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Religious And Political Exploits Exposed Like Monopoly Money By Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa
Many of us never had a million of anything worthwhile, and we are not bound to. My head spin when I hear about billions of anything paraded in Nigerian courts. Most of us are familiar with the loot of the politicians by reading or hearing about it, so their influence in many circles is not that surprising. There is a difference when it comes to religious fellows. They’ve always had an influence; even money is not that new in churches and mosques. What is new is the naked and indulgent displace of wealth that rival those of politicians. Fela said Pope and Imam “na gbaladun”.
The world’s biggest church is in Yamoussoukro in Ivory Coast, courtesy of the former President’s dream for that Country. The largest, Faith Tabernacle, in Lagos is to be rivaled by another biggest auditorium. The money for these buildings is coming from private sources as well as political and some not so pure sources looking for redemption. There is no doubt that Africans have the intellect to pull resources together, the problem becomes what we do with it that can further the cause of development in our continent. When the two wives of a dead Reverend fought, they attracted EFCC to his massive loot.
We are not equally gifted, some know how to make money others know how to spend it. But I have always thought that if one is smart enough to make his money the old fashion way, he would spend it judiciously and if you spend your money foolishly, do not tell me how to spend mine. That notion failed to take into account that some people were lucky to be in the right place at the right time and fell into money in a big way. Their dreams and miracles in those churches, do not include simple village infrastructure and mass liberation of their members from poverty? They capitalize on miracle of births.
Indeed, there is nothing that the Nigerian churches and mosques are doing now that was not done by Jesu Oyingbo or the missionaries of those days. They have branches in Europe, America and the Eastern countries. Prince Charles paid a visit to one of those churches in England last month and some Anglicans have decided to follow Rev. Akinola because of his stand on gays in United States and England. In short the influence of our churches is growing worldwide. I hope their excesses do not mess it up.
In case you are wondering why our Moslem brand of mosques are not growing as fast, it is because we are still taking orders from Saudi Arabia and still pray to Allah in Arabic. As a kid, I loved Latin because it helped with English words. But that Latin mass and rosary counting bored the hell out of me. St. Anthony was the proffered god in our house because of my grandmother. Fortunately, the Christian learned and adapted to African prayers faster than their Muslim brothers and sisters. Akewukewe, was a well known Moslem preacher in Lagos in those days. His brand of Moslem would sell anywhere in the world. He could eloquently quote from Koran, Bible as well as philosophy in Yoruba.
While some of my friends were praying in Arabic without understanding what it meant, we were praying in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and English. The Sunday morning mass were divided into separate hours in Latin, English, Yoruba and Igbo. Moreover, some of the Christian churches allowed baptism in African names but my Muslim brothers and sister have to fetch Arabic names before Allah would grant their prayers. So I was not surprised to see Christian Arabs retaining their Arabic names, but Africans Moslem would not.
So, you can imagine my delight when I see African churches prospering in Europe and the Americas. Moreover, some of our professors have rekindled African religions in America. It seems like a new dawn for Africa to reestablish itself worldwide by creating some overdue respect for our skill as managers of collective dues, resources and issues affecting the very soul of man. But parades of opulence in churches benefit only a few.
A United State senator recently queried the extravagant life style of some Christian ministers with private planes, cars, mansions and expensive gifts exchange while they retained their tax free status. In Nigeria, some of the rich churches have private primary schools and colleges their members can not afford to send their children. While they build these edifices in the name of the poor, the leaders are far from the simple life of Jesus which was not different to that of his followers. Disciples complained about that expensive oil dear Mary Magdalene used to soothe his graceful body.
It boils down to the fact that Africans like anyone else have the ability to accumulate but have moved away from the prayers of their forefathers who prayed that the following generation was greater than them. While others plan for the future of their generation, Africans plan for selves and their relatives. The new moral Christian in the United States use their political power to push their influence into the future direction of their Country but Africans seem to have lost hope leaving everything to God and their future in heaven.
Religion is supposed to civilize us so that we can relate to one another in a peaceful amicable world, but it is now used for selfish propagation of sectarian ideologies. Most people want to leave their countries a better place than they met it. I am not sure that is true of some religious or political leaders. All they want to do is leave their houses or houses of worship bigger than they met it as if it will guarantee them eternal peace.
Our religious leaders must be reminded that they can use their accumulation of wealth to create factories, build houses, buy buses, purify water and grow food for their masses so that governments can learn and compete with them the way privates missions did with governments in the early days. Today, old boys and girls are trying to return schools to the missions. Those people who managed the mission schools are not different from those who managed private businesses, hospitals and schools. The difference these days varies from profit, non-profit to not-for-profit organizations.
Instead of predicting the end of the world, which politician is going to die, which party is going to win, counting new borne, and staging fake miracles on television, our preachers should demonstrate their management skill to alleviate the terrible squalor most of the members they take money from find themselves. The only reason they got them is by default after all the promises politicians made to them failed. Instead of living like King Kong, they should redistribute the money accumulated into simple civilized commune.
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