On Pastor Poju’s Bromance With Peter Obi

THE ALTERNATIVE with  Reno Omokri

October 1, 2016 was the first day and time many young Nigerians got to know Peter Obi. On that day, he was the guest of a nationally popular annual event known as The Platform. The Platform is the brainchild of Pastor Poju Oyemade, founder and Senior Pastor of Covenant Christian Centre.

On that day, Peter Obi broke the Internet with his heartfelt speech about his vision for Nigeria. President Buhari had addressed the nation only a few hours before Mr. Obi’s appearance on that stage, yet, according to Google, his speech was the number one trend. Quite a feat to upstage the country’s President on Independence Day, which is the most patriotic day in Nigeria.

Now fast forward to July 1, 2022. Almost exactly six years after Peter debuted on The Platform. This time around, he is no longer just an ex-governor. He is a former Vice Presidential candidate of a major party, and is now the Presidential candidate of a previously fringe party that is on its way to becoming mainstream.

He has now gathered an online army of internet savvy youngsters hungry for change. They see him as the messiah they remember from his The Platform performance.

And on that day, Pastor Poju Oyemade spoke his mind via some tweets. He said:

“Faith is not just blind belief or hoping for a miracle. Faith sees. Faith has her eyes opened and possesses the evidence upon which it builds its belief. Faith prepares long, sometimes for years just as Joseph did for the years of famine. Faith counts the cost before embarking.”

In another tweet, he further said:

“Without having real evidence upon which you are acting, nor preparation for the task, recognising real obstacles that lie ahead and making concrete plans, one is just being delusional about the outcome. The enthusiasm of the youth must not be wasted on poorly planned projects.”

Finally, he opined that:

“Noah spent months/years planning for the flood & he was operating in faith. Jesus said no man goes to battle without taking stock first nor lays the foundation of a tower without counting the cost first lest he will be mocked. Our faith is intelligent, it doesn’t live in denial.”

And then all hell broke loose. Peter Obi’s horde of Internet followers, as if coordinated by a hidden finger, coalesced on Mr. Oyemade’s timeline and threw decorum to the wind as they savaged him and excoriated him without mercy.

I do not want to repeat some of the things they said here. Much, if not most of it, is not fit to be printed. Strangers to Nigeria would have believed that Pastor Poju was the vilest creature in the land with the way and manner he was set upon by the Obidient clan.

These supporters forgot that one reason Peter Obi became popular with a lot of social media savvy youths is because of The Platform opportunity Pastor Poju gave him. Without that stage, he may not have risen to his current level of acceptability with Nigeria’s Internet savvy youthful tribe. No matter how angry they are, one would have thought that they would at least appreciate Poju for that!

And this brings to fore a character challenge. This is the main issue with Peter Obi. Just hours before, a controversy on Muslim prayer mats had arisen. A Peter Obi support group had printed his image on Muslim prayer mats.

That incident is why I have previously maintained that Christians should compulsorily study Islamic Religious Knowledge and Muslims should do same with Christian Religious Knowledge.

I have read the Quran and know that this is wrong. Islam does not tolerate images of humans in mosques or on prayer mats. And these are prayer mats (you can tell by the image of the mosque on the mat). They are intended for use in prayer.

It is seen as idolatry. The Hadiths condemn it. Tinubu tried it in Mecca and the Saudis arrested his campaigners. Even images depicting Allah (SWT), or of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) are not allowed. How much more an image of a politician. This is sad.

And you cannot even counsel Peter Obi’s supporters. They feel they know more than those counselling them. You talk one, they talk one hundred. Anyway, we are watching.

In any case, the Muslim prayer mat issue threatened his popularity. And as a result, Peter Obi QUICKLY spoke up and distanced himself and his campaign from the act, while apologising to Muslims. Fair enough. But then, when his followers attacked a man who gave him The Platform that helped his popularity, Peter Obi went suddenly and loudly silent. Because it does not affect his popularity!

There are people who gave their backs to Peter Obi as a step on his rise to national prominence. They saw potential in him long before his new-found online loyalists saw it. I am one of them. Pastor Poju Oyemade is another. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the foremost.

And yet, when his new Obidient tribe starts to insult and threaten these his early friends, Peter keeps quiet. Look at the very foul language they used and are still using on Pastor Poju. And what is his sin? That he spoke his mind?

Atiku and Tinubu’s supporters will NEVER do that to an Imam that criticises them. Peter, remember those you met on your way up. You will also meet them on your way down.

Look at his people. Calling Pastor Poju a “so-called man of God”? Really? Do these guys know the secret charity Pastor Poju has done and is still doing? The no-fees schools he supports? The thousands he feeds? The evangelism he embarks on? The hospital visits and payments of bills he undertakes? And most importantly, his genuine love for God and study of His Word? How could they? Who are they to judge him as being ‘so-called’?

The way and manner these people have dragged Pastor Poju in the mud really touched me. Poju is such a decent fellow. Yes, insult me, threaten me. That is your group mentality. We all know you guys by now. But ingratitude is the worst thing you can do. “If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never leave his house.”-Proverbs 17:13 says

Having seen what Buhari’s followers have unleashed on the nation for the last unfortunate seven years, on Election Day, many people who love and admire Peter Obi, will not vote for him, not because he is not an excellent candidate (he is), or because he is not patriotic (he is), but because of his followers. A man who can’t call his followers to order is a follower, not a leader!

Ironically, this is what Pastor Poju had to say about Peter Obi on October 1, 2016, when he gave Mr. Obi the national stage that made many young Nigerians fall in love with him. After today’s baptism of insult, I am curious to know what Pastor Poju now thinks!

“Gov Peter Obi has clearly demonstrated that you don’t have to attack anyone to be effective in communicating a need for change @theplatformng.

His presentation showed the power of storytelling as against mere words of bitterness. This is what @theplatformng is all about.

In response to yesterday’s Platform, it is now time to implement the next idea. The Platform will be opening a politics/governance Institute. We will equip people with the knowledge & tools to be skillfully engaged in nation building. This energy will not go destructive nor shall it go to waste.”

How can you allow such a man who spoke so glowingly of you to be chewed up and spat out by your horde without so much as stepping in to caution them? Let us imagine that Pastor Poju’s congregation turned against Peter and excoriated him, would Mr. Oyemade watch idly as they did that? Of course not.

Peter projected himself as a leader, yet, rather unfortunately, he has allowed one young girl on Twitter to just hijack his campaign and inject IPOB-level toxicity into it. She, rather than him, was controlling his messaging, his narratives, and the direction of his campaign. He followed his followers instead of leading them!

And he allowed himself to be led by his followers, who tend to be very passionate, and hardly tactical. They believe so much in the rightness of their candidate and his cause, and they expect that, that their belief should make others accept their line of thought without question.

As a result, they refuse to persuade, implore, cajole, coax, explain, or even appeal. Their approach is that you must be for us and our candidate or we crush you. Sadly for them, and fortunately for others in the Nigerian Project, they do not have the capacity to crush others.

I have no sympathy for Peter Obi. He called me privately and I told him that his supporters are alienating him from those geopolitical zones he would need if he wants to win an election, either as the top or bottom of the ticket.

His response to me proved his political naivety. He said ‘Reno, it is my enemies doing it!’ How could he have expected someone like me to believe that, even if he was politically unsophisticated enough to believe it?

Reno’s Nuggets

Although I have always admired the Yoruba, this campaign season deepens that approbation. When I criticise Tinubu, you see their responses. ‘Sir it is not true’. ‘Egbon, I won’t agree’. ‘E sir, please don’t talk like that’. Even when they politically disagree with you, the Yoruba will still kill you with respect. Why won’t you love them?

Such cultured and refined people. A reflection of class and breeding. Stooping to conquer. Even when they disagree, by and large, they agree to disagree without being disagreeable. If everybody in Nigeria could imbibe their philosophy, Nigeria would be a paradise!

#TableShaker