God’s message to Tinubu

Despite having a preferred candidate in the 2023 presidential poll, I still sought God’s face for His choice and the whys. In a vision, two names were whispered to me in succession. The first of the two names is now the president-elect. What I can’t tell is if the second name would eventually replace the announced winner whose inauguration as president and C-in-C of the Armed Forces is tomorrow, before the expiration of his first term or if the second name will succeed the in-bound president, after the expiration of his first or even, second term, though many in his camp think he’s at best a transitional leader who should embrace the Mandela Option after four years in the saddle. Time will tell about these.

After the vision, I was nudged by the Spirit of God to seek out a beloved uncle days to the election. No, he isn’t a human-anointed man of God, but he definitely carries an uncommon grace for dreams. His dreams usually come in two folds. If the dream is somehow disjointed, even if worrying, no worries. It isn’t likely to be. But once he tells you a dream comes like “black and white television”, it is certainly going to be. This special gift confirms the Spirit of God upon him as disclosed by Acts 2:17 which says, “in the last days, God says I will pour out my Spirit on all people; your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream, dreams.” Uncle is an old man by all standards.

So, I got an appointment and flew out to his base. We talked politics, policies and Nigeria plenty. Then the election. Of course, he had his preference, alongside many of his heavyweight friends. But he dreamt “like black and white television”, accosting today’s president-elect who is going to be president tomorrow, to show fidelity to his promises to the people of Nigeria. Then, he woke up. He relayed this pointblank revelation to Mummy, a prayer warrior, also without a religious title. The reality dawned on both immediately, somehow, heaven has arranged it that Tinubu is going to sit on the presidential chair, before his other competitors and the message Uncle went bearing to him, was a warning from the same God who is allowing him to become what he said was a life-long grail, just 24 hours from today.

Of course, uncle and Mummy, are Yoruba and do not hate Asiwaju. In fact, uncle admires him as an adroit political tactician, but thousands of Yoruba voted elsewhere because there was a conviction and a concern that the Asiwaju of today is a better fit for what Yoruba will call Baba Oba, bigger than the kingmaker he had been until now. Baba Oba is so venerated in Oyo kingdom that the established kingship protocol forbids a prince whose father is alive from aspiring. In Ile-Ife, where there isn’t such a ban on jostling, Baba Oba is still a big deal.

In a Guardian interview of 31 October, 2015, the father of incumbent Ooni, Pa Aderopo Ogunwusi, said this about the taboo of prostrating for his son, “when we meet in privacy, we greet like father and son. Besides, the situation no longer allows us to be seen regularly. The frequency of our meeting is now limited.”

82-year-old Democrat Jim Clyburn from South Carolina, who has been representing his 6th District in the Congress since 1993, is someone you can call Joe Biden’s Baba Oba. He almost singlehandedly rescued the president’s crumbling primaries in 2020, after poor showings in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Now, he gets the White House to do stuff he desires for his Black community. Apart from committing Biden to appointing the first female Black to the Supreme Court which got history for Ketanji Brown Jackson, decades-old arrangement of having Iowa go first in the primaries is being changed in favour of South Carolina. Baba Oba can get a lot done without directly holding the reins.

But Asiwaju wanted to be behind the wheel and God said Yes. Forget about the trumpeted sagacity of the president-elect and his vaunted ability to wheel-deal for the right amount of winning numbers. As long as God holds the breath of man, ability to maneuver human guidelines and deadlines, which are always designed to favour the powerfully unlawful, is just an affiliate. When God’s No is final, no amount of human Yes(es) would matter. He can make the donkey of Balaam to see an angel with sword and speak audibly to man.

From the “black and white television” vision of my uncle, I had an idea why God likely considered Tinubu, first, for the job. With the Holy Spirit in the garb of my uncle, the president-elect was being held to account on the promises he made to the people. You say, he isn’t the only candidate who promised Nigerians a better life. In fact, his opponents, particularly Obi, campaigned as change agents. Why then is Bola Tinubu being given the first go to make good his promises to the people, despite his multi-layered baggage, controversies and alleged dark past?

A man of God provided an insight that likely solves the riddle. Nigerian Christian community was undoubtedly up in arms against Tinubu’s candidacy, mainly not for his Muslim-Muslim ticket choice, but for his Shettima choice. A considered moderate, from Muslim North, in the mould of Babagana Kingibe, would have jarred lesser nerves. Not someone seen comfortably dining with a wanted Boko Haramite who had participated in the execution of over 50,000 Christians who fell to the insurgency.

If close relations of Festus Keyamo were to be among those bombed in churches across North, maybe, he would be crusading alongside fathers of faith like Cardinal John Onaiyekan, who he now derides at every twitting opportunity, because the reality never really hit close home for him. The Christian community had every right to back a candidate and if another Shettima is a heartbeat away from being president tomorrow, the faithful must still come together, to defend the Church.

But just like the man of God referenced above noted the Christian community allowed its disavowal of Shettima become a kind of bitterness towards the man who chose him as a running-mate. The man of God said that was likely why God allowed the flawed process throw up Tinubu to teach His children that in all circumstances.

He isn’t giving that allowance even to them to despise anyone.

The man of God then cited the story of Leah, the hated and unwanted wife of Jacob, who God deliberately made fruitful, while her younger sister, the favoured and beloved Rachel, had her womb shut by the same God, simply because God saw that Leah was unloved by her sister and their husband.

Bible historians claimed that Rachel was barren for 14 years, before God remembered her in Genesis 30:22, and her womb was opened, but not until Leah had become the matriarch of the Israel dynasty.

On Thursday, the president-elect emphatically promised not to disappoint Nigerians. Ecclesiastes 5:4, says, “When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it because He takes no pleasure in fools.

The fifth verse adds, “it is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it.”

May God help the new president keep his promises. Amen.

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