Segun Ozique

I’ll like to begin with this quote by Reihard Bonnke, ‘More than thirty years ago, as a young missionary in Africa, I sometimes preached to five people. My opportunity to see the impact of the glorious Gospel presented in the ‘’proven’’ tradition of foreign mission had come!’ He was talking of mission in a continent of over a billion souls with about half yet to receive salvation and freedom in fulfillment of the biblical word in Mark 16:15. Putting this in the context of the Nigerian situation, by situation here, I mean, location, particularly in the North-region where antagonism dog all evangelists; where going to church is like walking among mines; where hope is all that is left by all Christians, felt forsaken by the authority, and can only hold on, in wait for when God, as surely, he would arose in battle and root all oppositions. Yet again, quoting from Bonnke’s book, ‘Evangelism by Fire,’ ‘Gospel is not good news to people who don’t hear it-that an unreached gospel is

Love your enemies as you would your friends; do good always, no matter what. Bless them and pray for them that despitefully wish only to use you or find excuse to prosecute you. I know this is really, really hard for revengeful human heart, but should come natural to those who profess to be children of God...those, who despite all societal failing and corruption, continue to trudge, carrying the insignia of royalty of Christ and ever loyal to God.

Back in 1967, two ‘…young Sandhurst-trained soldiers… were the principal actors in the Nigeria-Biafra civil war. Fast-track to today; the two, ex-soldiers, one; Odumegwu Ojukwu, before his death, at 78 years old, extremely wealthy, enjoyed a rich public and private life of abundance, remarried and saw all his children grow. The other; Yakubu Gowon, now 78 years old, also exceedingly prosperous, alive and well, has seen all his children grow and presently seating on the board of several ‘do good,’ organizations in Nigeria. Many, however, particularly millions of women and children were not so lucky, they died in that war of attritions-starved or raped to death or hacked till dead in a war they knew nothing about, fought, not in a neutral battleground between soldiers but in the compounds, communities and lives of the South-Easterners, that was Biafra. The Nigerian government was the victor, with millions of lives from both sides, vanquished, worst hit being those on the side of Biafr

To most people, the masses resort to violence much too quick because of many reasons. Some of the explanations often put forward as causes fall under one general umbrella - lacks; lack of jobs, lack of education, lack of basic social amenities, lack of good moral, etc. It has become expected that at the simplest provocations, misunderstanding or communication break-down, there would be violence. The scene of such violence are brought to our homes on daily basis; we saw them in the many past violent riots and killings, the on-going Boko Haram insurgence, the fracas in Ekiti and River States, etc. All these are well documented by the newspapers, magazines, social media, radio and television. However, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai author of the book ‘The Accidental Public Servant,’ added a most insightful insider expose to why and how the state of affairs has been politically hijacked and perpetuated. He writes; ‘…Obasanjo encouraged a variety of gambits toward his aim; put one ethnic group ag

‘I really do not believe there is such thing as a corrupt country; it simply is a matter of incentives and absence of sanctions. I have seen many British, Italian and American citizens who have come to Nigeria and where they to be judged strictly on their corrupt tendencies and actions, one might easily then think they were born in Nigeria, which proves that environment trumps race or ethnicity anytime. They conduct themselves simply in response to the incentives they find, a person looking around the system and consciously asking “what can I get away with?” The reason people are more honest in one society than another is because there is a very high chance of being caught and sanction somehow for dishonesty. In Nigeria, the unfortunate verdict seems to be that if you are dishonest, not only is there very little chance of getting caught, there is a very high chance of being rewarded with senior appointive or elective positions in politics or public service, honoured with chieftain