Well, well, well. For those who might have caught my 26th of May 2009 blog entry on the RCCG private plane palaver(http://kanmiiyanda.blogspot.com/2009/03/god-business.html), you will remember that I concluded that if the church saw a jet as essential to their evengelism, then so be it. I also advised their detractors to let them be and realise that religion is, whether we like it or not a private matter, even when it appear to have public ramifications. With all that in mind, guess what the result of the investigations into the purchase have now revealed? The jet was bought by five members of the church as a business concern and wait for it........the group decided to give special courtesy to their G.O to use the aircraft in special circumstances or something to that effect. Also, unlike what most thought, the plane actually cost a third of the reported amount and guess what; only a third of that figure was paid as deposit.
So, this brings us to a difficult juncture; should we believe these findings or toss them into the dustbin of time, as a clever rebuttal by the church or should we begin to realise that maybe, as a people, Nigerians are sometimes slow to reason and quick to jump to judgement? Or maybe a juncture does not even exist.....because in the end, there are still many examples of churches carrying on, like they have no understanding of the common man and his struggles.
Whatever conclusion you come to, I still believe it might be time to hasten thought and kill the speed of our criticism.....I know we lack people to look up to, but maybe, just maybe, all of our leaders, elected or otherwise do not belong in the same flawed boat!
It's just a thought.
I was forwarded the original ThisDay article and will openly admit that I found the story very plausible for one main reason - the level of unGodly materialism that is overly prevalent in many of the pentecostal churches, led by and shamelessly celebrated by the many self-styled ‘men of God’. This does mean that the good few - of which there are undoubtedly several - will sometimes be tarnished with the soiling brush of the several charlatans, but this is so in every profession/walk of life(not every banker is a greedy money grabbing bastard, not every accountant is boring, not every lawyer will call black white when you wave a fistful of hard currency in their faces, et al) There were numerous holes in the original story and even more in the ThisDay correction/retraction, which reminds me very much of Tony Blair’s ’spin machine’ (i.e. predilection for selling stories by obfuscating detail and suppressing material information, while highlighting minor points and making them the story sold to the media.)
ReplyDeleteI actually sincerely hope that the hands of Adeboye are indeed clean on this, as Nigeria needs more transparently honest and holy men, and the proliferation of churches in Nigeria in the last 20 odd years is indicative of a vital role that they fill in our social, mental and spiritual well-being. But I do vehemently disagree that anyone who raises questions about appropriateness of expenditure held in trust (either by church members, government etc) and those that highlight perceived or real hypocrisy in the actions of those who are holding themselves out to be one thing (’men of God’, politicians, ethical businessmen, all fall in this category) should not be dismissed as ‘haters’ or jealous of success. I am more than happy for and will openly celebrate the success of anyone who achieves their goals, as long as they have not abused any trust, exploited others’ efforts (physical, spiritual, emotional) or achieved their success in a destructive or corrupt manner.
We can be constructively critical, and to truly achieve greatness as a nation, we need to keep questioning our sacred cows.
Even, maybe especially even, spiritual leaders.