24th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture Celebrating Bishop Mike Okonkwo’s 80th Birthday

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KEYNOTE LECTURE BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, IMMEDIATE PAST VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE 24TH MIKE OKONKWO ANNUAL LECTURE ON THE 4TH OF SEPTEMBER, 2025

Protocols

I thank my dear Father in the Lord, Bishop Mike Okonkwo, for doing me the exceptional honour of this invitation to deliver your 80th birthday lecture.

And I must say that I would not have passed up this opportunity for any reason. And why is this? Bishop Okonkwo has been an important, catalytic part of my own journey, spiritually and politically. The first time that I heard Bishop Okonkwo preach was on television. I was not a born-again Christian. He was wearing a shirt with a tie and suspenders. He preached for a few minutes about repentance and salvation in Christ, and he made an altar call. And when he finished praying for those who might have been saved, he said something that I had never heard before. He said, “go to a Bible-believing church near you and let the pastor know you have received Christ so that they can help you to grow in the faith.” And it crossed my mind that this was unusual to pay for a TV broadcast and not advertise your own church.

It remained with me for very many years after. And subsequently, years to come, I also became a Christian, a born-again Christian. I had interacted with Bishop Mike several years after that, but the second notable encounter was when, in 2014-2015, I was nominated as vice presidential candidate of the APC. There was a controversy at the time amongst Christian leaders as to whether our ticket, that is, the Buhari-Osinbajo ticket, should be supported. Bishop Mike had made up his mind and made it clear that he was supporting our ticket because of me. A meeting of senior Pentecostal leaders was called to decide the matter.

They were all men of God whom I knew well and who knew me well. It was Bishop Mike who asked me to attend the meeting to make my case to the other leaders. I arrived at the venue of the meeting and I sat in the waiting room.

Many of the influential leaders at that meeting insisted that I must not be allowed into the meeting. And many, of course, considered my candidacy an aberration. And they clearly did not support the ticket.

Bishop Mike was so angry, and he said he was shocked that a born-again Christian pastor whom they all knew well would not be given an opportunity to speak to Christian leaders about a matter of such great importance. When the matter was becoming a near altercation, I was advised to leave. Bishop Mike remained adamant. I left, of course, but Bishop Mike remained adamant that I must be given a chance to make my case to Christian leadership. A few days later, he welcomed me to the meeting of regional heads of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria that was then at the TREM headquarters.

There, he gave me an opportunity to speak. It was an important meeting because I was able to clarify several misconceptions about our party and its presidential candidate. Through the years, Bishop Mike remained a steadfast supporter, helper and guide of my political journey until I left office.

Sir, I am extremely grateful, not just for your forthrightness and strong support, even when it did not appear at the time that we would even win the election, but even more for your constant support and encouragement till this very day. I want to thank you very much, sir, because not only did you stand up when very few were prepared to stand up, but you spoke up courageously to many people at the time. And you spoke in a manner that I think even I was surprised, because several of those whom you challenged on that occasion are people who usually are not challenged in that way. So, I want to thank you very much, sir.

In your remarkable run in ministry, you have had the unflinching love and support of our Mother in the Lord, Bishop Peace Okonkwo and I am not sure, I think the story I heard is true, that when Bishop Mike was a poor, struggling preacher, after leaving his lucrative banking job in obedience to the call of God to ministry, Bishop Peace, who was then doing very well in England, still left all her comfort and chose to join Bishop Mike here in Nigeria.

Your steadfastness and loyalty, and love then, and since, have birthed this lighthouse of the ministry, whose impact continues to reverberate all over the world. Thank you for being a beacon of exemplary Christianity for this generation. Thank you.

Before I go into the theme of this lecture, let me say first that after listening to Major General Ike Nwachukwu as well as Dr Idika Kalu, I not only agree with everything that we have said, but I’m very happy that I chose the topic that I chose because otherwise, I wouldn’t have had any lecture to give. They have, in fact, covered practically everything that ought to be said on the subject.

The theme of the lecture, as we’ve heard, is “The Nigeria of our Dream: Today’s Reality and a Responsible Pathfinder.” Within that theme, I have chosen to focus on the church as a responsible pathfinder in attaining the Nigeria of our dreams. There’s only one group of people that the bible says God will hold accountable for the destiny of their nations. It is not the politicians, it’s not businessmen, it’s Christians, those who are called by His name, the purveyors of the gospel of Christ. God said in 2nd Chronicles 14: “If my people who are called by my Name, will humble themselves, pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.” It is what His people do, not what politicians do, not what businessmen do, that will lead to or determine God’s intervention.

It is to these same people that the mandate to transform nations has been given by Jesus Christ. Matthew 28 verse 19: “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” These are the same people Christ described as the salt of the earth and the light of the world, Matthew 5 verse 13-14. It is these people whose light must not be hidden under a bushel but must shine to give light to all in the house, whether they are of the Christian faith or not.

It is these people called the Church, not a building, because the house of God is in the believer, that the Scriptures describe in 1st Timothy 3 verse 15, the second part, “as the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth.” It is this place which must issue forth the principles that will guide and direct the nations of the world. Why is it that it is this group of people God gives this responsibility? It is because these people carry the gospel of Jesus Christ, by far, the most transformative text ever given to mankind. It has been responsible for transforming nations and people; clearly, the most powerful force on earth. It is as the Scriptures say in Romans 1 verse 16, “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.”

This same gospel transformed Europe and America so dramatically that ancient Asian civilisations, which were well advanced of European civilisation at the time, like Japan, were amazed at how formally barbarian civilisations such as the Europeans could, in a few short years, outstrip their own then more advanced civilisations. They had to send some of their best minds to find out how, and we will get back to that momentarily. Let’s look at how the gospel transformed Europe and America and later Asia, beginning with Japan.

This pervasive influence of the gospel started with the Protestant Reformation in Europe beginning in the 15^th Century. It was the Puritans, (a group of people described as the inheritors of the Reformation) whose teachings in Britain and later in Europe and then in America with the Pilgrim Fathers, inspired predominantly by the teachings of John Calvin who talked on the authority of scripture, disciplined Christian life and the strong moral duty of the church in reforming society that was largely responsible for the transformation of the institutions of democracy as well as the institutions of the marketplace.

First, we must acknowledge that it was the message preached on the pulpits that transformed the lives of those who were Christians then and their societies. As scripture says in Romans 10 verse 17, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” It is the preachers of the gospel who hold the key to the transformative experience of the gospel. If the gospel is preached correctly, it will create renewed, regenerated men and women, and what is preached, whether it is good or bad, can be so powerful that the bible warns, take heed what you hear, Mark 4 verse 24. Because what you hear determines how you think and who you become. Scripture says, “as a man thinketh, so he is,” Proverbs 23 verse 7.

What did the preachers of that era preach? What were the principles they were preaching? I will do a very quick list of the principles that they preached. They preached the principle of hard work and productivity as the basis of wealth, education, taking care of the poor and vulnerable, high moral values, including integrity and trustworthiness, respect for credit and obligation. Let’s look at some of those in a bit of detail.

So, on the principles for economic success, for example, the Puritans preached first that work is a divine principle because God Himself set the pattern of work and productivity. In Genesis 2, verse 2, it says, “and on the seventh day, God ended His work, which He had done. And He rested on the seventh day from all the work which He had done.”

The second principle that they preached was that humans, we human beings, are made in the image of God, as scripture says in Genesis 1, verse 27. And so they inherit, we humans, inherit God’s creative abilities. So, according to these teachings, humans are unique among God’s creations because they possess the gift of versatile creativity.

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So, you take Africa’s cocoa industry, for instance. Africa produces most of the world’s raw cocoa. In many cases, countries export raw cocoa, adding no value. However, countries that have no cocoa at all, but process cocoa into chocolate, capture 96% of the profits. The raw materials producers receive only 4% of the value.

So, God gave sub-Saharan Africa 230 million hectares of arable land; He gave Israel only 440,000 hectares, less than a million hectares of arable land. But Israel is a net exporter of agricultural produce, and sub-Saharan Africa is a net importer of agricultural produce, despite all the arable land.

Now this illustration shows how adding value through processing creates wealth. So, the Puritans on the pulpits of Europe traditionally taught that this work-based approach to prosperity, emphasising hard work, diligence, adding value to resources, and building wealth gradually through consistent effort. So, the meaning of the power to get wealth, as is contained in Deuteronomy 8 verse 18, is that God gives us the power of creativity and innovation to be productive as we work diligently.

Now this is, unfortunately,  contrary or the opposite of messages that we hear sometimes on our pulpits in Nigeria and many parts of Africa. Messages of miraculous wealth, messages of miracle money alerts, anointing for wealth, and various versions of the doctrine that donations or sowing seeds will automatically return as wealth. Now, these types of messages do not build economies or institutions; rather, they create a mindset that wealth will come by supernatural means, and they urge that we ignore work and productivity, and that we focus on the miraculous. That, of course, is no way to build nations. And that is why the gospel that transformed other nations economically and transformed societies economically is powerless to do the same if we preach the gospel in the wrong way.

Second, the preachers of the Reformation preached that every type of work, every legitimate occupation, was a calling through which God accomplishes His purposes. So, their message was that serving God was not necessarily being a full-time pastor or church worker, whatever your occupation was, so long as it was done faithfully as unto God.

Martin Luther, for example, held that what seemed or is described as secular occupations are misnomers, such as farming, trading, engineering, accounting, or teaching, or even household chores. He said that they are seen by God as praise to Him when done faithfully, and that they represent an obedience which is well-pleasing to God. So, the preachers of the gospel also emphasized honesty and integrity in every aspect of life.

The church in Germany, for example, had a catechism on the Ten Commandments, which was taught regularly. So, for example, the commandment, thou shalt not steal, was broken down into various practical implications. So, if you are an employee and you use your employer’s time for your own benefit, you are stealing, because you are being paid and not working for your pay.

And they give a practical example, they say even if you leave work to attend a church service without the permission of your boss, you are stealing, because you are getting paid without working. So, taking money that does not belong to you, no wonder the average German worker developed a strong work ethic and strong values of integrity.

John Calvin, who established his ministry in the very important business and trading city of Geneva in the 16th century, preached that honest and fair-trading practices were important in glorifying God. He preached to the congregations in Geneva, and of course, this was a great influence all over Europe, that even to glorify God, you cannot glorify God without being an honest person, without being an honest trader. You cannot glorify God.

He taught that cheating in commerce was a sin against the image of God in my brother. Calvin, through his teaching and preaching and advocacy, got the authorities of the State of Geneva, which later became a part of Switzerland, to enact laws to ensure that the use of standardized weights and measures in trading came into force, and also to prevent cheating and dishonesty. Calvin’s model influenced Protestant towns across Europe.

Many of them adopted similar ordinances and enforcement bodies. And so, they laid the early foundations for consumer protections and corporate accountability in modern legal systems. So, when we talk about consumer protection today, when we talk about corporate accountability today in our legal system, these foundations were laid by John Calvin and the Protestants of that time.

The vigorous teachings from the pulpits on ethics in business, ethics in the factories and places of work, led to a revolution in the work ethic in many parts of Europe, which is why the work ethic of honest, hard work and diligence was actually named after Christians of that era. It was called the Puritanic Work Ethic. So, all over Europe and later America, this was how Christian principles were taught, and how the Christians in the marketplace, in politics, in the professions, in entertainment, were able to influence their societies and establish righteousness everywhere they were found.

No wonder then that in those nations, stealing of public funds, bribery and corruption were the exception, and certainly not the rule. The church itself condemned dishonest practices and corruption openly. It was clear that you could not bring money, which was the proceeds of corruption, near the church, because hard work and productivity and integrity were the only acceptable ways of acquiring wealth as a Christian. Any sudden or unexplained wealth would lead to ostracisation. You would be ostracised from the church if you were found to have money that you couldn’t explain.

The church in that era also preached the egalitarian notions of liberty, of justice, of fairness and equality. The pulpits’ teaching from Genesis 1 verse 27, that God created man in His own image, meant that all men were equal before God, and all the laws and actions must protect that equality. It was these principles that established the principles of fundamental human rights, the Universal Declaration of Rights, and equal treatment under the law. In the same way, they preached what then became the founding principles of the rule of law.

And this is found in Deuteronomy 17, verses 18 to 20, that the king himself must obey the law so that no one is above the law. And the law stands over all, the law stands over everyone.

So, the Magna Carta Libertatum, many of us lawyers are familiar with the Magna Carta, which is the greatest charter of the liberties from which all of the other charters of liberties have been derived, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other charters of freedom. All of them are founded on Christian principles.

How about taking care of the poor? How about taking care of the poor and the vulnerable? The Puritan preachers reminded their congregations that even in the Old Testament, God made it abundantly clear that caring for the poor was non-negotiable for His people, and that He would bless those who did so.

Deuteronomy 15 verse 7 to 11 lays out God’s heart, and it says, “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God has given you, you shall not harden your heart, nor short your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him, and willingly to lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.” Indeed, the only context where God promises to bless all that you do is when you are giving to the poor. Deuteronomy 15 verse 10.

This theme echoes throughout Scripture. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done. Proverbs 19 verse 17.

If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry, and you satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness. Isaiah 58 verse 10. God ties our light, our healing, and our blessing to how we treat the hungry and the afflicted.

So, the Puritans preached, they preached on their pulpits that the early Christians considered the welfare of the poor a cornerstone of the Christian faith. Talking about the fresh mandate, Paul, when he was talking about the fresh mandate that he received for his ministry from the elders of the church in Jerusalem, he said in Galatians 2 verse 9 to 10, he said that all that the elders in Jerusalem desired of him was that he should remember the poor.

The very thing which I was also eager to do. In James 1 verse 27, true religion is defined. It says religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless in very practical terms is what? To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

So, caring for widows and orphans, the people at the bottom of society, is what God calls pure religion. And the Puritans demonstrated in their preachings, how in Acts 4 verse 32 to 35, the early Christians took responsibility for the poor in their midst. In verse 32, it says, “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, neither did anyone say that any of the things that he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; none among the Christian population lacked.”

Why was there no one who lacked? It says for all who were possessors of land or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles’ feet, and they distributed to each as anyone had need. And this is important because sometimes people give the impression that what is required is to sell everything, lay it at the apostles’ feet, and none will lack.

No, that’s not what the scriptures say. If you sell everything and put it at the apostles’ feet, people will lack unless the apostles share such that none will lack. That’s what the scriptures say.

In fact, the distribution to the needy, the distribution to the needy was such a key part of church life that the apostles in Jerusalem created an official role for it. It was the office of the Deacon in Acts 6. So, the office of the Deacon initially was for people who would be distributing food. As you know, in Acts 6, it was established specifically to manage the fair daily distribution of food to widows.

And scripture says that they chose seven men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to oversee this task of distributing food. Why? Because making sure that the vulnerable were cared for was vital to the church’s witness. This was the church. This is how the church is to operate. So only the very best was put forward to do that task. It wasn’t a side project. It wasn’t a department. No. It was the core ministry of the church.

Jesus told two stories of people who ended up in hell. There were stories of those who refused or failed to help the poor and the vulnerable. The first, as you know, is in Luke 16, verses 19 to 31. The rich man who saw poor and sick Lazarus outside his house every day, but he did not extend help. The second story that he told, of course, you know that what then happened was that Lazarus ended up in heaven. Not necessarily because he was poor, but that’s another matter. But the rich man ended up in hell. But in Matthew 25, verses 31 to 46, Jesus concluded that those who ignore the poor and needy, ignore Him. And those who help the poor and needy, give to Him.

So, the definition of giving to God, as described by Jesus Christ, is giving to the poor. That’s the definition, as described by Christ. Matthew 25, verse 40 says, “As surely I say to you, since you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.”

Whatever you do for the poorest, you do it for God. The consequence of ignoring the poor and needy is, according to Jesus, if you look at Matthew 25, hellfire. This was what the early church and the churches in the countries where the gospel transformed nations preached.

It was this gospel that transformed Europe and America. The framework for the formal government welfare schemes, or social security schemes, was developed by Luther and other reformers in the 16th Century. So, the early Lutheran reformers adopted as a motto, and I quote, “there should be no beggars amongst Christians.” They believed that a Godly community should meet all its members’ basic needs. Luther said it was a scandal for there to be persistent poverty and begging among Christian brethren, given the bible’s call for mutual love among brothers.

As early as 1520, in his open letter to the Christian nobility, Luther called on princes to assume the responsibility for the poor by eliminating corrupt ecclesiastical luxury and redirecting resources to those in need. So, church leadership had no business living in luxury when there were so many in need. In 1522, the city of Wittenberg created an ordinance to gather the wealth of dissolved monasteries, church donations and revenue into a common chest, a common fund for community welfare. The common chest would then provide for the poor residents so that begging would become unnecessary. They offered outright relief inform of food, clothing, arms to the indigent, the elderly, the sick, to the disabled. They provided interest-free or low-interest loans to struggling artisans to help them stay afloat. They supported orphans and poor children, including paying for education and apprenticeships, and they even supplied dowries for impoverished young women so that they could respectively marry. This model spread to several European cities.

The pulpits of Europe and America preaching the principles of the gospel transformed individuals and their behaviour in accordance with scripture in Romans 28 verse 2. The minds of individuals were renewed by what they heard from the pulpits. They no longer conformed to the immorality and corruption of the societies that they lived in.

As men and women became transformed, societies and nations were transformed. As men and women built their businesses, vocations and professions on sound, moral and biblical principles, realising that work or labour itself is honourable, believing the scripture that in all labour, there is profit, and as men identified themselves in the creative power of God, creativity and innovation flourished, and the industrial revolution roared into life.

Max Weber concluded that it was the Protestant Reformation and the Puritan work ethic that were largely responsible for oiling the Industrial Revolution. The French philosopher and thinker, Alex de Tocqueville, went in search of why America was great. He said: “I sought for the genius of America in her great harbours and ample rivers, and I didn’t find it there. I sought the greatness and genius of America in her fertile fields and boundless forests, and it wasn’t there. I sought the greatness and genius of America in her rich minds and her vast world commerce, and it wasn’t there. I sought the greatness and genius of America in her public school system, her institutions of learning, and it wasn’t there. I sought the greatness and genius of America in her democratic processes and her matchless constitution, but it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard the pulpits afflamed with righteousness did I find the reason for America’s greatness and power.”

The new Western civilization, brought about by the principles and practise of the gospel, stunned the old civilization of Asia. In 1871, the Meiji Emperor of Japan sent a mission, which was named after the head of the mission, the Iwakura Mission; 100 Japanese leaders, government officials and students, to study Europe and America, spending 18 months to understand the reason for the dramatic progress of Western civilization and how they could construct a modern nation.

One of their major findings was, and I quote the Japanese social historian Izumi Saburo, who said, “the most startling discovery the Japanese mission made was how Christianity acted as the spiritual pillar holding up Western civilization.” The mission members saw this as an ethical support and an encouragement to diligence. They began to discuss how Japan would do the same and reproduce these principles. The Japanese copied these scriptural principles, not the gospel itself, which would have been a greater victory for them, but they copied the principles and benefited from the phenomenal growth of Western civilization. I must say that there is no developed society today, be it Christian, Muslim or completely secular, that developed without observing these same principles. These same principles that developed the nations of Europe and America were enunciated in the gospel and preached by the Puritans in the churches, especially during and subsequent to the Reformation.

Today, many in Western countries don’t even practice Christianity anymore. Which is a big shame, because we know the consequences of not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. But these principles have become cultural for them, and they are practised as norms, even where there is no specific law.

So, the question then is simple: what is being taught on our pulpits? Is it the true and transformative gospel of Jesus Christ? Or a variant of that gospel that is lacking in power, and even corruptive in its influence? Is it the gospel that transformed Europe and America, and later Asia? Are we hearing the message that righteousness exalts a nation? Or do our holiness messages stop at adultery and fornication? Does it seem to us to be okay to receive stolen funds from politicians who refuse to build schools and hospitals, but are prepared to give large amounts of money to churches and mosques? I fear that we are not hearing the true gospel frequently enough on our pulpits. This will explain why, despite the number of churches and religious institutions, we still have a society whose values cannot sustain a modern economy.

We are the elite of a society, and when I say the elite, the political, the religious, and business leaders have come to accept corruption as the rule. Whether it is to win elections, or to win contracts, or to win cases in court, our society appears to have accepted bribery and graft as a standard.

And the lower levels of society copy the elite. So everywhere you go, cheating, pilfering, petty embezzlement from the driver, the shop assistant, to the security man at the gate, everyone says, “well, this is what all of the big people are doing.” This was the kind of society, the kind of society that we are experiencing today, the kind of society that Europe was before the Protestant Reformation.

The gospel attacked corruption and cheating. It made it clear that no corrupt person can please God, and even those who knowingly take the benefits cannot please God either. The pulpits were aflame with a message that went down to the man in the market, cheating with his rigged scales or the magistrate that was taking a bribe, that without repenting, no amount of giving of offerings or tithes or fasting will redeem him or her. Very clear.

Today, what we hear from any of our pulpits is a gospel that is to the effect that the purpose of our faith is the attainment of wealth, or at least physical or material well-being here on earth. And that this material well-being can be attained by a transactional process of giving, especially giving to the church institutions. Even in this, we carefully ignore the fact that giving to the poor is at the heart of God. So, we no longer hear pointed condemnation of corruption in government or the judiciary.

Many are more interested in benefiting from government than being the moral or spiritual check on government. No wonder the gospel has not had the same transformative effect on our society and government as it did on Western civilization and all the nations that have followed the same principles.

But the lesson of history is unmistakable. When the true gospel of Jesus Christ is faithfully preached, nations are transformed, societies are renewed, and economies are built on righteousness, hard work and justice. But when the message of Christ is replaced with the pursuit of wealth and self, then corruption spreads like leaven through the whole lung and darkness covers the land.

The Nigeria of our dreams stands a better chance of emerging when the church of Jesus Christ in this nation reclaims its place as the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

It will come when the flame of righteousness is lit on the pulpits, declaring without fear or favour, that no thief, no bribe taker, no unjust trader, no oppressor of the poor can please God, no matter the offerings they bring. It will come when we return to teaching that honest work is divine, that wealth is built through diligence and integrity, and that caring for the poor is at the heart of true religion. So, the church, and by the church, of course, we mean every believer, must rise as the responsible pathfinders for this nation.

Let us preach the gospel that renews minds, that regenerates hearts and produces men and women of character. Let’s raise a generation who know that righteousness exalts a nation and who are unafraid, a generation of men and women unafraid to live as salt and light in politics, in business, in the professions and in the marketplace. If we return to this gospel, the same power that turned Europe from corruption to industry, that laid the foundations of liberty and justice in America, and that inspired the rise of modern nations in Asia, will work in Nigeria also.

Sir, I wish you a very happy birthday. I pray that as your days, so shall your strength, so shall your wisdom, and so shall your favour with God. And I pray that the Lord will permit you to see the Nigeria of your dreams, a land of justice, of prosperity and of peace, and of righteousness in your lifetime in Jesus’ name today. Amen.