AT a time when citizens of prosperous and developed countries are increasingly relying on their intellect and hard work to achieve technical and socioeconomic progress, not a few Nigerians still believe that personal and even communal advancement could be attained by making a recourse to spiritual help or by seeking miracles. The consequences of this mindset is the emergence of a preponderance of spiritual charlatans who lay claims to bogus and patently ludicrous powers with a view to profiting from the ignorance and naivety of many of their compatriots. That is why a religious leader, Prophet Jeremiah Fufeyin, the founder of Christ Mercy Land Deliverance Ministries, is currently in the eye of the storm for allegedly advertising certain products and selling them to the unsuspecting public under the disguise of being registered with the apex health agency. The Director-General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, in a recent statement, drew the attention of Nigerians to the activities of the faith-based organisation in Delta State that allegedly uses NAFDAC’s name to deceive the unsuspecting public. The NAFDAC Director-General stated that the agency had received a deluge of petitions from concerned citizens about Prophet Fufeyin on certain water and soap being advertised with healing and miracle claims and sold to unsuspecting members of the public. The products include Miracle & Healing Water, River Jordan Water, among others.
Said the NAFDAC DG: “The prophet claimed that the women would carry twins if they used the soap. He openly told his congregation that the soap is NAFDAC-registered.” Adeyeye added that through the Director, Post Marketing Surveillance of the agency, the Delta State NAFDAC coordinator covertly bought the Miracle Water (25cl) for N3000 from the ministry and took pictures. Then, on Wednesday, August 14, the NAFDAC coordinator visited the Mercy Land Ministry and met the Head of Service, Mr. Ogunleye Fufeyin, and the Chief Security Officer, but the officials denied producing miracle water or soap “even with the evidence of the receipt of purchase.” NAFDAC added that on August 27, a team from the Investigation and Enforcement department in the agency and the Federal Task Force on Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods visited the church to begin an investigation of the manufacturing site for possible sample collection for laboratory analysis, but the officials of the ministry refused to cooperate with the team.
NAFDAC’s intervention in the circumstance is apposite. It would have been irresponsible of the agency to fold its arms and allow anyone to illegally leverage its name and reputation to promote and sell products whose producer has yet to approach it for registration, let alone obtain approval. The agency is not talking about the efficacy of the products, which in all probability is even suspect; it is only concerned about safety, which is part of its core mandate, especially when its name has been dragged into the fray to legitimise the consumption of products whose efficacy and wholesomeness it has yet to ascertain. It is unlawful to produce and sell food and drugs which have not been registered with NAFDAC, and it is criminal to sell such products to members of the public, passing them off as having its regulatory approval. The claims and counterclaims by Prophet Jeremiah and NAFDAC deserve an investigation in order to ascertain who is telling the truth. The prophet openly claims that the product is certified by NAFDAC but NAFDAC categorically denies the claim. Should the faith-based organisation be found to have told a lie, it should be severely sanctioned and prevented from profiting from the falsehood. It is completely dishonourable for an organisation which ordinarily has a duty to shape the character of its members to be engaged in dishonest acts for pecuniary gain.
It is time umbrella organisations like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) began reining in the excesses of some of their members, especially in respect of their rapacious and insatiable quest for money. These members do not only claim unverifiable miracles but have gone a notch further to produce and sell miracle products at premium prices to the public. Why should a genuine Christian organisation be selling ordinary products in multiples of the ordinary market prices to its own members? It turns out that a critical variant of societal leadership that should be holding up its followers at this trying time in the country is literally compounding their woes by short-changing them!
Where is morality or even humanity in all of this? Are these clerics not breaching the ethical boundaries of their profession? Why, for instance, would a minister of God relegate hard work and diligence to the background while encouraging members of his church to prioritise fasting and prayers in order to succeed in life? Why would a minister of God be bandying a product which purportedly has answers to different medical challenges? What is the nexus between bathing with a supposed miracle soap and the improvement in the fertility of the users? And does it not bother the Christian bodies that some aberrant pastors are dragging the image of Christendom through the mud? Or are the deplorable activities of the few mercantile clerics that have come to light a fair representation of what the others are doing?
Certainly, religious leaders are at a juncture where they must undertake a review of religious activities in a manner that can usher in value reorientation if they must regain the trust of the society. The single-minded pursuit of lucre by religious organisations is antithetical to the preachment of the holy books. And it is the height of wickedness and insensitivity to latch onto the vulnerability of the ignorant and poor and continue to fleece them of their meagre resources. False claims and dishonesty are an eloquent symptom of moral decadence. And since morality is a subset of religion, it stands to reason that any religious leader who does not recognise or embrace moral values as a vital component of religion is unworthy of a following.
In what is tantamount to a lack of recognition of the enormity of the issue at stake, the church has argued that NAFDAC cannot regulate spiritual products while certain bishops even claimed that NAFDAC is assaulting Christianity. That is, instead of being remorseful that allegations of dishonest acts are being levelled against a supposed prophet, he and his co-travellers are challenging the authority of the state to subject their activities to scrutiny as stipulated by law. What an effrontery! It is our view that any product presented for public consumption cannot be regarded as spiritual products that are beyond examination. NAFDAC has the right by law to ensure that the things Nigerians consume are wholesome and safe. And there can be no plausible reason to regard the observance and/or enforcement of the laws of the land as an assault on Christianity. That is wicked blackmail from an unusual source.
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