Pastor in charge of the City of David (wing of RCCG) in the U.S., JOE TARKON, tells Senior Correspondent, ISHAYA IBRAHIM, why he is wary of the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
As most Nigerians, Joe Takon, the Pastor-in-charge of City of David, the United States wing of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), is worried on incidences of violence in the coming elections.
The elections are scheduled for February 14 (Presidency and National Assembly) and 28 (Governorship and Houses of Assembly), amid alleged prediction by a think-tank of American government that Nigeria could disintegrate in 2015, if nothing is done to stem the tide of religious schism in the country.
Takon says Boko Haram makes the doom’s day prediction a possibility, if not well managed.
“When you consider the fact that this Boko Haram crisis has a strong religious undertone or overtone, you will worry for Nigeria naturally,” he said.
The periodical bouts of violence by the anarchist group has resulted in at least 16,000 deaths.
“It is believed that the number of people who have died through the violent and unconscionable attack by Boko Haram is more than the number of people who have died in any other country through any religious or factional sectarian crisis in this decade. So, Nigeria has lost more people than any other country in this decade,” he further lamented.
He envisages that the terrorist attacks, though currently confined to the North of the country, and allegedly perpetrated by Muslim extremists, could worsen the tensed relationship between Muslim and Christians.
“Whether extremist or fundamentalist or zealot Muslims, it is just by Muslims. And the way Nigeria is, it is divided along two major religious lines – Christians and Muslims. The North is largely Muslims and the South is largely Christians. If this violence continues in the North, and people are being killed repeatedly in the North, what will happen naturally is that some people will want to leave the North and come to the South.
“Whether the South is now a safer place to live, I don’t know. But from the way things are, I am afraid of going to the North because of the presence of these fundamentalists. So, on the prediction that Nigeria might disintegrate in 2015, the pointers are there. But I believe that by the grace of God Nigeria will not disintegrate,” he said.
In the coming presidential election, Takon urged Nigerians to reject a fundamentalist Muslim to avoid Islamism playing itself into the body polity of the country and threatening its existence.
The contenders for the presidency are the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the North, and President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the South.
For Takon, Buhari should be rejected by the electorate due to his alleged religious views.
“From the little I have read about Buhari, I saw extremist tendency in the man. For instance, when the government was considering negotiating with Boko Haram, why would Boko Haram nominate him as their chief negotiator, if he did not have sentiments that were sympathetic to Boko Haram?” he queried.
The former head of state, remarkably, turned down the offer by the murderous group.
Even Buhari’s choice of running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, a pastor of the RCCG, does not impress Takon.
“If General Buhari does not have these extreme religious tendencies, I would not have a problem with him choosing anybody as his vice presidential candidate. Osinbajo is somebody with authentic character, somebody with strong conviction and religious principles. I don’t think there is a problem with that. My only problem is whether his deliberate choice of a Christian as associate is not a ploy to ensure that he wins Christian supports by any means,” he remarked.
The cleric also flayed his colleagues who run schools that are unaffordable to members of their church, saying it is unbiblical.
He said: “I personally believe that it is not proper for a church that collects money from its members to now build a school using the resources of those members, and make it unaffordable for them. It is not biblical.
“The money they collect is from their members. If I am to do a thing like that, I will give my members discount. You did not collect the money from the wealthy people who are now bringing in their children to the school; you collected the money from your members! It is unconscionable for anybody to do that and go to bed and sleep comfortably.
“Some of them give sacrificially and you now build a school and make the school unaffordable for your members. How can people go to sleep with that? When the missionaries came, they made sacrifices for us to get educated. Now that we are educated, now that we have built churches, now that we have gotten our people to come to these churches, we collect their money, build a school that makes it unaffordable for the people whose money you collected. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.