NO COMPETENT CHRISTIANS IN THE NORTH? TINUBU AND APC INSULTED THE CHRISTIANS IN THEIR PARTY! ~ Joseph Hayab

When the APC settled for the Muslim-Muslim ticket, saying there was no competent  Christian in the north to win votes for the party, many Christians in Nigeria raised an alarm, describing the decision as unfeeling and callous. For the Christians in northern Nigeria, it goes beyond that. It’s about their lives. Who will speak for them in the power corridors, especially when it is clear that Christianity is the favourite religion attacked by the enemies of Christ. In this interview, the Kaduna State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria and vice president, Northern Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev John Joseph Hayab,  speaks on why the same faith ticket draws that level of din and condemnation. According to him …

… If you mention the first ten competent people in the north, eight of them will be Christians. APC’s excuse is untenable.

… Tunde Bakare is one of the finest clergies in politics, but he would do more if he stopped Scripturising what is not Scriptural

… Pastors in politics should do politics as politics, not just binding and loosing

… many senior pastors and Church leaders are still living in this glory of denomination, not allowing connections between the Churches

Do you think this Muslim-Muslim ticket should attract this noise? It happened in 1993, and there was no fear, no noise. Why the noise now?
This is because the process of actualising it came with noise. The noise differentiates the 1993 Muslim-Muslim ticket from the 2023 Muslim-Muslim ticket. When Chief MKO Abiola picked Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, there was less noise.

When Abiola contested, it was likely that he would do a Muslim Muslim ticket because there was also no option. But today, there are options, and the party playing this game has a history of allegations by Nigerians for playing a Muslim card.

There is doubt and suspicion about the party concerning its Islamic agendas. We have seen nepotism in its pattern of appointment. The noise, in my understanding, is to expose the plan. The Christians are telling people not to look at this as ordinarily. It goes beyond the ordinary.

* Rev John Joseph Hayab

That’s why civilised democracies lobby to sensitise decision-makers not to do what is wrong but to see what is happening and not to keep quiet. That’s just what we are doing. If the people still feel they don’t want to listen to our words and we stay silent, a larger population will make errors thinking it’s usual. When they are deep in the sea and about to be drowned, their eyes will open, but it is too late. We will be here to cry and feel the pain together.

And let me also say this so that readers will understand very well: If Christian leaders keep quiet, the same people saying why the noise would say they’ve bought over the leaders, Christian leaders can’t talk. They are not doing anything. When you talk, others will say he is talking as if he feels every Christian is at the same level of understanding.

Now, because we understand that there are one million and one Christians out there who don’t understand anything, for their sake, we are talking. Not for you who think you know better than us.

Tinubu’s response to this is that he chose competence over faith. In other words, no Christian in the north is competent to be his running mate. How do you respond to that?

I believe it is not indicting Christians but disrespecting Christians in his party, APC. After all, he will never choose someone in APGA, PDP, NNPP or SDP. He is going to select from his party.  So, Tinubu says Christians who are in their party are not competent. If the Christians are competent, let them come out. However, I am happy they have come up and are now talking and expressing concerns.

What do you call competent? Because, I said, and I want to repeat here, if you are looking for competent people in leadership, Science, Medicine or any profession in the north, if you mention the first ten, eight of them will be Christians.

So, why do you say they are not competent? He is insulting the Christians who join the party saying, though we accept you here, we only welcome you to add to our numbers. You don’t qualify. But you know he’s relegating himself, and in politics, you don’t use derogatory words against people who are supposed to vote for you. We still leave it to the Christians in that party.

That is where our noise becomes essential because it now wakes them up. To say, oh, this man insulted us, we didn’t even see it, but our leaders could see it and say, don’t insult my people who are with you. And I can see that they are beginning to talk, to raise their voice.

I spoke to a very prominent one of them recently. He said, ‘Rev., this matter is about our future. If we think it is just about us in APC, it’s about the future of Nigerian Christians’. I agree with him, but I can also tell you that I have known him very well in the past; he used to accuse Christians as if they hate APC, but now, he’s the one talking.

So, to God be the glory if our noise has woken some people from slumber. Jesus says you can abandon the 99 and go for the one lost sheep. If our noise is bringing back the one lost sheep, to God be the glory.

What is the danger of having Shettima? It was reported that Shettima did well to Christians in IDPs in Borno state when he was the governor. The CAN chairman of Borno state was also quoted as saying Shetima is still the best governor in Borno state. If these statements are true, what are the real dangers of this Muslim Muslim ticket? Remember that some Christians said that even when we have a Muslim-Christian combination, what did the Christian do?

Let me correct the impression that the CAN Chairman of Borno state made any statement. The chairman granted an interview in 2017 when Shetima was governor, trying to show the man was doing well. When Shetima was announced, a particular Journalist, I don’t want to call his name, but I know his name, who works for the Punch newspaper, took that whole interview, rephrased and published it as if it was a 2022 conversation.

Suppose I have not seen my brother from 2018 to 2022, I cannot start vouching for him. I have to find out who is he, what is he doing?. But that Journalist probably wanted to curry favour from Shettima and did that dirty job.

As the Vice Chairman of CAN Northern Nigeria, I didn’t argue when I saw that story. I just forwarded it to the CAN chairman. He replied that he had not granted an interview in recent times. So, which Journalist have I spoken to that could be quoting me?

When the pressure became terrible, he went and searched for the interview and sent it to me. That was when we realised that the Journalist quoted from an old story, a story old by many years.

The people behind this shenanigan did this to create a situation where people would be speaking kindly of Shettima. The Journalist who did that job lacked professionalism.

Now, what is the implication of a Muslim-Muslim ticket? It looks ordinarily to people, but it has implications for us in the north. When you have a leadership where everyone sits to decide what comes to you, what happens to you, or how to protect you, when they don’t have the same understanding as you and don’t belong to the kind of identity you belong, the chances is that you will not have fair judgement.

In Nigeria today, I’m shocked to hear people say there is no difference between the Muslim-Muslim ticket and the Muslim-Christian ticket. There is a difference, sir. Many times, certain anti-Christian decisions were taken. Check how the case of Justice Walter Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, was handled. He won’t have been confirmed if not because Osinbajo was a Christian.

Also, people have forgotten that Osinbajo had to revert so many deliberate nepotism, like the sacking of Lawal Daura as the DG SSS and Matthew Seiyefa, until the president came back and then reversed it and then appointed the man from Kano to take over. So we know some of these things.

Tunde Bakare contested the primaries but did not even win one vote!
Pastor Tunde Bakare is supposed to be one of the finest politicians amongst the clergy, but I think he would do more if he stopped Scripturising what is not Scriptural.

When you deal with the kind of Christian community we have in Nigeria and start scripturising things that are not, the moment you have a little problem, you will defeat their level of truth and belief. I have always wished that these pastors in politics would do politics as politics.

Pastor Bakare had the opportunity to be one of those Christians that Buhari took seriously but never won. I believe Buhari loved and trusted him, but he said so many things that were not about their relationship.

Also, Bakare sits in Lagos, preaching about the Nigerian government in his Church Lagos. Who knows him in the street of Yobe, Maiduguri, Kano, and even Kaduna, where he is supposed to have a lot of friends. What about Sokoto, Kebbi, and Niger states?

This is a big country. Even the Christians in his political party don’t know him. He thinks because he preaches every Sunday on tv in Lagos, everybody knows him. No, it doesn’t work that way.

My experience in Nigeria shows that Nigerians who participate in politics never watch tv. So, if your message is just on tv, you’ve not started. There must be that connection and engagement between you and them.

It is not just about the delegates only. It’s also about those who lead the party in the various wards, Local governments and states. So, when such connections are there, you have people who can speak of your good ideas, then, you are ready. But there are no such connections, no communication. You just think that God will do it through the SMS you sent? You must be joking.

God can give you rice, but He will not cook it for you. God can send me to give you a bag of rice; if you fail to go to the kitchen and cook it, you will not eat the rice, and even if you go to the kitchen, if you don’t buy the ingredients, you will still have rice, but you are eating something tasteless. So, I think that’s the approach of some of our leaders who have gone into politics, believing that God will do it.

I think we hide under faith to show our lack of understanding. No wonder Tinubu could look at Christian politicians and tell them that they are not competent. Probably, they think politics is about binding and loosing, not knowing that there is a binding and loosing in politics, and there is a relationship, a contact, a connection, and an engagement in politics.

Many of the clergies in politics lack all this understanding. They don’t have the patience to do it over time. You don’t sow the seed and reap it that day. You plant today, water it many months, sometimes years, before it will grow, bear fruits, and then start harvesting.

Lastly, where do you see Christians in politics? Do you think Christians are getting more conscious?
I believe Christians are getting more conscious. Part of why we are where we are is those wrong theological teachings of our forefathers. In the past, if you went to Church to speak on politics, the pastor would stop you from bringing politics into his Church. Many pastors have begun to understand that your Church is a place where politicians worship, so politics is in your Church.

The only thing that weakens politics in your Church is the godliness of the Church. So, when the politician out there comes to your Church, the presence of God in your Church humbles him.

* Rev John Joseph Hayab (left) and Dr. Bola Adewara at the interview in Abuja.

I am a Baptist pastor. We run a congregational, democratic type of leadership. That is why everything we do in our Church, people vote. People vote to engage pastors, to accept decisions or projects we want to implement in the year, and to pick people we send as delegates to our conventions, conferences and association meeting.

I tell members of our Church that if they are genuine members, they suppose to understand the democratic process of engagement and winning.

They should know how to convince people by showcasing their qualities and capabilities that will make people ask them to be their leader and represent them at the convention because of that trust. If we can do that in our Church, we can do it in the larger political life.

But here, we are having a problem: we need to do a lot of homework to build bridges around the various denominations. But sadly, many of our senior pastors and leaders are still living in this glory of denomination, not allowing connections between the Churches. Politics is about coming together, not about dividing ourselves.

When I see these divisions, I ask, who are you competing with? We have a bigger war we are fighting with the enemies of the Church, and you are attacking, suspecting me; you don’t even trust me, you are even backstabbing me. So, how can we get it right?

However, I can see that many people are doing well now. More people are coming together, are beginning to pull down all those barriers, announcing who will deliver the goods for us, and they are doing it. We may not have gotten it right, but at least we are getting somewhere.