FROM THE DESK OF PASTOR ANIETIE UKPE (PhD)
My dear Pastor Tunde Bakare,
It is with a heavy, yet hopeful heart that I respond to your recent public address, in which you offered spirited—albeit surprising—support for Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili’s confrontation with the Nigerian Senate. I write not as an adversary of conscience, but as a fellow pastor and sojourner in the quest for truth. I do not write to tear down, but to build clarity where emotion has cast shadows and sentiment has clouded judgment.
You are—and remain—a man of considerable spiritual and intellectual stature in our land. Like many, I have been stirred by your voice in seasons past, when courage and conviction met in your pulpit. But I must confess that my heart sank—not in anger, but in sorrow—when I heard that same voice not summon us to a higher ground of wisdom and justice (as we are used to), but join the multitude in the clamour of populist performance and convenient outrage.
Perhaps you were misled into standing in defense of disorder and, thereby, named it courage. This position upheld a defiance of parliamentary rules and cloaked it in the garments of moral protest. But, Pastor, can we truly build a righteous nation upon the ashes of anarchy?
The senator in question, by all available accounts, did not act within the parameters of established order. She refused to take her assigned seat—a fundamental rule of parliamentary decorum observed across the world—and insisted on speaking from a position that violated the rules of the Senate. While defiance may draw applause in the theatre of media spectacle, it does not pass the test of democratic discipline. Even the prophets of old, though filled with holy fire, did not desecrate the sanctuaries in which they spoke.
Permit me to offer a simple analogy. If your choir leader were to sit in your associate pastor’s seat during a service, would you praise him for bravery? And if you instructed him to return to his designated seat, would that amount to silencing him? Surely not. We, who have taught order in God’s house, must recognize the peril in celebrating disorder in the nation’s highest chamber of lawmaking.
We are told in Scripture to “let all things be done decently and in order”—and the Senate, with its flaws, is not exempt from this divine injunction. You, Pastor Bakare, who have eloquently and inspiringly taught order in the house of God, surely understand the risk of having chaos in the house of law.
As for Dr. Ezekwesili—her credentials are not in question, nor is her global standing. But righteousness is not measured by résumé, and respect is not earned by prestige. In any chamber of deliberation, humility is the passport—not history. When she shouted “shut up” at a senator who had the floor and called him a “hooligan,” she did not speak with the voice of principle, but with the tone of provocation. She sowed insult and, unfortunately, reaped resistance, for Scripture teaches us that what a person sows, they shall also reap.
Dear Pastor, you cited Proverbs—and rightly so. But let us not quote selectively. Proverbs 26:5, which urges us to answer a fool lest he be wise in his own eyes, must be held in tension with verse 4, which warns us not to descend into folly by responding in kind. Senator Peter Nwaebonyi applied the former. To cast him as the aggressor, and Dr. Ezekwesili as the victim does not fit with what happened.
Pastor, it is important to clarify what you may have overlooked. Senator Natasha, in her pre-hearing media rounds, publicly claimed that she could raise Order Ten from anywhere on the Senate floor—a statement that reveals either crass ignorance or disregard for the rules that govern legislative proceedings. That such a fundamental misunderstanding could be hailed as courage by Nigerians is troubling. The rule is simple and clear: a senator must raise any order, including Order Ten, from their assigned seat. Order is not optional; it is essential.
Her confusion did not end there. Her initial sexual harassment petition was submitted with her signature (whereas a senator should not sign any petitiion according to their rules) and bore no address—an omission that rendered it procedurally invalid. That was not the fault of the Senate. And when she corrected the errors and resubmitted the petition, it was accepted and referred to the appropriate committee. Due process was not denied; it was followed. And yet, the narrative woven in public has been one of persecution rather than procedure.
Pastor, you also described the National Assembly as “captured” and “spineless” because it is not perpetually at war with the Executive. But I ask: is strength only proven through strife? Is independence measured by defiance? The current Senate refused to confirm several ministerial nominees—an unprecedented act in our democratic history. They have not bowed; they have not broken. Their resistance is not theatrical—it is thoughtful. It is not sensational—it is substantive.
Pastor, I note your repeated forays into presidential politics. That in itself is not wrong; as a matter of fact it is commendable. I would gladly have voted for you then. But if the call of politics now weighs more heavily than the call of the pulpit, then I say this with all due respect: contest for the Senate. Enter the arena you now critique. Bring your voice, your values, and your vision into the chamber. Let your convictions be tested by rules. But guess what, even you must submit to its order once inside. The theatre of politics is different from the sanctuary—it demands not only conviction, but coordination; not only courage, but compromise; not only protest, but process.
In defending Senator Natasha and Dr. Ezekwesili, you inadvertently implied that outrage should override order. This I attribute to the information at your disposal and I do not hold it against you. But I, like Dr. King, must remind us all that constructive tension must be tethered to moral discipline. And in a democracy, that discipline is the rule of law. To subvert it in the name of righteousness is to mock the very justice we seek.
When we reduce the Church to a stage for political indignation, we rob it of its sacred identity as a house of prayer for all nations. When criticism becomes necessary—as it often does—we must be just in its application: blame where blame is due, and praise where it is deserved. Let the Sanctuary not become a refuge for what the Scriptures rebuke. Let it not dignify confusion with holiness, nor dress pride in priestly robes. Let it not give sanctuary to disorder, nor lend its voice to the music of insult. What God condemns, let not the altar commend.
I do not write this to silence you, sir. I write because I still believe in the nobility of your calling. I still have great respect for your ministry. But those who come to you crying for justice must themselves be just. Those who demand truth must themselves be truthful. And those who lead must model the order they expect others to obey.
May our disagreements remain civil. May our discourse be seasoned with grace. And may our democracy grow stronger through shared discipline and mutual respect. May you increase in grace in your ministry.
Yours in Christ,
Anietie John Ukpe, PhD
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