THE MEN NIGERIA NEEDS

He tarried a while on the issue of corruption. He quoted an international agency report which opened in these words: “Corruption runs a spectrum in Africa; from rare in Botswana, to widespread in Ghana, to systemic in Nigeria.” In other words, whereas corruption hardly exists in resource poor Botswana, and it’s widespread in Ghana, in Nigeria, it is ingrained in the system! He also noted the irony of how Nigeria is characterized both as religious and corrupt. He recalled the story of a man, who upon hearing that he (Pat) was being considered for a ministerial appointment, complained to somebody that he would stop the flow of ill-gotten wealth if so appointed. The man then prayed; “he won’t get there, in Jesus’ Name.” That’s the kind of amazing thing we do in the name of Jesus.

Professor Patrick Okedinachi Utomi, the academic, entrepreneur, journalist and political and social activist who became a presidential candidate was Guest Speaker at the fourth edition of CMN Nigeria’s quarterly outreach, The Real Men Luncheon. He came, spoke and left an indelible impression on the minds of the gathering of hardly impressionable men, at the Sparkles Hall, Ikeja GRA on August 2. Aged 52, last February 6, but looking as youthful as ever in his “parachute”, his version of “agbada”, he spoke, as he was requested to, on “The Men Nigeria Needs.”

He began somewhat like this. “Nigeria needs men strong enough to love…courageous enough to be witnesses, not just teachers and preachers… men who are leaders…; men of integrity… men who trust God and are therefore unshaken in His faithfulness… men who have the courage to stay the course…”

Kicking off on the subject of love, he said, being tough does not mean being unable to love. It does not mean lack of compassion. He noted that it is widely thought that men are not supposed to cry; that they are not supposed to love. The typical Nigerian father is supposed to be so tough and feared that the children scamper for cover the moment he arrives at the gate of their home. And this is not applicable only to the home-based, or if you like, the unexposed Nigerian male! The Nigerian family in the United States, for instance is in grave danger. The divorce rate of African marriages in that country is above the national average, he pointed out

He recalled a famous Reuben Abati column in the Guardian. Titled “The 12 O’clock Man”, it told of a man who was so busy making money to keep his family materially comfortable, that he was never home except on Sundays when he manages to have lunch with them at noon. One day, goes the story, he failed to do even that. One of the children wondered aloud; where is that man who usually comes to lunch every 12 O’clock on Sunday. You can imagine the rest.

Emphasising the place of this quintessential issue, Utomi referred to a Yale University study which has identified the greatest challenge of the future as the challenge of compassion, adding that it is now widely accepted that what the world needs, most of all, now is a civilization of love.

If Nigerian men would rise up and love; love their family enough to want to safeguard the future of their children and love their neighbours as themselves, which is the Christian thing to do, then we won’t have corruption, for instance.

He tarried a while on the issue of corruption. He quoted an international agency report which opened in these words: “Corruption runs a spectrum in Afric; from rare in Botswana, to widespread in Ghana, to systemic in Nigeria.” In other words, whereas corruption hardly exists in resource poor Botswana, and it’s widespread in Ghana, in Nigeria, it is ingrained in the system! He also noted the irony of how Nigeria is characterized both as religious and corrupt. He recalled the story of a man, who upon hearing that he (Pat) was being considered for a ministerial appointment, complained to somebody that he would stop the flow of ill-gotten wealth if so appointed. The man then prayed; “he won’t get there, in Jesus’ Name.” That’s the kind of amazing thing we do in the name of Jesus.

He spoke about how, in their greed for corrupt acquisition, many people are today consuming the future of their children. And how so myopic those who corruptly enrich themselves while in office are, even at the practical level. He drew attention to the fact that they do not even really enjoy their stolen wealth. Once out of office, they have to provide for themselves the municipal services they failed to provide for society while in office – power, water, security, name it. Have you seen the high fence walls behind which many erstwhile public officers live; or the roads that lead to their villages and homes, he asked. He quoted several passages from the Bible Book of Proverbs to buttress his position about the futility of wealth by ungodly methods.

Then he spoke on the need for men to have the courage to be witnesses, rather than just preachers and teachers, and this is where the gospel according to Pat Utomi seems to take its essence.

He began by acknowledging that God has given him, “the grace to see things going wrong around me and want to do something about it: I have had that good fortune”. That, for him, is the very core of the Christian’s witness. He cited a number of examples of such social activism as Christian witness.

He spoke about how the experience of a woman he knew who went from living comfortably in a middle class suburb of Lagos to become homeless within a few weeks of her husband’s death. Her husband’s relations had thrown her out and taken over the family house, in accordance with tradition. He was so moved that he wrote a newspaper article to draw attention to the plight of widows in our society. He recalled how his concern over the issue eventually led to his involvement with a Widow Support Group.

He also gave Christian witness as his motivation for establishing the Centre for Values in Leadership which trains young men to inculcate elevating values and prepare them for future leadership. Many Lagosians remember this centre as responsible for clearing the daunting mountain of refuse at Obalende in the heart of Lagos a few years back. Though, he didn’t mention it, the now famous Lagos Business School is a product of Christian witness through the Catholic group, Opus Dei. Even his transition from political activism to politics is situated in within the concept of Christian witness,

As he spoke, one couldn’t but see that social and political activism is an essential part of Christian witness. In fact, without it, we would just be preachers and teachers and our fruits would be limited. Jesus could have stayed in Heaven and tried to persuade God to send an angel to come and save mankind. He did not. He could have ignored the woman whose only son was about to be buried; after all, she didn’t ask for his help (Luke 7: 12-15). He did not. Neither he did he wait for the helpless cripple at the pool in Bethesda who had waited for miracle healing for 38 years (John 5:2-9). Like Pat Utomi and others like him, we should follow the Lord’s example.

THE REAL MAN NEEDS REVELATION

Onosode listed a number of other qualities the real man must possess. He must live a life of love. He must, like Paul, “take pleasure” in weakness because, “what you may be tempted to see as weakness gives God the opportunity to manifest his strength.” The real man must not allow threats of suffering or hardship to bend him because as Peter said, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps (1 Peter 2:21). Therefore, the real man will not succumb to the threats to his pocket or his health.

Date was Saturday, April 26 and the meeting was The Real Men Luncheon, the third in a quarterly series that had featured two other great Nigerians, Elder Felix Ohiwerei and Dr Christopher Kolade.

Guest Speaker Gamaliel Onosode, who needs no introduction had been requested to speak on the theme, “The Real Man.” But he didn’t just speak, he taught. Not that CMNN members and guests are strangers to teachers and teachings. Far from it! The late founder of Christian Men’s Network, Dr Edwin Louis Cole used to describe himself as “teacher of men in how to be men,” and Dr Chris Tunde Joda, who is also president of CMN Nigeria is, nothing, if not, a great teacher of the word of faith. But somehow, this corporate icon, this highly cultivated man took us all aback by the teaching loaded, first, in his preliminary observations and then in his presentation.

He began, innocuously enough, by thanking “one of the men who spoke earlier.” He was a gentleman, he noted, who remembered to apologise that the programme was starting late. Then he delivered what you might call the coup de grace in these words: Decent as it is to apologise for starting late, it is better never to start late. Time is a non-renewable resource. Real men must respect the movement of the sun.” He suggested that the organisers might consider stating the time of future events in terms like ’12 noon for 12:30pm’ to indicate that gates will open at noon, but the event won’t start until thirty minutes later.

Lesson Number One over, Onosode went on to address aspects of his biography mentioned by the secretary of the Ikeja chapter of CMN Nigeria, Dennis Onwuegbu who, in inviting him to the high table, recalled that he was one-time Presidential Adviser on Budget and a former presidential candidate.

He placed on record that he served as President Shehu Shagari’s adviser for only 75 days. This was during the president’s second term which began in October, but was terminated in December 1983, by the military in a coup d’tat.

On his attempt to run for office as President under the auspices of the All Peoples Party (APP) which later became All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), he recalled that his involvement in party politics at the time was received in three ways. There were those like Dennis who, by his own admission, shouted ‘hallelujah, a Daniel has come to justice.’ A second group saw him as ‘a fallen angel’ for daring to go into the dirty arena of politics. There was also the ‘wait and see’ group. So there were three groups: the hallelujah group; the fallen angel group and the agnostic group. Without delivering a judgement on which group was right, he declared his conviction that politics has an over-arcing influence on other areas of life wondering if it should be abandoned for the so-called dirty ones. He however recalled a number of incidents soon after that attempt failed at the party level. First, he attended a Christian gathering at which he had elected to seat somewhere in the audience.. But he was soon recognised, first relocated somewhere upfront and later relocated again and asked to lead one of the prayers. So much for ‘a fallen angel’ who had ‘tasted the forbidden fruit of politics,’ you’ll say. He also recalled that a prominent Church leader also soon publicly declared that he was in error in discouraging Christians from participating in politics.

Space constrains me from continuing on the many nuggets contained in even the preliminary observations of this man of God, so let’s go into the main message itself.

Onosode, who said he preached his first sermon in Ogbomosho, Oyo state, Nigeria in 1953 and had been a deacon for 42 years took his first Bible text from chapter three of the book of Daniel (verses 12-30). He recalled how the three Hebrew boys, Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego took a firm stand against the evil of idolatory, even at the risk of burning in the burning fiery furnace of King Nebuchadnezzar.

He drew particular attention to verses 15-18 which reads in the King James Version like this: “Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

Onosode noted that the position taken by these young Hebrews was that there were no conditions under which they would bow to anyone but God. In other words, there was no compromise. This was the same courage and non-compromise Apostles Peter and John demonstrated early in their ministry. They had performed the miracle of healing the lame man at Gate Beautiful. For their success, they got a night behind bars and a trial before a council of Jewish elders. But their judges found it expedient to free them and perhaps as a compromise, delivered a kind of ‘go and sin no more’ verdict. The apostles thought differently and said so.

The Bible passage quoted by Deacon Onosode (Acts 4:18-20), records it like this: “And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

He also recalled the courage of Daniel, the compatriot, friend and peer of the three Hebrew boys, who had to keep the company of lions for a night, because he wouldn’t fail to worship his God even for one day, nor worship Him in secret to please anyone
(See Daniel 6:10-28).

Onosode listed a number of other qualities the real man must possess. He must live a life of love. He must, like Paul, “take pleasure” in weakness because, “what you may be tempted to see as weakness gives God the opportunity to manifest his strength.” The real man must not allow threats of suffering or hardship to bend him because as Peter said, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps (1 Peter 2:21). Therefore, the real man will not succumb to the threats to his pocket or his health.

Ye are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, he reminded his listeners quoting from Matthew 5: 13-14. and admonished : when the light becomes a mere mirror there is a problem. God wants us to be special wherever we are. We should do nothing to make us less. We must at all times live up to our status as light and salt. Therefore, the commandment in Exodus 23:2 that “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil…” must be taken to heart. So is the injunction to “fret not…” repeated again and again in Psalm 37.

Possibly the climax of Deacon Onosode’s ministration came during the interactive session. In answer to a question about how to resist corruption, he said the truth of Scripture that ”When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7) plays out every time he came face-to-face with the enemy. He cited many personal experiences, how God gave him the words to speak and the opponent is disarmed. Conclusion: whatever else he has, the real man needs revelation too.

IT'S A HEART THING, MEN!

In other words, the main victims of corruption are the same people that the General of your army, your principal, has come to set free; the same people for whom he sets out to give the abundant life. That then has to be your reason for resisting any corrupt tendencies in your own life and joining in the fight against corruption, he concluded. Easily one of the greatest obstacles in this latter respect, Dr Kolade pointed out, is the feeling by many that they are not capable of fighting this war; the enemy is too strong because the cancer has eaten too deep into the innards of society. But, this man of God has good news, or a powerful reminder, for the doubters, the weak kneed: you are a child of God and so you are able to do all things! Why should you believe that? God said so in the Bible and he cannot lie

Dr Christopher Kolade, erstwhile Nigerian High Commissioner to Great Britain was to have had breakfast with members and guests of this network two Saturdays ago.But the meeting had to hold at lunch time due to circumstances beyond the organisers’ control, if you permit the cliché

And so CK, as he has been known from way back and is now fondly called within his Managing Business For Christ fold, came to lunch, in place of breakfast. He came after a busy morning serving, I understand, as facilitator at a top level meeting. He waded through the hot afternoon traffic from the Island to Ikeja. He delivered his address. He then proceeded to answer questions at a very exciting interactive session standing on his feet for all of 130 minutes, by my estimate. He did not eat and he looked to me like he could have gone on for quite a while longer. And CK is a youth in his 76th year! Make what you will of that, but he certainly does remind me of Moses, of whom the Bible said: “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” at “an hundred and twenty years old” (Deuteronomy 34:7).

Dr Kolade opened his ministration with the question, “are you a soldier for Christ?” Yeees, came the answer. “Why did you join the army of Christ”, he pursued. Mum was the word as these men tried to figure out suitable answers. So, he helped out. People join armies for many reasons. For some its probably just another job. For others its for love of the fatherland. There has to be a reason for joining the army of Christ since it is not an army where you queue up every month to receive salaries and rations or whatever.

He posited that a good soldier has to know what his army stands for and be loyal to the cause, whatever that may be. And usually an army is in place to fight for that cause and against opponents of the cause. The same applies to the army of the Lord Jesus, Dr Kolade said.

So, he continued, if you are a soldier of Christ, you have to have subscribed to the cause. And that cause was encapsulated in the Lord’s declaration in Luke 4:18-19 which reads “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
In other words, the army of the Lord Jesus exists to give the people life more abundant as he simplified it in John 10:10: “…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” That then has to be the preoccupation of everyone who enlists in this army. That is why we are commanded in chapter 3 of the book of Colossians: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him…And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men…” (17,23).

Dr Kolade proceeded to apply this principle to one issue that would seem to be on the lips and minds, of many Nigerians, the fight against corruption. Why should you as a soldier of Christ fight corruption, he asked. But before offering an answer, he painted a picture of what corruption is and who its victims are. Corruption, he reminded all, perverts procedures for private gains and manifests sometimes as bribery or as extortion, which he defines as unlawful demand for gratification enforced by power, including state power. It attacks and frustrates the system and at its ingrained best, installs an alternative system.

Flowing from this anatomy of corruption, it could be seen that virtually everybody can fall victim to corruption, but Dr Kolade pointed in the direction of the poor, the downtrodden, the ones who, for whatever reasons cannot help themselves. In other words, the main victims of corruption are the same people that the General of your army, your principal, has come to set free; the same people for whom he sets out to give the abundant life. That then has to be your reason for resisting any corrupt tendencies in your own life and joining in the fight against corruption, he concluded.

Easily one of the greatest obstacles in this latter respect, Dr Kolade pointed out, is the feeling by many that they are not capable of fighting this war; the enemy is too strong because the cancer has eaten too deep into the innards of society. But, this man of God has good news, or a powerful reminder, for the doubters, the weak kneed: you are a child of God and so you are able to do all things!

Why should you believe that? God said so in the Bible and he cannot lie! Also the Bible gave us what Dr Kolade said might be called case studies. Joseph was the dreamer who got into trouble with his brothers for his dreams. He was sold into slavery and just when things were looking up for him, having been put in charge of Potiphar, his master’s home and enterprise, he got an offer most red-blooded, calculating men would find hard to refuse – to sleep with the master’s wife! So desperate was the woman that she got hold of him one day and tried to rape him. He resisted and ended up in jail. His sojourn in jail led him to become what soldiers call second-in-command to the king of Egypt! But why did Joseph do what he did? Was it so he could become the prime minister of Egypt? No, not even this dreamer could have envisioned that! The answer is in Genesis 39:9 – “… how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?“

Job was a man who pleased God so much that the almighty boasted about him to the enemy. The enemy sought and got leave from God to try him. He lost all, including his wife and friends. No, they didn’t exactly abandon him; they stayed around to make his life a living hell. They gave him advice and analysed his situation in ways that would have led someone else to curse and repudiate God. But in spite of everything, he never really departed from his earlier reaction: And said…blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21).

Dr Kolade also cited Caleb and Daniel and concluded with a question: Why did each of these persons do what they did? They did not want to upset God. Why did they not want to upset God? The Lord Jesus showed mankind the new face of God, the God who loved so much, he gave us his best! Love begets love. When you love somebody, you do not want to upset them! They did not want to upset God because they loved Him! If we borrow a leaf from these ancients, he said, we would daily determine not to upset him. That way, whatever we do we would do to please God. The only reason good enough for fighting corruption, therefore, is because you are God’s agent and you love him. The only reason good enough to do anything is because of our love for God. That is why it’s all a matter of the heart.