By Adefemiwa Oluwole
The Nigerian government needs to draw the line on persons like Reno Omokri who thinks every happening in Nigeria is an opportunity to divide the country along religious lines and probably start a war while he watches from California.
Omokri’s latest attempt to stir religious unrest was via a tweet on Friday. He said, “Vice President @ProfOsinbajo, a Pastor, is quick to publicly speak lies against @GEJonathan and others. Yet this same man has not thought it wise to even say one word of comfort to the parents of Leah Sharibu and the Christian community who are in deep anguish over her ordeal!”
Omokri’s tweet lacked intelligence, sensitivity and maturity. The only thing that tweet showed is that the writer is a child stuck in the body of an adult and what that brings to mind is ‘The Curious Case of Reno Omokri’.
Omokri showed that he is not only politically ignorant but religiously intolerant. He displayed his thoughts are one-sided, very human insensitive and very callowish. And this is not the first time he is going on this road, saying the VP Osinbajo is a Pastor and he should do this or do that, or he is a Christian and has not spoken about herdsmen killing Christians.
Unlike Omokri, the Vice President is a man of integrity. A man who has no prejudice towards any religion, he respects the belief of all Nigerians, he loves peace, he wants to keep this country united and will not in any way listen to someone who is drowning and who is seeking relevance by any means possible.
Let’s take a look at Omokri’s tweet again and analyse it. First, he has divided Nigeria’s leadership as Muslim President and Christian Vice President. With this mentality, he expects the two to only speak up when either religion is under some attack?
But guess what, governance does not work that way. There is no colour, religion, race, ideology in governance. The leaders must be balanced in their thinking, attitude and approach to issues, this is something I do not expect Omokri to know.
On Twitter, Nigerians prayed for Leah Sharibu and commended her to refusing to convert to Islam but it was only Omokri who saw it as a ‘Christian community’ thing. It was him who identified the VP as a Pastor who have refused to speak up for the ‘Christian community’.
Let’s do the math here. Boko Haram captured 110 girls from Dapchi and released 107, where are the other two girls besides Leah Sharibu? Why were they not released? Now, that is the thinking of a responsible person, to get all the girls back to their parents and not single one out for religion purposes.
Omokri speaks about the Christian community in Nigeria like he and his principal, Goodluck Jonathan, spoke up for that ‘community’ when Chibok girls were abducted. What readily comes to mind is that the abduction was a hoax. And you can add, ‘There is God oooooo’ drama to that.
Back to Omokri’s tweet again. What kind of man would VP Osinbajo be if he spoke up for Christians alone? What kind of precedence would he be setting? And how would someone like Omokri perceive the Vice President if he were Muslim?
The only thing I can say is thank God that Nigeria is not run by low-lifers like Omokri. We probably will be fighting civil war II by now. He would have practically divided the country between the Muslims and Christians.
To think that Omokri claims to be a pastor is very frightening. He claims to be the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California and Abuja. I wonder what he tells his congregation, if he has any? I wonder how much hate and religious intolerance he would have passed on to his friends and family members.
That Osinbajo has not rushed to his Twitter page to tweet about Leah does not mean he doesn’t care but it means he understands the weight of his office and his position in our society. He is a responsible man and like most of us he will want all the girls reunited with their parents.
For all I care, Omokri is stalking the Vice President of Nigeria. Go to his Twitter account and you will find that he is always trying to spur VP Osinbajo to talk along religious lines. At every opportunity, he mentions the VP. Is Twitter page, is strewn with the VP’s pictures.
It is almost like he has orgasm every time the President and VP is at any function or when they react or don’t react. One thing that is clear, is that Omokri is an end-time pastor, please flee from him.
Lastly, this is 2018 and Omokri should know that ignorance is not bliss. If he goes to Google, he will find that Prof Osinbajo has spoken at many Christian fellowships and gatherings since he became Vice President.
In any case, someone like Omokri should not be educated, he should be cooling his heels in some jail in Nigeria. Oh, I forgot, he is stirring chaos from California while working hard to make Nigeria burn.
By Adefemiwa Oluwole, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Akoka Lagos
