A striking story in 1 Kings 22:1-23 best illustrates the ungodly aspect of the electioneering campaigns for the Nigeria's general elections coming up in few days time. Israel's king, Ahab summoned the prophets and sought to know from them if he would win the war he planned against Syria. All the prophets, save one, told Ahab, a man notorious for evil what he wanted to hear. They said Ahab would not only win but would destroy Syria, but they were telling lies. The only prophet who differed, Micaiah told the truth that the war would be tragic for Ahab and his nation, Israel.
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| Rev Ola Oladejo |
The alliance with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah would fail. Micaiah said the other prophets were lying because they were under the influence of a lying spirit which had possessed them. In the same way, one can say that the campaigns for the 2015 elections and those running the race have been taken over by lying spirits, going by the amount of lies they dish out. How else does one account for the amount of falsehood brazenly being peddled in the run up to the election?
One does not need to be a seer to know that God cannot be happy with the campaigns leading to the elections; the basic reason being that what God hates has dominated the campaigns. The word of God, the Bible, establishes the Lord's stance against lies and their manifestations without any ambiguity. Prov. 6:16-19 name lies, lying and bearing false witness as among the seven things which are abomination before God. In Leviticus 19:11, we are commanded thus, “Do not lie." Romans 1:25 condemned those who "exchanged the truth of God for a lie". When a person goes out to lie he is not only rejecting truth but is invariably calling God a liar.
The tribe of the false prophets of Ahab’s time is on the driver's seat of the 2015 campaigns. They seem not to be mindful of God at all since they are all bent on getting advantage over their opponents by hook or crook. They are managers, chorus boys, situation committee members, analysts of all shades, devious thinkers and party members behind the campaigns and the so called men of God backing them. In my experience, I have never witnessed any campaign with the kind of lie content like the present ones.
For what we see are not issues, not purposive discourses, not words from those who will improve things but lies, half truths, propaganda, manipulations and grand deception on abominable scale. What these people intend to gain from these lies going by the word of God, I do not understand. For what a man sows he will reap.
Disgrace to democracy
The 2015 campaigns must have brought so much foul smell to that acclaimed system of government, democracy. We see the system operates in other lands where their electioneering campaigns are beauty to watch. Woe betides any campaigner or candidates that resort to lies in a place like USA or United Kingdom. They would not go free. They would be exposed and punished by mass rejection. Nigeria has become another kettle entirely. Impunity reigns and liars are being crowned king. They call the shots and have so much entrenched themselves in the political fabrics that not swallowing these lies would take the grace of God.
Truth has perished
The present Nigeria also bears resemblance to Israel of Prophet Jeremiah's time. In Jeremiah 7:28, he cried, "...Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouths." Liars and their merchandise have taken over the political space and truth is being made to perish. So they can lie without bating an eyelid or their consciences being pricked. Today a man can sit down and in infantile imagination concoct all manner of untruths and put them in the public domain as the gospel truth. What a pity and a lamentable indication of how far we have sunk as a nation.
Why are liars occupying the dizzying heights of these campaigns? Why have smart Alecs desperately sought and recruited mainly for their ability to weave webs of lies? Why do we prefer lies to truth? Why do we deliberately seek to make lies our refuge as a nation? Don't we know that what we are doing is like the ostrich which buries its head in the sand? We are taking refuge in lies and hiding under falsehood. Can we say we do not know that nothing good would come out of lies or that liars risk God's punishment?
Can it be that we never thought of the consequences? If we lie during campaigns and we get into government, what will governance look like? We will have to fabricate more falsehood to sustain the pack of cards of lies that has been built. The economy, finance, power relations, administration will logically be anchored on deception and the people that fell victim of the lies become cynical, never believing the liars again and look at every of their steps with disbelief, doubt and skepticism.
Clearly, the electioneering campaigns have exposed the underlying causes of our nation's chronic problems-lies in various forms, barefaced, brazen or subtle ones. The root cause of our malaise is telling and living out lies. We have seen lies taking over as the directive principles of the campaigns, so bad that lying industry has grown into a monster.
Heart bleeds
My heart bleeds as I observed the campaigns and I see perfidy prospering and being deployed with gusto. Do you not see the level of make belief going on? The person you were begging to see last year who told you whatever opinion you had did not matter now bowing at your presence in false humility and hypocritically telling you how precious you are. Is not the biggest display of falsehood for the wolf to pretend to a sheep or the callous to fain friendliness? To these campaigners white is black and black, white. They are not afraid to call the innocent guilty while they prop up misfits as the best.
Cover up
We should pity ourselves at the level of cover up also in the campaigns. It is terrible. The campaigns are going on as if there are no germane issues. A deliberate suppression of the truth so that one would be seen as good person does not differ any bit from telling lies. Democracy demands that all facts about candidates should be brought to the public domain but they would go to any length to shield unpalatable information about principals from public glare. No wonder, the weak, docile and fiddlers why Rome burns were touted as the best and most capable. Men of integrity are made to look like villains and the callous given the toga of a dove. When anyone dares to beam searchlight on that dark area and open the dirty cupboard, they demonise such a person in a bid to suppress the truth. By so doing, they foist on people, by subterfuge and manipulation, unworthy candidates.
Since 1979 I have watched many campaigns and even participated in some, no one has been characterised by the present level of barefaced lies, attempt to manipulate, deceive and mislead like the 2015 campaigns. What was regarded as an aberration in those days when for instance politicians would pour sand on the road to create the impression that construction work had begun or lay foundations of schools, hospitals, and facilities they did not intend to build has grown into a grotesque art of immense proportion. One single bridge, the second Niger Bridge has had its single foundation laid many times, in the wake of elections yet as we write there is no bridge at all, except in the figment of imagination of the liars.
Strategic Lies
The strategy of these liars can easily be deduced from their mode of operation. They seemed to believe that visibility is superior to ability, skills and effectiveness. Instead of service, they wait till electioneering to look for artistes, entertainers, actors and actresses who might be morally deficient but are making waves and are in the limelight. The purpose is to exploit their visibility for electoral gains. To them visibility can be equated to truth. What self delusion can be worse than this? As if their senses have gone on suspension, they further hold tenaciously to the false premise such that the louder the falsehood, the more of truth in it. They do not believe that an empty barrel makes the loudest noise. They have mastered the art of exaggeration to a frightening degree. So to them visibility, loudness and frequency of repetition of lies would put on them the toga of truth. What do you call that but self deception on the grandest scale!
We need to rise against the lying spirit in our personal lives and our body politic by engaging in serious warfare prayers. Our nation must be delivered from the present moral decay when lies telling have become an art
I suggest that a national repentance should take place, led by the government after May 29, this year. All Nigerians should seek God's mercy and forgiveness for the lies of the electioneering and then turn away from lies and embrace the truth. Thereafter, Nigerians should resolve to do things in the fear of God and make telling the truth the basis of their relationship with God and man.
Rev. Oladejo is a Senior Pastor, Hundredfold Covenant Bible Church, 142
Lawanson Rd. (Otunoba bus stop) Itire, Surulere, Lagos.
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