The story of how the
presiding bishop and founder of the Living
Faith Church worldwide popularly known as the Winners’ Chapel rose from the chasm
of barely enough to the enviable status
of more than enough has been of
particular interest to me for sometimes now. I have been particularly
fascinated by the magnitude of his achievements in the charismatic cycle and
his record-breaking feats in the academe. My research on his life and ministry shows
that, he is the only preacher alive with two universities to his acclaim with
plans to build five more before he finally passed on to glory. The plan is to
situate four higher institutions of learning in Nigeria and three others in
some other African countries. As a matter of fact, the third university which
is to be sited in the capital city of Nigeria is to be known as “the king’s
university”.
Enthralled by the story
of bishop, I acquired some of his materials from which I sought to get first
hand information as to how he was able to accomplish all that he is ascribed
with today and the answers I got were quite absorbing. To put it in the
simplest terms, I discovered that he was an uncharacteristic person. By an ‘uncharacteristic’
person, I do not mean a mentally deranged. That is far from it! By that, I mean
a person who reasons outside the prosaic,
a person who sees as done that which ought to be done and a diehard progenitor
of the principle that ‘with God all things are possible to them that believe’. Personally,
Bishop is someone I revere. His uncharacteristic qualities are one of the
reasons why I hold him in high esteem. He never takes ‘’no’’ for an answer and
would never accept that a certain feat is unattainable. He is dogged and unrepentantly
indomitable. He is one man I can assertively claim has the moral fiber to stand
before the devil and tell him to his face that he is a devil! A story has been
told of how he had gone to his home town one Christmas period and was told that
one of his cousins was afflicted with insanity. Funny enough, bishop simply
laughed to himself and went into the room where the mad boy was laid. And as
soon as he entered the room, the boy in his madness got up and prostrated before
him to greet him. He ordered his brothers to put the boy in his car saying “let me see the devil that will follow him
into my car”. When they got to the hospital that same day it was established
by the doctors that the boy was mentally in shape!
In a message of his which
I came across, which he entitled; “Engaging the laws of the spirit for
exploits”, he noted something so profound about himself that I think is
sacrosanct that I also share with you. To quote him precisely, he said “I was very, very rich when I had no money.
It was impossible (at that time when I had no money) for anybody on this earth
to make me think or feel poor by (virtue of) what I had found!’’ The same
valor and mettle was exhibited in his book, “Commanding the Supernatural”,
where he wrote “In March 1981, |I laid
hold on the rod of prosperity and forced poverty out of my life. When I caught that
insight, I proclaimed before men and devils alike “I can never be poor!” ”
Similarly, it might
interest you to note that the bishop David Oyedepo ministry does not borrow
money to do anything. In fact the two universities i.e. covenant university and
Landmark University located at Ogun state and kwara state respectively and
their numerous primary and secondary schools were said to be built debt-free
and without soliciting any help from any international organization. The
visionary leadership of bishop Oyedepo has made non-borrowing an established
covenant in the ministry such that any of the churches which borrow money to do
anything at all would be sanctioned and duly penalized. This quality which
bishop possesses has not only made him an effective leader of men (especially
those who belong to his congregation) but it has endeared the world to him and made
him an outright success in all areas of life, no wonder he is fondly called by
all who know him “papa”.
The Bible is also
filled with the stirring stories of highly spirited and farsighted leaders who
till date are still remembered for their contribution to the lives of their
people. The most outstanding however of these personalities is the immaculate son
of God, Jesus Christ, who at the tender age of twelve had already a patent idea
of what his life assignment was (Luke 2:49; Isaiah 61:1). He was so focused
that the Bible tells us that he was found amidst ‘Doctors’ in the temple ‘both
hearing them and asking them questions’ (Luke 2:46). One question I was however
strained to ask myself is why would a child of that age be found in the company
of such personalities? Fortunately, Luke 2:49 satisfactorily addressed my
question. By virtue of that scripture, we are made to understand that Jesus Christ
haven caught sight of the leadership role he was to play in the future, considered
it necessary to furnish himself early enough for that assignment and apparently
only persons (Doctors) with the requisite knowledge could effectively help him
out with that.
From the above we can
see that Christ was such an atypical kid being that he was not like his mates-
he was exceptional, purposeful and inquisitive. I am very convinced that when
the Bible said that his “mother kept all
these sayings in her heart’’ (Luke 2:51) it must not have been anything
farther from wondering to herself “What
kind of a child is this?”
When in the end he
began to lead his followers he did not need to tell us that “I am the good
shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11) before
we knew in actual fact that he was, he is and still will be the greatest leader
that ever lived.
It was while cogitating
on these Scriptures and the Bishop David Oyedepo story that I came to this philosophical
conclusion “a leader needs certain uncharacteristic qualities to successfully
break the jinx of mediocre performance while in position of authority”.
Juxtaposing the above philosophical conclusion and the Nigerian situation I am
forced to wonder if our leaders really possess those uncharacteristic and
atypical qualities that qualify them to lead a country of close to 150 million people.
Of a truth, it does not amaze me that my fears only seem to be confirmed given
the state of the economy and the pitiable condition of the citizenry.
It is on this basis
that I wish to join the teeming population of literary icons spread throughout
the country who are daily doing their best using the voice of the pen as an apparatus
for suggesting ways of making our nation a better place for us and our children.
In my humble view, we
can adopt a different approach at permanently eradicating these national
monsters that have stolen our collective joy by ensuring that the people we
allow into positions of authority are persons of unsullied character that
possess the necessary uncharacteristic and atypical qualities that we desire in
leaders. However, talking about leaders, I would like to differ from the
subject of overly blaming them for the problems that confront our country.
Sincerely, the blame must have to shift to us too at this point in time because
we are the ones who put them there. Section 14(2)(a) of the 1999 constitution
of Nigeria as amended in 2011 rightly corroborates this fact as it provides; “it is hereby, accordingly declared that
sovereignty belongs to the people from whom the government through this
constitution derives all its powers and authority”. The implication of this
provision of the constitution is that no government or authority can claim to
wield power unless and until the permission of the people have been sought and
one of ways of obtaining that permission is via the electoral process.
In a democratic system such as ours, periodic
elections are one the ways of passing legitimacy on any government. Thus, where
a government has performed according to the whims and caprices of the people,
the people reserve the exclusive discretion to issue them a green card for
another tenure if they so desire. On the
contrary, where the government has not performed up to expectation the people also
reserve the right to strip them of their offices during elections. In line with
this, it is hereby suggested that the people of Nigeria must become more proactive
in choosing those who govern them as who governs them will ultimately determine
the quality of their lives in the long run. In the same vein, the people of
Nigeria must cease the opportunity of elections to remove and get rid of leaders
who cannot or did not perform up to anticipation and substitute them with men
who are indomitable, resolute and ready to give up their lives for their
followers just like Jesus Christ and Bishop David Oyedepo or any other
exemplary world leader.
Furthermore, it is pertinent
that we set our priorities right as a people and make our leaders (for the ones
who are already in office) understand that, it is not only their political
strategies or their rhetoric gallantry that we are interested in but we are also
concerned about the display of those uncharacteristic qualities which spurred
us to vote them into power in the first place by taking effective and timely
decisions to end the woes that have befallen us and our dear nation.
Similarly, our leaders
must come to the knowledge that strategies without determination to see them
through cannot singlehandedly solve Nigeria’s numerous problems; it has to be a
concatenation of diverse methodologies cooked up into one ball and thrown at
those monsters that have refused to let our country alone and until that is
done it is sad to say that our beloved country will continue to wallow in
insecurity, poverty and corruption.
Conclusively, the mass
media also has a role to play. I did not realize the power of the mass media
until I came across section 22 of the 1999 constitution which provides that “The press, radio, television and other
agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental
objectives contained in this Chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability
of the Government to the people”. By virtue of this section, the mass media
is empowered to do what even the courts cannot do (section 6(6)(c) of the
constitution constrains the courts to adjudicate on any issue pertaining to any
matter relating to the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state
policy) by making them watch dogs over the actions of the government. Thus,
where the government is non-functional, the mass media is empowered to expose
them and unveil every of their hidden agenda. More importantly, the mass media
does not just brandish the power to check the activities of the government, it
can also bring the plight of the people to the knowledge of the international community
and expose the secret deeds of people who intend to contest elections so as to
properly enlighten voters of the caliber of people they propose to vote into
positions of authority.
In the light of the
above, it is my utmost belief that if our political leaders and indeed the
Nigerian people can borrow leaf from the examples of our religious leaders akin
to the likes of Bishop David Oyedepo, and the other anointed men of God, our
country would be better for it.
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