Pastor Femi Emmanuel, a former Deputy Speaker of Oyo State and current Presiding Pastor of Living Spring is the head of the Directorate of Politics and Governance established by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria
The directorate was set up by Bishop Wale Oke, President of the PFN to drive Pentecostal Christians inclusiveness in politics and ultimately ensure that they are elected into political offices at various levels.
Pastor Emmanuel Was guest minister at the last ministers conference of the Redeemed Christians Church of God where he spoke on Christians and politics. At the end of his presentation he took time to answer critical questions on Christians involvement in politics..
Find below excerpts from the interactive session.
The DPG of the PFN has a great vision, but how can other denominations be coopted into the vision?
The best way to convince anyone to support our vision is to show results. If the DPG structure which we have built is allowed to work by the support of our church leaders, we will have results that would be convincing enough and other people would join us.
We are not fighting a religious war. This is a kingdom assignment. We don’t need to be going from one denomination to the other, trying to convince them. PFN is large, strong and widespread enough. If we understand and support the structure that DPG has put in place, others will join us because everyone wants to join a winning team.the other arms of CAN and patriotic Nigerians would join us, once they see results. Result is the name of the GAME.
Besides, it is difficult to convince church leaders and authorities. What will convince them, is the results they see.
Can church money be used to sponsor a God-fearing Christians who opts to seek elective position ?
The tithe and offering of the church must not be used to fund campaigns. Tithe and offering is God’s money according to Malachi 3:10..It should be brought to the store room, so that there would be meat in God’s house. This shows that tithe is not for funding political parties. However, the church can encourage members to support christians in politics financially. Such funds should come from private individual resources not church funds.
Can the church start a political party?
The answer is NO!. We can’t own a political party because party politics is a culture and christians don’t have that political culture. We have been brought up with the mindset that politics is evil and ungodly, therefore christians should not go near it. There is no point in forming a political party for the church, it won’t work. Besides, Nigeria’s constitution does not allow a religious party. We are to join an existing party according to our structure, a dominant party in a particular state or area.
The strategy is to join an existing party and with our unique selling point (USP) which is our number and population, our caucus can take the party executive positions at the ward level, this is where the power of politics resides.
There is no need to form a political party.
How can we address the emphasis on money in Nigeria’s politics
Money is so prominent in Nigeria’s politics today because we Christians refused to participate in grassroots politics. Nigeria Politics has been monetised because everyone, from the grassroot to the top is there to see what they can get.
Their focus is on money. We should change that narrative because we are going there for kingdom sake. That does not mean anyone that wants to vie for a political office would not spend money. it’s just that the moneybag syndrome* should be avoided.
Those who are God fearing and have the love of the country have to joined politics at grassroots..the whole system has been abandoned to the corrupt politicians who do not have vision of heaven.
The issue of money would be drastically reduced, if we God fearing people will go into politics at the grassroot to vote our people into office to become the delegates that would select candidates to be voted for.
Where money is majorly spent in politics is in putting their people at the ward level. They organize the hungry, the poor and miscreants and use money to sustain them at that ward level, so that they can continue to do there bidding. That is the area that DPG should take control of.
Politicians use money to establish their people at the ward level. They spend a lot of money to buy delegates. If we take charge of the grassroots and be the owner of delegates, the issue of spending money would not be there again.
In practical politics today, there are some happenings that Christians can’t withstand, things like bribery. How can we handle that situation?
Bribery is rampant because those that are there are always expecting money. Everyone that attends Ward meetings at the grassroots goes there for what they can get. Everyone wants a piece of the cake! and anyone that needs these people, must be willing to pay the price. because they are for sale. What we have today is transactional politics and they go for the highest bidder.
If the Body of Christ will follow the structure that DPG has put in place, our people will be at grassroots and would form the ward executives. Our people will go there, not because of money but because of our love for God and our country. Ultimately, the question of bribery, would be grossly minimized.
How can Christians compete and win in politics when they don’t have huge amount of money required.
There is a huge percentage of electorates who are not swayed by financial inducements. Unfortunately, they largely remain docile and do not vote. These sector of the populace which I refer to as the conscience voters are more than commercial voters. They only require to be awakened and sensitised.
Money is prevalent in Nigeria politics today because Christians refused to join politics at the grassroots. From the grassroots to the top, everyone is waiting for money. This is the difference we are going there to make. It is not that money would not be spent but it would not be outrageous as we have it today.
Genuine Christian voters would not sell their vote . That is why we have the training department of DPG. Our people would have been well trained from the Church Officer of Politics to all DPG ward caucuses before joining the dominant political party.
It would be made clear that our aim in politics is not money. The issue of money would not be as prominent as we have it today. There will be no genuine child of God that has been adequately trained and screened by DPG that would go into politics with the sole aim of getting money. This is one major challenge that DPG structure would eradicate.
Christians can focus on grassroots mobilization, leveraging their networks, and promoting issues-based politics by building coalitions and mobilizing like-minded individuals, Christians can make a significant impact despite limited financial resources.
Our leaders guide us on all areas of life, but when it comes to politics, they tell us to join any party we like. Does this means God does not speak to them on the way to go politically.?
This is the political ignorance that we are talking about, the church is a sleeping giant, a giant in slumber. We don’t know the power we have. The power of people and spread that God has given to the church. Especially the Pentecostals.
Unfortunately, we are ignorant about this. The scripture says people get destroyed for lack of knowledge. Church leaders at various levels are willing to preach on other things to us but when it comes to politics, they say join any party of your choice. That is big mistake
We are to mobilise our people to join a party chosen by consensus. Asking members to go and join a party of their choice is a major mistakes that pastors keep making.
The DPG structure has emphasized that our people should join the dominant party in any state they are. Joining different parties would fragment our number and make us minorities in those different parties and politics is about numbers
How can monetization of politics be corrected in Nigeria.
Those selling their votes for peanuts are likely not one of us. It is our involvement that can correct this anomaly because you can’t change a system you are not involved in. If we get involved and refused to take money, then the issue of monetary influence would be reduced drastically. Where there is no light, darkness takes over. The only solution is in our getting involved as structured by DPG
But don’t you think the church starting a party will go a long way to make the desired impact?
No. Christian don’t need to create their own party Let’s start from where we are. God said to Abraham, lift up your eyes from where you are northward and southward. Therefore, let us start from PFN by following the structure DPG has put in place, PFN is big and widespread enough to make impact.
When we solidify the structure of DPG, things would fall in place.
By now, we should be having DPG ward meeting at the ward level to mobilize our members into our preferred party, the dominant party in every state and regions. Only fools doubt proofs. When others see what PFN is doing, they would join us.
Many Christians now understand that they need to get their voters card but they also need to understand the process of selecting a credible candidates to voted for.
For credible candidates to emerge from the Christian fold our church leaders must give maximum support to DPG STRUCTURE.
Is there a way to participate in Nigeria’s politics without committing sin?
You don’t have to be in politics to commit sin. In whatever profession you find yourself, if corruption is part of you and you are not born again and mature enough, you will be corrupt. it is not politics that corrupt people. It is corrupt people that go into politics to corrupt the system.
How long would it take for DPG to influence Nigeria’s politics.
It would take as long as the General Overseers of front line churches will abide, understand and permit the DPG structure that has already been built. All that is needed is for the church leaders to mandate their church organizations to be part of what DPG has put in place.
We already have training manuals to train our people from ward level to the local government, to states and ultimately to national.
Let’s imbibe and abide with the DPG structure and many of these problems and fears would naturally disappear. The political strategy for the body of Christ is simply PFN, DPG.
For the first time in the body of the church we have built a structure on which God’s children who have a desire for governance can emerge
From the system we have now in Nigeria, no matter how competent that child of God is, in and outside Nigeria, no matter what vision he claimed to have seen and prayers he must have prayed, there is no platform of emergence for such a person and it is that missing platform that DPG has now built that we need to support.
Please let us pray and appeal to our General Overseers and church leaders to understand, buy into and allow their members to be part of this great vision and structure. This is the only thing that is holding the church back and this is the only thing that has shut the church out of Nigeria’s political governance and the time to correct that mistakes is now!
How do we avoid Christians getting there and becoming selfish to serve only their own need and that of their families.
This cannot happen, because in DPG STRUCTURE, everyone would have been screened and profiled from the ward officers level where delegates would be selected. Our system and structure have already envisaged this.
To be a ward officer, your pastor and church leaders must attest to your character, stand in God, maturity, spirituality, probity and competence. With all these in place, there is no way a fake christian would emerge from our system.
The person that would emerge from our system would be going there to represent the body of Christ, his church and the Nation. and not for selfish reasons.
How are you going to compel our General overseers to spread this information to their congregations?
This is the crux of the whole matter. This is where DPG STRUCTURE is stuck at the moment. It is like a brand new car, the structure is on ground, but those to driver it are not coming forth.
The church community is an imprisoned an imprisoned community. They would only do what General Overseers and Church leaders instruct them to do. It’s just like the shepherd and the sheep.
The sheep only listen to and obey the shepherd. let us pray that our church leaders and especially of mainline churches with national spread and numbers will buy into the structure that DPG has put on ground.
This thing is not a rocket science. it is not as difficult as it seems. because God has given the Pentecostal fold large followership. Politics is about number and spread and we have these two requirements but we need the will, permission and understanding of General Overseers to give the go-ahead by nominating and choosing their DPG national coordinators that would mobilize the entire church to the grassroots politics to obtain not just the voters card but also party cards and be qualified to be voted for as ward officers and executives because this is where the power of politics resides.
May God help our church leaders and gatekeepers to see and understand this vision. Amen!
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