Kogiflame.com
Sermon No 2
By Pastor Sam Ojutade
This is the second sermon in a series that attempts to draw similarities between GYB and some biblical characters. Today, our focus is on King Uzziah who defied the temple of God and paid dearly for it. At the peak of his reign, power and pride entered his head and God struck him with leprosy. He ended his life in misery.
King Uzziah became king and began to reign in Judah as young boy, at the age of sixteen years. GYB also became governor of Kogi State as a young man.
The record of the Bible shows that King Uzziah, in the early days of his reign, “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” In the same way, when GYB came and built the Revenue House in Lokoja, his only visible achiement so far, Kogites thought the young man was on a mission to move the State forward.
Unfortunately, King Uzziah’s fame and strength led him to become proud, and which in turn led to his downfall. He committed an abomination by entering into the temple of God to burn incense on the altar. Burning incense was the exclusive responsibility of the Levites. By attempting to do it himself, Uzziah was basically saying that he was above the Law. It was not a humble thing to do. Eighty courageous priests , led by Azariah, confronted him and tried to correct him. They told the king, “It is not right for you, oh king, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests who have been concencrated to do the job.” Uzziah became angry with the priests who dared confront him. But the Bible records that, “while he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense of the altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead” (2Chr. 26:19). From that day to the day of his death, King Uzziah was a leper.
Let GYB go for popularity rating today, he will come with a minus point. His fame has faded and given way to notoriety. Because of his pride, he has committed so many abominations. As King Uzziah rejected the counsel of 80 courageous priests, GYB has serially rejected dozens of genuine advice from eminent and not so eminent people. Indeed, he is always angry with those who offer him honest advice.
Consequently, he has humiliated the citizens of Kogi State, pauperised civil servants, emanciated pensioners, sent people to their early graves, pocketed the Legislature, hamstung and undermined the Judiciary. He has shed innocent blood and made act of violence the directive principle of his state policy. Kogi State has become a pariah state; hated, detested,and ridiculed all over Nigeria , if not the whole world. He has made himself to be above the Law. He has destroyed Kogi State and desecrated governance.
People of God, November is by the corner. We must rise up to restore the old pride and dignity of our beloved Kogi State. The clamour should be: No second term for GYB. We must not fail and we will not fail! Amen.
Pastor Sam
