REVEREND CHRIS OKOTIE IN THE FRAY

As we march towards 2019, it clear the ruling party is in disarray; The National Leader is quoted to have accused the National Chairman of undermining him and his efforts.

His wife too is quoted to have said her husband was sidelined after the the successful elections of 2015.

A Governor of a certain State is reported to have been suspended from the Party and the APC drama continues 

The desperation of the Party is in an all time high after certain Letters were written. The powers that be understands that it will take more than Propaganda and Drama to sway people to retain them and their candidate in power come 2019 and they had been desperate to garner support for the party

I see Reverend Chris Okotie's piece as one of those attempts to awaken support for the President and his sinking Party. And its such a shame that after almost Three years in office, the only thing Reverend Okotie could talk about is the President's anti corruption stance, the same thing that swayed  many Nigerians to support his candidature in 2015. Today many Nigerians know that was a fluke 

I have reproduced Reverend Chris Okotie's Opinion below and my deductions as "My Take" enjoy

Rev. Okotie: WHY NIGERIANS MUST UNCONDITIONALLY SUPPORT BUHARI’S QUEST TO CLEAN THE AUGEAN STABLE.

My Take: I doubt if the Nigerian president sees himself as one who has come to clean the Augean stable and this exaggeration will make him chuckle 

Rev. Okotie: These, certainly are not the best of times for the grex venalium (the venal crowd) popularly known by ordinary Nigerians as treasury looters.

My Take: Reverend Okotie should have named some treasury looters that are suffering today. There is no one that had been in Government that is suffering like the masses. They may have scaled down their luxurious lifestyle but certainly Treasury Looters are not suffering even those incarcerated rightly or wrongly enjoy more than many Nigerians apart from the fact that they are deprived of freedom.

Rev. Okotie: The ongoing battle by President Muhammadu Buhari against this corrupt cabal who have held this nation hostage for years leaves no one in doubt that it is no longer business as usual for politicians of fortune.

My Take: If Reverend Chris Okotie of all people do not know that Corruption just changed name and color and that its more intense now more than ever, then he ought and should not dabble into politics or speak on political issues 

Rev. Okotie: It is a mistake to assume, that this is President Buhari’s private battle to clean the Augean stable. Rather, it should be seen as a determined effort to right the wrongs of the bad leadership which has been the bane of Nigeria’s development for decades.

My Take: If Reverend Okotie had taken the time to read Dr. Sheik Gumi's letter urging President Mohammadu Buhari not to run back in 2015, he would have known that our President is not the one to right the wrongs of the past.

His stints in public office in the past had been disastrous From the missing 2.8 Billion when he was Federal Commissioner or Minister of Petroleum, 58 suit cases missing when he was head of State, to the mess that was the PTDF under watch. Add to Missing or padded budgets under his watch now.

Rev. Okotie: Previous attempts to fight corruption were somehow symptomatic but the present government has adopted a strong, pathological approach that aims to get to the root of the matter, which is why every Nigerian should give the president total support.

My Take: The present administration has taken corruption to a whole new level. If we are not clearing grass with Millions, we are awarding illusive contracts without due process. Yes this administration is on a Pathological Stealing Mission 

Rev. Okotie: What is being done now, if carried to the logical conclusion, would free the country from the labyrinth of a deeply entrenched tribe of Machiavellian politicians whose sole purpose for seeking power is to loot our common patrimony.

My Take: If this is allowed to go on, we will not have a Country called Nigeria in the near future. What our Reverend failed to grasp is that the only reason the President was brought into office was for those who understands his weakness to loot our common patrimony and in that, they have succeeded 

Rev. Okotie: When former President Goodluck Jonathan emerged on the scene, he came across as a power –shy, harmless politician on whose shoulders providence placed the leadership of this great nation at a critical period in our political evolution.

His moving story of grass to grace, with the memorable line that he went to school like many Nigerians without shoes, caught the attention of the electorate who gave him the mandate in his first-ever quest to seek elective office in 2011. Once on the Presidential seat in that enclave called Aso Rock, we saw a different Jonathan altogether.

Never has a President in this country come to power with such level of goodwill and blew it just as fast as Dr. Jonathan. Perhaps, overwhelmed by the demands of office, or ill-prepared for its challenges, the first president from a southern minority exhibited poor governing capacity and inherent weakness unbecoming of the leader of a huge country like ours.

He had to be goaded to act with firmness when occasion demanded, which was why he virtually lost control of his presidency to his cronies. His appointees and associates went about looting the public treasury with unprecedented impunity; not even the intermittent public outrage moved President Jonathan to sanction them. And when he did, it was either too little or too late. Corrupt ministers were relieved of their posts with slaps on the wrist, while nothing was done about their loot.

With the current anti-corruption saga, we can now understand why Jonathan and his PDP cohorts spared no expenses to buy themselves back to power. This time however, the fairy tale run of Goodluck failed them. The hapless President was sent packing. Serendipity was out of kilter! That era of impunity ended suddenly, but we cannot just sweep what happened during the PDP government under the carpet.

My Take: Goodluck Jonathan enjoyed goodwill. The current President enjoyed more goodwill than any Presidential Candidate in the History of our dear Nation. Sai Baba was the slogan. He blew that overwhelming goodwill in his sixth Month in office, when Nigerians expected him to hit the ground running, he hit the ground and slept. GEJ may have been a reluctant President but he did his best while in office 

The current occupier who had sought to rule this Nation since 2003 was ill prepared and ill equipped, he lacks in all indices of leadership and for our Reverend not to know this speaks volumes about his ability to understand politics.

When this charade of an administration comes to an end, whatever it was that Nigerians and Reverend Okotie sees as corruption under Jonathan will be like child's play compared to the looting that will be unearthed after Buhari 

Rev. Okotie: Regardless of who is involved, justice must be done to send a clear message that leaders must be accountable even after they leave office. I perceive that this is what President Buhari is trying to prove, that is why I support him.

My Take: point of correction,

Mr. President has nothing to prove to anyone. Remember he said "Abacha was not corrupt" If Abacha was not corrupt then which former leader was corrupt? Except members of the PDP under former President Jonathan's leadership

Rev. Okotie: The charge of selective prosecution and the ethnic or religious card being played by some to discredit this Anti-corruption war is nothing but a mischievous charade.

My Take: Its not a charge, its the Truth Reverend. An APC Senator; Shehu Sani had accused the President of fighting corruption with deodorant when it involves members of his Government, Who among his appointees that had been charged with corruption is on tial? How many of those incarcerated are of the ruling APC?

The ethnic bias charge is duly acknowledged by the Presidency with a promise to review appointments.

The religious card is not a mischievous charade, every Nigerian of age knows this, which calls to question the real intent of this diatribe.

Rev. Okotie: Those arrested for suspected corrupt practices cut across the party, ethnic and religious divide. Nigerians must therefore, not fall for the antics of the venal rich, who are fighting back, using media propaganda to win sympathy. One is however, constrained to raise this point because of a public statement credited to Anthony Cardinal Okogie in which the Catholic prelate expressed reservations about the government’s philosophy in prosecuting the Anti-corruption war vis-a-vis the Rule of Law and his perceived thinking that other governance issues are not being addressed as should.

The cardinal is entitled to his opinion, but there is no factual evidence to support this claim. The venerable Cardinal is unappreciative of the dialectics of change within the Nigerian context. The Nigerian scenario is indicative of an aberration embedded in our political genes. Whereas politics and economics are sociological kinsmen, yet politics maintains an ascendancy over economics in practical realities.

The hoi polloi determines the political leadership but economic superintendence is the prerogative of the elite. Nigeria’s existential bane is not lack of professors in mantled academia, nor is it a paucity of economic knowledge in the geo-political arena. Rather, it is leadership, leadership and yet leadership. Ad nauseam!

Leadership is the terra-firma upon which the citadel of progress can be erected. If the foundation be destroyed by corruption what can the righteous do? It is my founded expectation that the respected cardinal would urge the government to probe the leadership of CAN, PFN and other pseudo religious organisations who acquired their fabricated titles under spurious Christian nomenclature.

My Take: If Reverend Okotie has an axe to grind with CAN and PFN he should direct his letter to them and not use the guise of a support for a sinking President as the platform to launch his attack. Anthony Cardinal Okogie got it right, our Beloved Reverend again misses the point 

Rev. Okotie: If Attahiru Bafarawa was the accredited agent of the Muslim prayers welfare package, who then collected on behalf of the multitudes of Christians? Who? Who is that Christian proboscis whose insidious suction availed himself of billions of naira on behalf of the followers of Christ? Who is that Judas? Maybe Judases? What about Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s one-plane airline becoming the surreptitious instrumentality for some covert military operations involving over 9 million dollars in South Africa?

All sacred cows must become secularized.

My Take: Now this is the crux of the matter, all the innuendos was to this end

Our beloved Reverend lost out in the sharing and will like to know and see to it that those who benefitted are brought to book. Again with his privileged position he should carry out an investigation and name the beneficiaries

Rev. Okotie: Government must ascertain the scope of pecuniary inducement that informed their political alignments in the 2015 elections. What an irony, that those who should scrupulously guide the people are themselves poisoning the water from which the flock will drink. Corruption is a hydra headed monstrosity that must be confronted by the gladiators of righteousness. For indeed, he who dares to face his maker, will not tremble before the Sons of men.

Satis verborum!

My Take: Since every one must account for their actions before our Maker, our beloved Reverend should not play the devils advocate.

Rev. Okotie: We must understand that even if the law is an ass, corrupt folks must not be allowed to ride it out of the dragnet of the law when apprehended. The present campaign is a challenge to the integrity of our jurisprudence. Members of the bar and bench are Nigerians, and they must not sabotage the efforts of this government to restore sanity to governance in this country. There’s nothing the EFCC has done so far to suggest that it disrespects the rule of law. The president himself has said, ‘You cannot fight impunity with impunity’.

- CHRIS OKOTIE.

Conclusion: Our Nation and Christianity is under massive attack. Men of God should be able to call a spade a spade and not seek to please those in authority

If Reverend Okotie by the Grace of God is insulated from the hardship brought about by the failures of the current administration, he should spare some thought for members of his congregation and the folks from his village 

Reverend Okotie who himself had failed in the past to rule the Nation should take a cue from the sons of Issachar, who were blessed with discernment and pray for same grace to be bestowed upon him as he has enjoyed grace in other areas. For in these most trying times his discernment of the Political happenings is grossly inaccurate.