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| Fasehun |
Nigeria is losing her best brains and
citizens to the brain-drain syndrome. This phenomenon has become an albatross
on our country. Estimates recently placed a figure of 15,000 on Nigerian medical
doctors who have left these shores for so-called greener pastures abroad, a
trend that has further worsened our healthcare deficit.
Our country and our
people are the losers for this sort of mass exodus and time has come to take
the bull by the horn and stop this inordinate rush whereby citizens scamper
from Nigeria like rats from a burning ship.
However, it becomes even more
worrisome when dignitaries who are industrial giants, labour employers, foreign
exchange earners and development catalysts begin to contemplate uprooting
themselves and leaving the country. Then we have on our hands a national
emergency requiring urgent attention and intervention. It is in this regard
that I have taken it upon myself to address the Press this morning.
Social Media and Mass Media last
week went agog with sensational news that Pastor Temitope Balogun Joshua OFR,
the Founder and Prophet at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun area
of Lagos State, announced that he was leaving Nigeria for Israel, where he had
been provided with land, building and facilities. The man of God said he was relocating
in order to escape persecution at home.
Prophet Temitope
Balogun Joshua’s exit will be one brain-drain incident too many; it will be a
tragedy of no mean proportion and a national embarrassment if such an eminent
personality went on self-exile from his Fatherland. Nigeria and Nigerians must
do everything possible to ensure that this international Preacher and Televangelist
rescinds the decision and remains at home to operate in his divine calling.
Ever since he opened his church in
the suburban area of Ikotun about 30 years ago, Joshua has added innumerable
value to this humble environment that has turned into a Mecca for local and
foreign dignitaries. Thanks to Pastor Joshua, Ikotun has become a veritable
tourism hotspot for local and foreign worshippers, who flock the Synagogue for
verifiable healings, deliverance, miracles and prosperity.
Nigeria
stands to lose several positive dividends currently bestowed by SCOAN on not
just Ikotun Lagos, but also on the entire country.
Spiritually
speaking, we shall be losing a giant intercessor, whose prayers and those of
other men and women of God across all religions, are helping to sustain the
peace and sanity of this country.
SCOAN’s
relocation amounts to losing our country’s reputedly biggest tourist
attraction, the most visited destination point by religious tourists in West
Africa, a place that the Nigerian Immigration Service acknowledges as hosting
six of every 10 foreigners travelling to this country.
We
shall be losing the economic benefit and potentials of religious tourism, a
sector in which SCOAN commands about 2 million local and international tourists
annually.
The
airlines shall be losing customers coming to Lagos from several African,
European and Asian countries as well as the Americas and Australia.
Local businesses and hoteliers directly
established to service patrons of this ministry will close shop.
We shall be losing Prophet Joshua
and SCOAN’s donations, charities and philanthropy worth no less than N8 billion
in scholarships, disaster relief, house rent support, sports and sportsmen
sponsorship and others.
For these reasons and more, I join
my voice to those of other well-meaning Nigerians to plead that the man of God,
Prophet T.B. Joshua, the pride of Nigeria and Africa, should remain in Nigeria
to assist our economy and our spirito-moral development.
We are proud of you, Pastor T.B.
Joshua, and we do not want to lose you to any other lands. We are proud that
despite all the vicissitudes that Nigerians have experienced, you did not jump
out of Nigeria but chose to stay, a great sacrifice for a world-acclaimed
celebrity like you reputed to be one of the world’s 50 most influential people.
What shall we say about the calibre of your spiritual standing exported to most
parts of the world? What shall we say of the spiritual succour you bring, which
true to your ministry’s name, the Synagogue Church of all Nations, daily brings
healings and miracles that remind Christians all over the world of the power of
the God they serve? What shall we say of the economic advantage Nigerians enjoy
through visitors from all over the world spending millions in international
currencies like Dollars, Rands, Pounds, Euros, etc? What of the benefits of
billions of naira you bring to local businesses, transportation, hotels,
eateries and the hospitality industry patronised by local and international
visitors, who visit the Synagogue, not minding the rugged and bad roads they must
traverse to reach the church?
What shall we say of your
incomparable humility that attracts people from all nations? What shall we say
of the status of foreign Heads of State who come to witness the miracles in the
Synagogue? Will the people of northern Nigeria ever forget the thousands of
bags of rice and millions of Naira you donate to them at Christmas, Easter and
during emergencies?
What shall we say of your generosity
and philanthropy in foreign lands, charities you dispense in the name of
Nigeria to those foreign countries ravaged by the vagaries of nature like
volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides and war?
You should know that it is only the
grace of God that has allowed you to flourish, despite the bad hand that
Nigerians have dealt you in return for your goodness. Accept that God has
created you to be one of us and carry on operating here. Despite all you have
suffered, God has promoted your Ministry into an international tourist attraction
that has hosted eminent personalities, Heads of States, Presidents of
countries, international artistes, Army Generals and international
organisations.
Israel is offering you citizenship to
add value to her land and people. But sir, as an undisputed man of God in
Nigeria, Nigeria needs your presence in these trying times of decadence and
spiritual and cultural underdevelopment. Remember that your Lord and Master, Jesus
Christ, did not abandon Israel even in the time of His persecution. Rather, He
prayed to God to forgive His earthly kinsmen because they did not know what
they were doing. In the true spirit of Jesus Christ, please, Prophet Joshua, discountenance
Nigeria’s failure to appreciate your sterling qualities, your remarkable generosity,
your transparent humility and your concern for humanity everywhere. Please,
don’t leave Nigeria for another land. God sent Jesus to Israel and He has
created you for Africa, especially Nigeria. Please, stay with us and you will
never be crucified in the name of the Lord Jesus.
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE
CHURCH
It is commendable that in
recognition of the Prophet’s contribution to nation-building, Nigeria’s Information
Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has urged Pastor T.B. Joshua to shelve his
decision to relocate to Israel. However, government will do more than plead. The
Federal Government and the Lagos State Government must immediately stop the ongoing
judicial persecution of Prophet T.B. Joshua. Instead of behaving like the
envious ancient Jews did to Jesus, government must ensure that this Prophet
receive honour at home not just abroad.
An apian way should be constructed
to link the Synagogue with our international airport. Like the Vatican, electricity
should be made available 24/7 where the church is located in the Ikotun area of
Lagos, with maximum security guaranteed to the life and property of church
goers and residents.
I urge the Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria (PFN) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to give Pastor
T.B. Joshua a hand of fellowship by according him a befitting role as a model and
mentor to young and upcoming clerics who will be trained to imbibe his spirit
of humility and selfless service to God and man.
TEXT
OF A PRESS CONFERENCE BY DR. FREDERICK FASEHUN, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE
OODUA PEOPLE’S CONGRESS (OPC) AND NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE UNITY PARTY OF
NIGERIA (UPN), AT CENTURY HOTEL, OKOTA, LAGOS MAY 10, 2017
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