Many in the journalism and political circles have written off the Reverend Gentleman as a neophyte when the wheeling and dealing of Nigerian politics is discourse. But he would have non of it. Indeed, Chris Okotie has gone for the jugular, "I am not a politician; I am a leader", he thunders, in an answer to a question in an interactive session on television.

Okotie has passed this same road before. There were two passages but like Robert Frost the poet, he decided to take the road not taken and he has not looked back since then.

You will have to give it to this charismatic preacher if vision, intellectual savvy and grace are the criteria Nigerians seek for the exalted position of Nigeria . Few of the contenders can match him.

Indeed, in Nigeria , it is no longer news that the President I of Nigeria is known by the cabal that rules months before I the elections. We are witnesses to the gerrymanderings and charades that we call elections.

And people are wondering whether the law graduate from the University of Nigeria Nsukka would be able to weave through the labyrinth of deceit that has befuddled other great mortals in the past.

But Okotie himself was quick to counter such incredulities. Speaking on an interactive session on the Silverbird Television on the 26ih of December 2007, he declared, "I believe I am the man Nigeria needs. Money politics will no longer survive - the third term project failed because mammon failed. The PDP has failed Nigerians. I was the only man who kept on advertising on national television during the third term project while others hid in their shells. I am maintaining a certain perpendicularity whether you believe it or not."

Good talk you might say. But how do these convictions translate into actions as Okotie mines through the cabalistic labyrinth of power play in Nigeria.

On the question as to whether it was right for a Reverend gentleman to aspire to a political position, he answers, "Ministry gives you the his position as a leader...a shepherd will do well as a Head of State. "

As to how much of the country's problems he has a grasp of, Chris Okotie may be unrivalled by the horde of contestants for the 2007 elections. Nigerians had their mouths agape on the 26th of December when in that interactive session, he reeled out -statistics upon statistics of Nigeria 's developmental indices which was genius proportions.

On the question or how he would handle electric power, he said: "So far the present government has spent a whopping N 1.3 trillion on energy, yet nothing much has been achieved. The statistics given by the government are not reliable. There is no power demography...there has to be a scientific approach to it."

On how he would convince Muslims to vote for him, he opined: "Nigerians want a man they can trust. We must go beyond the mosaic of religion's...we must go beyond such cleavages. "

This writer also feels the time has come for Nigerians to go beyond religious and ethnic myopias to choose a leader that aim at human capital development (education) like Okotie wants to do. We need a man behind the manifesto and not just the manifesto.

So we fast-forward into time: Chris Okotie, pastor. shepherd, Bible teacher, trained lawyer, grammatical encyclopedia, steps up to the podium, takes the Bible in his hand, swears his allegiance to the constitution and collects the paraphernalia of office.

Wake up! Is this a dream? It may be, and it may not be.
* Culled from Motivation