Wole Olabanji: When the Oga at the top says “Go and die!”

There is a popular faith inspiring song that folks sing in church where the song leader asks the congregation; “who has the final say” to which they enthusiastically chorus, “Jehovah has the final say”.

It appears though, going by the body language, and many times the actual spoken words of Nigerian ‘leaders’, a deal may have been reached with ‘Jehovah’ to surrender jurisdiction and hand over the final say over Nigerians to their ‘leaders’.

I suspect that this might have been what that kind man, Mr Shem Obafaye of the #OgaAtTheTop fame was trying to communicate to us a few months ago. Apparently, he must have stumbled on some video where this deal was reached and he therefore knew there was no point for a mere underling to say anything substantive seeing as the right to the final say has been irrevocably ceded to some #OgaAtTheTop.

Unfortunately, while we succeeded in having a national carnival at his expense as the gaffe went viral and became an internet, fashion and even sermon meme, we failed to realize that what he had so cheaply handed us was a fundamental philosophical summation of the Nigerian situation: a universal prefix that can be put before some of the famous statements that Nigerian ‘leaders’ have the uncanny ability to utter.

While going by Nigerian standards of leadership, I would put the ‘dear comrade’ in the top 5 percentile of public officers, it will still require a certain level of grace (I mean graciousness) to simply ascribe to human imperfection his instruction to that widow to “go and die”. Why do Nigerian public officers feel they have received license to talk to citizens and tax payers as though they were talking to purchased slaves?

 I of course expect the token outrage on social media; somehow, we Nigerians and our public officials have worked out a fine balance with everyone doing his bit. Rather than anyone doing anything as drastic and irrational as resign over the collapse of the roof of a shopping mall as the Latvian Prime Minister just did, it is sufficient here to offer the usual sound bites about “leaving no stone unturned” etcetera etcetera. If on the other hand someone puts his foot in the mouth, the citizens do the reasonable thing by making some noise for a few days and things are good again between us and them till another disaster or another gaffe.

Not being particularly interested in upsetting that fine balance myself, I say let’s play merge the memes. Here’s my top 5 list. You can add yours afterwards. If you put it on a T-shirt and it sells, remember to send my cheque.

No 5. #OgaAtTheTopSays:Our ProblemIsHowToSpendTheMoney  - Yakubu Gowon

No 4. #OgaAtTheTopSays:AbujaIsNotForEverybody   - Nasir elRufai

No 3. #OgaAtTheTopSays:TelephoneIsNotForPoorPeople  - David Mark

No 2. #OgaAtTheTopSays:IDontGiveADamn – Goodluck Jonathan

No 1. #OgaAtTheTopSays:GoAndDie – Adams Oshiomole

---------------------------------------------------------------
The author tweets @woleolabanji

You have read this article with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://palabras-de-chocolate.blogspot.com/2013/11/wole-olabanji-when-oga-at-top-says-go.html. Thanks!

At Synagogue, God Has Been Using Our Critics As Our Advertisement - Prophet TB Joshua

Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua of the Synagogue Church of all Nations, in a new interview with Punch, spoke about his church and how he handles his 'haters'.
Excerpts:

• Why is it that your ministry seems to be more popular outside Nigeria than in Nigeria?

As it is written in the Bible, a prophet has no honour in his country. If my people had understood the work from the beginning, it could have affected the glory of God in my life today.  

I may not be accepted by some people in Nigeria but my acceptance in the world has been announcing me to my world. When you look at the people working with me, you see that the ratio of Nigerians working with me are not more than 10 per cent. 

Sometimes when I see some ministries printing handbills, using signboards to advertise their church, I say those things are not necessary. God is the one inviting people, if you allow him to do it, the solution to their problems will be waiting for them.  

At synagogue, our critics are our advertisement. They are people that don’t want to hear about us. They tell other people that ‘that church is devilish;’ unknowingly, some of the people they tell get inquisitive and they will want to come here and see what a devil looks like since they haven’t seen one before.  

God has been using this as advertisement for us. Ninety per cent of people who come here do so in the bid to come and verify what they had heard about this church. 

When some of them get here, they will sit at the back, fearing that they could be hurt. Some put on dark glasses or disguise in a way that will not allow people that know them to recognize them.  

But before the service is over, some of them will pick up their bags and move to the front seats. They eventually become my prayer warriors.  

Let me tell you something that amazes me and that I always thank God for – those who are with me are more than those that are against me.  

They keep supporting me all over the world. I have more, more, more people around the world. Whenever I say this, tears flow from my eyes (sobs for a while). 

These are tears of joy. I get so sad when I hear people’s confession when their eyes become open to what God is doing here. Some say, ‘I wish I had known this, my mum would not have died. She asked me to bring her here but because of what I was hearing about this place, I refused until she died. I hope that she will forgive me.”’

You have read this article with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://palabras-de-chocolate.blogspot.com/2013/11/at-synagogue-god-has-been-using-our.html. Thanks!