Characteristically, like most of his public utterances, Tunde Fashola drove home his points convincingly. You could almost touch with bare hands the zeal and passion with which he expounded his narrative. My usual style when confronted with such elucidation is just to appreciate, internalize and then move on.
Two things have however, compelled me to comment on the main issues raised in his message.
1) Fashola, now almost a household name in the country, spoke the facts but he failed to properly rationalize the behavioral proclivities of man especially in our beloved country Nigeria, vis a vis the so called worship.
(2) Truly, many people are becoming quite disenchanted with what I call religious invasion, albeit worship-house explosion in our land. A situation that has now resulted into a subtle obliteration of the real ones. It is likened to an obedient car driver, quietly observing the traffic regulations, but being cunningly eased into violation by disobedient drivers.
To keep quiet therefore is tantamount to an inclusive admittance of guilt. We must find ways to continue to propagate the act of real worship regardless of its evident bastardization. The points raised by Governor Fashola are so seemingly incontrovertible, but possess the ingredients capable of swaying a genuine searcher of true worship.
Religion is a primarily ritualistic phenomena. It is the action of man to maintain equilibrium and to preserve the harmony of this dynamic biosphere.
It is ultimately the worship of an unseen supernatural entity, a perceived mystical being, a ghostly problem solver and almost invariably, a fortune donor. Right from the beginning of time, people have confused religion with the true worship of the biblical God. Karl Marx’s postulation of religion is that it is the opiate of the masses. According to Marx, religion is an expression of material realities and economic injustice. Thus, problems in religion are ultimately problems in society.
It surmises that religion is not the disease but merely a symptom. It is used by oppressors to make people feel better about the distress they experience due to being poor and exploited.
Pardon me if I am wrong but I think it was Fashola who once said that “ How can a doctor give a correct prognosis to a patient who came to complain of stomach ache, without first asking : what did you eat yesterday” That was in response to some public statement that the current government is focusing too much on the past rather than the future.
My point here is simple. Rather than observe a social pattern with its attendant negatives, why can’t we examine the causes and endeavor to make amends from there.A river is dammed to create impact. Without the dam, nothing is created. A Yoruba adage says “Amukun, eru e wo. AmukunniIsalenik’ewo”, meaning: People accuse the lame man that the consignment on his head is not standing straight. He replied that it’s the leg that has a problem, neither the head nor the load.
Put succinctly, Proliferation of religious houses is not the issue and will never be. It is a mere symptom, not the disease.
Anywhere in the world, people gyrate in the direction of the supernatural when life becomes difficult, when natural truthfulness is being trampled upon by the ruling class, when commonsense is no longer common, when hard-work is seldom rewarded, when terrorists bomb the cheated and fatigued rather than the cheaters, when citizens’ future are truncated by mal-administration, when there is no longer equity in governance, when there is no sign of amnesty for the unemployed, when there is no sign of cure for the sick, and when there is no hope for the future.
I am by no means disputing the fact that depraved people have seized the prospectthat the existing debauchery provides to exploit the innocent and the greedy. It is, in my candid opinion a waste of time, to keep telling people how to behave without self-indictment.
It is on record that places of worship in the United States and most advanced countries get inundated in crisis times. A typical example was the 911 bombing of the New York Twin Towers. Church crowd became uncontrollable as so many people were in a complete state of despondency. They were desperately looking for spiritual import of the reprehensible incident. Expectedly, the period ushered in the good, the bad and the ugly. People were unduly taken advantage of. Now imagine in Nigeria where a near permanent state of hopelessness (due to government corruption and long term neglect) exist. God has given us the guidelines on how to relate harmoniously with one another. Yet, blind and wicked violation of these rules by our custodial superintendents pervades and can only result to one thing.
I call it “trickledown odium effect”, such as we see in the proliferation of worship centers and other mystical problem solving incendiaries. Americans are natural church goers but they don’t have churches on every street. Main reason for this is the government provision of basic social needs for the people. Go and conduct a survey, you will discover that those who do not prepare adequately for the future are more inclined toward magical things than folks who have sufficiently prepared.
Fashola’s denunciation of the humongous waste of resources on church buildings and other imprudent money sapping projects is incontestable. But I feel I have a duty to protect those activities that are borne out of genuine need. It’s also a heartfelt longing for me that genuine seekers and worshipers are not discouraged and derailed by frank utterances from indefatigable Fashola and other well-meaning Nigerians.
I have often hopelessly watched and heard people openly disparage the Church of Christ and anointed men of God. Most have not taken their time to conduct investigation on some of these institutions and personalities.They just find it convenient to believe what the social media is spitting out. Indolent thinking and reportage for you right there!
My supposition and advice here is that we cannot throw away the baby with the bath water. I am not a Pastor but I am delighted to confirm that my life changed for the better outside of religious orthodoxy as we know it. Had we been tied to “State Church”malady as we have in China, or remained status-quo, it would have been a different story.
As in the case of biblical Saul, I pray the scale fall off our leaders’ eyes, to enable them do the needful. Some actually, need physical blinding if that will compel them to reach out to a political Ananias to open those eyes and change their ways. They must stop stealing, stop encouraging fake prophets with gifts, build enduring projects, create employment and watch whether these counterfeit religious places will not be extinct.
Yes we have wasted a lot of years. Innumerable adults have unfortunately grown up in the midst of hopelessness and left with nothing to do than to seek magical solution to their problems. The situation is grim. Worship of any kind of god to ameliorate these horrible conditions has unescapably become the model.
Solutions have to come from somewhere. Despite all these threatening signs accompanied by long lost years, I am still quite hopeful for Nigeria standing tall again. It requires the unrelenting resolve of a strong government, which I believe we now have, and citizens that are determined to move the Nation forward.
I too will like to tell you a story to be able to draw my final analogy:
The giant sequoia trees of California are known for their great heights towering between20-25 floors, with most of them having been in existence for more than 3,500 years. A surprising attribute of these trees is that they do not have long roots which would have been required to stabilize trees with such altitudes.
Not so worried about the shallowness of their roots, they rely on the ability of those roots to intertwine with each other just a tad of depth beneath the surface. In other words, they hold on to each other for stability, strength and survival.
Drawing strength from this analogy, Nigerians must face the future holding one another together under good leadership. It is not a hidden secret that Nigerians do outstandingly well on individual basis but perform below standard in teams, this must change! Have we noticed that Nigerians shine abroad under great management and supervision? Our football legends are case studies. I see determination in Fashola’s eyes. I see resolve in his bones. Let’s get in the trenches fellow citizens.
Finally my readers, I charge you with this: After the creation of humanity, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and SUBDUE it; HAVE DOMINION over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” (Genesis 1:28 NKJV)
Together, we can make Nigeria Great Again. let’s do exactly that!
Diran Komolafe
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
