The Church in Nigeria

Archbishop Peter J Akinola recently retired as Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria after a very eventful and evidently successful tenure. He was also Bishop of Abuja; Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa; Chairman of the “South-South Encounter” of the Anglican Communion and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria”. Bishop Akinola was most known worldwide for his opposition to the ordination of homosexuals within the Anglican Communion. In 2003, he led a revolt against the planned ordination of Jeffrey John and Gene Robinson as Bishops of Reading and New Hampshire respectively precipitating a crisis in the Communion when the US Episcopals proceeded with Gene Robinson’s ordination. He became leader of a newly formed Convocation of Anglicans in North America, Anglicans who preferred to join with Akinola and the African Bishops who were irrevocably opposed to the ordain these homosexuals in the face of the explicit condemnation of homosexuality in several parts of the Bible.
Many true Christians in Nigeria, including non-Anglicans (and this columnist) were justifiably proud of, and encouraged by the leadership and principled position taken by Akinola. TIME Magazine was also impressed and nominated the Bishop as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006, recognising him in the category of leaders and revolutionaries. Bishop Akinola chose fidelity to the scriptures rather than bending to the will of the western Anglican Church, which appears to have lost its way. I have however wished that Bishop Akinola would devote the same zeal he put to work against homosexuality towards issues which plague the church and society in Nigeria such as witchcraft and occultism, polygamy, election rigging, poor governance and most importantly corruption!
It is clear that there is a spiritual dimension to the problems we face in Nigeria! We have heard of politicians many of whom profess Christianity who kill hunchbacks, pregnant women and engage in other forms of human sacrifice to secure victory in elections! How can anything good come out of the reign of such a person if he indeed gets elected into office? How can an office holder who “won” his election through violence and intimidation of his constituents leading to the death and maiming of several govern in a manner acceptable to God or even men? Corruption has subverted Nigerian society and the church appears complicit in this regard. No one asks where the funds donated at Church events by political office holders, civil servants and even bankers come from. We shout “Praise the Lord…The Lord is good”, receive the fruits of corruption into the house of God (and thus defile the temple of God) and pray that God will replenish the (corrupt) source from which the resources came. Incidents of corruption, whether in banks or publicly-quoted companies, involve Christians, regrettably especially of the Pentecostal variety. When there is talk about an abuse of import duty waivers, the Church is implicated. When Ministers are accused of padding budgets, Christians are well-represented. In contemporary Nigerian Christianity, there seems to be no conflict between corruption and our faith!
An Anglican in the US or UK may scoff at our Bishops’ fervent denunciation of homosexuality and wonder why their voices are not heard in respect of many of these social problems bedevilling our own society and militating against the physical and spiritual well-being of our people. Fortunately towards the end of his tenure, Bishop Akinola began to speak strongly and powerfully against corruption, which is more than we can say about many of his ecclesiastical colleagues. At one event, where virtually the entire national political leadership elite were present, the Bishop railed and cursed those involved in corruption, much like Jesus Christ would have done against the Pharisees. Some others in the Church are also beginning to confront these issues and seeking to reclaim the credibility of the Church. Otherwise on-lookers would assume the Church is silent because it is compromised. Recently at the ceremony at which Bishop Akinola’s successor, Nicholas Okoh was installed as Primate, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan challenged the Church on such matters. He recounted an incident in which some crime was committed by an individual and the fellow’s church members immediately rallied to bail him out. Jonathan wondered whether the church had any moral duty to examine the allegations against the “brother” before the church got itself involved in the matter.
I have written before that the purpose of the Church is not to be conformed to the world, but to be the light or salt of the earth. That transformational role of the Church is not being fulfilled in our times. This Easter, as we reflect on the life of Christ who transformed mankind in his short mortal existence, perhaps we should seek to reclaim that mandate for societal transformation. Happy Easter!