By Emma Nnadozie

Reverend Chukwuma Peters, the President of Fire Pentecostal Ministry International, Akowonjo, Lagos, believes in the sincerity of the heart and divine fellowship. He unreservedly, in this interview, gives thumbs down to the present leadership in Nigeria but maintains that there is hope for improvement if the change mantra becomes a reality.

revAssessing Nigeria’s leadership

I think, for now, there is no leadership because there is no direction. The country has not been given a direction of where we are going. Everybody is at a stand still. In other words, I can say that the country is stagnant. Nothing is moving.

What about the change mantra being chanted everywhere. Are we not feeling the body language?

I have not seen any change and some people are talking about improvement in the electricity. I do not think Buhari’s administration has bought any bulb. I believe that government is a process and all that we are seeing now is what the former administration put in place. I am not a party man. In terms of corruption, I don’t think there is any corruption being fought for now. There is a difference between stealing and corruption. Corruption is a thing of the mind that blows up through the demonstration of character. Corruption is also when you deny somebody of his right. You can see the direction the government was going on its first appointments: Appointing more than 30 to 31 people and all of them from one zone. That is corruption because Nigeria should be viewed as a corporate entity not dominated by one section. If the President should wake up and say he was appointing the people he trusted from one zone, then he should resign and contest for the governorship of that zone. But, so long as you will rule Nigeria, you must trust Nigerians and how do you trust Nigeria; you must trust the North, East, West, etc. We all know that before the President came to power, people were showering praises on him. Now, the praises have reduced because of this. His touted impeccable integrity has also reduced because you can’t disenfranchise me and ask me to support you.

Are you saying that you have not seen improvement in the area of the economy,the TSA and other areas?

In the area of economy, there is no improvement .Some people are saying the price of oil has started coming down. The price of oil is a global thing, and, some countries are even selling cheaper than what we are selling; if the price of oil went down, it must affect the masses. Also, everybody knows that as it is affecting government. Now, there is no new thing that has happened, is it our refineries that have started operating? What took place is that they are trying to manage what we have and government has not started running actually because there is no minister. They said they were studying the government like papers. It seems they don’t trust themselves. If they are divided among themselves, what kind of government then are they going to give us? This issue of party supremacy they have been talking about, is against internal democracy and it is also corruption. That is why they are at war with the Senate President now. Since the Senate President assumed office, there has not been a meeting between him and the President. Our President should learn how to be a father.

In essence you are saying Saraki is being witch hunted?

Yes, he is being witch hunted. He is an APC member and the Constitution does not say that APC or PDP member must emerge the Senate President. The Constitution says one of the Senators and one of them emerged as Senate President. Why don’t you all give him the benefit of doubt? If he is not doing the job, his colleagues would remove him. Its easy to remove a Senate President than a President and this distraction is a result of the corruption of the mind. If our leaders would lead us well and if they would fight against corruption, then they have to first fight against the corruption of the mind. Mental corruption is the highest corruption. It is the corruption that leads to war all over the world and it can cause another war if people are not careful.

The way out

The way out is that the ruling APC should purge itself of mental corruption, the members should accept themselves as one family and get ready to work in unity. For now, the party is in disarray. Internal democracy is lacking in its administration and, until that is removed, they can’t unify Nigeria. There is no way you carry out a lopsided sided appointment that you will not unsettle some sections of the country. And then, we don’t want to have another Boko Haram somewhere. We don’t want to have MASSOB disturbing. We don’t want to have OPC disturbing. All we want to have is a peaceful Nigeria and the corruption of the mind can deny us of this peace.

In the area of security, don’t you think Buhari has achieved a lot especially on the issue of Boko Haram?

The military equipment being used are those purchased by the Jonathan administration. I have not heard that Buhari bought new guns. What happened is that people criticize without thinking . Jonathan was trying to buy the military equipment, the Americans were blocking him, shouting that they support us to fight insurgency but they were campaigning against our buying vital equipment until the Federal Government wanted to buy through the black market in South Africa. The thing blew up until they had a new front where they now got the ammunition. Boko Haram was harmed six weeks to the elections. Now that Buhari came and appointed two key military officers from the same zone, it’s disenfranchisement. You don’t do something like that in a nation divided by ethnicity and religion.

What do you think went wrong with Jonathan’s government

What went wrong with Jonathan’s government is still the same thing that is happening now, lack of internal democracy and Jonathan appointing relatives into key positions.

Would you give him a pass mark?

Yes, in certain areas. In certain areas, no. Generally? Yes, he can’t be condemned outrightly.

The rising spate of kidnapping in the country.

Disenfranchisement and denial of rights and development have made some intelligent youths vulnerable to crime. Government is not building companies and factories to create jobs. The economy should be restructured.

What role do you think the police and security agencies should play, at least, to stem what is happening now?

What we have in Nigeria is a presidential security system, only the President has power. They call it Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. No other person has power over security except the president. Security management of the nation shouldn’t be like that. State police must be in place if we must combat crime.

What role should men of God play in this regard?

Men of God have been playing roles because the nation belongs to God and not the President. That is why the President has only four years to stay and God has a permanent ruling direction. The men of God should emphasize truth because, seeing evil and not talking about it is corruption. I personally do pray for Mr President. I know that he wishes Nigeria well. No President or governor wants his country or state to be destroyed during his tenure, but hypocritical supporters, sycophants keep telling him that the wrong thing is right. God will flush them out so that the President will be free to carry out his genuine intention.

Recent clampdown on MASSOB by the police.

The Northern Elders Forum met recently and was talking about the convocation of another National Conference to address underdevelopment in the North. Which National Conference has convoked after the Biafran war to develop the South East? I brought electricity to my community and not government. MASSOB is a reaction triggered by anger . The youths are being killed. They don’t have weapons . The Presidency should not marginalize them to the point they would carry weapons. The scars of the world are still there and that is why MASSOB came. If a child is crying and you keep beating him to stop , the child would cry the more. The government negotiated with the Niger Delta militants , they are negotiating, now with Boko Haram, why should it not negotiate with MASSOB?
SOURSE: https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Buhari%20should%20address%20corruption%20of%20the%20mind%20–%20Rev.%20Peters&url=http://www.vanguardngr.com/?p=567377

too long

Ojim07:
too long

Yeah

Igbo hatred on the north enh, even their Rev fathers are not left out. Hmm

The post longinus o!