Description: Bishop Ndubuisi Obi
By K.C. Nwajei
A NIGERIAN bishop favours adding a qualifier to the Book of Common Prayer’s intercession for those in authority: “Cursed is any politician who intends or attempts to rig the forthcoming 2027 general elections in the country.”
Bishop Ndubuisi Obi of the Diocese of Nnewi, Anambra state, addressed the idea during Morning Prayer on May 4. A video of his remarks has stirred more than 1,000 comments on Facebook.
The bishop expressed sorrow about the unabated killing of innocent citizens, incessant insecurity, electoral malfeasance and fraud, and economic hardship. He said these crises are the consequence of a skewed and compromised electoral system and a lack of responsive governance. Obi said he had a vision in which God asked him to urge the clergy to reframe their “prayer point.”
“Over the years, I have been praying for Nigeria, and yet no change,” Obi said. “Usually, I stay awake every night around 1 to 2 in the morning, praying for Nigeria. One night as I was praying, God told me in a vision that the problem is with the way we clergy pray. The day we start presenting our challenges and addressing the issues pointedly, without this blanket prayer, ‘Let us pray for Nigeria,’ he will answer.”
The bishop’s remarks come against the background of frustrations and growing desperation among millions of the citizens.
Obi discussed his remarks in an interview with The Living Church magazine.
“The problem stems from the way our leaders are elected. The masses are not involved—in fact, not allowed—to choose their leaders,” the bishop said. “Imagine where a group of persons sit in their homes, manipulate electoral outcomes, write results, and foist it on the people, making it impossible for the people’s votes to count.”
He added: “I stand by it and, mind you, in my own synod charge this year, I will reemphasize it. I will be very tough on compromised leaders. I will even say it in a more radical way for everyone to understand what I am saying.”
Bishop Obi expanded his remarks to express frustration with bishops who accept donations from politicians. “Unfortunately, some of our bishops lack the courage to say this, because they collect money from politicians, politicians sponsor their trips overseas, give them rice to share at Christmas with the result that they will never have the boldness to speak truth to power,” he said.
“We are talking because we do not collect anything from government. I personally do not collect a dime from any politician. Even when they force it on the church, I end up using it for welfare. I do not spend politicians’ money on either myself or my family. That is why I am angry at what is happening and can speak like this.”
Obi’s remarks have drawn support from the Rev. Eze Odigbo, a pastor of the Victory Church, a Pentecostal body. “The Scripture that mandates us to pray for all men, especially those in power, states that the purpose is that we may live a quiet and peaceable life (1 Tim. 2:2). Where we find life to have become ‘nasty, brutish and short,’ it will be a dereliction of spiritual duty not to ask God to judge those who consciously contribute to the bad situation,” Odigbo said.
As anger sweeps across the country, with distrust in institutions of state, some are saying there should be consequences for the actions of those in authority.
Anglican activist Gad Onyeanu also sympathizes with the bishop’s remarks. “There is moral decay even among state actors with Christian backgrounds, who take oath of office with the Holy Bible—and yet their attitudes and conduct do not reflect good Christian values, rather they compromise,” he said.
“There is need for us as Anglicans, as the synod is approaching, to tweak the Anglican liturgy ‘Let us pray for people in authority/leaders’ to specifically and pointedly reflect our challenges before God so that God in his infinite mercy could look down from heaven and heal our land.”
K.C. Nwajei is a freelance journalist based in Nigeria. This article first appeared in The Living Church magazine and is reprinted with permission.
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A NIGERIAN bishop favours adding a qualifier to the Book of Common Prayer’s intercession for those in authority: “Cursed is any politician who intends or attempts to rig the forthcoming 2027 general elections in the country.”
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