ADDRESS PRESENTED AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CLASFON ON THE 3^RD OF AUGUST 2006 AT HAMDALA HOTEL KADUNA BY MR. JONATHAN KISH ADAMU, PRESIDENT CLASFON

25 years ago,Kaduna hosted the first national conference of CLASFON. I do not imagine that its founding fathers expected or anticipated the national impact that CLASFON will make over the years. As we gather in this historic city that has played significant roles in the life of our nation, history is being made as we seek to reinvent CLASFON and its vision and take it to a new level.   The theme for this years conference ‘WHEN THE RIGHTEOUS ARE IN AUTHORITY’, clearly speaks the mind of God to us and the role He has carved out for us in the years ahead. The full text tells us that

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules the people groan.”[1]

Consequently good leadership should bring joy in the land and engender happiness among the populace. On the other hand bad leadership puts a yoke on the people, for why else would the people groan; than that they are under a heavy yoke imposed by inept leadership. This therefore explains the joy that is expressed at the demise or overthrow of a bad leader. Remember the events of 1998, when we lost a serving Head of State. This is clearly in line with the scripture when it says

 “…. when the wicked perish there is jubilation”[2]

A leader is expected therefore going by the Bible to lighten the burden of the people. Jesus the good shepherd told us that

“My yoke is easy and my burden is light”[3]

Unfortunately Nigeria for years has suffered a lack of good leadership. What we have had has been more of the type Ezekiel lamented about.

“The LORD God said… Israel’s leaders are like shepherds taking care of my sheep… but I want to condemn these leaders and tell them: I, the LORD God, say you shepherds are doomed! You take care of yourselves while ignoring my sheep. You drink their milk and use their wool to make your clothes. Then you butcher the best ones for food. But you don’t take care of the flock! You have never protected the weak ones or healed the sick ones or bandaged those that get hurt. You let them wander off and never look for those that get lost. You are cruel and mean to my sheep. They strayed in every direction, and because there was no shepherd to watch them, they were attacked and eaten by wild animals. They roamed on hills and mountains, without anyone even bothering to look for them.

Now listen to what I the living LORD God, am saying to you shepherds. My sheep have been attacked and eaten by wild animals, because you refused to watch them. You never went looking for the lost ones, and you fed yourselves without feeding my sheep. So, I the LORD, will punish you! I will rescue my sheep from you and never let you be their shepherd again or butcher them for food. I the LORD, have spoken.”[4]

The people of Nigeria must be like Esau who though cursed to servitude was told by his father that

“…. It shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck.”[5]

Nigeria, the time for you to get restless has come. Not restlessness that leads to violence and destruction, but restlessness that demands and insists on good leadership. This restless ness must start within the church. After all, the Bible calls us kings and princes. A king without dominion is no king. Nigeria is our domain. We have a stake in it. This is why clasfonites must position themselves to provide leadership in this nation starting from our primary constituency, the Bar. We have men who have the potential to give this nation direction. We must fish them out, we must encourage them and we must support and back them whenever we find them. But we must not only do the above we must hold them accountable. For leadership without accountability and responsibility is shipwreck. Why do I say this? I say this because a leader must have a constituency. It is the lack of a good constituency that creates a lack of responsibility and accountability. Thus we have leaders who are corrupt, because they have a stolen mandate. They do not have a constituency so they couldn’t have been given any free mandate. Therefore they get power to serve only themselves. Do we need to look far to find evidence of these? Have we forgotten what happened and is still happening in Anambra state? What of the squalor in the Niger Delta, does it not point to something gone wrong? How can we explain the allocation of over =N=318 billion to a state since 2000 without any evidence to show for its use other than the excuse that the terrain is difficult? And yet we fly over Amsterdam a city below sea level and under constant threat of being swallowed by water, yet one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

We must therefore eschew violence in the land. Violence in the desperation for power must be strongly condemned by all men of good conscience. It cannot lead to progress. The mindless killing of Funsho Williams, a gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos state is a sad spectacle. The police must go beyond the usual posturing and unravel the mystery behind this killing and others before it. We must pray, but we must also insist on justice.

As usual in Nigeria, a kite called interim national government is being flown. It is unknown to our constitution. Such a contraption cannot and should not be allowed in our political landscape. We must warn the people flying this kite, that it shall fail just as other kites before it. Kite flyers have been around since the days of Abacha. They led him to his death while eating apples. They flew around with the third term agenda, their new toy is called interim national government. We must rise without equivocation to resist paid campaigners and their masters who do not mean well for this nation. Freedom of speech is not a license for invitation to anarchy. Let us prove that we are a decent and civilized nation that is capable of holding free and fair elections and upholding the rule of law. God is giving this administration a chance for glory; perhaps the greatest legacy it can bequeath to future generations. The price for failure is too great to contemplate. Obasanjo history beckons on you; will you stand and be counted among the heroes of faith?

For us at CLASFON, several other issues challenge us; issues for which we must provide leadership. These include gay marriage and relationships, religious intolerance and abuse of human rights, corruption and an inefficient judiciary. CLASFON is working with the leadership of the church and institutions that are of like minds to see that marriage is defined in the constitution. It is a task we have set for ourselves and it is task we must achieve. Gay relationships must not only be condemned as being unchristian, they are against our societal values and norms. It is these norms that give a nation its strength and character. Where we throw away our values we will go the way of civilizations that have perished and are perishing.

CLASFON is pursuing the issue of religious intolerance and abuse of human rights with a new vigor. In the next one year we shall be collaborating with Afri Foundation to implement a Programme on religious liberty. Starting from the 30^th of August in Lagos we shall hold a series of consultative meetings across the three sections of Nigeria and Abuja . It is our hope that this will result in a draft Religious Liberty Bill to be presented to the National Assembly for passage into law. This law will give teeth to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of worship and punish violations of that right.

We also hope to collaborate with the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to deal with the monster called corruption.  CLASFON has met with the Chairman of the ICPC and we have his word to jointly hold an anti corruption event before the end of the year.

 We will continue with some of our initiatives in the area of conflict resolution through the development of other means of alternative dispute resolution to help with the speedy administration of justice. Our mediation centre will be strengthened and we hope to work with the Peacemaker Ministries and the leadership of the church to achieve this.

For us to succeed at CLASFON we must

C- Be Clear in our objectives

L- Provide Godly Leadership

A- Demonstrate a good Ability to use the law.

S- Stand on the truth always

F- Fight injustice wherever we see it

O- Overcome adversity through the blood of Jesus

N- Never give up or compromise on righteousness.

I know that we cannot achieve our goals without a strong foundation in the word of God. It is for this reason that we have developed a devotional to help us get rooted in the word. Before you leave this conference I encourage you get a copy for yourselves and your friends. It is well written and can also be used by non lawyers. 

Baa yin. I welcome you to Kaduna, ‘garin Kadana’ land of the crocodiles. May we experience his shalom in the days ahead.