I know this title will disturb some Bible scholars, especially those who have turned the words of salvation to words of motivation. Men who preach “Heresy’ to steal the minds of their congregants in the name of the “God says”.
One of my best chapters in the Bible is the book of first Corinthians Chapter 13. It speaks greatly about love. It defines love with an extraordinary spirit and I must thank Apostle Paul for his exposé on love.
It reads “Love never fails but where there are prophecies they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled and where there is knowledge it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part and when the completeness comes, what is in part will disappear”.
The completeness has come and it is “LOVE”, so let the incompleteness , that is all the prophecies, all the speaking in tongues, all philosophies of men disappear. The practical analysis of this chapter was witnessed in this country on February 25, 2023 when love spoke louder than prophecy and killed politics of religion, ethnicity and hate.
It gladens my heart that the writer of the book of Corinthians was a former Sect Leader, Saul, who got converted to Paul the Apostle. Saul was a prosecutor of Christians, an example of an infidel and terrorist against Christians. As Paul, having being in the theatre of religious extremism was more qualified to write those great chapters of the Bible.
My import is that the Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima was severally described as Boko Haram leader by Christian fanatics ahead of the 2023 presidential election. The president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was condemned for a Muslim-Muslim ticket and the country was divided along religious lines by fake prophets and diverse tongues of politicians who turned the pulpits to podia of political alignments.
Religious and political leaders extolled prophecies and ethnicity above love but the results of the last presidential elections radiated the words of Paul that in this very season, all wisdom of men and their prophecies will have to fail so that God’s love can come.
Frankly, I was afraid just like many others who preferred love to religiosity and ethnicity when the presidential results from Lagos came in and Peter Obi of Labour Party won based on religious and ethnic sentiments.
And when Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party started winning the APC strongholds of Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Yobe and Gombe, I lost hope that perhaps the results of the elections might be a consequence of ethnicity.
Again, the results from the southeast dazed me as a pure ethnic show when Peter Obi dominated all with almost 95 per cent in all the states that Labour Party had no structure.
But for love, Tinubu of APC was gathering votes little by little and winning Zamfara, Jigawa, Borno, Kogi, Kwara, Niger to consolidate what APC had lost to PDP and LP. In the southeast, Tinubu lost all, in the southsouth, he polled second, in the southwest he polled first, in the Northwest, he polled first and in the Northcentral, he polled first and won the election by love, not by prophecy, not by ethnicity, not by opinion poll, not by religiosity but by love and the words of God.
Not only did he win, his election broke the jinx of politics of ethnicity and religiosity. It defies fake prophecies and knowledge of men who prophesied and came up with various opinion polls to chart a path of victory for a particular candidate.
God is alone and will not share His glory with any man. Had their prophecies come to pass, men would have turned God.
Kunle Awosiyan is a journalist based in Lagos
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