Worst leadership is in the church, says Adeboye

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has said there is dearth of good leadership in the country, adding that the church is the worst hit.

Adeboye explained that the problem of corruption in Nigeria was traceable to lack of contentment and greed.

The cleric spoke on Wednesday in Ikeja, Lagos, during the Third Annual Birthday Public Lecture organised by the church to commemorate his 75th birthday.

 Adeboye, who was represented by his wife, Folu, expressed sadness at the lack of true leadership in the society, calling for a return to cultural values.

 He said, “Leadership is at the core of our problem in this nation. Some people sit in their room and comment on newspaper articles, but have you removed the log in your eyes?

 “If there is anywhere leadership should be recommended, it should be from the church. But it is unfortunate that the worst leadership is from the church. We should go and check ourselves. Are we in true leadership or we are in falsehood? Because this has been the groaning of my heart for many years and I pray about it fervently.

 “I challenge the leaders in this church that what the Bible says about elders, I have not seen it. But things are changing and I want us to be part of that change.

 “The problem of corruption which we have in this nation would not have been there if everybody is contented with what he or she has. But people love to do more than they have. They want to show off to their children, and the children also when they get to school or are with their colleagues, are not satisfied because they were not brought up to be satisfied.”

Adeboye appealed to elders in the society to live in a way befitting of their status, adding that women should also train their children to positively influence their future.

The guest speaker, Pastor Femi Atoyebi, who spoke on the theme, ‘Excellent Leadership in Pluralistic and Ethno-religious Society like Nigeria,’ lamented the decline in societal values and loss of respect for leadership and the constitution.

Atoyebi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, called for a separation between the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in order to ensure that no one is above the law.

He said, “As long as there is no procedure in place to enforce the law against whoever breaches it, there will continue to be impunity. Even if it is the President, if we have people that can stand up to him, then we will move forward.

“I have always advocated a system where we have an independent attorney general. We can have an attorney general that stands for an election and canvasses for votes, promising to defend the constitution and enforce the law. If a president or governor makes a law that is not right, he goes to court to challenge it.

“But as long as the President fills the office of the attorney general and that of minister of justice, things cannot move forward. And to do this, you will have to approach the National Assembly “to rewrite the constitution, which is impossible at this point.”

Christians, Muslims major problems of Yoruba tradition

A Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Danoye Oguntola-Laguda, has said that Christians and Muslims were the major problems of Yoruba tradition because they create a negative mindsets in individuals.

Mr. Oguntola-Laguda of the Department of Religions and Peace Studies, Faculty of Arts, Lagos State University, LASU, made the assertion at the institution’s 57th Inaugural Lecture Series on Wednesday in Lagos.

The lecture is entitled: “Esu, The Individual and The Society’’.

He said that Christians and Muslims should not misunderstand the personality of the “Esu’’ (devil) deity to the detriment of Yoruba traditional religious belief.

“Christians and Muslims are the major problems of the Yoruba tradition because they create negative mindsets in individuals that Esu is evil,” the don said.

According to him, the influx of imported religious ideologies such as Christianity and Islam into the Yoruba religious space has affected the traditional conception of the devil.

Oguntola-Laguda said the pristine traditional conception of Esu deity as noted in Yoruba traditional religion had been abandoned for the positions of Christianity and Islam on the deity to become popular.

He said: “Esu is evil, leads men astray, encourages them to do evil, works against the salvation plan of God for mankind and therefore must be avoided at all cost.”

The philosopher said that the ideology of the two religious beliefs is an attempt to locate a scapegoat for their moral weaknesses and absolve their God from evil activities.

“In Yoruba traditional thought, all things, including evil are possible only with the approval of God and evil is caused by God for good purposes.

“Just as the labour pain experienced by women is evil only momentarily, after the delivery of the child, joy and happiness always ensued,” he said.

Mr. Oguntola-Laguda explained that Esu is the name of a deity or divinity among pantheon of gods in Yoruba theology, which includes Orunmila (the wisdom divinity), Ogun (iron and war divinity).

Also, Obatala (creative divinity), while Olodumare (God) is the source of all beings, including the divinities which Esu is one of them.

“Yoruba religion believes that Olodumare created Esu as one of his lieutenants and gave him the primordial duties of inspecting rituals, sacrifices and worship.

“This (is) because Esu has the will-power to approve or disapprove of all worships and rituals directed to Olodumare or any other divinities, his primordial function earned him unfortunate appellations and misconceptions,’’ he said.

The professor said God seeks to bring man closer to himself by prescribing sacrifices and the devil makes sure such rituals were done according to prescription.

According to him, those who refuse to offer the prescribed sacrifice(s) are punished by the devil on behalf of God who gave him the role and this punishment are regarded as evil by humans.

“If these punishments are considered evil, then the prime cause of things — Olodumare should be liable for the actions of the Esu deity.

“This is because God allows evil to exist in order to derive greater good from it,’’ he said.

Mr. Oguntola-Laguda said that to blame Esu for the evil deeds of man was to create a paradox that might be difficult to explain.

“This is because man as created by God is a determined moral agent who has come to the world to act according to the script as designed and sealed by God.

“Therefore, man cannot do otherwise since there are no alternative courses of action laid out for him,” he said.

The philosopher said that men, unfortunately, desecrate and bring evil to themselves and the society because they do not want to do what is right.

He, however, urged all to believe in destiny, respect one another’s religion, do what is right, according to the culture of the society to enjoy sustainable peace and harmony.