Femi Emmanuel advocates Nigerians’ involvement in politics

The presiding pastor of the LivingSpring Chapel International, Pastor Femi Emmanuel has advocated for massive involvement of patriotic Nigerians in politics, especially at the grassroots level.

Pastor Femi Emmanuel stated this at the 2023 edition of the Femi Emmanuel Lecture Series programme, which was part of the activities lined up to mark his birthday and annual celebration of grace of the church, held at the Dominion City, Aduloju Bus Stop, Ibadan.

Dwelling on the topic, ‘The Critical Mass to Change’ Pastor Femi Emmanuel said that “what will change Nigeria politically is the mass involvement of good Nigerians at the grassroots level of politics. However, it is unfortunate that good Nigerians are not available where critical decisions that affect this nation are taken.”

“Politics is about the grassroots. It is about joining the political parties at the ward level and forming a critical mass to elect credible officers and delegates who are responsible for selecting the candidates, whom the generality votes for.

Femi Emmanuel, who noted that the purpose of this year’s lecture was about political education targeted at teaching the church public and Nigerian youths on where they are missing it and why they will continue to miss it if things are done the right way.

He said: “You cannot change a system you are not involved in; to change a system, you’ve got to be involved.”

While charging religious leaders for the active participation of their followers in politics he noted that” the only thing that eludes us in Nigeria is leadership, as next to God’s power is political power.”

He stressed that political participation is not just about registering to have the voters’ card in order to vote on Election Day, but it’s about joining the party wards which are at the grassroots level and be part of the deliberations.

“Democracy and good governance cannot occur unless we are present to take over power at the grassroots level, otherwise we will just be at the back of the fence making a noise,” he said.

He observed that Nigeria‘s democratic system is totally different from all others in the world, noting that “Nigeria’s democracy is a democracy of god-fatherism.”

This he noted might be “due to our traditional background, where we have the Obas, emirs, among others; where no one could rise to become anything except through the god fathers.

He pointed out that there are four major people in the democracy ladder of Nigeria; the political entrepreneurs-those who own the party, party members at the ward level, ambitious political office seekers and the voters.

“In Nigeria political parties are owned by political god-fathers and they dictate who should be voted into power. They see the political parties as their empires and will continue to hold sway there. In Nigeria, voters are treated like tissue papers.”

He called on all church leaders, Imams and other religious leaders to be aware of the fact that prayers alone will not work in this regard and that until they get involved, there will be no credible candidates and competent leadership in the country.

He noted that the Nigerian youth are not unstructured, saying that “no amount of agitations, protests or social media campaigns, debates, conferences by the youths will transform Nigerian.”

He charged the youths to be more organised in their approaches, have a changed orientation as well as position themselves for mentorship to be able to take right full place in the scheme of things.

The keynote speaker at the event Mr Leke Alder, lawyer, polymath, and philanthropist, who gave a lecture on the theme of the conference, ‘Democracy and Good Governance: Moving Nigeria Forward’ said the biggest challenge we have in Nigeria is the evolution of nationhood and that is the reason why we struggle with something as basic as democracy.

“Great nations are not created by accident; they are products of intentionality. We have to be very deliberate in the recreation of our nation,” he said.

According to him, “democracy should ordinarily work in Nigeria, but the nation tends towards the lowest common denominator. A flawed democracy can ironically produce a democratic dictatorship or breed insensate representatives of the people who think of nothing but themselves.”

He opined that “we need to make very substantial and sustained investment in our educational system. Without this, chances are we will keep on electing people who themselves do not value education.”

While noting that Nigeria had been governed by the same college of rulers from 1975 on, he said we might have been running on the same genre of ideas.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the former president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Dr Supo Ayokunle, said that for democracy to thrive in Nigeria, it must be void of ballot snatching, thuggery, violence, molestation and intimidation, while election results must not be in favour of who is not the people’s choice.

He said that the unpalatable situation the country is in today is directly and indirectly linked to how leaders emerged and are still emerging, adding that it is until we get the process right that we can have the right leaders.

He lauded the celebrant for being the harbinger of good news to many in the country, especially in the area of politics, saying “thank you for allowing the church to drink from your wealth of knowledge.”

The event which featured a panel and questions and answers session; presentation of gifts, prayers for people who are politically inclined, the nation and celebrant had in attendance the Oyo State chairman of CAN, Apostle Rtd Col. Joshua Akinyemiju, registrar of Lead City University, Dr Bola Ayeni, head, Anatomy Department, University of Ibadan (UI), Professor Olatunde Owoeye, registrar of The Polytechnic Ibadan, Mrs Modupe Fawole, director-general of Operation Burst in Oyo State, Col. James Oladiipo (rtd.); Oyo State chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Rev. Jerry Odewole; Senior Special Assistant to Oyo State Governor on Broadcast Media, Mrs Bosede Sodiq; Special Assistant to Oyo State Governor on Environment, Demola Aderinto, who doubled as the anchored the programme, among other dignitaries.