President Atta Mills of Ghana and Pulpit Wisdom

But it is not significant, even negligible to attribute any gains in Africa, moral or scientific, to its reliance on the god-factor; and as such seeing Atta Mills waxing lyrical at a media conference inside the Synagogue Church of All Nations, in Lagos, last Sunday, was somewhat representative of Africa's over-reliance on things of the spirit in ordinary civil matters.

From Abuja where he had attended the meeting of the Presidents of the Economic Community of West African States, the Ghanaian president flew straight to Lagos to meet with his new spiritual mentor, Prophet Temitope Joshua, for a thanksgiving service.

We did not see him roll on the floor, with hands lifted up in a pious display of submission and gratitude, as Adebayo Alao-Akala did in Ibadan after emerging as the governor of Oyo State in 2007. But crediting God with his electoral victory and claiming that his election as president, on the strength of Joshua's prediction, was a "lesson for those who did not believe in God" as Atta Mills did was, frankly, rather improper and un-presidential.

Granted that religious belief or non-belief has always been an important part of people's life, but prescriptive and judgmental views on faith, especially from elected officials, should be discouraged, lest such public officials are accused of faith advertising.

It is not sufficient an argument that he won simply because it had been predicted; or that the predictor automatically qualifies as a mentor on the basis of assuring a former vice-president who had lost twice that his hour had come.

To go with such an argument would amount to suggesting that almost half of the Ghanaians who voted for the opposition candidate but who might be religious, or even those who voted for Atta Mills but may not subscribe to any religious creed would be expected to take their president's faith lesson as infallible wisdom.

He may be a product of a vaunted electoral process, but to reduce such an important civic accomplishment to prophetic genuflections is to be uncharitable to the development that took place in his country.

But rather than be swayed by His Excellency's sermons, the Ghanaian Daily Guide online news service would, instead, want the world to believe that his spiritual sojourn in Nigeria, first undertaken early in 2008, was to overcome some challenges.

"Prof. Atta Mills has taken his case to a church in Nigeria for spiritual cleansing, following revelations that he was under spiritual siege," the publication wrote in its February 26, 2008 edition.

For a man who allegedly once visited China on 'medical vacation' and spent four weeks in South Africa receiving treatment for certain ailments, Atta Mills' affinity to prophetic christianity may just be health-induced, even though he had only confessed to receiving treatment for sinusitis and cataract.

I confess that I do not understand the brand of charismatic faith that obtains at the Synagogue in Lagos; I wish I did. And on that basis, I cannot debate its veracity on any ground. But being aware that the whole concept of spiritual tourism gained grounds there, with hundreds of foreigners coming on a daily basis for either healing or what is euphemistically described as spiritual tourism, the news from that part of Lagos has always kept the media rather intrigued.

Whites now outnumber blacks, at least on television. Celebrated visitors keep rising. From Liberia's ex-warlord, Yormie Johnson, to an American ex-Mr. Universe, and even to Paul Dhanakran, an Indian but internationally acclaimed evangelist and mentor to world Pentecostal leaders, had visited to receive healing. It is even said, as I heard in South Africa at a time, that if any member of the ruling class in Swaziland had a mosquito bite and felt feverish, he would be on the next available flight to Nigeria for healing.

So, when a national honour was extended to the man in the Synagogue lately, it could be insinuated that it might be the reward for either the contribution to the country's GDP from religious tourists or for being identified as a potent candidate that can bring the kind of healing that is desperately needed in the seat of power in Abuja. Such is the importance, albeit often mired in controversy, that Atta Mill's spiritual mentor attracts.

It could be asked, therefore, if Nigerians should feel honoured that the Ghanaian President, a Methodist, Professor of Law and former Fulbright scholar, has joined in crediting us with some achievement as the custodian of a rare servant to whom foreigners can run for guidance and mentorship, even if we are unable to hold free and fair elections or provide stable electricity.

In other words, should Nigeria through Joshua, accept the honour of being a 'point of contact' for Ghana in selecting its president?

But by so doing, it may be instructive to note that Atta Mills not being the first president to seek assistance from the Synagogue, a plea for caution may be necessary. In 1999, Frederick Chiluba, who led Zambia as the president between 1991 and 2001, once spent a weekend under Joshua's care in Lagos and declared that his post-presidential era would be dedicated to God. It is, of course, needless to remind Atta Mills that allegations of corruption and protracted litigation, on Chiluba and his wife, Regina, have kept him away from the promised pupilage in Lagos.

The argument for caution might even be stretched to accommodate celebrated cases of short-lived romance between spiritual mentors and politicians. The case between Barack Obama and his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, readily comes to mind. In the heat of electioneering, when Wright's church in Chicago was perceptibly preaching afrocentrism and George Bush-bashing, Obama had to take his leave.

Just in case there is a doubt as to why Obama had to denounce the church that described itself as "unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian," Wright's views on the Clintons might help: "Some argue that blacks should vote Clinton (Hillary) because her husband was good to us," he once said while preaching, "that's not true, he did the same thing to us that he did to Monica Lewinsky."

In leaving the church, Obama rejected needless moral judgments, inspired by religion.

Therefore, Joshua may be right in his elementary appraisal of what governance should be, when he urged Atta Mills to remember the downtrodden and the destitute in his administration. But, another viewpoint worth considering for him is that though they have never been separated, politics and religion make poor bedfellows. And in Nigeria, especially, which he now relies on for spiritual mentorship, bringing God into governance often stirs the hornet's nest.