CHRISTIANITY IN NIGERIA – 100 YEARS HENCE

By SIR TEMPLE OGUERI ONYEUKWU

Over the years, I have been pondering over the positive and negative growth of Christianity in Nigeria. Currently Christianity is classified as one of the two dominant religions in Nigeria. The other being Islam. The growth of Christianity has been challenged by a lot of factors which are threatening to extinguish the faith in the next 100 years unless Christians change their attitude towards those issues exposing the faith to risk.

These factors are multifaceted, some are political, some are religious, some are cultural, some as a result of indulgence while others can be categorized as environmental. The world knows that Turkey used to be a predominantly Christian country. However today, it is more than 90% Islam. Britain is going the same route like Turkey because of its policies that has made institutions vulnerable to exploitation.

One of the major sources of Moslem domination of countries and territories is population. While the Koran does not limit a Moslem on the number of wives and children he should have, people argue erroneously that the Bible does. Apart from inferences from certain verses in the Bible, there is no passage that categorically says that a man must marry one wife. The only exception to this is in the book of 1 Timothy 3:1-4 where it is stated that Bishops, Deacons, Pastors are to marry one wife to enable them have enough time for the work of God. When a Moslem man has for instance 24 children from three or four wives and a Christian man has three or four children, all these children have equal rights in law. The 24 children of the Moslem man have 24 votes, 24 households, twenty four mouths to feed etc. while the three children of the Christian man also has three votes, three households etc.  Over time, the Moslem family increases in geometric progression that is in accordance with Genesis 1:28:

Where God commanded man to go ye into the world and multiply while the Christian family increases in arithmetic progression far less than the geometric progression. When this is extrapolated into the next one hundred years, if Nigeria remains one, it is clear that Christians will be in the greater minority. Population growth is very fundamental in the growth of the various faiths. Ironically the fathers of the Christian faith were mostly men with many wives like Abraham, Israel, David, Solomon. There is nowhere in the bible any of them was condemned for having more than one wife. Nigeria could become a wholly Islamic Nation in the next 100 years unless the population growth of children from the Christian homes approximate that of children born to Moslem homes. The religion of Islam doubles as the culture of most Islamic nations and they adhere to both religiously.

When we examine the political perspective, we look at how fiercely Moslems pursue political power. In Nigeria. Moslems are more politically aware than their Christian counterparts exploiting the Christians belief that whatever happens has been sanctioned by God Almighty. Same God said I will bless the works of your hands. In the power equation in Nigeria, Moslems seem to believe that no Christian is qualified to lead the country as president. The recent outburst by Mallam El Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna state gives credence to this. This is one of the elites privileged to shape the thinking of the youths and younger generation. This appears to be the main reason thousands of Christians were gruesomely murdered in southern Kaduna under his watch for 8 years. No arrests, no prosecutions, always pretentiously suing for peace while nurturing a different Agenda of Ethnic and religious cleansing. Unfortunately nobody can arrest or question El-Rufai over his incitement of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Christian faith. CAN has called for prayers to keep the country united. A question of chasing after rats while your house is on a conflagration. The Christian faith must arise and take their destiny in their hands or preside over the funereal of the faith.

Seriously the Islamic faith regards Christians as infidels that must be wiped out or forcefully converted to Islam. The control of political power in Nigeria especially under the presidency of  Major General Muhammadu Buhari greatly emboldened terrorists and herdsmen to violently displace communities, forcefully take over the ancestral homes of fellow Nigerians, kill, maim, rape and destroy. Many communities in Benue state, Plateau state, Niger state have been chased away by herdsmen. These communities are presently in IDP camps in their own country while strangers who seem to have monopoly of the weapons of violence and tacitly supported by the government at the center have taken over their homes. These communities are prevented by these terrorist herdsmen from farming which is their main occupation. These communities are allegedly of the Christian faith and the terrorists herdsmen allegedly of the Moslem faith. They are grabbing land, settling in them, displacing the original owners and the government is exploiting the vulnerability of the ever nonviolent disposition of Christians to achieve a sinister agenda of Moslem domination in a secular country like Nigeria. Again state and community policing can help checkmate this arrogance in a properly restructured Federal republic of Nigeria, otherwise the Christian faith may be history in 100 years hence.

The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria confers the control of the Armed forces, police and all organs of security enforcement on the president and commander in chief. The governors of the various states lack power even to equip their various vigilantes with weapons of self-defense. This is an aberration in a federal system of government.

The struggle for political dominance, divide and rule by the political elites has generated lots of hatred, division and suspicion among brothers. Even brothers that are co-located. The creation of states to ensure the emasculation of the south east. Consequently the loopsided Federal republic in favour of the North especially in Revenue sharing has remained unchallenged. Where in the world does a federation, collect revenue from the federating units only to stipulate the formula to share it to the federating units except Nigeria. In most other federating units, the Federal is in charge of Defense, immigration customs, external affairs etc. Nigeria is the direct opposite. The centre is so strong that unless it permits, no state can survive on its own. So when the centre is seen to be in lead towards protecting a particular interest by maintaining studied silence in the presence of brazen attacks on its citizens, the affected states and communities are at the mercy of the attackers. This is another weapon of Islamic expansion in Nigeria.

A close scrutiny of the board of directors of the recently incorporated NNPCL will show that the Islamic faith is not only dominating in the political sphere but also using that dominance to appropriate the economic control of the resources belonging to all in this so called secular state.

The plan, approach and execution is multidimensional. We are busy praying to God to do what He has given us the powers to do for ourselves; our brothers are doing those physical, actual, religious and cultural things that guarantee the dominance by their faith. Where do we go from here? Too much of western indoctrination is ruining the faith. The same people that gave us the bible which forbids homosexuality and lesbianism are the same people that have passed the law in their countries legalizing these obnoxious practices. Many portions of recent versions of the bible have been removed or doctored to accommodate this affront against God Almighty. So can we return to our origins?

It is the vogue today in Nigeria for most of the intellectually sound professional Christians to Japa to Western World due to hardship, unemployment, insecurity, while some of the youths from the Moslem dominated areas move to fellow moslem dominated countries like Dubai, Saudi Arabia etc. while most of the young Christian professionals will most likely imbibe the treachery and hypocrisy of the western world,  their counterparts will strengthen their knowledge, culture and tradition in their new abode.

This is another serious threat to the survival of Christianity in Nigeria. I know of two Bishops today who were born Moslems from the same father but different mothers. They are brothers. God did not reject them because they are born moslems from a polygamous home. The Christian faith must avoid condemning what is not expressly provided in the scriptures.  How do you multiply to dominate when you grow in Arithmetic progression over the generations while your contending counterparts grow in geometric progression over the generations. Citizens of Nigeria must be ready to defend themselves whenever they are attacked whether at home or in their farms.

Why would any sane government continue to keep its citizens displaced by terrorists herdsmen in IDP camps while the invaders are illegally occupying their ancestral homes. What intelligence does the government need to act when the stark reality stares us in the face.

As the adherents of the Christian faith continue to stick to the western culture of monogamy, limit the number of children families have, continue to pray while they are gruesomely murdered in their communities, while the Islamic faith continue to abide by the Islamic culture which is also their religion, fiercely appropriate political and economic power and advantages, it may not be up to a hundred years hence and the Nunc Dimitis will sound for the Christian faith. This is the time for the church in Nigeria to stop their merchantalist attitude, unite and chart the way forward.