EKO HOT BLOG reports that Dele Momodu has warned the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) over the creation of a directorate of politics and governance, saying it will cause moral crisis in Nigeria.
This online media platform recalls that RCCG, in a memo signed by its Assistant General Overseer (Admin/Personnel) Pastor J. F. Odesola, confirmed the creation of the directorate for politics and governance ahead of the 2023 general elections.
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According to the church, the newly-created directorate was set up to coordinate the affairs and activities of members interested in seeking political positions in 2023.
While reacting, Momodu, who is a presidential aspirant, said combining religion with politics was one way to ignite trouble in Nigeria, especially when the church chose a preferred candidate and party.
He made this known through a statement released to express his concerns over the recent development
The statement read: “Fellow Nigerians, let me state clearly that I consider myself a bonafide member of RCCG even if I don’t attend church services often due to my absence from home arising from my enforced itinerant lifestyle as an international journalist.
“I’ve been a son of RCCG General Overseer Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye and his very selfless wife, Mummy G O, Mrs Foluke Adenike Adeboye for many years.
“Naturally, I feel that I owe it a duty to tell our Church leaders, and our Church in general, the Gospel truth.
“Nothing must be done to inadvertently cause a cataclysmic storm in the House of God and the easiest way to create trouble in Nigeria today is any attempt to mix religion with politics.
“As soon as I read the memo by RCCG establishing a political arm of our Church, I realised this was nothing but an invitation to Armageddon, if true.
“It’s like combining some highly combustible ingredients together in a chemical laboratory. It’s not just that the effect may not be too pleasant, it is that the result and consequences will be catastrophic. God forbid.
“Personally, that theory did not jell with me. To the best of my knowledge, Professor Osinbajo is not the only member of the church contesting the 2023 Presidential election. And it was not RCCG that nominated him as running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Osinbajo got the job primarily because of his closeness to his former Principal, then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and also because of his admirable credentials, ability and capacity. His religion was necessarily a factor, because a Northern Muslim must pick a Southern Christian as his running mate in the current Nigerian clime.
“That’s the only reason religion came into it, I believe. It had nothing to do with the fact that he’s a senior pastor of the RCCG.
“Even if Osinbajo has decided to have his own father’s name by dropping that of his godfather, RCCG will still face a moral crisis if it wishes to jump on the bandwagon by drumming up support for Professor Osinbajo on religious grounds alone for many reasons, some of which I will now highlight.
“Although Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a Muslim, his dear wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is a staunch member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and one of the leading lights of the Church. Asiwaju, her husband, is a frontline Presidential aspirant on the platform of APC, just like his godson, Osinbajo.
“Even if the church has a preference in Professor Osinbajo, mainly because of his status in the Church and his current position in Government, I expect the RCCG to “pretend” a little and behave as if it is not so.
“If RCCG goes ahead to support Osinbajo that’s like choosing a child out of one’s children and say, ‘this is my favourite!’ It’s simply not right or proper for the RCCG to demonstrate such blatant and flagrant partisanship.
“As if that’s not a tough cookie to handle, there’s the fact that that there is a third contender, yours truly, Dele Momodu, who’s also a member of the RCCG and the youngest of the contending Church aspirants so far. I’m also the only member of the RCCG aspiring on the platform of PDP, as far as I know.
“Would RCCG then ask its members to vote for one party over the other merely because it has decided to support one candidate in preference to the other regardless of the strong points one may have over the other? What a conundrum and crisis this portends for the Church and its unity and peace.
“The church can’t even afford to ostracise any aspirant on the basis of religious persuasion or denomination.
“I also imagine that there is some degree of unconstitutionality to this attempt by the church to descend into the political arena. Nigeria is a secular state as the constitution provides.
“To suggest that one candidate is the preferred candidate of a particular church or religious group and is being effectively sponsored by that church will breach not just the morality and ethos of the Church but also the deeply enshrined principles and grundnorm of our constitution, which are embedded and engraved for good reason.
“It would be palpable anarchy in the making which would not augur well for the wellbeing of Nigerians but only cause misery and upheaval.
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