Founder of Success Gate Cherubim and Seraphim Christ Church, Primate Ade Ademisokun-Turton, speaks with Senior Correspondent, JULIUS ALABI, in Akure, on the postponement of the general elections, corruption in Nigeria and involvement of neighbouring countries in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency.
Postponement of the general elections
I had wished the elections were conducted as originally announced. Postponement may not necessarily make things work smoothly because there will be disorganisation of many things. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, may not get it right as he had planned before the postponement.
The security and Permanent Voters Card (PVC) excuses were not enough for the postponement of the elections. When I went to collect my own PVC, I saw a lot that were not collected. A lot of people have relocated, some are no more alive, and a lot of people have travelled out of the country since that period. So, it is not correct that that would be the reason to postpone the elections. Even when he said that it was because of security, a lot of the PVCs had already been collected, even in the so-called troubled areas more than the South. If the PVCs were not collected at all in those areas, then the security excuses would be tenable.
The elections should not have been postponed at all. I know they will still have their way by deploying military personnel to intimidate voters.
As a clergyman, I am not for any political party. Our concern is that the sanctity of our democracy should be allowed to survive because it is the only hope of the common man. Democracy is the best form of government ever fashioned by man. That is the only thing that can save our country.
Postponing the poll few days to the exercise shows that something is wrong with our system and the umpire is not particularly in order.
Interpreting the unfolding situation
If they don’t allow peaceful change, it makes violence inevitable. It is not even about change now. Whether they will lose or win, there is not going to be change, whatsoever. When INEC comes up with the idea that presidential election would come first, we knew that the system was not very much in order. Ideally, it would have been in ascending order. That should be the right thing to do. You could see that we are now building the house from the roof. If they will not allow the election to happen, there will be confusion. I want to just advise the few politicians that have genuine mind to take it easy and pray fervently, so that there will be no military take-over. If there is, it will be a serious setback to us in this country. Looting will start and the little that is going round now will not go round at all. An individual will be siphoning the money into his pocket because one individual will now become the legislature and the judiciary, and that will be terrible.
The idea of this thing can lead to anything. It is wrong for any Nigerian to think that what is happening in Arab countries cannot happen here. It is even likely to be tougher here. Those people belong to one ethic group, almost one family and one religion, yet they cannot still have peace among themselves.
Corruption in the system
Corruption is our problem. I don’t even think Muhammadu Buhari (All Progressives Congress presidential candidate) can fight the issue of corruption in this county. Probably, he is the most available person now who has been tested on that and found above board. But I don’t see him fighting corruption because he is being surrounded by corrupt people. Those who want to put him there are corrupt, so he cannot do it alone. This is not military administration that he can do anything. The real top schemers and corrupt leaders are the people around him. Also, the people from the PDP that migrated to the APC because of personal reasons, will imprison him. If he wins the election, he will be in government and not likely to be in power. But he is the only viable alternative, now.
Corruption is the reason why there is no water. If you take care of corruption, a lot of problems will be solved. If we can tackle corruption, we would have solved almost all our problems. When you eradicate corruption in our land, responsible people will now come out. They cannot come out now, because they know that they cannot waste their time or stake their necks and nobody will give them support.
They know the kind of money these corrupt people have to prosecute their cases or mission and these responsible peoples will be afraid to come out. The fear of God in them has not allowed them to steal; therefore, they don’t have enough money to prosecute election in Nigeria. That is why Nigeria has the highest number of rich politicians in the whole world.
Corruption is the real issue. Corruption walks on all four legs in Nigeria; it is everywhere. You cannot even trust the Council of Obas anymore. Ditto to some religious leaders; a lot of them don’t go to their churches again. You will always see them at the Government House saying all manner of prayers God will never answer.
Multinational support for Nigeria against Boko Haram
It is an exposure of our lapses. It is aftermath of the military rule. The military men are not apolitical as they used to be because of the years of coups. They have now become politicians in uniform; they have abandoned the profession and the ethics of that job.
These Boko Haram members, whether they are militants or not, are Nigeria civilians. They are not known to be members of the Armed Forces of Federal Republic of Nigeria. When our army cannot fight them, I don’t see why we don’t allow other countries to help us out. Our leaders know that Nigeria is no longer the giant of Africa. That was why they started rebranding the country. Unfortunately, it is not an easy thing to rebrand a corrupt country like ours. So, we need to allow these countries to assist in fighting Boko Haram.
The killing is still going on despite the state of emergency declared in some areas. It is better they assist us before these blood-sucking people run over the country.