TO BISHOP OYEDEPO: NIGERIA WILL NOT BREAK!

I have great respect for Bishop David Oyedepo both as an outstanding Christian minister and as a man who has contributed to boosting Nigeria’s modest progress. As is well-known, Oyedepo has given Nigeria two private universities so far and remains a major moral voice in the country.

Nonetheless, I was taken aback when, in the midst of the myriad of challenges Nigeria is currently faced with, he recently said if Nigeria were to split between North and South, so be it! Oyedepo said, “If the nation will break, let it break. Marriage is not by force.”

Instructively, in a 2003 prophetic statement, Bishop Oyedepo had said Nigeria was going to be a great country by 2013 in Africa and beyond. Admittedly, he has taught that prophecies don’t fulfil themselves – that people take responsibility to fulfil prophecies. Which is why I’m worried that coming on the backdrop of numerous challenges that Nigeria is facing, it is not the most appropriate responsibility to make potentially divisive or tension-inducing statements like the one he made above. If Oyedepo really believes Nigeria is going to be great as he had prophesied, he should know better that, like Job in the Bible, challenges ought not to make him speak less of that belief. Indeed, challenges ought not to make us speak less of our faith in Nigeria’s great destiny!

Bishop Oyedepo and other Christian ministers who hold similar pseudo-divisive opinions about Nigeria should borrow a leaf from Pastor Chris Oyakhilome whose passion for Nigeria is explained by his many passionate public comments in her favour as well as his ministry’s special publications on Nigeria such as the 50th Independence Anniversary Rhapsody. Prophet T. B. Joshua is another minister whose efforts for Nigeria’s good should be emulated. His recent gesture to deliver truck loads of food aid to some Borno State communities, and his regular scholarship grants and other forms of assistance to poor and helpless Nigerians are some of the many pragmatic ways in which Christian leaders can contribute to Nigeria’s progress.

In times of challenges, the last thing leaders of conscience can do is to say things that are prevaricate or that could further spell uncertainty. This particular comment by Oyedepo doesn’t add any value to stakeholder efforts to make Nigeria better. It just shouldn’t have been said!

Bishop Oyedepo will rather efficiently spend his energies on speaking up against the astronomical and increasing rates of social injustice in Nigeria as Ahmed Sule has invited him and a select few of other leading Christian ministers to do so here: http://saharareporters.com/article/plea-seven-ministers-god-we-need-nigerian-christian-leadership-conference.

It is true that marriage is not by force but it is better, especially from a core Christian perspective to seek to mend, than to discard, a frosty marriage. Oyedepo should know this better as his wife is a great marriage counsellor and teacher in her own right.

Those calling for Nigeria’s split should learn a lesson from oil-rich South-Sudan: The predominantly Christian population of Southern Sudan has had quite some deadly conflicts less than a year after independence from their mainly Muslim brothers in the North. In late December 2011, for instance, more than 3,000 people were brutally massacred in the new country in a bloody ethnic violence over cattle ownership. This confirms that beyond the issues of discord with Northern Sudan, access to resources has been problematic in South Sudan as it can be anywhere else – including in a ‘Southern Nigerian Republic’.

Nigeria’s core problem is clearly not the diversity of her people. Rather, it is corruption that has eaten deep into the fabric of our commonality, depriving Nigerians from both the North and the South of the country the needed opportunities to lead a good life. This proofs that denied access to resources is at the base of Nigeria’s problems just like in South Sudan’s case and shouldn’t be construed to be a North-South fractious dichotomy.

In this globalisation era, countries, the world over, are embracing cultural diversity and are still cohabiting peacefully. Diversity and population strengths are a plus in this age and Nigeria cannot afford to take that lightly. It would be wrong for any Nigerian to therefore undermine our country’s multicultural character and attempt to premise its present hardships on that, with the mistaken calculation that those hardships will melt away if the country was split. Beyond cultural diversity, there are a lot more gains for a united than for a divided Nigeria: Higher economic growth potentials, a huge blend of agrarian and mining capacity, a much larger domestic market, a greater and more respected voice in the comity of nations, etc. My friend, Adenike Adebayo, says of our country’s pristine physical endowments: “[Nigeria is a] land of infinite diversity! From lowlands to grasslands to the sahel and back to lush rainforests.” Another friend, Mahmood Badaru, says, “Our cultural differences [comprise] a colourful heritage [and] should be our binding force…” We must safeguard Nigeria’s unity for posterity’s good!

Let me make a Biblical allusion to why I really fault the mostly venerated Bishop Oyedepo’s comment: The Bible teaches that the Church is the Bride of Jesus Christ. For a very long time, Jesus’ bride, the Church, has been an unfaithful partner with many inconsistencies, discordances, and malpractices but Jesus has not called for a split! Jesus continues to believe in His marriage to His bride and continues to encourage her to do the right things. The lesson here is that whilst there may presently be issues of strain between Nigeria’s North and South, imaginary or real, it does not suffice to split Nigeria in two, along those lines – with the naive excuse that marriage is not by force.

When Gaddafi pointedly called for Nigeria to be split in two in 2009 following the crisis sparked by late President Yar’Adua’s long absence, many a Nigerian cleric from both Christian and Muslim sides fervidly condemned him. Oyedepo would surely not want to be cited in Gaddafi’s class as one who made a statement suggestive of not being opposed to such a dissentious call.

Bishop Oyedepo’s ministry will certainly continue to grow – in Africa and beyond but Nigeria will always remain its base. Consequently, Oyedepo will do well to rather pray for peace in Nigeria just as Psalms 122:6 says; as well as to work for Nigeria to remain one – Psalm 122:3 paraphrased says, “[Nigeria] is built as a [country] that is compact together [united].”

Out of their sinister motives, an American agency, some years back, said Nigeria will split in 2015. In fact, in 2008, the US Army began war games, test-prospecting its response to Nigeria’s projected break-up. Out of his supposedly divinely inspired prophetic utterance, Oyedepo, in 2003, said Nigeria would be a great country from 2013 onwards. It would be telling if Oyedepo were to now lend credence to the American projection rather than to what should be a revelation from GOD to him regarding Nigeria’s coming greatness.

I have made public this well-intentioned disagreement with Bishop Oyedepo on this subject because Nigeria is bigger than all of us and, as great a man of GOD as he is, Bishop Oyedepo is also fallible. It is my prayer that Nigeria soon overcomes her present challenges and that Bishop Oyedepo makes amends for this unfortunate gaffe by continuing to be the blessing he is to our beloved country!

GOD bless Nigeria!