Politics in Nigeria: Top pastors in Politics

Politics Nigeria: Pastors are clergies. They are not supposed to be involved in politics in Nigeria. In Nigerian politics, a lot of pastors are actively involved. Normally, they are supposed to be found in the church preaching and praying for their members. It is very strange to find pastors in political movements.
Politics has soaked into all sections of the country. It is now very common to find pastors that are involved in Politics in Nigeria. Some of them contest for political offices, some are close allies to top politicians and some even issue their analysis and criticism of Nigerian politics right from the pulpit.

Politics Nigeria: In this write-up, we shall lay emphasis on the too 6 pastors who are fully involved in politics in Nigeria.

#1 Prof (pastor) Yemi Osinbajo:

Yemi Osinbajo is a pastor and dedicated preacher in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). He is a very close ally with the general overseer and founder of the church, Enoch Adeboye. He is not just a lawyer but a Senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He currently serves as the vice-president of Nigeria. A lot of Nigerians were perturbed as to why President Buhari decided to choose him as his running mate. This may be attributed to his wide exposure. Though some analysts of politics in Nigeria believe that it was his Boss Ahmed Tinubu who used his influence to get him the position. He is petit in stature, but giant in intelligence and he has huge vision. He is a professor of public law and a one-time Head, department of civil Law, University of Lagos. Osinbajo is arguably the most successful Nigerian pastor to venture into politics in Nigeria.

Prof. Osinbajo ventured into Nigerian politics back then when he was appointed special adviser to the Attorney general of the federation and minister of justice in 1988.
Since then his sojourn in Politics Nigeria has been a success. He has served as Attorney general and commissioner of Justice, Lagos state. He has served as solicitor to the CBN Governor, Charles Soludo and Gen. Buhari. He is a member of the All progressive congress (APC). He rose to the Apex of his sojourn in Nigerian politics when he was picked as running mate for President Buhari in 2014.

#2 Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu:

Pastor Ize-Iyamu is a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). He is an astute politician. He was the Gubernatorial candidate for PDP during the 2015 governorship election in Edo state. Pastor Ize-Iyamu is a lawyer. He kick started his political journey from his days in the University of Benin where he was actively involved in student union activities. He is one of the most actively involved pastors in Nigerian politics. He is a one-time chief of staff and secretary to the government of Edo state. With the twist and turns involved in politics in Nigeria, the RCCG pastor was involved and arraigned for laundering N700m which was part of the Diezanni Allison-Madueke $115m loot.

#3 Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka

He is a catholic priest. He is famously known for making opinions that raises a lot of dusts in Nigerian politics. Most of his verbally expressed grumbles are politically inclined and are done right from the pulpit. He is the Parish Priest of Enugu Diocese. He does not like injustice and does not relent his efforts in voicing out his feelings about wrong and corrupt administration. Hence the reason why most people believe that he is against the government. It can be recalled that recently, he openly told President Buhari not to contest for second term, else he will lose woefully.

#4 Tunde Bakare

Tunde Bakare is a Pastor, Politician, Teacher and Lawyer. He is Televangelist and is fond of making critical remarks about the government. This instigated his arrest by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Pastor Tunde Bakare has been a Pastor in Deeper Life Bible Church and Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). He left RCCG to form his own ministry – The Latter Rain Assembly where he is the general overseer. He was the running mate to President Buhari in 2011 presidential elections under the CPC. They lost the election to PDP and since then, he has been making fierce remarks about Nigerian politics and its leadership.

#5 Reverend Chris Okotie

Chris Okotie is the founder of House of Gold Ministries. He is a graduate of Law from University of Nigeria Nsukka. Rev Chris Okotie is heavily involved in Nigerian politics. He has always expressed his desire to become the president of Nigeria. He first delved into politics in Nigeria when he contested for the president under the Justice party in 2003. He lost the elections to Olusegun Obasanjo. He then went ahead to form his own party – The Fresh party in 2007 and ran for the 2007 and 2001 elections where he lost to Umaru Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan respectively.

Politics Nigeria: Listed above are 5 of the top Pastors that are fully involved in Nigerian Politics. Their level of involvement may differ but on the whole, they have made giant strides in politics in Nigeria.