Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri says godfatherism “can be a good model for success” if strategically harnessed.
He said this in a Facebook post on Sunday in an apparent reaction to the lingering political struggle between the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, and his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike.
According to Omokri, godfatherism is a way of life on earth as it exists in religion, politics, and business.
This, he explained, is the reason famous clerics like Bishop David Oyedepo have no qualms kneeling for senior colleagues like Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
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Sharing a photo of Oyedepo kneeling while Adeboye prays for him, Omokri said, “In this photo you see Bishop Oyedepo kneeling before Pastor Adeboye for prayers. In the Catholic Church, Cardinals do the same thing with the Pope. If we are to be honest, there is godfatherism in religion, politics, and business. You hear different pastors calling either Pastors Adeboye, Oyedepo, Oyakhilome, and so on, their spiritual fathers. What is that? You witness various entrepreneurs calling great men like Dangote, Adenuga, Otedola, and Elumelu their mentors. What do you call that?
“Without Generals Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, General Obasanjo would not have transformed into President Obasanjo in 1999. They packaged him! Without Obasanjo, Yar’adua could not have defeated Babangida and Buhari. Never. Without Obasanjo again, President Jonathan would not have defeated Buhari in 2011. And without Tinubu, Buhari would have been a washed-up has been.
“How many of you who went to boarding schools could have survived and thrived without a school father or mother?”
The socio-political commentator added, “Whether you call it spiritual father, mentor, or Jagaban, godfatherism is a way of life on Earth. A mentor, like Pastor Enoch Adeboye, shortens the distance between you and success. But when you try to shorten the distance between you and your mentor, the mentor can metamorphose into a tormentor, the way the Bishop of Enugu did to Reverend Mbaka!
“Even that statement that pastors like to use, ‘God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called’, if you analyse it, what does it mean? David, the last born of Jesse, became king of Israel over his seven older brothers. Favour and grace are just another name for godfather!
“It is just that too large a critical mass of the sub-Saharan Black Africans are emotive rather than strategic. And insult and aggressiveness are just a way of life of particular ethnicities amongst our people. But when managed properly, it can be a good model for success. Otherwise, this is a fact of life.”
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