UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE

BY UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE

A recent visit to the passport office in FESTAC,
Lagos here, did quite a lot to renew my hope that Nigeria may not after all be a totally lost case. Nigerians will always reciprocate with positive responses whenever and wherever there is purposeful, exemplary leadership to show the way and dictate the tempo. Indeed, I never imagined that the Nigerian Public Service still had in its fold such wonderful Nigerians whose industry, dedication and warm, friendly approach to service delivery could constitute worthy, ennobling benchmark even to many private organisations.

My business at the FESTAC passport office was to obtain an E-Passport to replace my old copy which had recently expired. I had arrived very early on the appointed day, as I was advised to, thinking I would wait for ages to be attended to, based on my previous knowledge of what obtained in government offices in Nigeria. But the lady that addressed us before we were ushered to the place we were to sit down to await our turns to take the photographs and complete other formalities was punctual. She was also polite, friendly, but firm and resolute. She simply explained to those intent on obtaining more than one passport or supplying wrong information that the law would naturally take care of them. There was a touch of humour in her speech, but there was no doubt that she meant business. I was impressed.

                                                                         The E-Passport

Inside the building, those smartly dressed men and women worked with a sense of urgency, dedication and meticulousness that was rare, peculiar and hope-restoring. They worked with the gusto, cheerfulness and carefulness of people who enjoyed their work. As they fed the information the people supplied into the computers, they displayed remarkable understanding, patience and accommodation that permeated the entire room with soothing warmth and friendliness, reducing every discomfort arising from having too many people queuing at several tables at the same time and having to stand for a long time to complete all the process. Even though the people were so many, and the lines seemed interminable, these officers managed to convey the impression that they were not bored or tired, but rather derived immense pleasure doing their job. I sought in vain for the slightest hint of irritation or snapping patience towards those who either kept making mistakes or were slow in proofreading their information. I can’t recall ever feeling at home in any government office, but at the FESTAC passport office that day, I really felt welcome and at home. Their seemingly inexhaustible patience was also on display at the thumb-printing and photograph points. Some people, especially children and old people, took their photographs several times before good copies could be obtained. I looked at the faces of the officers to see any signs of exasperation, but saw none. They kept beaming. Even when the persons concerned tried to suggest, after a couple of attempts, that the photographs were manageable and could go in like that, the officers still politely asked them to allow them to try again. And they would help the people to arrange their heads properly until good copies were obtained. Though the work usually dragged through several hours, with   hardly any pauses, the workers remained their cheerful and friendly selves.

But this friendly atmosphere never existed at the expense of thoroughness. They ensured every information is correct before it is posted. They also watched out for people intent beating the system. While I waited for my turn, I observed a scene that would make an excellent comedy. A woman had come with some kids, and one officer who had been sitting meekly on a desk observing everyone insisted on speaking with her before she could be attended to. Suddenly the man was telling her that the kids were not hers. The woman argued furiously, and showed serious offence at such a suggestion. Then the officer asked her to excuse him, so he could speak with the kids. But as the woman went outside, he called the woman’s husband instead, whose number, I suppose, he got from the forms. There and then, his suspicion was confirmed that the woman had come to obtain those passports for the children without the consent of their father, and that the letter of consent she had presented was forged. When the woman was brought back, he confronted her, and as she continued insisting that the letter was duly written and signed by her husband, she was gently led out of the room.

So, today, I wholeheartedly pronounce the workers at the passport office, and their leader, the Comptroller-General of the Immigration (I don’t even know his name), the Heroes and Heroines of this column for this month for keeping hope alive that Nigeria is not a lost case, and that Nigerians are capable of being great models of excellence given the right atmosphere, motivation and leadership. Indeed, with focused leaderships at the highest points of power at both the federal and state levels, Nigeria would easily find its way back to the path of recovery and development. No doubt, Nigerians are ready to be led, but alas, where are the leaders?      

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scruples2006@yahoo.com

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Mr. Tunde Fashola, Governor of Lagos State, has, within the few months he has been in office, demonstrated clearly that he is a young man with well thought-out ideas, vision and mission to create a new, decent Lagos out of the chaos, waste and near-dilapidation that had hitherto defined the city.

Although many blocked canals and drains are yet out there begging to be reopened to solve the perennial problem of flooding in Lagos, and continuously burning heaps of refuse emitting toxic smoke near Ojota still welcome people entering Lagos from that end, no sincere person can deny that Lagos is fast acquiring a refreshingly new face. The roads which were once famous for their horrible, car-destroying, hypertension-multiplying craters are beginning to experience rapid transformations.

The other day, somebody was saying that while a very horrible road in his area was being rehabilitated, Fashola used to come in the middle of the night with ‘Keke Marwa’ (tricycle) to inspect it. Some swear he sometimes moves around town on ‘okada’ (motorcycle) to inspect on-going construction works or see for himself the exact state of the State he is governing. It is possible that Fashola actually does all these, but what we all know is that when such stories begin to be circulated about a leader, it says a lot about his popularity rating among the masses.

What I particularly like about him is the quiet manner he goes about his work. Unlike many of his colleagues who would do a ten Naira work and advertise it with hundred Naira, the man seems content to let the people to discover what he is doing by themselves. That may be a longer, more tedious route to fame, but when eventually it is achieved, it is usually more edifying and long-lasting.

Each time I drive through Ikorodu Road now and do not encounter again those horrible traffic hold-ups that used to keep one for hours, I express gratitude to him in my heart. Fashola’s transformational efforts have not been limited to roads; he is equally reshaping the entire metropolis and making it conform to what he thinks should be the original master-plan. And for a very badly mismanaged city like Lagos, populated mostly by people who have known only indiscipline and chaos as the only norms of existence and survival, such a target he has set for himself would prove a task really too daunting.

Just as Fashola does so many good things quietly (including even repainting houses in Lagos), the demolitions he has been carrying out which have plunged many families into untold misery and unspeakable trauma have also been quietly executed. And just as the media underreports his good works, they also treat the issue of the many traumatised victims of his efforts to give us a new, mega city with something akin to half-heartedness. Even if many media people cannot be found residing in the various large slum settlements which Fashola has been scraping off with effortless ease, it still remains their responsibility to give such developments due and just treatment.

Gov Tude Fashola

The young, athletic governor appears well-meaning, focused, resolute, strict and principled. But I would hate think that he is wicked, heartless and callous. In his heart, he is probably more pained than I am over the unspeakable miseries his attempts to rediscover Lagos is circulating among the populace. Unlike Mr. Nasir El-Rufai, the former Emperor of Abuja, he could not, by any stretch of the imagination, have mistaken raw sadism for principles and courage. I am willing to believe that he fully appreciates my insistence that the wellbeing of human beings with red blood equally running in their veins as it does in him, his wife, Bimbola, and their children (despite differences in status) is as important, if not more, than a beautified environment, and that concern and care for both of them should in no way be mutually exclusive. You can demolish houses, Okay, but what do you do with the mass of displaced human beings?

A few days ago, I was shattered by reports of massive demolitions of countless “houses” that served as homes for multitudes of Lagosians in Abule-Nla (Olaleye) in Ebute Metta, Lagos, without any thought for any alternative shelters for them. As the bulldozers moved in with demonic zeal, mowing down structures and turning them to rubbles, many hapless people suddenly discovered that they had become homeless. Just like that!

Families, including old, ailing men and women, nursing mothers of very tender babies, pregnant woman and frightened, shocked little children, who had all been made to hurriedly escape from the only homes they had known by the murder and destruction-breathing bulldozers, were seen weeping, mourning and flocking about under a very heavy rain, bemoaning their fate and, perhaps, cursing the day of their birth and lamenting the abject poverty that had condemned them to find shelter in those shacks. The sight could melt the cast-iron heart of the most callous Nero. One could imagine some wives looking at their helpless, defeated and humiliated husbands and wondering why they were so unlucky to have married such poor men, unlike some of their more fortunate class or age mates who had married more successful men. The humanitarian crises this singular action has created for these set of human beings whose only offence was that they were too poor to afford decent accommodations in a society that cared less whether they lived or died have been quite has been quite overwhelming. As I write now, nearly a week after the bulldozers had executed their massive havoc and destructions and returned to base, hapless families are still stranded, yet to find any shelter anywhere, punished ceaselessly by the heavy rains and the tormenting sun, and terrorized by the dangers of spending the nights in the open in a place like Lagos. Somebody should just tell me the meaning of this!

Yes, over 80% of Nigerians live in unimaginable penury and utter, unspeakable deprivation, caused largely by the greed and criminal accumulation of the thieving rulers, but must government always go out of its way to rub it in, and brutally underline their belief that these set of Nigerians are worthless and dispensable?

I am not saying that Fashola did evil in seeking to improve the face of Lagos, but I had expected that he should as well have been even more worried that his fellow human beings have been so terribly impoverished in their own very richly endowed and high-earning country and forced to take refuge under those shacks. Agreed, these Nigerians had sought shelter under “illegal” structures, but wouldn’t they jump at any opportunity to be moved into decent quarters? It is only fair and just that in executing all its big dreams, government should not be unmindful of the magnitude of human suffering its actions regularly create. My colleague and friend, Mr. Dianam Dakolo, once wrote a very touching column entitled: “Government As Public Enemy.” I think that it is still possible for governments to take tough decisions and still remain people-friendly.

Years later, when historians would remember and applaud Fashola for giving Lagos a face-lift, there is no doubt that not even a footnote would be reserved for the hapless causalities of his gallant efforts.

I would love a beautiful and pleasant city of Lagos, but certainly not one constructed with the blood of peasants and retrenched workers. Patriotism would continue to remain scarce in this nation so long as government continues to be seen as an oppressor and public enemy. Who can ever hope to appease children whose parents had died of heart failure because their homes were destroyed?

For every human tragedy created in the wake of these mindless demolitions, a dozen or more embittered people enter the growing list of the State’s enemies. By the way, doesn’t government also have a duty towards the homeless, to ensure they are adequately sheltered?

Yes, the people were duly served with quit notices, and even allowed several months of grace after their expiration, but does anyone consider that these our fellow human beings may have been too poor to relocate themselves, even to their villages? Who protects them against bloodsucking landlords?

Indeed, I like Tunde Fashola very well, and that’s why I am telling him to endeavour to make the rehabilitation human beings an inevitable counterpart of his ongoing rehabilitation of physical structures in Lagos.

scruples2006@yahoo.com 

www.ugochukwu.wordpress.com

ByUgochukwu Ejinkeonye

scruples2006@yahoo.com 

With proven men of God like Pastor Aloysius Chukwuemeka Ohanebo still around and  standing resolute and unmoved in their insistence on old-time, Christ-like Christianity as practiced by the apostles of Christ, and strongly determined to continue practicing and teaching this “narrow way that leads to eternal life” to all men and women in the face of the polluting influence of the perverted gospel issuing from the pseudo modernism and outright backsliding being advertised all over the place, genuine believers can take consolation that there still remain in the land  a number of  “knees which have not bowed unto Baal.”  Indeed, we still have a few men, holding aloft the shinning light of true godliness, selfless service and unquestionable Christian character, and beckoning on all others to follow. This is especially important and reassuring, because over the years, the whole landscape appears overrun by charlatans, clear backsliders and a mass of unregenerated men  and women found these days on every  hole and cranny of our city and rural centres “spreading” their  kind of gospel and “performing miracles.” Unfortunately, these appear to succeed so well in their Satan-inspired and directed mission: to attract immense discredit to the most holy faith by their ugly lifestyles, confuse so many, and eventually lead  them away from the only hope for salvation available to mankind into eternal punishment in hell.   But thank God for His mercies, a few like Pastor Ohanebo are still around, like lone voices in the wilderness, calling on all and sundry, to shun all worldly,   perverted and substandard Christianity of whatever hue, no matter the flashiness, status, flamboyance and dignity of their propagators, because, at no time has God changed His standard.

Pastor Ohanebo is the General Superintendent of the Watchman Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement (WCCRM), with its headquarters in Lagos. I am told that the word “CATHOLIC” in the Church’s name is used in its original and proper sense, to mean, “universal” or  “for all.”  In his over two decades in ministry, Pastor Ohanebo’s view that Christianity must remain an “all-round package” has remained consistent. What this means is that any person, whether preacher or prophet, who claims to use the power of a holy God for miracles and wonders must equally vindicate such a claim by right-living and  personal holiness in every  conduct and relationship with others. Indeed, God who he claims to work for is a holy God. It is difficult to believe that God could bestow His power on an individual without imparting in him His nature and attributes, which distinguishes His children from carnal men or the devil’s children and servants. The devil can give powers for miracles, prophetic insight and visions. But he lacks the power to regenerate people, sanctify them, and impart in them the life and nature of the most holy God. That is why the lower media now derive characteristic vulgar excitement from celebrating on their covers the unedifying, scandalous lifestyles of mostly flamboyant “miracle pastors” who are only manifesting the very nature of their “father.”

Pastor Ohanebo’s ministry has seen a lot of miracles, where incurable diseases are rolled away, but this hardly gets into the media. Yes, people must be healed and delivered, but real  emphasis should focus on the salvation of their souls. His name rings bell among the multitudes that had encountered him and  his God-directed and God-centred ministry. Throughout the about fifty parishes of his Church in Lagos, and many others in several parts of the nation and abroad where thousands of worshippers convoke weekly to serve their God in truth and spirit, this man of God insists on the same standard everywhere.  The WCCRM is built on a very strong foundation of discipline and godly character, which he believes should be the hallmark of any Christian congregation.  That is why he insists that the WCCRM members everywhere must be identical in character and appearance. There is nothing like an Americanized or Europeanized version of the Church. All forms of worldliness and indecency in appearance and conduct are abhorred with unyielding resoluteness.

We have before us a man with a great burden and vision for his generation, who has schooled himself to remain undistracted by the several irrelevant matters that consume others. He, for instance, does not court publicity. And even though he heads such a large ministry with branches all over Nigeria, several parts of Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Canada and the United States, I have not once heard that he addressed a press conference, nor granted any press interview, though, they keep seeking his attention. His Church organizes well-thronged programmes and crusades regularly, and he is always ministering at those events,  but people are always amazed that the posters and handbills advertising the programme do not carry his photographs.  He is so careful about projecting himself instead of God. All he wants at all times is that multitudes be won to Christ and the entire glory goes to God. It is equally the same reason that his face does not daily adorn TV screens despite his awareness of the immense publicity such a preoccupation would accrue to him and his Church. If Pastor Ohanebo honours an invitation to preach at any government event, he insists on picking all his bills during  the trip, and collects no gifts. His gospel is just too costly to be compromised in any way.

For some years now, the Watchman Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement (WCCRM) has hosted an annual International Gospel Ministers Conference of the Hour (IGMC) where pastors, ministers and Church leaders from all over Nigeria and several parts of the World, whites and blacks, gather to hear him teach on “The Lord’s Three Fold End-Time Programme,” an assignment God has given him to raise a great army of Christians from several congregations (who would not be asked to leave their Churches) for the end-time harvest of souls and revival in the Church of Christ, and to prepare the Church for the rapture. The peculiar character that must mark out this army wherever they are found and their mode of operations are what this conference addresses. Participants attend this conference annually at no cost at all. The host ministry pays for the air tickets and local bus trips to the venue for all participants from Nigeria and any part of the world. Also, feeding and accommodation is free. In seeking to spread this end-time gospel, the WCCRM is sparing no cost. The belief is that the pastors would be encouraged by this incentive to come, get the message, and go home to transfer what they had got to their congregations. I have been informed that this year’s event coming up in October may have in attendance, double of last year’s number because multitudes of people from several parts of the world are indicating their interests to attend. Invitations are extended through WCCRM ministers and previous participants. Also, invitation cards are usually available at all WCCRM locations world-wide.

This writer participated in this conference last year which held at the very serene, off-city Watchman Education Project Centre. About seven thousand participants came from Nigeria; twenty from Canada; eighteen from the Caribbean Islands and South America; ten  from the United Kingdom; five from the United States; one from Germany; two from Italy; one each from Iran and China; and many from several African countries. It was four days of sitting still in an airy ambience and listening with rapt attention to a man who knows God as he dug out the rich treasures of God from His Word and distributed them freely to all sincere seekers of truth.

Jameel Ali, Pastor of Oakville Christian Centre, Ontario, Canada, told this writer last year that the conference has totally changed their perception of Nigerians. He, like many others confessed the conference had taken them to a new realm in Christianity and ministry. He said that for three months, he could not take serious the person inviting him to the conference. He was so amazed to hear that a pastor in Nigeria (of all places) was inviting people from several parts the world  to attend an all-expense-paid conference. He said he kept asking: “What is this man going to gain from this?”

It takes only a man of Pastor Ohanebo’s temperament, discipline, and resolve to organize such a great annual event for some years now, and no one had seen him on CNN. No press conference precedes it nor are reporters invited to cover it. He is content to go on quietly with His Lord’s bidding in anticipation of his praise and reward at last.

It impossible to hear Pastor Ohanebo and not be awed by his strong passion and deep concern for souls of men and the declining state of the Church; you cannot but be humbled by the exceptionally sharp intellect that orders his presentations. A trained Quantity Surveyor, Pastor Ohanebo had worked with a number of very reputable Construction Companies where he left enviable records of dedication, honesty and efficiency.  In line with the character of sacrifice he teaches, he had continued to combine his secular work with the ministry until the workload made the combination impossible.

Like the Biblical Joseph, Pastor A. C. Ohanebo has stood on his chosen path of integrity and righteousness at very great costs. No one expects the devil to be happy with such a man with unyielding determination to liberate all that Satan and his agents have tied with destructive bondages. He has incurred many devastating losses on the rough road he is traveling, but he remains undaunted. His commitment has not wavered. His God whose ways he upholds so jealously has remained his great pillar of strength. And as he turned 60 on July 17,  my prayer for him was that the almighty God should keep him for us. He needs to be around to continue his determined task of prosecuting the “second exodus” of men from all forms of error and ungodliness to the liberating gospel of Christ.

Happy Birthday, Sir, and may God’s matchless grace and abundant blessings remain  with you, as you continue to remain a great blessing to this generation

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First Published in kwenu.com on Tuesday, August 3, 2004

www.ugochukwu.wordpress.com

Note: Pastor A.C. Ohanebo turned 63 last month, July 17, 2007.