Pastor Femi Emmanuel
The race for the 2027 election has started in earnest. The question is where is the church? The politicians have started to put their acts together, they are mobilizing and strategizing, and they are setting structures up for the next election in 2027.
Where are CAN and PFN? Where are the church Fathers? Where are the gatekeepers? Where are the General Overseers? Where are the Bishops? Where are the Apostles? Where are those that said they don’t want Muslim-muslim ticket? Where are those saying there is an agenda to take over Nigeria?
The race is already on. Where are the patriotic Nigerians? Where are the youths that we were told formed 60% of the population of Nigeria?
Read also: Young people leaving Nigeria are being misled-Pastor Femi Emmanuel:https://churchtimesnigeria.net/nigeria-2023-femi-emmanuel/
Grassroots controls govt
The governance in Nigeria is based on the fact that whoever owns the grassroots controls the government, whoever has the political structure owns government. Political structures are owned by individuals and those individuals determine everything.
In the last election cycle, many Christians said they didn’t want a Muslim-Muslim ticket but the immediate past administration was not a Muslim-Muslim ticket, but a Muslim-Pastor ticket, and the body of Christ did not enjoy any special benefit.
If the church continues in this way of being lackadaisical and ignorant, establishing missions all over and only coming to the pulpit to vent anger, prophecy, and pray as we have always been doing, then in 2027, it will still be a Muslim-Muslim ticket. In 2031, it will still be a Muslim-Muslim ticket because we are fast asleep. You cannot change the system you are not involved in.
Deceit on the prowl
If the church is still focusing on the pulpit, and singing our songs, prophesying and seeing visions, and declaring and praying, then we must be deceiving ourselves. Politics is about the people and we have the people but we don’t know what to do with them.
Nigerian political setting is different from any political setting in other parts world. The politics we play in Nigeria is not the same as what is obtainable in other parts of the world. We make mistakes by comparing Nigeria with the United Kingdom, Canada with America, and other places. What we have here is different. Democracy was supposed to be the government of the people, by the people, for the people, But what we have here is the government of the few using the ignorant masses to put themselves perpetually in power. That is what we have here which must change.
Independence but still colonised
Nigeria got her independence from its British colonial master in 1960, this was after they had spent over 100 years here. Nigeria was colonized by the British government but today, it is sad to observe that Nigeria is being re-colonized by the political class. Nigeria has been caged and her people imprisoned by our new colonial masters, the political class. Nigeria nation is being raped, exploited, and held down. We are crying and agitating, but we are not doing anything about our predicament..
We are angry; we are hungry, Nigeria has been described as the poverty capital of the whole world. Corruption is everywhere, Insecurity is everywhere. we don’t like it but we are not doing anything about it.
What are we as Christians doing? We are praying, we are fasting, we are prophesying and none of that will deliver this country. You cannot change the system you are not involving.
Nigerians cannot not choose those who rule them, the political structure owners dictate who rules. In Nigeria’s setting, the voters are merely used as toilet rolls. After voting, they are dispensed with because it is he who has the grassroots that determines the person to be voted for.
Church must mobilise
Churches should not just be at the voting centers, the church should be able to present who the general voters will vote for. The church mobilized people to obtain permanent voters cards, but the unanswered question is who do they vote for after obtaining the voter cards? They will still be voting for the wrong people perpetually; even if elections take place 100 times because the politicians are the ones who have the stronghold over the grassroots and present candidates for general elections.
Without credible delegates, there will be no credible candidates and without credible candidates, you can’t have a credible government.
Unless, the body of Christ wakes up, unless the youths wake up, unless the patriotic Nigerians wake up and move to the grassroots politics of Nigeria, our horrible situation will remain the same. Nothing stops anybody from going to the grassroots of politics. We must wake up if we must determine the people that would rule us. It said that the people deserve the kind of government they get.
Political structure
Many people don’t know what political structure is about. During the last presidential elections, there were those misrepresenting the youths on social media as the masses and the structure of a particular Presidential candidate, but that was wrong. That candidate had no structure. People in the grassroots are the structure. Youths on social media are not the structure, Pastors that venting their anger on the pulpits are not the structure.
Nigeria is a country of 36 states plus Abuja. It has 774 local government areas and 8,800 wards. Those wards are the nucleus of power. I didn’t know why God took me into politics but when I got there I now realized he took me there for a time like this and that is the burden I carry.
What I saw in politics cannot be seen on the pulpit. On the pulpit, all we are saying is let’s pray. We are praying and they are cutting our necks. We are praying and things are deteriorating. God is not deaf! No, God will not do for us what He has given us the power to do for ourselves.
We have prayed as Nigerians and God has answered us long time by giving the church a massive followership. There is a Pentecostal Church in this country with over 11 million members and over 60 thousand parishes. Politics is about people, Politics is about numbers, and Politics is about the spread.
Church has the spread
The church has the numbers, spread, and money. The church has the intellectual capability, but the church is a sleeping giant when it comes to politics. I don’t know who made us like this. Till date, some church leaders, and church fathers are still saying politics is evil, ‘don’t go there leave it for them. Let us just face the work of the kingdom.’ it is good to do the work of the kingdom, but where is the environment for the church to grow and blossom?
The belief that Christians should leave politics to the politicians is what has brought Nigeria to where we are now. The insecurity and hunger. Nigerians are moving out of the country as if their roof is burning. If we call for prayer for visa, everybody will come out and it’s not supposed to be like that.
Nigeria has 36 states, 774 local governments 8,800 wards, the wards are where the power is. The power for change, the power to have credible leaders to produce credible Governors, Credible President, and Senators are in the wards. Elective power is at the ward levels and every Nigerian lives within a ward. It is not about being partisan. The church should not be partisan. I cannot be partisan, as a Presiding pastor. Our General Overseers cannot be partisan. The church should own the structure producing who the people should vote for and not the other way round.
Next to God is political power
And for many years, the doctrine in the church has been that politics is evil and dirty, therefore no child of God should go into politics. Politics is not dirty. It is seen as so because we left it for dirty people. Next to God’s power is political power. The government controls everything, if we didn’t know that before I’m sure we know now, even up to the food we eat, the school we send our children, our welfare, our security, everything is controlled by the government. How can we then as Christians leave church in the hands of those that don’t fear God?
We have enough good people in Nigeria, patriotic people in Nigeria who can fix this country. The structure of Nigeria politics however will never allow them to emerge unless we build a structure that can produce credible people.
After His Excellency, President Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu had been elected, some pastors were still saying he was not our President and were rejecting him on their pulpits? I was watching with disappointment and pain seeing Pastors harassing Judges over things they didn’t know anything about and their congregations were clapping in ignorance.
No structure no credible candidate
Unless you have the structure, you cannot produce credible candidates, and until you have credible candidates you have no credible leaders to vote for. We have been told that Christians should not go into politics and that has gone into our DNA. For that to change, General Overseers, the gatekeepers, and the church fathers, must unlock the church gates because the church is an imprisoning community in a political sense.
Christians all over Nigeria must be set FREE. Youths alone can’t choose leaders that will win elections on social media. Elections can’t be won by agitation or by television/radio debate.
By the grace of God, Nigeria will be fixed. We should not compare Nigeria’s political space with other climes like the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, and America. Their system will not allow miscreants to come up as they have a system that has been so built that you can’t stand up to be their leaders without pedigree, but here the most crooked person be elected into any position.
Our system is not a good one. it is no longer a secret that there is an agenda to Islamize this country and they are working on it every day and the church is sleeping and snoring.
The role of PFN/DPG
I thank God for the current President of PFN, His Eminence, Bishop Wale Oke, God bless him in Jesus’ name. He inaugurated DPG to put a structure together because there can be no winning without structure.
One of the Presidential candidates came to me, during the last electoral campaign and I said people love you and I also like you as a person. He was talking about productivity, which I appreciated, and would have wished he emerged as the President of NigeriaI but unfortunately, realities on the ground showed clearly he would not win the election. I simply told him that he had no structure.
The first election I stood for was ward chairmanship, which gave me a clear picture of grassroots and structure.
The DPG of the PFN has put a structure in place. We have appointed 36 State Directors, Local Government Directors of DPG and we are working to install 8,800 ward officers in DPG., The structure will not work itself and that is where we have issues now. Next to the ward officers is what we call Church Officers of Governance (COG) and that is where the church Fathers, General Overseers, the Gate keepers have issues with.
RCCG example
We expect the heads of the church to allow their members to do what the RCCG has done. God bless Daddy Adeboye. A memo came out from RCCG, mandating all RCCG parishes to align with PFN to see what we can do to salvage this nation. Nigeria needs to be rescued.
Nigeria is sliding and dying and we are opening our eyes we have to save this country, we have the massive people, and we have the education but someone sold a lie to us that we should leave governance to politicians. Pastor Adeboye allowed a memo to be written to the entire RCCG parishes instructing them to align with PFN. That is what all other denominations must do, and when that has been done, each parish, and each assembly must appoint a COG or a Church Officer of Politics, COP. This will be like your Heads of Department, HOD that will represent your assembly nationally.
The DPG arrangement
By DPG arrangement these representatives ought to be going on with DPG ward meetings by now because the whole country is divided into 8,800 wards whether you know it or not, PDP, APC amongst others are already meeting in various wards just like when landlords and landladies have their meetings in their respective streets.
Christians in each of the wards are from different churches. Those churches must mandate their COPs to register all the adult members in each parish and assembly together. DPG has the structure to train them, they have the time they meet, and when we meet we are meeting as Nigerians who want to take part in establishing good governance for our country.
Each of the wards will have an exco and have all the structures laid out. At the next ward congress election our caucus will present our own exco to be voted for, and the election at the ward level is an open ballot.
One good thing about Nigerian politicians is that as they meet ward by ward they are in caucuses. Caucuses of political godfathers that want to take power at the grassroots.
There is no political decision that can be taken in Lagos without input from ‘Bourdillon’. Currently, in Oyo State, final political decision is taken by Governor Seyi Makinde. The political structures have owners and that is what the church must own. When we own that structure it is then credible people, God-fearing people, patriotic people, and competent people can emerge.
Ward meetings
That structure is on, but by now DPG should be having ward meetings and those who are to be in the ward meeting are people from churches. But they are locked up in their churches?
We are appealing to all General Overseers to do for us what RCCG has done. We must participate at all levels. We are not APC, and we are not PDP but when we meet at our ward, our people must have their voter cards and party cards.
A voter card is not enough to put credible people in power in Nigeria; you must have a party membership card obtained at the ward level.
The executive elected at the ward level will elect delegates and the delegates will elect people to become candidates which will then be presented to the public for election (to be voted for).
The church should not just be at the voting centre with voters’ cards, the church should be at the selection center.
If we get this right, Politicians will come crawling to the church because we would have taken their power which is the structure that determines who to vote for.
Pastor Femi Emmanuel is the PFN National Director for Directorate of Politics and Governance and founder of Livingspring International Chapel
