By Gbenga Osinaike
He belongs to the charismatic Renewal Movement. He became born again in 1996. An indigene of Kaduna, Ezekiel Musa is a burden bearer. Since he came to know the Lord, he has not relented him spreading the good news to people of the rural areas in the north. He told Church Times at the Global Mandate Conference organised by Agape Generation International Church which brought together about 200 missionaries in Lagos, Nigeria that there are many things that are not reported about the north because the affected people don’t have access to the media.,
delegates at the missions conference held at Agape Generation International Churches
Presently he works with Missions Aids International, an arm of the Charismatic Movement which seeks to give support to missionaries in areas they are needed. “We give aids to communities. We build schools, hospitals and render assistance to communities where they are needed. What we have seen so far is that many Christian communities are denied social amenities in the North.
In fact, the way to know a Christian community is that there will be no light, no water and no school in that community. So, we step into these places to offer help.
Musa who is a teacher by profession lamented that some of the Christian communities are so impoverished that they live on single diet of millet. They hardly eat rice for instance. Perhaps they only eat rice during festival time. But generally, the feeding is bad because they are not economically empowered. Many Christians are denied job opportunity. To get job in many of the states in the north you have to be Moslem.”
He recounted instances where Christians were denied opportunity to join the Army or other government agencies. The implication is that some of Christians who don’t want to continue to suffer simply join Islam. “What we have found out is that many Christians are being converted to Islam because of the need for bread and butter. If you become a Moslem for instance you will be immediately empowered.”
Explaining how the North came about being polarized into the Christian and Moslem communities, he said, “During the Jihad, it was difficult for Islam to penetrate some parts of the north especially the middle belt. Some of the areas they could not penetrate were insulated against the Islamic onslaught. Their fathers had also warned them against embracing Islam. Many of these communities were located in remote areas of many of the states in the north.”
In Kano where his ministry has great presence, Musa says, “The discrimination in Kano is high. Many Christians are seen as outcast and are denied from benefitting from social amenities. As a matter of fact, you know a Christian community in Kano by the lack of social amenities. Some of their children who are graduate are denied jobs. That is why we don’t encourage those who are Christians to bear English or Bible names because you can be sure you will not get job in place like Kano. Even at that when they find out that you are a Christian you may lose the job. It is that bad.”
He however said God has used the ministry to establish schools, hospitals and create social amenities where necessary. “In our schools we don’t charge fees. They are free schools. Our hospitals are also free and we create boreholes and other amenities as the Lord supplies. God has been raising people to help out. But the needs are enormous. The beauty is that many are coming to know the Lord. You need to see these villages in time of worship and see the hunger for God among them.”
Commenting on the political situation in Kano he says, “Kano has the highest number of illiterates in the country. So, it is a wonder that the 2015 presidential election there was no vote that was voided. I was in Kano and I can tell you there was no election in many wards. When people got to those wards they were told to go home. It was the polling officials that did the voting and not the people.
“Today you see a lot of underage voters. The situation there is a sham. By all means this should be looked into in the next election. I also want to say that many of the churches that were destroyed in the past have not been rebuilt because there are forces that have not allowed them to be rebuilt. We have some of the cases in court. It is really an unfortunate development.”
Musa then called on church leaders to come together and raise support for churches in the states of the north. “People need to visit and see what is going on. The persecution in the North is both social and economic. People who don’t know will tell you there is nothing like planned Islamisation. But It is real. The church should wake up because there are a lot of people that are being swayed for want of what to eat and drink. If the church continues to sleep we may wake up one day to see something that will shock us to the bones.”
Musa could be reached on +234-802-5978-374
