•How Oyedepo solicited Jonathan’s help

By Sam Eyoboka & Olayinka Latona

THE biblical book of Esther, written approximately 470 B.C. in Persia, was  the story  of  Jews who stayed behind after most  of them had returned to Jerusalem after captivity. It is a  historical narrative essentially about a Jewish slave girl becoming a queen. The principal characters in the book, whose purpose is to demonstrate God’s love and sovereignty in all circumstances, include Esther, Mordecai, King Ahasuerus (or Xerxes) and Haman. Babylon was conquered by Persia and Esther miraculously became the queen of the land, and saved her people.

Chapters 3-4, “Mordecai (Esther’s guardian) refused to bow down and pay homage to Haman, a high official of the king. Haman becomes infuriated and plots to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom because of his pride. Mordecai hears of the plot and reports it to  Esther. ‘For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this.”

Queen Esther outwitted Haman and took her petition to the king and pleaded for the protection of her Jewish people from Haman’s wicked stratagem. The king, out of anger, ordered Haman to be hung on the gallows, which he had built to destroy all the Jews. Esther’s faith and courage saved her people.

Last Thursday morning, six senior  journalists and two public relations practitioners gathered at an informal  meeting to review recent developments in one of Nigeria’s biggest exports to the world, the octopodal Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, which, at the last count,  has branches  in 192 nations of the world. It was at that ‘family meeting’ that the bombshell was dropped: “Obazee vowed to remove Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye!”

It came as a bomb-shell not because the journalists had not heard that before. It had been in new media. But it was a huge surprise because the journalists never expected the church to confirm such a bizarre development, considering the status and influence of the personality involved. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the RCCG (fondly called Daddy G.O.), is  believed to be one of the most successful preachers in the world, whose global influence made American news magazine, Newsweek, in 2008, to return him as one of the 50 Most Powerful People in the World.

At a similar development, the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, celebrated his 59th birthday at the RCCG, Jesus House, regarded as the largest parish in the United Kingdom. Prince Charles was accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, Lady Camilla, and various dignitaries including the Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Richard John Carew, Chartres the Vicar of Holy Trinity, Brompton and founder of The Alpha Course, Rev Nicky Gumbel, the General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, Rev. Joel Edwards, Resident Pastor of Kingsway International Christian Church, London, Pastor Yemisi Ashimolowo, local MP, Mr Andrew Dismore, leader of Barnet Council, Councillor Mike Freer and Madam Mayor, Councillor Maureen Braun.

Obazee and Adeboye

On that occasion, the Senior Pastor of Jesus House, Pastor Agu Irukwu, encouraged the congregation to invest in the nourishing of not only their bodies but also their spirit and  soul. One of the highlights of the service was the spontaneous singing of happy birthday to Prince Charles and the British Crown Prince was so elated at the honour bestowed on him, that he commended the church for being a role model.

The journalists at the Thursday meeting were bewildered by the audacity of the erstwhile Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN, Mr. Jim Obazee, to ‘build gallows’ for a man of Adeboye’s global stature, especially considering that he Obazee was a zonal pastor in the church. What is the driving force, they wondered.

Obazee shot  into limelight, last weekend, when, in conformity with an FRCN law, Adeboye, who resigned his appointment at the University of Ilorin in 1981 to concentrate on a mission to remould and take the then small RCCG to every part of the world, opted to shed some weight by appointing a national overseer for the local church. In a move akin to that of biblical Esther, to save the church and its numerous entrapped leaders from humiliation, 74-year old Ifewara, Osun State-born Adeboye announced Pastor Joseph Obayemi as national overseer of RCCG in Nigeria.

The code, proposed in May 2015, limits the number of years heads of corporate organisations can stay in office. It is mandatory for the private sector. It is under the not-for-profit category that churches like the RCCG come under.

The code was later suspended, reportedly after the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, opposed its implementation. While announcing the governance code in October 2016, the  FRCN had said it would take effect from October 17, 2016.

FRCN said, “In accordance with Section 50 of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria Act, 2011, which among other things requires the Directorate of Corporate Governance to develop the principles and practices of Corporate Governance applicable in Nigeria, the Council hereby releases the National Code of Corporate Governance effective 17th October 2016.”

It further said, the “Code of Governance for the Public Sector will not be applicable immediately until an executive directive is secured from the Federal Government of Nigeria. This is due to the fact that the enabling laws that set up most government establishments already carry some form of governance structure that will require an umbrella legislation to unify the different provisions of those laws to synchronise with this Code.”

The was the setting when, Obazee, who was alleged to have had  an  axe to grind with  Adeboye, decided to sidetrack the directive of his supervisor, Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, who had in a letter, advised that the implementation of the law be suspended.  Obazee, one-time zonal pastor at Olivet Zonal Headquarters of the RCCG, Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos State, where obedience to constituted authority is not negotiable, decided to disobey the ministerial directive, saying the minister must back his order with an official gazette.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and several other notable public servants are able to draw the line between spiritual authority and secular authority and still  serve under Adeboye  inspite of their high offices. So what was the reason for Obazee’s behavior? The genesis of a perceived feud between a zonal pastor in the RCCG and his spiritual leader can be found in Obazee’s quest, as the boss of the FRCN, to make religious bodies accountable. He had been quoted as saying: “In keeping other peoples’ money, you have to prepare account. That is why churches fought me so badly, took me to court as a person and then my office too. Mosques and orthodox churches freely complied, but those Pentecostal churches called me to ask questions. They said: ‘This church is church of God and we are accountable to God.’ And I told them: ‘Very good, so you must take this church to heaven, you can’t operate it here’. When public funds are involved, government needs to ensure proper accountability.

“Religious organisations are ordinarily set up as ‘not-for-profit’ and they remain institutions of public character. The challenge, however, is a trend where churches and mosques start dabbling into non-charity ventures like schools, hospitals and so on.

“When you set up a church, your motive is to ensure that people are well focused to go to heaven. Then the money in the church should be targeted at ensuring that people are helped to do that. If you want to set up a school, then it should be free for all your members’ children. If you charge any money, then you are in the same league with other schools outside that are paying taxes to the government.

“If you set up schools, hospitals and the likes under a church, there is a high likelihood that you will be engaging in non-charitable activities within charity. If you are doing that, then what stops Alhaji Aliko Dangote from setting up a mosque and having all his cement, rice and sugar under it? That is actually what some churches and mosques are doing.”

Faced with this hurricane, some Pentecostal ministers, especially the President of Living Faith Church, also known as Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, reportedly approached former President Goodluck Jonathan and Adeboye to forestall the move. Specifically, Oyedepo was said to have appealed to the RCCG leader to help call Obazee, one of his pastors, to order and the G.O. was said to have summoned Obazee.

But the reverred man of God got a rude shock when the younger pastor replied that he was in his Abuja office and that if Adeboye really wanted to see him, he knew what to do, apparently saying the General Overseer should come to Abuja and not vice versa. Sunday Vanguard was unable to confirm whether it was that afront that led to his suspension  by the RCCG, but instead of being remorseful and pleading for pardon, he allegedly transferred his loyalty to a top Pentecostal pastor outside the RCCG.

It was not clear if this development was what angered him, like Haman in the book of Esther, to begin the construction of gallows for Adeboye and  his colleagues in the Pentecostal movement. Another unconfirmed report has it that Obazee had joined some elements within the RCCG seeking to unseat Adeboye especially after his 70th birthday in accordance with a purported law that says the church’s pastors should retire at 70. Sunday Vanguard checks revealed that the RCCG constitution was silent on the retirement age of the General Overseer.

The RCCG though has been cautious in  talking about the travails of Obazee. All the PRO, Pastor Segun Adegbiji, volunteered, last Thursday, was: “Sometimes ago, Daddy G.O. told us that he asked one of his ministers to come and see him and that the person said he is a civil servant and available in his office and that if Pastor Adeboye wanted  to see him, he should come to his office in Abuja. People were obviously shocked because President Muhammadu Buhari, while campaigning for office, asked for an appointment to see the G.O. and he was given 2.00 p.m. but he got to the camp 12.00 noon. When G.O. got to know, he told him (Buhari) that he was not in the habit of keeping people waiting, no matter their status in the society.

“But the then APC candidate, Buhari, replied that he knows that people call Pastor Adeboye Daddy G.O. and he accepts that he is one and won’t take him for granted. Besides, he said he’s aware there can be traffic on the way and to avoid coming late for the appointment, it is better for him to be at the camp earlier.

“There was also a particular time some journalists wanted to interview Daddy and he gave us 12.00 noon but I told the reporters 11.00 a.m. Daddy then asked me to apologize and confess to the journalists that I was the one that gave them 11.00 a.m. and not him. When governors are given appointments, 45 minutes or one hour before the appointed time, they are already at the camp,” Adegbiji maintained, adding that members were obviously shocked to learn that the erstwhile CEO of FRCN could tell Daddy to come and meet him in Abuja.

Obazee is not new to controversy and is alleged to have had the nack to unseat chief executives successfully in the private sector of the economy.

The 2014 sack of former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is, perhaps, one of the most controversial actions of the FRCN under Obazee. Reports indicate that prior to his sack, Sanusi had made weighty allegations against the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He had alleged that billions of dollars accruable to the federation account was being diverted by some persons in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). And in the heat of the storm which followed his allegations, Jonathan, relying on a recommendation of the FRCN, which accused Sanusi of financial recklessness, sacked him.

The October 2015 suspension of Stanbic IBTC’s Chairman Atedo Peterside and group managing director, Sola David-Borha, was also linked to the FRCN under Obazee based on perceived infractions in the 2013-14 financial statements of the bank. It also imposed a fine of N1bn on Stanbic IBTC.

Two days after Adeboye’s announcement to a bewildered RCCG ministers, including  Osinbajo,  that he was quitting as the leader of the RCCG in Nigeria but would remain the head of the church worldwide, in compliance with the FRCN code, Buhari fired Obazee and approved the reconstitution of the regulatory body’s board. In a statement afterwards, Constance Ikokwu, media aide of Minister Okechukwu Enelamah, said the code had also been suspended in order to review it.

“The Corporate Governance Code issued by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigerian has been suspended pending a detailed review, extensive consultation with stakeholders and reconstitution of the board of the FRC,” Enelamah  said.

Mr. Obazee has a B.Sc in accounting from the University of Benin; an M.Sc in accounting from the University of Lagos, and a certification in strategic financial analysis for business evaluation from Harvard University, USA.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and a member of the Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM) and the American Accounting Association (AAA).