RELIGION IN NIGERIA: THE BIGGEST FRAUD EVER

The more Nigerians prayed, the more the hearts of their leaders were hardened. Even the people that killed Jesus do not pray like us yet see where we are.

Without a system in place that ensures equitable distribution of wealth and governance, a system where your votes count and your interests are protected, a system where the power lies in the people and not the leaders…. Without such system in place, your prayers from now till next 300 years will not save you.

The Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia you run to for your pilgrimages all have systems that take care of their citizens. They were not set up through prayers but through struggle.

In short, they allow you to go there and stone the devil or talk to the wall in order to get more money from you to better the lots of their people, while your government that ensures you don’t have a hospital to go to when you are sick, or quality schools for your kids, sponsors you to Jerusalem or Mecca to go and pray.

Nigeria is the biggest fraud to ever exist. The irony of it is that the victims of that fraud have been conditioned not to think of the best ways to solve their problems but pray over them. This is why religion is the biggest industry here.

Dangote refinery, when completed, will be the most expensive industry in Nigeria that produces something. It is estimated that it would provide about 150,000 direct and indirect jobs and save the country $5 billion annually.

When you place the money used to construct the refinery and the money used to construct the 5 biggest churches in Nigeria in Ota, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Lagos-Ibadan expressway plus the jets that came with these five churches, those of the churches might be more, yet they produce little to nothing. No one can estimate the direct and indirect jobs these churches created, I don’t mean temporarily during construction which they make mouth with but in perpetuity.

Last year, I received an appeal by some Muslim folks who were trying to build the largest mosque in Port Harcourt. Construction of the mosque would cost an estimated 300 million naira. They also prided themselves in saying that the mosque is located in the centre of a non-Muslim community.. I was with an Air Force commander when they came, and thought I was Muslim too.

The irony is, if you want to see real poverty in Port Harcourt, go to the Hausa community, be it at Slaughter, Oil Mill, etc. Children there do not go to school. There is a reason government officials, especially from the ministry of health take their enlightenment programme to these Hausa communities first. But instead of thinking of how to bridge their education gap, some people are soliciting for 300 million to build a mosque “in a non-Muslim community”

Why do we care much about feeding the soul in order to make heaven than we care about living a fulfilled life filled with all the good things like quality hospitals, good schools, good roads, electricity, clean water, security, roof over our heads, respect for the sanctity our lives et cetera? Why are we so obsessed with heaven when everything around us smell of hell? Can’t we create heaven for ourselves here like others have done? Why do we have to go to abroad to get good education, good health care, to live the good life? Can’t we create those for ourselves here?

Once we stop praying over issues that have nothing to do with God, we will find out that our problems are local and to solve them require nothing but common sense.

The prayer against bribery and corruption that has been said for over 2 decades now has not stopped bribery and corruption in Nigeria. The prayer for Nigeria in distress has not saved Nigeria from distress.

These two prayers, we were forced to learn and recite them. I remember that when we were reciting them, we had stable electricity and people slept with their two eyes closed. We have said that prayer in 20 years now, and within that period, we ceased to have stable electricity and we now sleep with our two eyes open.

This is the problem with us; invention of prayers in situations that do not need prayers. But that is how we have been conditioned to think…to look for shortcuts and leave our inability to act to God to perform some miracles.

But, miracles do not generate electricity, science and engineering do. Miracles do not build hospitals or educate you about what you don’t know. Miracles are just you being lucky. But luck is preparedness that meets opportunity.

Drop your Bible and Qur’an, stop thinking and acting from the angle of your pastor or Imam. They’re not called conditioning for nothing. Think from the angle of your reality.

For example, now that you don’t have electricity and your school is on strike, and you are one headache away, or bandits attack away, from death,…even though your pastor and Imam have all been telling you that all will be alright since 10 years now yet things are getting worse, can you now approach these issues from a more practical perspective, like enquiring about your Senator, Rep member, Governor, Assembly member and President.

Can you use that same energy and perseverance with which you used to ask God to save you from ASUU, from Bandits, from sickness; that pressure you apply on God to do things some people promised to do for you when they are elected, apply that same pressure on those people who represent you. Make sure the number of people who attend your church during midweek service and Sunday service, those thousands of people join you to the offices of your representatives. You can go on Wednesday, the day of the midweek service and Sunday of every week. All those who attend thousands of churches and mosques in their constituencies should join and pressure them same way they pressure God to bring changes to your situation. Make sure they don’t sleep. Occupy their houses and offices like you occupy churches. Pay your taxes and bills with the same energy with which pay tithes and buy all the items recommended by your pastor and imam.

Repeat these actions continuously for 4 months and see whether bandits will not end, see whether ASUU strike will ever come up, see whether those hospitals won’t be built, see whether there will ever be a dilapidated school ever. Use these energy you use to go and cast and bind imaginary dark forces in church and read all manipulative texts and listen to manipulative audio or watch visuals. Use those times to read the Constitution, read news and understand how governance works. Then list the aspects of the Constitution you want changed and actions of your Representatives you don’t want to see again. Use the time for church to go to their offices and remind them of their campaign promises. Do it consistently for 3 years and see if they will not be scared of you.

You are the reason there is no road in your village. You are the reason there is no hospital or school for you. Because after voting them, you go and disturb God instead of disturbing them. The pastor and imam take advantage of your lack of knowledge of your civic responsibilities to blossom his pockets while wasting your time with fake prayers, at the same time help your Representatives to escape your wrath. You are the reason why you are not safe and no amount of prayers can save you. Your destiny is in your hands. Take it. Get involved in your governance process as a responsible citizen. Reject their vote buying gimmicks.

• The difference between you and the Canadian, Parisian, American, British is that they converge to press their demands from their representatives while you converge to press yours from God. Take their approach and your life will never be same again.