The truth usually has nobody rooting for it.
The reason for this is simple, the reward in supporting the opposite of the truth are numerous.
Nobody will offer you a bribe to uphold the truth, but to subvert the course of justice, people offer huge incentives.
If you stand on your principles, you get nothing
If you bend your principle, you get a reward

Portiphar’s wife offered Joseph her body and other perks
Joseph said “No” based on his own convictions and principles
Joseph ends up being punished
Potiphar’s wife ends up getting another houseboy
Portiphar upheld the Happy Wife, Happy Life theory

Lies forever on the throne
Truth, forever with the hangman’s noose on its neck

A group of people came together to make an agreement on how they would run things fairly among their members and for the benefit of the members of the group

A few of these same people benefited from the orderliness and the principles of this agreement to come into beneficial positions that benefit their ambition, but once they got into a position of power, they decided the same agreement that brought them there should not be upheld anymore

Suddenly, tribal loyalty, midnight meetings, other agendas, and bought loyalties came into play
The agreement that everybody swore on, which was considered to be fair and equitable, was suddenly thrown in the trash
Somebody had paid more to subvert the truth
Somebody’s ambition was weaponised by sentiments, and the general principles of fairness were suspended.

Usually, the strong would get away with this, and the weak would have to accept the verdict of the powerful.
You will hear words like “Don’t take it to heart”, “Life happens, “Another chance will come”, “God will compensate you”, and “We know it is not right, but our hands are tied.”

This is not so when the truth has a worthy advocate. The advocate or champion of the truth may not be a good man. He might be an oppressor himself who would have subverted the truth if given the chance, but, given the fact that he was disadvantaged by the decision to bury the truth, he or she may decide to champion the course of justice and fight for the truth.

It is always a pleasure for me as a person to see someone stand for the truth, put his resources behind such a fight, stand strong in the face of adversity and oppression, and emerge the winner.

It is refreshing to see someone fight for the truth and for the person to win.

Some years ago, as a pastor of a very small parish at Agiliti, Mile 12 in Lagos State, I had ten members in my parish.
Only four come constantly to church
The community was prone to flooding, and Lagos State government was mounting pressure on those living there to move away because it was not healthy to live there, but the community members wanted the government to compensate them financially if they were to leave the houses they had invested a lot of money in building.

Justice and fairness were all the landlords of the community ever fought for and talked about. They were afraid the government would pull down their houses and sell their lands to very rich people to develop Magodo Phase 3.

As a parish, we began to contribute some money to buy a small generator and a sound system for the church.
The main contributor was me and my family but other church members chipped in.
We kept the money with one of the minister’s wives who lived in the community.

The target was two hundred thousand Naira.
Fifty thousand Naira to buy a good generator, and one hundred thousand Naira to buy speakers and sound system equipment, twenty thousand Naira for electrical work within the church, we also needed a new signboard and some other things like funds to open a church account, etc.

For ten months, I contributed twenty thousand naira to this project, while other members also dropped what they could.
When it was time for us to buy what we had contributed money for, this minister and his wife suddenly stopped coming to church.

I asked all the other members of the church living in the community to intervene, but they refused. They said they didn’t want to make enemies with that minister and his wife. They told me to forget about the money or pray that the Lord will touch the heart of this woman.

I was deeply hurt by everything that happened. It was my first posting as a pastor. I spent a lot of money on transportation twice a week to minister there, and the journey was gravely inconvenient due to the flooding.
I sincerely hated being taken advantage of in any way, but my quest for justice had no champion.

I lost faith in the parish and decided to stop reporting there. I went back to the church that posted me there and told the pastor I didn’t want to be a pastor anymore.
The pastor was disappointed, but he had no option but to accept my verdict.

A few months later, the Lagos State Government arrived in this community with bulldozers and a court order instructing all residents to vacate the community within two weeks.
The members of the community needed public sympathy and press coverage on the issue to force the government’s hand to offer them any form of compensation so that they wouldn’t leave empty-handed.

One of my former church members mentioned my name and told the community that I was a journalist who could bring them a news crew and do a human angle story on their situation.
I had earlier suggested this to them while I was pastoring there, but they were reluctant to take the government to task.

I woke up one morning, and the same members of the church who told me to forget about my money were at my door.
They said they needed my help
They begged and pleaded

When it was within their power to stand for justice and truth to help me recover my money, they were unwilling
But when they became the victim, they wanted the same justice and truth to fight for them

I told them I want the woman who made away with my savings to come with them the next day with my money in full.
She must come with her husband prepared to apologise, and i must be refunded in full
Once that is done, I will help them fight for their community.

They did what I demanded.
The next day, by 7 AM, they were all in my flat.
I got the two hundred and thirteen thousand, five hundred and sixty-five naira, which was contributed back from her
She said she had to borrow some of it, and the community members also pitched in to raise the money
I asked her what she spent the originally contributed money on
She said she went to the village for Christmas celebrations with her family.
The trip didn’t come cheap.
I said, ‘Okay.’
She apologised and handed over the money to me.

They left at about 8 AM.

Two days later, a journalist from our office went to the community to interview them. It made the news and gave them a bit of reprieve at the time, as I promised.

One would think only the rich can subvert the course of justice by trying to use their wealth to influence outcomes, until you meet poor people who will do the same to you simply because they can!

When the truth is left without an advocate, justice suffers!

-GSW-