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By Christy Anyanwu
It was, indeed, a forum for political renaissance at the Trinity House recently when the Triune Foundation held the second international Christian colloquium in honour of Pastor Ituah Ighodalo as he turned 61.
The theme “The African Christian Leadership: Radical Transformation in Unsettled Times,” was dissected by different discussants, including senior pastor, House On The Rock, Paul Adefarasin; visioner, Arise Women Foundation, Siju Iluyomade; The Redeemed Christian Church of God’s national overseer, Joshua Obayemi; and general overseer, Foursquare Gospel Church, Samuel Aboyeji. Prof. Kingsley Moghalu also joined in the conversation, all in an effort to see Nigeria advance as a nation.
Chairman on the occasion, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the keynote speaker, vice-chancellor, University of Lagos, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, spoke extensively about who was a leader and the qualities of a good leader.
Iluyomade said the concern of Christians should be the wellbeing of everyone in the nation but the reverse was the case.
She said: “We sit there in our churches, founding churches all over the place. How many schools have we built, how many libraries have we done, how many hospitals have we built? When Christianity was exported into Africa, it came along with church, schools, hospitals. Where are those things today?
“We are the largest population of Christianity in Africa, possibly in the world, and so what? What have we achieved? Has the nature or the character of our people changed? Are they any better? Can we vouch for a Christian if he gets into office? I cannot. So, a Christian must first of all prove himself to be a leader.”
She further said leadership was transitional and not forever: “You must hand over to somebody. If the church does not recognise handing over to somebody as successor, then we have a problem.”
Obayemi said God has given us the definition of leadership as a guide, and influence was one of the ingredients.
He said: “Why is it, in Africa, we are having more negative than positive in politics and in every other sector? My own thinking, let’s take, for instance, political leadership. If a process of selecting or electing a leader is corrupted, its leadership will become a product of corruption. If that leader is a product of corruption, it will be like COVID-19 that will spread and affect every other segment of the society, and that is what we have been experiencing in Africa. Secondly, we have lost touch with the people we are leading. In every segment of leadership, the process of emerging must be honest, must be transparent, must be straightforward and must not have ulterior motives.”
Aboyeji said: “When we have a large population and there’s no plan to give them skill, to give them knowledge, then you are sitting on a keg of gunpowder. As Christian leaders, it’s important for us to have a succession plan. Jesus did that. Jesus had disciples and when he was going, he handed over to them and gave them the power and, because of them, we know how many Christians are in the world because they were empowered.”
He quoted Genesis 14 vs 14, and said church leaders need to do much more because the gap was wide: “I also want to challenge us, we can see the influence is not there. Jesus and His 12 disciples had so much influence. There are churches yet our influence is infinitesimal. We are not having as much influence as we should.”
Adefarasin, while saluting the elder statesman, made a comment that elicited laughter in the hall. He said the general has been in power for the last 60 years even when he (Adefarasin) was a young man.
He said: “I’m an old man now. They had power when they were young, they are still in power, and they still determine the equation of power, that’s interesting.”
He said everyone should have a tool of Nigeria in his or her hand. According to him, a real leader is absent in the Nigerian equation.
But Obasanjo categorically stated that lots of havoc was happening in the country these days, even with the emergence of churches in all nooks and crannies.
The former President said: “We are having more churches, more movements, more Christian centres, but we are going down more in morality. We are going down in Christian attributes, we are going down in leadership. Let’s not deceive ourselves, we need to do more.”
However, the elder statesman noted that the problems confronting Nigeria at the moment can only be surmounted by good leadership.
“Nigeria can gather the best constitutions in the world but, if those who implement them are not people with the right attitude and orientation, nothing can be achieved,” he said.
Moghalu stated that constitution and leadership were necessary.
He said, “Constitution and leadership are the hallmark of good governance. One without the other may not be enough.”
Ighodalo, in his remarks, urged leaders to come together and decide what is right for Nigeria, as the country was heading to an election year: “We are not going to allow anybody who is not ready to love Nigeria to be there in 2023.
“We want somebody who will take up Nigeria as a project and turn this nation around. If we come together and unite today, and know the kind of persons that we want, we will know the kind of persons that should lead Nigeria. That person must be free of corruption, that person must be visionary, that person must be hardworking, that person must be knowledgeable, exposed, detribalised, compassionate, humble and approachable, a team player, charismatic, courageous because it takes courage to take certain decisions that could turn this nation around. Nigeria will be great again.”
