Since 2007, the Diocese of Lagos West, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has participated actively in the electoral process. Ahead of the 2019 general election, the Diocese also engaged in some electoral activities which included voters’ education, debate for governorship candidates in Lagos State and monitoring of the elections across the state. Bishop of the Diocese, Right Reverend James Olusola Odedeji, who has congratulated the governor-elect in Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in this interview, relayed the Diocese’s activities before and during the 2019 general elections. ADEDAYO EMMANUEL here reports. Excerpts:
The Diocese of Lagos West must be commended for its activities during the elections; organising debate for governorship candidates and monitoring the election through the length and breadth of Lagos State. Can you talk about the cost on this project? I think it will interest the public.
Well, on how much we have spent to monitor the elections that one is for our own consumption.
I can tell you that it was a very expensive exercise in which we deployed 300 well trained observers to the nooks and crannies of the state; the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Authorities. We mobiised 40 church busses and drivers and attached church dignitaries including myself to man situations round taking complains where there was any and communicating the same to INEC offices. We do not believe in half measures, we therefore organised seminars and workshops for all our observers drawn from all our churches in the Diocese and brought resources and resource persons together including INEC officials to train them on what to look for on poling days both on the roads and the poling units as well as collation centres. We deployed men to all the collation centres of the state to fully observe the details and feed us back all through the election periods. We can say today to God be all the glory great things He has done.
Let us quickly add here that despite the huge cost as it has been our tradition we started in 2007 we do not seek or obtain any form of support from any quarter. It is our concept and commitment we are determined to join all other stakeholders to sensitise the political landscape of Nigeria.
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Before 2019 election, Christian leaders took a stand on the candidate to be voted for. Did your Diocese encourage parishioners to vote a particular candidate?
In our denomination we have structure, we have organ. We don’t have a General Overseer. When any matter has to do with the country, he cannot say people should vote for a particular person. We are all adults and we believe people should know what is good for them. Four years is not a joke, it means a lot to anybody who can think.
We did not say people should go and vote for a particular person. In the cathedral here we have not seen any party that was not represented at the debate we did. So we can’t be saying people should vote for somebody. But I will talk generally and let them know they have the responsibility and the choice to decide who leads them. We don’t say people should vote for who and who.
I want you to compare INEC of 2015 and INEC of 2019. I like to know also if the Diocese going to release a publication on its findings during the election monitoring exercise?
There would be comprehensive, well worded report to be sent to INEC. Not just for the electorate but for the whole world to see. There has been improvement in INEC between 2015 and 2019. And for the elite, we have discovered that not so much educated people went out to vote. A lot of the elites were busy sleeping. They believe anybody who wants to be there should be there and continue. The situation of this country has not got to a time we should just go and sleep on election day because if we don’t elect our leaders they will elect them for us.
These days there have been a lot of pastors abusing their offices. It is a worrisome trend in the church, have you addressed this issue?
I have seen many things from people who call themselves pastors. Pastors these days you cannot even say who is who, you see someone on okada with collar. They would say that man is a pastor. Sometimes you see in the news a pastor has impregnated a girl, who made him a pastor? Why is he calling himself a pastor? Many people have believe the only way to get patronage is to say a pastor has done this or that. We have pastors and we have pastors. How do you compare our dean now to someone just moving around who uses his mother’s shop on Sunday for church? It is only in the religious setting we bastardise things. If you are not a medical doctor and you call yourself one, you are in trouble. If you call yourself a lawyer and you have not gone to law school or you did not even study law, you can be jailed. But in the religious setting, because there is freedom of worship, someone who does not know his right hand from his left calls himself a pastor. The press too, you just call them pastor. May God save our nation.
I like to know if the church generally has anything in place if we can have a kind of gatekeeping as per who comes into the ministry. Is there a guideline?
It may be applicable in the future. But when you see someone who is jobless or someone who cannot make his O’Level to go for further studies, he just looks round and says that he is a pastor. Like the Anglican Church there are processes before you can come to the ordained ministry. You must be known in the diocese as someone who is not promiscuous, who is not greedy who is not promiscuous then an interview will be conducted among those who are interested then you will be sent to the archdeaconry, and there is a board that would ask them why you have decided to do this. I did that by God’s grace about 30 years ago. After that you will still be sent to the diocese where you would still be interviewed they will be calling them one after the other to see what is in them. After that they would send them to the seminary to interview them for a week. The people you’ll see there are people who have been in the business of God for many years. Those who could discern what will this one be in future, those who would find out if the candidate is joining the ministry because of stomach. When I went to Emmanuel College about 30 years ago, 66 of us made it to the diocesan level. Out of the 66 of us, only six of us made it to Emmanuel College. When we got there, out of the two of us, to the glory of God I am the only one alive. Even when we got into Emmanuel College, 41 of us started, when we were graduating, only 32 graduated.
Why didn’t the rest graduate or what were their offences?
What were the offences? Some who could not say no to the flesh. Some who could not obey constituted authority. You are not a pastor, you are already proud, who will recommend you? Even when you finish, they would still post you to work under senior men who will know what is in you. Then until you are recommended, you will not be priested. Even when you are priested, there are rules. Everybody is under authority, everybody has leaders. But someone just wakes up and says because I can pray or because I can speak English then I am a pastor, it will not last, and so that is why we see people fumbling. Even when Jesus appointed 12, one of them sold him. Even the 11, there were some we didn’t hear from them. Only Peter, James and John. What of the rest? So when I read a pastor has dome this or that, I would say what is the weight of the pastor? The other day one of them was saying Atiku is the next president, God has spoken! God cannot be predicted, it is what He has shown you that you know. Nobody gets there that God is not aware of. A presidential candidate in South America once said even God cannot stop his election. He won the election in that country but he died before being sworn in. So it is only God that determines things. Somebody may not the most qualified and still be God’s choice. Who are you to say he is not your choice? Only God can decide.
What should the Lagos State governor-elect do as regarding collapse buildings?
They should look for brains that can work with them. This state is the best and they should ensure it remains the best. On collapsed buildings, the government should ensure discipline.
