(Mathew 5:14-16; Genesis 1:28)
by Ayuba, Yilgak’ha
1. Introduction
The world is governed by systems: Economic system, political system, religious system, social system, solar system, etc. The calibration of systems is not water-tight but fluid with overlapping characteristics. What is certain, however, is that the main system (Cosmos) and each of the sub-systems have their peculiar modus operandi, manual, although, all of them coherently work together to keep the world in a state of sustainable balance. It is expected that the world systems will work effectively to bring about holistic development that could make life more bearable for all. The focus of today’s discourse shall be on the political system and its players.
To properly appreciate whether Christians (youth) should participate in politics or not, we must determine, ab initio, the kinds of rules, values, institutions, and government we earnestly desire to live under in this country. We must also determine whether Christian virtues are good enough to give Nigeria better government. The aim, though, is to establish who qualifies to be a participant that can create the needed impact in the land. This discourse relies on expository approach of presentation in the beat to decipher the issues at stake.
2. What is politics and who is a politician?
Politics is a social phenomenon that is hard to conceptualise. The etymological root of the word is traceable to a Greek word called ‘Polis’ which literally means ‘City- States’ which are independent communities in Greek that have their unique system of government. The idea is that politics is related to governance which has to do with organization and control of a community and its resources. Therefore, politics is at the heart of all collective social activity, formal or informal, public, or private, in all human groups, institutions and societies, be they local communities, states or a country (Andrain, 1984) in (Andrew, 2002). It is also viewed broadly as ‘the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which the live.’ In this sense politics is about the determination of the rules that government people. There is no universally acceptable definition, really, but attempt is made in surfing extant literature on the concept to have a suitably narrow description that could give context to today’s discourse.
Jan (2001) perceived politics as the distribution and exercise of power. This means that politics is a power play. Also calibrated as ‘state duty’ Easton (1963) postulated that politics as ‘authoritative allocation of values’ in a society. Perhaps the most standard conceptualisation comes from the title of a piece written by Lasswell (1936) which viewed politics as “Who Gets What, When and how?” This perception introduces the idea of political process. So, if politics is about rules, power and values, the question is who decides or gets each of those items, at what point and how? Providing answer will give one a fear idea about what politics really entails. Therefore, politics could be conceptualized as the process of acquiring power to make binding rules and distribute scarce resources at any given time in a state. It is a deliberate and discrete human activity that is seeks to acquire power to dictate how a family, community or state is governed.
Politics is a moral/social obligation with lifetime implication. One strategic political decision could permanently change the course of history and impact positively or negatively on the lives of the total population, the citizenry. Because of the scarce resources and the far-reaching impact of rules and values when decided, politics is prone to conflicts but desirous of cooperation as well. It is the conflict element that makes politics a ‘war’, though, ‘without bloodshed’ (Mao Tse-tung). Therefore, when bloodshed is involved in the game of politics, then the credential of the actors is called to question. It means then that the key actors are desperate and their motivation for participated is a bias and dubious one. Despite the conflict volatile nature of politics, cooperation is sought above all things to prevent or mitigate the risk of its escalation into violent clash (es). That is why politicians always are encouraged to cultivate the spirit of sportsmanship, that is, to be ‘magnanimous in victory and gallant in defeat’
The point must be made headlong that politics is not and cannot be a profession but a necessary hobby. The difference between the two (profession and hobby) is that while the former has to do with technical capabilities generated through cognitive training; the latter is but a passion generated by moral interest to seek opportunity to serve in a community. That is why there is no such thing as professional politician in social and behavioural literature. The power of a professional derives from cognitive skills, that is, technical know-how but that of a politician is drawn from generous peoples’ goodwill.
Basically, a politician is someone who engages in politics to achieve the power to govern people. Aristotle once said, ‘man by nature is a political animal’ who seeks opportunity to acquire power and influence to be relevant in society. There are many approaches to acquiring political power in history, however, these could be grouped into two undemocratic (military) or democratic (civil) methods. Political power acquired using force lacks legitimacy and it is a recipe for recklessness, impunity. On the other hand, power obtained through civil processes such election or peoples’ consensus is legitimate and conveys the authority to function on beneficiaries (winners) of the civil arrangement.
In a democracy, there is nothing that can be more reassuring than the confidence that one’s vote counts or genuine wishes of the people are respected in every electoral contest (Mon-Charles, July 28, 2021). Democratic politics promotes the culture of dialogue, rule of law, periodic elections, etc. Hence, the popular hypothesis that ‘the worst civilian rule is better that the best military dictatorship’ as expressed a renowned sage Obafemi Awolowo in 1983. It takes decent politicians to create and maintain a functional democratic system which flourishes with great expectations, in terms dividends of democracy.
This exegesis on politics cannot be completed without referring to where it all began, the Greek City States. In these states, there were three categories the people as identified by philosophers, namely the idiots, the tribalists and the citizens. According to them the idiots are not necessarily derailed mentally but very greedy and corrupt; violent and lazy people whose only interest is themselves and nobody else. The tribalists are sentimental and highly domineering people who only believe in sectional and biased group interest and do not see anything good in others but themselves while the citizens are pragmatic, patriotic and progressive, and above all law-abiding people whose only interest is for the society to develop and prosper for the overall good and welfare of everyone. This mythology contended that in a society where there are more of idiots and tribalists than the citizens, such society will not progress. Therefore, there is the need for society to have more of citizens than tribalists and idiots.
3. Who is a Christian (Youth)?
A Christian is someone whose life is modelled after the lifestyle and virtues of Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26). In other words, Christians are ambassadors of Jesus Christ who should also be responsible citizens. It is difficult to conceptualise youth because the law of nations varies. In Nigeria a youth is someone between the ages of 18 and 45 years old. However, the phenomenon, in my opinion, is someone or a people who are strong and energetic and can reasonably contribute to the progress of society without recourse to age numbers as some thinkers will want to do. In other words, being youth is more of a qualitative than a quantitative state of being. Christian youth, therefore, are the most functional constituency of the church.
As responsible citizens and ambassadors of Christ, therefore, Christians (youth) are supposed to take their civic duties and obligations seriously (Romans 13:1-2), and to also key into Jesus’ revolution (Mathew 28: 18-201) which must be taken seriously. The operationalisation of the great Commission is a field driven one; not only within the Four walls of a church. By implication every Christian who found himself in politics is to demonstrate through patriotic instinct and good character that he is resourceful and could influence the society in a positive manner. His motivations should be to represent the nation and God in good light no matter the circumstances and if possible revolutionarised their area of influence toward the attainment of great society. A revolution can be described as a major and desired change in the way things are done. A revolution could be violent or civil but it the latter that is in focus because violence is not and can never be a virtue in Christendom which is the context of this discourse.
Jesus’ revolution is holistic one and was targeted at destroying the works of Satan, set the captives free and give life more abundantly to mankind (I John 3:8; Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1; John 10:10). It was one that is human centred and committed to the introduction of a new world order of things for the liberation of man from boomeranged bondages of sin following his fatal fall in the Garden of Eden. Those human tendencies which darkened the world, for instance, greed, inequality, prejudices, orgies, etc. have dampened any chance of sustainable human development were subject to destruction through the finished work of the Saviour Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary.
In God’s grand plan, man was unmeritedly commissioned to partake in the task of changing the world in all its ramifications. That was why He the greatest Architect and Builder (Creator) of the universe with all that is in it appointed him as kingdom ambassador, affirming that ‘you are the salt and light of the world’ (2Cor. 520). Salt and light are valuables which represent very important value systems. While the salt gives taste; light illuminates, helps in giving understanding on the best course of action, to be taken, to achieve balanced success in life. The commission to change the world and make it a better place for all is a moral responsibility which should be taken for granted. Can you imagine any world system without salt and light which are metaphor for Christians or at least moral men? Such system shall be doomed to collapse without remedy!
The value system that Christian were called to administer is guided by the virtue of truth, equity, and fairness not greed, hypocrisy, and deception. It does not have room for favoritism dictated by race, gender, or tribe and/or prejudices expressed in terms of stigmatisation, whatsoever. The world’s complex systems need a voice from the Church (Christians) to serve as its moral compass but there seems to be a deficit of such important voice. The fault is not God’s; but men’. Isobel Miller Kuhn argued this submission as follow, “I believe that each generation God has called enough men and women to evangelise all the yet unreached tribes of the earth. It is not God who does not call; it is man who will not respond.”!
Nicola Micaville once said, the most difficult thing in life is to introduce the new order of things because the beneficiary of the old order will fight back to maintain the statusquo. Here lies the problem of society because the counter-productive tendencies (vices) earlier outlined are deep seated part of the natural man even in postmodern (today’s) world. The world’s systems, be they scientific, socio-political, economic, and even religious (sadly) are enveloped in darkness but the light of God represented in the virtues of Jesus Christ can illuminate every heart of darkness and change the world for the better.
The coming of Jesus Christ into the world 2000 years past ushered in a new dawn defined by freedom for all. The fact that the blind men see; the lamb walks; the poor marginalised and isolated integrated into society through His arrival was a clear pointer to the reality of this deliberate liberation movement. Therefore, those whose actions were dictated by Christian virtues and morality brought phenomenal change around the world even in politics. For instance, William Wilberforce successfully led the campaign against protracted slave trade; Martin Luther King Jr. triumphantly saw the mustard seed that badly degraded racism in human history; Nelson Mandela being a moral man made the sacrifice that led to the end of draconian Apartheid regime in South Africa; Martin Luther, the Reformer literarily change the course of church history, etc. It takes courageous men and women who fear God or at least garnished with sound moral standing that could significantly change the world for mutual benefit.
4. Who should participate in world politics (Christian Youth)? And if yes how?
The tune for the discussion on these dual questions is set based on the following distinct but similar thoughts expressed by Four (4) world renowned figures and a profound but anonymous adage. First, Martin Luther King Junior once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” The second was John F. Kenedy’s view in Richard Reeves (1993) which says, ‘I know now that you don’t get far in public life until you become the total politician (this cannot replace the God factor though!). The Third comes from Plato who expressed the view that, “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” The Fourth reads, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who watched them without doing anything” (Albert Einstein). The Fifth being an adage states that ‘when there is a problem with democracy more democracy is needed to solve it.’ In view of the above references and the importance of political decisions to man, it is my considered view that not on Christian youth alone but citizens generally should consider participation in politics seriously. The main thesis is that Christians generally and youth have what it takes to contribute towards the enthronement of good governance system in the world and Nigeria in particular.
Many citizens, Christians especially have raised excuses. Perhaps, Christians are the single most politically apathetic set of citizens in the country. In many quarters, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria, politics is perceived a dirty human venture. There is no better way to paint the mental dirty picture of politicians than captured by a cartoon I recently received on social media. It was a conversation between and armed robber and a politician. The armed robbers approached the politician and said, “Oga Politician, your money or your life!? Haba, Mr Robber…, Esprit De Corps!” This implies that politicians are armed robbers. It is being insinuated that they are highly diabolic and cannot be trusted. Very weighty allegations but really?
The sweeping notion that all politicians are criminals cannot be true completely. Deceitfulness is an inherent human problem that can be exhibited by humans in any given vocation without necessarily being a politician. Gregg (1955) sums it up that ‘the world has cancer, and the cancer is man.’ He did not say the problem of the world is politician but the natural man whose moral software has not been upgraded through sound moral instruction in character and learning (education). If politics is a corrupt system, it is man that corrupted it; and not the political system that corrupted people. Also, if the political system is not effective, it is because supposed good men have shied away from it, ignoring the fact that politics is people and people are politics. Tony (2016) knitted this relationship with the role of people expressed as more paramount than the role of politics people. He said, ‘strangely, it is not the power of politics that is needed to liberated or corrupt (emphasis mine) the people but the power of people is needed to liberate the politics.’ Therefore, when more and more of the citizens (good people) joins the train sustaining their good morals, the political system shall be fixed for the common good.
In Hebrews 11: 40, it is expressly declared that God has good plans for man that only with man shall those plans come to fulfilment (fruition). Therefore, if Christian virtues are anything to go by, Christian faithful cannot afford to stay off politics because the world political system is in dare need of ‘the salt and light’ touch of the Body of Christ (the Church). Christians must participate in politics, but the caution must be made that they should not do with greed, bias, and bitterness but total decorum, pragmatism, and the fear of God, not man. A Christian politician must not conspire with ungodly men to ensnare, smear and blackmail innocent opponent into doing their evil will but seek the understanding of the public to advance the collective good of the society and its leadership. Political leaders with Christian background must not use their privileged titles and influence to intimidate or load it of on their subject, the masses because doing so will be unchristian and cannot go unpunished at the return of Jesus our savior and final judge of the universe.
For emphasis’ sake, Christians are to participate in politics but in the Jesus way not in the Machiavellian (Nicalaitans) way where ‘the end justifies the means’. I am not unaware some political players who are contemplating giving up on politics because of the bullying tendencies of Machiavellian actors. But note this carefully, bullying politicians may not necessarily fight you because you are bad but because of intense sense of greed and untamed passion for power to perpetuate their evil schemes. They can fight to defend illegality with their blood or the blood of others. They have sold their soul in pursuit of power and fame and could plot the elimination (assassination) of any real or imagined opponent that poses threat to their ambition not minding the consequences of their action. It is their type that the scriptures referred to in Revelation 2:6.
The negative implications of not participation in politics abound. It is that immoral men will have a field day at the corridor of power and their actions or inactions will not spare anyone. It is the policy of government that will shall dictate your status as citizen or not; the same determined whether you can own and run a private business or not; government policy could force you to change your belief system or make you to lose your entitlement; government policy could alter your birth right or determine whether you can have no children or not; government policy dictates whether there can be any basic infrastructure like roads, electricity, housing, hospital, internet services, etc. or not in your community.
Here is how an eloquent but anonymous campaigner for political participation puts it under a piece he titled, “PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS AND POLITICAL PROCESSES, NOT NEGOTIABLE; time to be reasonable”: Your birth is not recognised until government says you are born (Certificate of birth). You are not educated until government certified that you are (School Certificate). You cannot run a viable business without government’s approval (Certificate of Incorporation). Your marriage is not authentic until government acknowledged that you are married (Marriage Certificate). You cannot claim lawful ownership of properties except government confirmed it belongs to you (Certificate of Occupancy). You are an offender driving your own car except government grant you authority to do so (Vehicle/Driver’s License and Particulars). You are not event confirmed dead except government officially says you are dead (Death Certificate). Government is in control of major aspects of our lives, yet someone tells you not to be part of the process that determines those who emerged to form your government. That person definitely lacks knowledge…” Make no mistake about it, government decision dictates everything that pertains to life. The problems of society will continue unabated if citizens do not participate in politics.
The question therefore is whether citizens generally and Christians could afford to endure bad government perpetually. Christianity like politics are moral obligations (choices) and so those who belonged must learned to maintain high level of patriotic and moral discipline. This is because Politics is one of the activities of man that must be brought to reckoning on the Day of Judgment Day. It is appointed unto man to die once and after that the judgment (Hebrew 9:27). Whatever you do as a Christian or politician, or both must be subjected to uncompromising judgment on the last day. As Christians, whatever we do faithfully as onto God; we must not be weary in doing good works for in due season we will reap the harvest to the glory of God Almighty (Colossians 3: 23; Galatians 6:9).
5. How has Nigerian Christian youth fared in politics?
Basically, politics in Nigeria is dominated by greedy and self-seeking, self-centred and corrupt politician. The political at atmosphere in the country is largely that of glaring marginalisation, evil manipulation, and intimidation. The practically no internal democracy in the political institutions especially the political parties and the electoral processes are often hijacked by garrison politicians who might not shy away from the politics of elimination of perceived political opponents. In the observation of Prof. Patrick Lumumba of Kenya, about 90 per cent of African people where Nigeria is the largest and integral part of, are a bad mix idiots and tribalists. Therefore, drawn from this pool or population, Nigerian politician are significantly so too. Although, some breakthrough in development has been made in Nigeria, it is through the righteous and patriotic commitment of some infinitesimal (negligible) few. There are still so many thorny and dark areas to conquer in the countries polity some of which include tripartite problems of religious bigotry, nepotism, and institutional corruption amongst others. These national contradictions need urgent and practical solutions.
Rather than being available ‘vessels of honour’ to unleash and defend godly virtues, youths have become willing instruments for sustained political manipulation. Instead of being the system’s moral army for justice and equality for all, most Nigerian youths even some Christian youths have gone so low to the level of being constantly available for recruitment by desperate politician to commit socio-political vices such as violent thurgery, election rigging, media propaganda, hate speech and in extreme cases the assassination of political opponents example the assassination of high profile politician like Late Bola, Ige, Funsho Williams, Dele Giwa, Marshall Harry, Ahmend Gulak, Jesse Aruku and some very close examples around us that you might know, the list is endless. Youths have also been used to be bear false witness in court over dubious election results. This is so sad a reality that should be halted or discontinued without any further delay.
The energy of the Christian youth must be applied in such a manner that projects the name of God and the image of country in the eye of the international community. The church which is a breeding ground of responsible citizens is in daring need of a radical paradigm shift away from conservatism and apathy to a liberal interest in the game of politics. The postmodern world, in my candid opinion, deserves a theocratic administrative model of development. With godly encounter and quality education which has sound moral contents, the youth could make a great difference in this world system generally and politics.
Now, the positive political impact expected of Nigerian youth like that of Daniel, Joseph and Esther in the bible is far from being felt. The youth are highly apolitical and must be encouraged to change forthwith. As the yield to this wake-up call, it is important to note with emphasis that morality is a necessary condition, but godliness is the sufficient condition to make wow impact in world politics.
The Not-too-young-to-run bill recently past, by the National Assembly has opened a new vista of opportunity for youth to actively participate in politics. This however must be backed by solid economic and intellectual preparedness of the youth to participate otherwise nothing significant could happen from this constituency because, truth be told, politics is capital intensive, and an absolute dependent could be very effective in it. The youth cannot afford to be indifferent or stand aloof to the need to register as party member because Nigeria operates party-based democracy such that you cannot stand election or primarily decides who do so out the political parties. It is at the party level that primary elections are conducted in any election process with no room for independent candidacy in the country right now.
6. Conclusion
Politics is a sacred and moral duty of citizens; not for idiots and tribalists. The idiots and tribalists, are selfish political terrorists who need urgent de-radicalisation attention to be citizens and to positively contribute to nation building. The citizens and particularly Christians in politics must not buy into idiotic and tribalistic orientation or tendencies at all. Instead, they should frontally, hastily, and carefully engage them in sustained moral enlightenment and national civic orientation which will make see other people, irrespective of their tribes, tongue, and religion, as partners in progress. The society must not give up on them or leave them to fate; otherwise, the continuous actions and inaction of the misguided will gravitate the society towards the road to serfdom, perdition and thereby making it doomed to collapse with time.
Here are likely scenarios that will play out when citizens do not take politics seriously. With political apathy on the side of good people, bad laws, bad value systems, bad institutions and bad governance will emerged in society. When there are bad laws, bad value systems, bad institutions, and bad government in place; responsible citizens are required to reverse the situation. Also, when there are good laws, good value systems, good institutions and government, there is need for good people to be part of the government or watch it carefully to ensure the status quo is maintained the entire social system could be put in jeopardy as ‘power’, in Shakespeare’s Play, ‘Macbeth’, ‘tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. In fact, most tyrannical and dictatorial regimes in human history do start with sound altruistic intentions but, over time, deviate due to the weak or total failure of the citizens to exercise constant vigilance and diligent scrutiny of the daily activities of the powers that be. And in fact, one bad yet influential person on the drivers’ seat of governance for a reasonably long and constitutional period of say, four (4) years or Eight (8) years, can take the nation and its people many years backward; the reverse is the case though.
Let me end this discourse by aligning with the view of Scottish Evangelist and Reformer, John Knox, who said, and I paraphrased, resistance to the tyranny (of corrupt and dirty politics emphasis mine) through participation with godly virtues is obedience to God. The world political system is sick and is in dare need of lasting solutions but where will these remedies come from? The citizens (good people) with background in Christianity or otherwise could make a huge difference. Should the Christians go into politics and failed to make the expected difference; God, in his infinite mercies will intervene or interrupts but the defaulters will not escape judgment. Join politics. Go there and be part of the solutions, not problems. We can change ourselves and, in the process, changed the world in a most profound way. So, as Christians (youth) in politics, learned to vote for values you can comfortably defend in the court of morality and public opinion and more importantly, you can defend in the sight of God!
Thank you for your time, and may God bless the church and this Country Nigeria. Happy Youth Week to the entire COCIN Family. I love you all and pray that you excel in every way and always, amen.
(Being full Text of the Modest Thought Presented by Ayuba, Yilgak’ha at COCIN LCC Tabulung, RCC Dawaki, on August 1, 2021; SMS: 08118161263; Email: loisayuba420@gmail.com )
References
Andrew, H. (2002). Politics (2nd Edition). New York: Palgrave.
Boothroyd, B. (2001). Autobiography. London: Century.
Easton, D. (1968). Framework for political analysis. Englewood Cliffs: Princeton Hall.
Gregg, A. (1955). A medical aspect of the population problem. Science, 121. 681 – 689.
Jan, A. S. (2001). Global trade and finance. In: John, B & Steve, S (Ed.). The globalization of world Politics (second Edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lasswel, I. H. (1936). Politics: Who gets what, what and how? New York: Willy.
Mon-Charles, E. (2021). Unmasking the real enemies of electoral reforms (1). The Blueprint Newspaper.
Richard, R. (1993). President Kenedy: Profile in Power. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc.
Tony, B. (2010). The Journey. London: Hutchinson.
