The church and the prophetic destiny of Nigeria (1), By Brendy Mba

The process for the 2027 election has officially commenced with the announcement of the start of the electioneering campaign for various offices. Unofficially, that process had been underway since the end of the 2023 election. We have witnessed political alignments and realignments at an unprecedented level. Instead of the grand opportunity given to them by the 2023 mandate (legitimately acquired or otherwise) to woo the populace and endear themselves to Nigerians, we have witnessed a fixation on the continuity of the APC regimes at the federal and subnational while the people’s plight linger.

The opposition hasn’t fared so well either, as all we seem to be seeing are people who have lost political limelight, desperately seeking power just for the sake of it. There is so much horse trading, betrayals and breaking of pacts that seeing through their inordinate ambition is something any political novice can easily do. All their criticism of the ruling party is not really because they care for the average Nigerian who is the victim of poor governance; their antecedents suggest they just want to grab power because of the trappings and financial benefits of power. They didn’t really do better when they had their opportunity. The political class has generally failed Nigerians.

PBAT regime has exposed and exploited the weakness of our democratic institutions like no regime has ever done in the history of Nigeria. You have old men and women in the National Assembly not only singing ‘on your mandate we stand’ but also elevating shameless sycophancy into state policy. This 10^th National Assembly has been just an extension and a rubber stamp of the executive arm of government. Corruption that has already been sucking the life out of our country has now become shamelessly institutionalized by an uncommon Senate and House of Reps.

If you don’t like it, you can take to the streets in protest while they have sumptuous lunch and dinner in the villa at the behest of the first family. Or if you are bold enough, you can go to the courts that have been prostrated by high-level financial inducement and compromise. No democratic and national institution has been left standing vertical – INEC, ICPC, EFCC, DSS, NPF, the Military and paramilitary institutions.

Hopelessness and uncertainty fill our homes and neighbourhoods, while anger and frustration fill our roads and streets. Lawlessness, highhandedness, and insensitivity from our political elite define public and private life at all levels. Almost all our politicians and law enforcement agencies disrespect and disobey our basic traffic rules. Nigeria seems like one continuous crime scene. I could go on – hopelessness that has birthed multiple mental health problems, use of substances, prostitution, internet fraud, school dropouts and resorting to other heinous crimes.

Against this background, we are considering the church’s place in Nigeria’s prophetic destiny. Many believers have given up on Nigeria and boldly declare they are done praying for this country. In other words, the Nigerian situation is irredeemable. I acknowledge how exhausting it has been to fast and pray for many years, to keep night vigils, to participate in 24-hour prayer chains and other prayer initiatives and labour, only to witness the Nigerian condition deteriorating to the point that gunmen storm our night vigils and kidnap intercessors. They brazenly storm our places of worship in broad daylight, unleash mayhem, and go scot-free. I am acquainted with those feelings because I have been there and, by God’s grace, came out of it. I had lost every burden, passion and faith in praying for this country. I want to share just a few thoughts in this first instalment.

1. This is a battle for the soul of Nigeria, and it is a warfare of attrition

I have been a believer for over 45 years, and I know dozens of prophetic voices within the country and beyond that have spoken about this country’s prophetic destiny. Nigeria is a spiritual epicentre, a spiritual high place where so much apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic grace has been deposited. We are ordained to play a key role in pioneering God’s last move (InGathering) all over the world. It is no coincidence that spiritual men of stature have been raised here and are still being raised. If we miss this point, we will mis-channel God’s resources by multiplying branches, building massive auditoriums, and generally building our empires while competing with one another’s empires as we do today.

ISWAP, ISIL and other militant Islamic groups have an open agenda to make Nigeria their base, having been displaced from Syria, Iraq and pockets of other Middle Eastern spaces. This sounds exactly like the opposite of what God wants to do with us. So, this is a battle for the soul of Nigeria. This explains the sustained and seemingly intractable cases of insurgency and widespread insecurity. The complicity of the political class and high-placed government officials has been alleged on a few occasions, with absolutely no political will to address them.

Warfare of attrition basically has to do with who gets worn out first, exhausted, and gives up the fight. If the devil can convince us that our prayers are powerless and are of no use by getting our sight away from the upper realm to the events all around us, and we give up praying and become exhausted and discouraged, the scale will tilt in his favour. There are few countries on earth today that can take the level of provocations from militant Islamic groups that we have endured without a full-blown religious war breaking upon us. It is not necessarily a weakness on the part of Christians to have a stomach for so much – apparently helplessly. Our prayers and our sense of prophetic destiny are what are holding this country together. Without these, religious warfare would have consumed Nigeria by now. But it is certain that this darkness will eventually be swallowed up by light.

2. People deserve the kind of leadership they get

Rom 13:1 For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

This is one scripture we may find hard to accept in a “snatch the ballot box and run away with it” situation, and when the same people challenge you to go to the courts. Because they are confident that no justice will come out of a compromised judicial system. This is the history of this current regime. Yet, this authority is of God.

2 Sam 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

Ruling in the fear of God means leading with justice, humility, and a deep, reverent respect for God’s ultimate authority. This is ultimately God’s intention for ordaining authority (rulership); it produces beneficial outcomes for all. However, certain rulership God allows serves to bring judgment upon the people for their corporate and individual sins, which have persisted for a long time. I strongly feel this is where Nigeria is. Only God knows when this scourge will have run its full course. Until then, we hang in there; we keep crying unto God for mercy and remind Him of His prophetic purposes concerning our beloved country. NIGERIA CANNOT BREAK UP; at best, we may restructure, but Nigeria is not breaking up.

We deserve what we have as the ruling class today. Turncoats like Bwala, Reno, FFK and their ilk are not the first of their kind; it is part of who we are. Bigots who senselessly defend the indefensible shenanigans of government didn’t start today. They were once the voice of the masses ‘championing’ our democratic values. Most opposition figures were once spokespersons of previous inept and mediocre regimes; today, they are up in arms against what they once defended as state policies or, at best, what benefited them or the section of the country they came from. These issues have been with us from before our independence – from our founding fathers, and if we don’t appreciate them enough to want to exorcise them, we will continue to wallow in this darkness and keep getting leaders who will continue to enslave us, instead of elevating our well-being.

3. Individual Spiritual Responsibility

Our actions and inactions as believers have implications far beyond us and beyond our sightlines. Job’s righteousness created turbulence in the spiritual realm. Adam’s disobedience negatively impacted the whole human race, while Christ’s obedience secured eternal salvation for all. Some of us as Nigerians (believers and non-believers alike) are suffering certain misfortunes we know nothing about – their genesis precedes us. Previous generations sowed the seeds of the harvest we are reaping, and unfortunately, we too are still sowing wrong seeds that the next generation will reap.

My little obedience to traffic rules counts. My commitment to living righteously within my space matters. Kingdom believers should set the standard for others in every aspect of our interactions and interface with this world. As believers, our position in politics, industry, and all of public life should not be simplistic or merely conform to the norm. Our families, marriages, stewardship, and relationships should be the standard the world strives to meet. 

It doesn’t matter whether I think anybody is taking notice; the upper realm is taking notice, and they never forget. Righteousness exalts a nation, while sin is a reproach to a people. I don’t have to be in the limelight as a nation-builder; we are all individually building or destroying our nation, all the time. If we build a culture of corruption, any baby born into this climate, unchecked, will naturally gravitate toward corruption. Similarly, if we build a culture of discipline, law and order, people will naturally respect the rule of law.

Galatians 6:9 (GNB)  So let us not grow tired of doing good; if we do not give up, the time will come when we reap the harvest. (TPT)  And don’t allow yourselves to be weary or disheartened in planting good seeds, for the season of reaping the wonderful harvest you’ve planted is coming!

Let us commit to entrenching a kingdom culture of always living righteously, even when it seems disadvantageous. This is the only way we can defeat the prevailing culture of impunity, wickedness, corruption, avarice, inhumanity and inconsideration for others. Do not follow the multitude to sin; just because everybody is doing it doesn’t make it right. Besides, its cumulative consequences affect all of us. Why is the same lawlessness that characterises our corporate lives in Nigeria suddenly checked when we are in the UK, for instance? Why do we do so well when we sojourn in other countries of the world, even to the envy of other nationals? There is no shortcut to fixing this; we must all take personal responsibility, especially as believers who should understand what is at stake.

4. Individual Social Responsibility

I strongly advocate that we do not give up on INEC to the point of resolving not to vote in the coming elections. It is a sin not to perform your civic responsibilities to your country. Two wrongs don’t make a right. INEC’s wrong doesn’t make my wrong right. Vote and protect your vote as much as permissible within the ambit of the constitution. Leave the rest to INEC and God. Let’s pray and also work towards the direction of our prayers for God to give us righteous leaders.

Righteous leaders are not the same as ‘he or she is from my tribe and/or religion.’ We must, as believers, intentionally overcome bigotry – ethnic and religious. Believers must be discerning – spiritually and socially. Tribal and religious considerations are Nigeria’s fault lines, which politicians dangerously play up every time to secure their selfish interests. They blur the line of discernment, and when we make calls based on them, we will always be wrong. Some of us are suffering from Stockholm syndrome because of ethnic and religious bigotry.

I do not believe the church as a whole should be partisan. Individual believers should have general parameters (proceeding from the scriptures and faithfully exegeted by the clergy) to guide their voting convictions, and they are responsible for voting according to their conscience. It is not right to completely divorce oneself from the political process of electing our leaders. Voters’ education should be our basic minimum; you don’t have to be a politician or political commentator to participate in choosing who leads you for another four years.

Brendy Mba, an engineer, is the Senior Elder of New Tribes Assembly Church, Abuja. He can be reached via [email protected]