Dear Mr. Preacherman,

Your impromptu sermons on the state of Nigeria have become quite common listening these days. You bemoan the way our leaders practice corruption and mismanage resources. You condemn the electoral irregularities that are common practice today in our politics. And you exhort all of us to join hands and do what we can to rescue Nigeria from this situation, whether it means exposing criminal activities by our leaders, or taking part in a popular revolution.

Now let me make it clear Mr. Preacherman that our views on the state of the nation are aligned. I agree with you that the poor leadership shown by Nigeria's so-called leaders is responsible for a lot of unhappiness in the land today. However, where I disagree with you is when you call for all of us to participate in rescuing Nigeria from its malaise.

You see, wherever there has been change, there have been men of action behind the change. That's right - I am talking about men who weren't content just to talk about doing things, but who actually went ahead and did those things. These men did not look to their left and right to see who was following them - they were simply so fired up with their passion that they did what they could do. And as their passion was demonstrated by their actions, others were inspired to follow them so that the trickle of supporters became a flood that swept away the old order.

And this is the problem with your sermons. Without demonstrating your desire for change with action, your words of exhortation ring hollow. The majority of Nigerians want change - but they are not prepared to put their lives on the line for it, unless they see someone else who is prepared to do so in the first place. Why should they put their lives at risk to advance the political career of someone who may be an opportunist... someone has not demonstrated his sincere commitment to making Nigeria a better place with concrete action... someone who may start out condeming politicians but may later on turn into the same kind of politician? If someone asked you to march to Abuja and kick out the corrupt Nigerian leadership but was not prepared to lead you there, would you do so? If you cannot honestly answer yes to that question, why should you expect the average Nigerian to answer any differently? You need to demonstrate that you have the courage of your convictions if you really do want to see a change.

You may turn round and say that you do not claim to be a revolutionary yourself - but your words may be the words that inspire a revolutionary to act to cleanse Nigeria of corruption. But your words are not aimed at a particular person - they are aimed at all Nigerians. I don't know if you have ever heard the story of Anybody, Everybody, Somebody and Nobody - in a nutshell, it is the story of what happens when everyone thinks that everyone else will do the job that needs to be done, so that nothing happens. And that is exactly the impression that your message creates - since it is targeted at all Nigerians, I can happily wait until all Nigerians except for me have joined in the revolution, after which I can feel confident about joining in.

But even if you decided to make your message focused on just the one person, you are making a huge assumption that every Nigerian is equally equipped to spearhead the revolution. Some people may simply not have the intelligence to know what to do. Some may not have the resources. Some may not have the time. Some may not have the temperament. Yet, you persist in trying to put them on an almighty guilt trip because in your eyes, they choose not to join in the struggle to overthrow the corrupt leadership. However, to continue to insist that they do this is like asking a chicken to jump off a cliff and fly - just because you tell it that it can do it doesn't make it true.

So what to do? If you really do want a change, you have to follow the advice of Mohandas Gandhi: you must be the change that you wish to see in the world. There is no amount of talking, sermonising or preaching that can get round that simple truth. And it really doesn't matter whether the action that you take towards the change that you seek is large or small - the sacrifice that you make in carrying out the action is significant by itself. Even if you are unable to act on your beliefs, it is better that you give specific advice suited to specific persons as to how they can act to bring about change rather than giving generic advice which is usually unsuitable for most people.

To close, I'll tell you a true story about how one man acted to bring about the change he wanted. There once was a community of people who used to gather on an internet messageboard to exchange lively and intellgent opinion. The intensity of the debate was such that many of the members of the community formed a deep attachment to the messageboard. Then one day, the administrator of the board decided that he was going to close the board for reasons that remain unclear till this day. Thus the members of the community were dispersed to various boards, none of which was suitable for the kinds of discussions they were used to.

Needless to say, the members were shocked and disappointed. They wondered what they were going to do, as many of them had grown to enjoy the debates on the board. There was a lot of complaining and discussion about the matter on the new board. Then one member decided that he was going to do more than just talk. He wasn't going to preach, he wasn't going to form a committee, he wasn't going to write a protest note, he was going to act. So using his own time and resources, he set about creating a new board, and once he had done this, he visited the various boards that the members had been scattered to and informed them about this new board. Soon, they began to congregate, and this new board grew and grew until it became even more popular than the old board. You've probably heard of it before - it's called the Nigerian Village Square.

Robot  Villager

# 1 If you really do want a change, instead of merely talking about it, you have to follow the advic...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 15.11.2007 02:01

Ani  Villager

# 2 Shoko, Something tells me we both worshiped in the same church last Sunday. You even quoted from the same Gandi that the pastor quoted. Posted by Ani| 15.11.2007 02:10

Oloye  Villager

# 3 Shoko, I am the preacherman, the subject of your secular sermon, your secular sermon on the subject of marrying action to words. I say, Shoko, I hear you. I say I hear you now that I have become the penitent and you have adorned the garb of a preacher-priest sermonizing to me on the need to wed my words to motion. I am not used to being in the audience just listening. But now that our roles are reversed, I hear you loud and clear. But I ask you to consider my calling, my occupation, and the economics theory of division of labour. First my calling. I am a priest because I was called by the lord to priesthood as a noble vocation. My innate calling to priesthood (to preachermanship if you will), to become a priest, a pastor, is one beyond my powers. It is, based on my understanding of that calling, consistent with preaching from the pulpit but not necessarily consistent with streetwalking. Second, my occupation, as a pastor, as a priest, is as a result of my acceptance of my calling. I joined and trained in the pastoral ministry that best equips me with the tools to live up to that burden otherwise known as a calling, which I and I alone must carry. Third, Shoko, my brother in the lord, do you understand that ‘division of labour’ requires that each party to an enterprise assume and manage different areas of the joint venture in order to achieve the common goal? Only a renaissance man strives to be everything at the same time. We know now that the renaissance man was wrong for the purposes of joint enterprises. Therefore, I must say to you Shoko, my brother, that I am born, bred, and equipped to preach, to rouse from slumber those that may otherwise sleep eternally; to wake up the dormant spirit of the man of action, which you accuse me of not being; to use the pulpit and the clerical tools available to me to excite the emotions of those who must use their legs. I am a CEO who must guide and guard the office, preach to the workers, and encourage them to produce. In all my duties as a pastor/priest/preacherman, I may use only my mouth, I may use only words, but I am engaged in what I am called to do and what I do best, an action really, while I expect others whose callings, whose occupation, have equipped with the spirit of physical actions, to honor their own areas of calling and expertise so that in the economics sense of division of labour, we will collectively arrive at the common goal. Shoko, I will see you in church on Sunday. Bring your brother Big-K with you. Posted by Oloye| 15.11.2007 06:48

dem  Villager

# 4 But even if you decided to make your message focused on just the one person, you are making a huge assumption that every Nigerian is equally equipped to spearhead the revolution. Some people may simply not have the intelligence to know what to do. Some may not have the resources. Some may not have the time. Some may not have the temperament. Yet, you persist in trying to put them on an almighty guilt trip because in your eyes, they choose not to join in the struggle to overthrow the corrupt leadership. However, to continue to insist that they do this is like asking a chicken to jump off a cliff and fly - just because you tell it that it can do it doesn't make it true. So what to do? If you really do want a change, you have to follow the advice of Mohandas Gandhi: you must be the change that you wish to see in the world. There is no amount of talking, sermonising or preaching that can get round that simple truth. And it really doesn't matter whether the action that you take towards the change that you seek is large or small - the sacrifice that you make in carrying out the action is significant by itself. Even if you are unable to act on your beliefs, it is better that you give specific advice suited to specific persons as to how they can act to bring about change rather than giving generic advice which is usually unsuitable for most people. Hmmm... Innate abilities/talents? Division of labour? Persons' strengths/weaknesses? Charisma? .....? .....? ......? I suppose it is the same reason we go to the same school, but head off in different career pathways. But you're right in so far as we can be the change: Personally we can rise above societal vices, stoutly denounce unfairness whenever and wherever. In short, through our own actions, behaviour, utterances, financial support, idea contribution, logistical muscle, etc, etc, to personally project the society we wish to see and live-in. And to stay on the religious hyperbole; John had to forewarn/foretell the coming of the Christ. Posted by dem| 15.11.2007 07:17

Jah Guda  Villager

# 5 Nigeria’s predicament is a lot worse than India’s when Ghandi was alive. Punks, criminals and killers, not much else, rule Nigeria. The saying, ‘The love of money is the root of all evil’, sums up our predicament, one that's approaching it's 50th year. Any rational person that’s keen on ‘doing something’ about the mess in our Country will ensure their plans are well thought out. Our leaders are well armed and will kill millions if that is what it takes to protect their thieving interests. Remember, our leaders are the catalysts for hundreds-of-thousands of deaths in Nigeria. We all know that every thing we say and do here is just very wordy; some people might say we love words and others might say they have never seen us put our words into actions. True but ironic, true because NVS has given us a means to speak freely, regardless of our location, ironic because freedom has given us our most vicious enemies, our leaders, freedom as in a ‘Democratic Nigeria’, being able to vote and all that. Shoko failed to consider the greatest obstacle to a united front, be it an armed insurrection or a velvet revolution, Social Turbulence. Social turbulence due to tribal and religious allegiances has got to be addressed by anyone who is planning on taking some sort of action. There are many groups in Nigeria with different interest and agendas. Most are waiting for some form of cover to help them realise their dreams. If you do not take this into consideration, we will all be pulling in different directions when the time comes, and that’s a recipe for disaster. The planning for any form of action has to be scientific, all things must be considered, e.g., centered monitoring with scheduled feedback, vigilance as a standard, clandestine group meetings and putting eyes on the streets 24/7, 365. They are lots more, which I cannot discuss openly. As long as we are able to admit that we have got a problem, as opposed to being in complete denial, we are doing the right thing, for the moment. It will happen, planning for things like this takes a while and making your plans and motives public is not a sensible thing to do. When it does happen we shall all wake up to the news. Posted by Jah Guda| 15.11.2007 09:29

Shoko Loko Bangoshe  Villager

# 6 Oloye, Your response reminds me of those churches where everyone feels that they are called by God to be a pastor, but nobody feels called to be an usher. :) You are certainly free to keep on preaching (as you believe you have been called to do) - but you need to consider how effective or convincing your words will be if you never follow them up with action. Dem, Of course different people have different qualities and abilities. The person who may not have the temperament to follow through with a change may have the money to pay for it. The person who may not be ready to sacrifice his way of life for change may be able to spend a small amount of his time in helping someone else who may be ready to do so. But as I have said, it does not help when the patriot preachermen give generic advice which does not speak to each person individually. In fact, the best approach would be to mesh each person's abilities/qualities together in a well thought out plan - but to do this would mean that the preacherman would have to go beyond sermonising and actively organising and recruiting for change, something he has shown himself unwilling to do so far. Mr. Guda, J., I give you seven smoking 'gbosas' for this part of your response: Any rational person that’s keen on ‘doing something’ about the mess in our Country will ensure their plans are well thought out. I did not dwell on this in the article, because my focus was on getting the preacherman to focus on doing - but you are quite correct that you need to plan before you act. I think that the overwhelming majority of Nigerians already agree that there is a problem, so we are ready to move beyond that step. The preacherman is merely retreading old ground - in fact, his sermons are in danger of sending people to sleep if he does not vary them by demonstrating his commitment to change. Posted by Shoko Loko Bangoshe| 15.11.2007 11:16

ula-lisa  Villager

# 7 So what to do? If you really do want a change, you have to follow the advice of Mohandas Gandhi: you must be the change that you wish to see in the world. There is no amount of talking, sermonising or preaching that can get round that simple truth. And it really doesn't matter whether the action that you take towards the change that you seek is large or small - the sacrifice that you make in carrying out the action is significant by itself. Even if you are unable to act on your beliefs, it is better that you give specific advice suited to specific persons as to how they can act to bring about change rather than giving generic advice which is usually unsuitable for most people. I guess this write-up addresses the Preacherman too who wrote this... In order to act, there has to be a consensus, to have a consensus, you need persons who read and think to: 1. Identify THE PROBLEMS 2. Seek a consensus with those set to work to REMEDY 3. WORK to bring the solution. I knew a preacher once who was sent to preach... In preaching he saw that every preacher was preaching the 'Prosperity Gospel'. He searched the preacher book to find out if the master preached this...it was not so. IT WAS THE OPPOSITE. He started preaching against this doctrine of 'Prosperity' as from the devil or doctrines of Balaam (lovers of themselves more than lovers of God). Soon others saw the light. Even some of the Prosperity Preachers started modifying their preaching because he took them on head-on. He was doing work, although he was but a small town preacher. Another preacher took on the other preachers for being racist and others for not preaching against racism enough...soon all the white pastors started tumbling to the inner city where he lived to do ministry because he had confronted their hypocrisy in his book of the methods of preachermen. Yet another preacher took on the new teaching of Kingdom Principles of being literal kings and princes in this world...he said that was not the master preached...he preached about the greatest being the least, the servant,...we await the result... Preachermen preach!!! That is thei job and calling... And sometimes other preachermen do not agree with them... ...And sometimes they are locked up, sometimes they are persecuted, they tell their colleagues all that is going on...they also look over their shoulders as they pray. I have also seen the film Ghandi. Go see it everyone. Much Love Da Bishop. Posted by ula-lisa| 15.11.2007 11:33

Oloye  Villager

# 8 =Shoko Loko Bangoshe;2091820310>Oloye, Your response reminds me of those churches where everyone feels that they are called by God to be a pastor, but nobody feels called to be an usher. :) You are certainly free to keep on preaching (as you believe you have been called to do) - but you need to consider how effective or convincing your words will be if you never follow them up with action. . Shoko can't take a joke ??????????????????????? You really think I will make a good preacher????? With this type of reaction to my very first attempt at preaching, I really should take it seriously because I seem to have rattled something providencial. I am proud of myself. Posted by Oloye| 15.11.2007 14:09

Shoko Loko Bangoshe  Villager

# 9 Oloye, This is one of the problems of communicating in cyberspace - you can't hear the tone of voice or see the gestures of the person you're talking with, so it's not always clear how he feels. Even smileys don't always work - you could view my smiley as fake or sarcastic. Anyway, rest easy - I ain't mad at ya. Posted by Shoko Loko Bangoshe| 15.11.2007 14:29

fredlintaz  Villager

# 10 Bros Shoko: You've got my vote on this: "So what to do? If you really do want a change, you have to follow the advice of Mohandas Gandhi: you must be the change that you wish to see in the world." Ultimately, we are all responsible for our individual actions, for good or bad. Whether we have been misled by bad leaders, or not, is not going to count for much in terms of our individual responsibility to avoid being deceived and to do what is right. Small steps by each of us in doing things selflessly to impact the lives of those around us for their good can turn the national mess into a mountain of progress. It is possible. --Fred Igbeare Posted by fredlintaz| 15.11.2007 16:23