[PS 19.1 (2020) 107–109] PentecoStudies (print) ISSN 2041-3599 https://doi.org/10.1558/pent.41307 PentecoStudies (online) ISSN 1871-7691

Book Review

OBADARE, Ebenezer. The Pentecostal Republic: Religion and the Struggle for State Power in . London: Zed Books, 2018. 231pp. Pbk. ISBN: 9781786992376. £16.99. Reviewed by: Christopher Wadibia, University of Cambridge, UK. Email: [email protected] In Pentecostal Republic: Religion and the Struggle for State Power in Nigeria, Ebenezer Obadare freshly offers a profusion of kaleidoscopic insights into Pentecostalism’s nascent rise to prominence as an influential force in Nigerian politics since the commencement of the civilian-led Fourth Republic in 1999. Pentecostal Republic importantly builds on the existing studies of Ruth Marshall’s Political Spiritualities and Nimi Wariboko’s Nigerian Pentecostalism, both of which critically examine the relationship between Nigerian Pentecostalism and state politics. Obadare argues that the augmented political authority of Pentecostal pastors and a socio-spiritual imaginary that disseminates among the Nigerian masses a tendency to understand social and political problems as influ- enced by hidden spiritual forces, displaced Islam’s hegemonic religious influence over Nigeria’s political sphere. For Obadare, the term “Pentecostal Republic” reflects Pentecostalism’s rise to national political prominence. This coincided with Nigeria’s return to civilian rule, after decades of military dictatorships, under the headship of , a self-identifying Pentecostal who played a key role in the Nigerian Civil War and who served as Nigeria’s mili- tary head of state from 1976 to 1979. Obadare employs the term “enchanted” to describe Nigerian democracy since the onset of the Fourth Republic, by which he refers to the proclivity of Nigerian political agents customarily consulting the “spiritual realm” when making important decisions that will substantially affect the Nigerian state’s fortune (p. 15). Obadare places Obasanjo at the locus of his arguments concerning Nigeria’s twenty-first century “Christian–Muslim rivalry for political control” (p. 39). As president, Obasanjo routinely employed Christian symbolism and appointed Born-Again Pentecostals into influential governmental positions. Simultaneously, Nigerian Christians decided to morph their latent political potential into active political dominance – on the shoulders of a “theology of engagement” with Nigerian political processes – which, in turn, enabled Pentecostalism to displace other Christian traditions to become Nigeria’s dominant form of Christianity (p. 47). The confluence of these factors enabled Obasanjo to draw immense political capital from his Pentecostal associations alongside his conspicuous Pentecostalization of the Nigerian presidency. Obadare argues that Obasanjo’s

© Equinox Publishing Limited, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX. 108 PentecoStudies intentional and strategic courtship of Nigeria’s Christian elites, which Obadare terms the theocratic class, ushered in a novel era of mutually beneficial rela- tions between Nigerian politicians and the country’s Christian religious leader- ship (p. 24). Pentecostal pastors publicly associating with Obasanjo benefitted from increased opportunities to amass great personal wealth through govern- ment contacts, as well as through being given a platform to counter Northern Islamic influence in national politics. Conversely, Obasanjo and other politicians identifying as “Born-Again”, hoped their associations with Christian faith leaders would transmit spiritual power into their own lives and would simultaneously help alleviate the inherently evil and unrighteous public perception of govern- ment that at the time was ubiquitous amongst Nigerian Christians. ’s unpredicted ascendancy to the Nigerian presidency in 2010 after the sudden death of incumbent President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua inaugurated Nigeria’s second Pentecostal presidency. Obadare notes that Jonathan’s rags to riches rise to Aso Villa “provided a ringing endorsement of the principles of the prosperity gospel”, a reality which he asserts enabled more Nigerians to identify with and support Jonathan’s unexpected rise to political eminence (p. 110). Jonathan’s intimate and unashamedly public associations with many of Nigeria’s Christian theocratic elites, powered by what Obadare calls a combination of “gratuitous modesty and pornographic piety”, built upon the Pentecostalization of the Nigerian state legacy initiated by Obasanjo (p. 111). In particular, Jonathan’s multiple visits with Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and “the symbolic godfather of the theocratic elite”, unprecedentedly politicized the Nigerian Pentecostal pulpit (p. 111). Obadare details how Jonathan visited Pastor Adeboye’s Redemption Camp headquarters for a special RCCG service in a desperate effort to appeal for votes during his 2015 presidential election campaign before an audience of hundreds of thousands of Nigerian Pentecostals. Obadare highlights how Pastor Adeboye’s unmatched religious influence amongst Nigeria’s political establishment – and specifically, the way in which leading politicians from Obasanjo and Yar’Adua to Jonathan and State godfather Bola Tinubu regularly consult Adeboye on political issues – testifies to Pentecostalism’s deeply ingrained status as a determinative force in Nigerian political affairs. Obadare shrewdly selects the pastoral figure of D. K. Olukoya, the General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), to explicate the violent nature of Pentecostal prayer. Olukoya’s Pentecostalist prayers effectively construct a “we versus them” mentality. Here, “we” refers to Pentecostal believers whilst “them” refers to Satan and his evil demonic cohorts. For Olukoya, the Christian journey is a violent spiritual battle between Christians and demonic forces that at times reflects in the material realm. Obadare argues that framing the Christian life in the context of “a cosmos of ubiquitous evil” bolsters the spiritual and political authority of Pentecostal pastors, and propa- gates a politicized pastoral paradigm which intoxicatingly informs how Nigeria’s Pentecostals engage with Nigerian state power (p. 155). For Obadare, “power”, and in particular, the ways in which power is “distrib- uted and shared”, serves as the central theme that informs his understanding of

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020. Book Review 109 the discourses relating to Pentecostalism and Nigerian politics (p. 164). Obadare closes Pentecostal Republic by warning that unless Nigerian Pentecostalism’s theocratic elites astutely navigate and respond to Nigeria’s ever-evolving politi- cal realignments, the progress that Pentecostalism has made in claiming a por- tion of state power could be jeopardized and begin to be reversed. Additionally, the response of Nigeria’s Islamic milieu to Pentecostalism’s rise will importantly inform the next stage of Pentecostalism’s relationship with the Nigerian state. In Pentecostal Republic, Obadare offers an enjoyably readable and intellectu- ally stimulating account of arguably the most important recent religio-political phenomenon to command Nigeria’s public sphere. Obadare’s writing style ener- getically guides the reader as he navigates a series of major events in the history of Pentecostalism’s thunderous ascent to its current status as the most domi- nant tradition within Nigerian Christianity. Ultimately, Pentecostal Republic is an important and welcome contribution to existing scholarship on the mutually shaping subjects of Pentecostalism and politics in Nigeria.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2020.