Down the Southern part of Nigeria is a humble man with a temperament of
peace. With a political philosophy of humanism, he goes about preaching
peace to the world and urging his friends, brothers and of humanity to
see peace as their kinsmen and harmony as their in- law.
He is a fellow who lives out the attributes of the beatitude daily. He
scores the reproach of defeat and vilification just to maintain the
climate of peace in his environment. He is a sermonist, he speaks in the
manner of John Donne, Martin Luther King Jnr and
Desmond Tutu. Although not a full-time member of the ecclesiastics, his
messages are always refreshing and didactic.
Recently in Abuja and Yenagoa, I listened to him speak, his messages
tonics for national peace. At a time when the most popular messages by
politicians have been sermons of ‘body bags’ and ‘shoot at sight.’ He
continues to give sermons of peace and love. Even when friends and
associates go to him with itching ears, wanting to make remarks that will
send a strong signal to his political detractors who have taken upon
themselves the iniquity of insulting him at every opportunity and
assassinate his character, his utterances are always seasoned with the
salt and savour of love.
In Abuja, about a fortnight ago in a conference organised by the Goodluck
Jonathan Foundation (GJF), he spoke alongside Bishop Matthew Hassan
Kukah,Gen.Abdulsalami Abububakar, Dr. Amos Sawyer, Dr.Fidele Sarassoro and
Prof Al-Hassan Conteh on peaceful elections and national development. He
spoke on the link between peace and national prosperity as well as the
reproach of conflict and wars. The minutes that he spoke, were seconds of
attention, penitence and orientation in the hearts of the pew. It was like
listening to Charles Spurgeon preach his sermon of grace or watching Billy
Graham on one of his evangelical outreaches.
Like a revivalist he spoke, on the need for peace and good governance
which are the issues of his heart and his foundation. Hear him: “The
search for solutions to Africa’s seemingly intractable challenges is at
the centre of the Foundation’s interest on the question of leadership and
good governance. It is a known fact that Africa’s relatively slow growth
and poor performing economies are linked to the preponderance of
conflicts. What many patriotic Africans will also not deny is the fact
that at the root of most of the conflicts ravaging the continent is the
desperation that often characterise the struggle for power.
“No doubt, there is a strong nexus between the struggle for power and
national development. There is a vicious cycle in Africa where the
struggle for political power leads to conflicts that bring up poor
governance and creates hardship which fuels the struggle for change of
leadership; thus, creating further conflicts and poor leadership. ”
Like an Apostle on a great commission Dr. Goodluck Jonathan called
Africans to repentance.
“ It is my considered view that as African leaders, we must change our
approach and disposition towards stewardship. We must get to the stage
where we should be more interested in developing our people, rather than
ruling or just governing them.
“The ten most developed nations on this earth are those countries that
experience the least conflicts while the ten least developed countries,
many of them here in Africa, are the once wallowing in the worst form of
conflicts. The lesson in this existential reality is that any leader who
is committed to the development of his country will do everything to save
it from turmoil and conflicts. ”
The most interesting part of the sermon to many was when Dr. Jonathan,
perhaps a good student of the Pauline Epistle, spoke in the epistolary
form. Just like Paul writing to Timothy of the expectations of church
leaders(bishop), he said:
” A development-minded leader is visionary and selfless. He does not seek
power at all cost and will not wield it for its own sake… There is no
gainsaying that when politicians resort to desperate measures in the bid
to occupy important political positions, they run the risk of plunging
their countries into serious crises that often lead to loss of lives,
degradation of values as well as destruction of private and public assets.
“These breeds of politicians often ignore the fact that to be patriotic is
to love your country and be prepared to live and die for her honour,
reputation, freedom, progress and the ascendancy of the common good. You
can restore destroyed infrastructure almost to its former state or even
better, but you cannot easily repair people’s psyche, reconcile aggrieved
persons and restore hope in a nation, once they are damaged in destructive
leadership struggles. “
On Monday this week, when youths of the Niger Delta region led by the
President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Barr. Pereotubo Oweilaemi paid
him a courtesy call. Dr. Jonathan re-enforced his message of peace;
charging the youths to prioritise peace always especially during the
elections. His message was a call for democratic humanism or better put a
charge for Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of ubuntu.
“Anytime someone dies extra-judicially it reduces the integrity of the
country. So, if our security personnel are interested in peace, especially
during this electioneering, then they must do everything to suppress
extra-judicial killings; because when one person is killed unlawfully, it
affects everyone.”
As we go for elections beginning from this weekend, leaders and followers
alike should take to heart the sermons of Jonathan and when he said no
ambition is worth his blood.
*Wealth Dickson Ominabo is an Abuja-based journalist
Twitter @wealthdickson