Anenih( political henchman) and Maurice Iwu ( electoral umpire) and their agents of votes manipulations were magnanimous enough to allow a percentage of his votes to count , in the infamous electoral system where votes are written in the houses of party chieftains while hapless voters optimistically embark on electoral merry go round in the polling stations. When Okotie failed to win the do or die electoral fraud, a lot of Pentecostal pastors derided him and asked him where his God was.
Chris Okotie is a man of many firsts, both good and not so good. He was the first cerebral personality to embrace Christ in the early eighties. His first album ‘I Need Someone’ released in 1980 made him the most celebrated Nigerian pop musician. Himself and Jide Obi’s album ”Kill Me With Love” released in 1981 made the duo the most popular young musicians of the eighties. Therefore when news went round that the two law students of University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus are now preaching the Bible, it caused a stir and groups gathered to discuss the evil that had descended on the music industry while the church people rejoiced that Jesus had captured a hell bound soul. At that time parents would prefer a drunkard in the family than a born again, bible believing and bible preaching embarrassment.
His popularity then could be likened to that enjoyed by Tu-Face Idibia, P-Square and D-Banj in contemporary Nigerian music. While Churches and groups like Scripture Union, Assemblies of God Church, Grace of God Mission etc rejoiced at the capture of a hell bent sinner, disco, rock and party lovers cursed the gods that snatched him out of their hands. I could recall vividly how patrons of Palm Beach Hotel and Enugu Guest House night clubs at Uwani area of Enugu were thrown into mourning because’ the church rats’ have snatched off a music star. He barely finished his law degree programme in University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus and jetted to the US for theological education..
Okotie was the first celebrity in Nigeria to become a pastor. He started Household of God Church in 1987 after attending Bible School in the United States and was the first to introduce ‘Americana’ into Nigeria’s Pentecostal fold. Praise and Worship were rendered in high tempo American style with a lot of jumping, shouting and excitements. His tempo made Archbishop Idahosa’s own seems like a child’s play though Idahosa struck a balance between western and native worship system. Okotie’s sobriquet ”uh..uh uh..uh” whatever it means, is yet be imitated by anybody. Today everybody is either Western or a combination with native worship style.
Okotie also introduced Jerry Curl hairstyle into the Pastoral Ministry. While some pastors who visited his church then, came back and headed straight to the hair stylist to make some hairdo adjustments, others changed their phonetics, dressings and imported elements of ‘Yuppies’ and exuberance into the system. Today some Nigerian pastors like Chris Oyakhilome , TB Joshua among others adorn stylish hairdo and phonetics
In 2002, he told a stunned nation that he will be the president of Nigeria. Though he has failed twice, he reiterated the views in December 2010 saying ” what I’m saying, that my time will come. I already quoted Abraham Lincoln in the sense that I am so sure that it is a divine mandate. All I have to do is wait for the right time and not compromise my philosophy or compromise my faith and join a conglomerate of men and women who call themselves political parties, whereas they are just a conscription of men and women of anti-theatrical philosophies who have no ideological connectivity and their only common denominator is their desire to annex wealth. Because I believe in a Nigeria where truth reigns; a fresh Nigeria which our party symbolises in F-Faith, R-Responsibility, E-Equality, S-Security and H-Hope. This is the philosophy upon which I have erected the citadel of my confidence because I believe only a fresh Nigerian can salvage this nation. All this cosmetic and superficial activity that are going on by the ruling party is a journey in futility. This will also drift us back to square one”.
It is prophetically discernible that Okotie was sent on apostolic mission to break the barriers creating apathy from among the believers and the clergy towards involvement in politics .When good Christians keep away from politics, the evil ones will mess up the destiny of the nation and bring calamities on everyone. I believe that Okotie misinterpreted his mission and such is not uncommon with people whose prophetic insight is not sharp. He must not become the president of Nigeria before the agenda is fulfilled. An apostle is a person divinely sent to a particular place or people to start a peculiar move of God. Some Apostolic Ministries are territory based while others are activity based and still some are both territorial and activity based. Hence we hear people call someone Apostle to the Gentiles, Apostle of Faith etc. Okotie’s own is activity based with limits of changing the mindset of believers towards politics and ensuring active participation of the clergy and laity in such matters so that sons of God can exhibit the light of God in public spheres and save Nigeria all the constant injustice, corruption, mediocrity and poverty ravaging the land. In the past Rev Fr Moses Adasu and Rev Jolly Nyame were clergymen from the orthodox churches who became Governors of their states.
Okotie’s apostolic ministry was first exhibited when he broke the barrier of spiritual indifference, skepticism and suspicion which the Pentecostal fold views politics, activism and secularism. In an apostolic move, he introduced an award, known as the Karis Award which seeks to reward Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in acts of patriotism and national service irrespective of religious affiliations. Recipients of the N1million naira award included both Christians and Muslims among whom are the late Gani Fawehinmi, Pa Michael Imoudu, Gen Murtala Muhammed, Mallam Aminu Kano, Mrs Magraret Ekpo among others and thus started a process whereby the church moves from being a disinterested party to being an active observer of the polity. When a church rewards both Christians and Muslims using merit as criteria, it means that the barriers of religion hoisted on the nation through colonial manipulations is gradually being broken and dislodged and with more efforts, would be totally dismantled.
Chris Okotie was the first known Pentecostal pastor to venture into the murky waters of Nigerian politics in the order of late Rev Martin Luther King and Rev Jesse Jackson whose foray into U.S politics was instrumental to the eventual liberation of Black Americans of which Barrack Obama was a beneficiary. “Okotie’s entrance into the stormy waters of Nigerian politics was an apostolic move meant to breaking the jinx which made the Pentecostals to say ” take your politics and leave my Jesus for me” mantra. Though he failed to win the election, he won the fight at the spiritual gates whereby sons of God are barred from participating in the current affairs of their nation. The PFN Enugu State Chapter is planning a programme at Rock Cathedral Enugu whereby they want to sensitize born again Christians to participate actively in politics. Some state chapters of PFN are planning similar things. The fire stocked by Okotie is catching like wildfire- therefore, whosoever says that his entrance into politics is not divinely instructed, is displaying prophetic and apostolic ignorance.
God told Abraham that he will possess the land of Canaan and the patriarch of Faith, in robust prophetic left Mesopotamia for Shechem in Canaan, lived there temporarily and when famine visited Canaan, he left for Egypt. Abraham, by that encompassing, has spiritually secured Canaan for generations of Israeli till today. This was the kind of assignment Okotie was sent to do in Nigeria’s political sphere but dwarf prophets who see prophesy as only when they call the bank details and village names of their congregation, always makes mockery of prophetic and apostolic moves they fail to understand. Fiery Nigerian prophet, Tunde Bakare, in 2011, was running mate to a popular Muslim candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, and both were able to secure 12 million votes for their opposition party. This was part of the open doors associated with Okotie’s apostolic moves.
Chris Okotie’s insightful expose on the book of Revelations was an effort to dissect the signs of the times. His then popular TV programme, The Apocalypsus was interesting and revealing, even though the quality of grammar exhibited during the series disenfranchised some not so literate viewers. Keeping a dictionary handy during such expositions was helpful for some persons.
Chris Okotie has been visited with a lot of temptations of life meant to pull down his Christian faith. His marriage to first wife Tina broke after fourteen years and another marriage of four years to Stephanie Henshaw, crashed recently and he has signaled intention to pick a third wife. Stories of disturbing sexual scandals are not new in that church. It seems those beautiful girls and celebrities who dot his church are more interested in Pastor Chris Okotie than his message, and as such have constituted themselves into a group of lustful pretenders waiting for opportunity to tear the pastor to pieces. The Bible warns those who started so well to be on guard less the devil messes up their later years. Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10 vs 12 says “Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall” Jesus said in Matthew 24:13 “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Equally in His letter to the Philadelphian Church, Jesus warned thus “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
Temptations and trials come to every child of God and how one reacts to it is a different ballgame. It is only God that can explain why He allows some afflictions to visit some people but we are enjoined that all things works together for them which are in Christ Jesus and above all the ultimate goal is to be in heaven with other saved ones. When such adversities engulf a person, there is every tendency to miss focus. Therefore, those who have labored for God in the past need extra carefulness so that the devil does not rubbish their past testimonies and Okotie is one of those.
Chris Okotie as God’s servant defied odds in the past to always chart a new strange course for the body of Christ and the nation. He needs our prayers and support so that this apostolic unction is utilized for new frontiers while agents of suffocation, pollution and coloration of divine assignment are kept at bay.
Death And The Good Family Man
by Ethelbert Okere
On Friday April 26, 2013, I was in attendance at the funeral church service for the late sister of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. The theme of the clergyman’s sermon was that it is better to go to where there is mourning than where there is a feast. According to him, feasting, unlike mourning, gives us no time to be sober and reflect upon our lives and life itself.
This moral is not entirely new but it was quite apt for the particular occasion because the death of a 38-year old woman should, indeed, be an opportunity for everyone to think over life. Of course, death make the living sober but it is equally true that the somberness soon fizzles out, wherein the living return to frolicking and rollicking. So what to do? Mourn every day? No, of course, but one fellow had a attitude which, by his death recently, I now would, like the reverend gentle man in reference above, admonish those of us still alive to imbibe.
I am referring to our late friend and colleague, Pini Joson, who died last Saturday. Pini’s death has been most devastating to all of us but somehow, I find some consolation in the very attitude he put up about life. Which is that I found in Pini Jason a follow who was ready for death at any moment. I could imagine him looking at us in sympathy and saying: why are you worrying, I told you it could happen any moment. Of course, Pini was meticulous about everything more so his personal health but he would tell you that even people who were known to have the best of health suddenly died, to say nothing of the vicissitudes of life which, in our own context, make us extremely vulnerable.
This was the attitude he showed in both official and family life. Pini advocated that you should proceed today as if there will be no tomorrow. He believed that you do not put off for tomorrow what you can accomplish today because you may not have the opportunity of doing so tomorrow. What that means is that man should be hard working, thorough and steadfast in what he believes in.
Pini lived to the full but he did not believe in the sanctity of life if there was no longer need for it. While we were both serving in the Imo state government, he once said of his problematic eyes that he was becoming less worried because he may soon not have need for them again! Even though he took extra measures to get the best medical attention for the eyes, that was to attitude to life. Pini did not talk much about religion but I found his attitude to life a better reflection of the tenets that you own not yourself or anything thereof.
In family life, the late Pini Jason was even more exemplary. He cherished his family a lot. You would not be with him for ten minutes without a mention of his family. In fact, he would seize the slightest opportunity to tell you: “God blessed me with a good family”. Many also have good families but many are they also who merely stumbled at it. Some would say “lucky”. Luck, yes, but Pini Jason was one fellow whom I believed worked very hard to earn his “good family”. You didn’t have to be very close to him to know this. He would say things that would leave you in no doubt that truly this was a good family man, a good husband, a good father, indeed a good grandfather. For nearly throughout the period we were in Government House, Owerri, the only photograph he displayed on his table was that of his daughter and grandchild.
Of course, Pini, was very fond of his wife. He did not say much about her virtues but he would always say: “I told my wife…” Not many men are like that. And like every fellow who worked had to and raise and keep a good family, Pini reaped the reward, even in death. He resided in Abuja from where he shuttled to see his family in Lagos. A few days to his death, providence took him to Lagos and once there, a hale and hearty Pini Jason, who had just returned from a medical trip abroad a couple of weeks earlier, took ill. He died a few days later after surgery with his wife watching. Looking back, I feel that was one thing Pini would have wished for himself: Dying in the hands of his beloved wife. For a follow who had so much cherished his spouse, the way we knew of Pini Jason, that must have been his wish. Pini’s last days actually saw him act out his belief about the banality of life, itself.
A day before he left Abuja for Lagos to see his family, news had come about the death of one of his kinsmen, the late Dr. Aloysius Aguwa. Aguwa also served with us in the administration of Dr Ikedi Ohekim between 2007 and 2011. Like Jason, the late Aguwa was also close to the governor and according to an account by Dr. Ohakim himself, the late Pini Jason was with him whom the news about Aguwa’s death came.
It was Pini Jason, according to the governor, that kept on telling him to “Take it easy. That’s what life is all about”. He remained to with Ohakim to console him until the morning he was leaving for Lagos, hale and hearty. Does that teach all of us anything? Quite a lot: The futility of life, itself, beyond the purpose you put it today as if, like Pini Jason would say, there will be no tomorrow.
As in the aphorism of “two of a kind”, the late Aguwa was no less forthright in his philosophical attitude to life. From the much I knew of him, Aguwa was also a good family man. While we were in service, his wife, who lives in the United States of America with the rest of the family, visited very regularly. That was quite instructive because not many men are like that, especially in our clime where some men would take advantage of the mere fact that their spouses went to the next street.
A lot has been written about the two late icons: Their professions, their brilliance, their humility etc. But of all that, what I personally learnt from the two fallen heroes is that we all must return home to our families and build our legacies from there
Voter Education: What Are INEC And The Parties Waiting For?
By Nnamdi Nwigwe 08037024609
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the registered political parties seem to have gone into hibernation as far as voter education is concerned.
They are doing precious little to raise awareness among the citizenry on the nitty gritties of conducting credible elections.
The political parties do not seem to appreciate their importance and relevance until election time.
It is indeed pathetic that the electoral umpire, INEC, whose mandate includes voter education, and for which a hefty sum is approved in the National budget, seems to be ignorant of this responsibility.
The period between one election and the other, which is four years, is long enough for millions of new voters to come of age.
Hundreds of thousands of employees, especially in the public service, retire and aspire to be more politically relevant.
Hundreds of Nigerians who live abroad and who have not experienced voting in our elections, return home finally to settle.
Indeed, hundreds of eligible voters whose names and personal details might not have been captured in the last voter registration, may desire to participate in the next elections.
In many countries that are practicing democracy as we aspire to do, registration is on-going all the time.
People don’t wait till election date is announced before they get registered and obtain voters’ cards.
Do we have such a system operating in Nigeria?
This is the job of INEC to educate the public.
Considering the crass ignorance that is displayed by many Nigerians who troop to vote at elections, it is strange that both INEC and the political parties are not doing anything during this non-election period to teach Nigerians the processes leading to the conduct of smooth and seamless elections.
The leadership of the various political parties ought to realize that if they begin now to teach the populace the ABC of voting at elections, they would be gaining supporters and adherents who will remain faithful at the crucial time of casting their votes.
Party workers will use party symbols in their education on how to vote.
It is INEC that is obliged to use neutral images for voter education or, as is often the case, it lumps all parties’ symbols on one sheet of paper.
Planned and methodical teaching of party members about elections now will be a lot cheaper for both INEC and the political parties.
INEC has all the time now to begin a series of workshops and seminars for the various categories of political party officials as well as for the ordinary citizen who needs to know more about his civic duties and responsibilities as they pertain to elections
Electoral errors and malpractices will be largely minimized if voters know early enough their rights and also their obligations towards enhancing democracy and democratic ethos in our society.
At the moment what we read about are schemings by political party leaders for plum posts in government yet to be formed by their respective political parties.
Because of our old ways and bad habits of rigging elections, some party functionaries appear confident of their respective parties winning in specific states and regions of the country.
For that reason, they don’t care about the voters and their need to know.
As far as the parties are concerned, they know how to “mobilize” the poor masses to go and vote during an election.
INEC is the official institution expected to prepare Nigerians for good elections.
Professor Attahiru Jega, the INEC boss and his Commissioners must demonstrate to Nigerians that they understand the heavy responsibility on their shoulders to conduct elections that are not followed by acrimonious protests or even violence.
Isolated elections held of late in some states do not give us the confidence that INEC can be trusted to conduct a hitch-free national election.
Assembling nearly all the INEC Commissioners to conduct one election in a single state, and sending hundreds of troops and policemen there to keep the peace is no dependable way of assessing INEC’s ability to conduct proper elections.
Where will INEC import Commissioners from when the Presidential election is conducted in all the states the same day?
With gubernatorial and legislative assembly elections taking place across the country on the same day, will Nigeria apply to the UN to send us peace-keeping troops to complement our own armed forces?
Soldiers and mobile police men armed to the teeth and scowling at voters at polling booths are no credible alternative to voter education.
The best time to educate the masses on how to vote and conduct themselves at elections is now when there are no elections.
INEC has the fund for this important responsibility and should get to business.
Silly reports from INEC headquarters over ethnic balancing through ethnic cleansing are no replacement for a good conduct of elections.
Starting out early will save the nation from fire brigade actions by INEC at the approach of elections when the Government is virtually blackmailed into approving everything INEC demands which are hardly accounted for.
