The man of God in-charge of Illumination Assembly, God First Ministry, Lekki, Lagos, Archbishop Isaac Idahosa has said that only God can stop former military head of state, who is the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) from winning the February 14, 2015 elections.
He said that the election would make or mar the country,
while advising everybody to sheath his or her sword so that we can move forward
as a nation. According to him, the time has come for Nigerians to unite the
country so that we can make headway as a nation.
There have been several reports in the media, especially
social media that it is only God that can stop former head of state, Muhammadu
Buhari from winning the presidential election of February, 2015, what is your
view on this?
A lot of people have asked me to
clarify that comment, and I have been saying that both President Goodluck Jonathan
and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) are in
the race to with the intent of winning and only God can stop them. So, it is
not just Buhari, whoever is contesting has winning as his/her target for
contesting.
The structure of Muhammadu Buhari is
strong, he has followership and there is no stopping him but God, but the same applies
President Jonathan too.
I have said it before, but it is only that it
has come to the limelight now, that Buhari is running to win, human factor can
only be a force to reckon with if God is not in the picture so also is President
Jonathan, it takes only God to put one on the throne nobody can be President
outside the backings of God. God owns the throne and He giveth it to whosoever
he wills.
President Jonathan is an agent of
transformation and Buhari is an agent of change, if you put the two on the
table, then the people make their choice armed with their Permanent Voters Cards
(PVC). It is for people to dig a well, it is for divinity to cause the well to
bring forth water, the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety
is of God. We are about to experience God’s divine intervention in Nigeria like
never before. I said that only God can stop Buhari on 14th February.
It is God that puts one up and down, you will get it clear very soon.
What is God saying concerning the forthcoming elections?
God’s best will would be given to
Nigeria, Nigeria is not going to disintegrate, that is sure, but then you must
not push it, there are nations with lesser issues than us today that have
become war torn. So, nobody should threaten the other, we must allow God to
take charge and the candidates should follow up with the peace accord that was
signed, if you appended your signature to a particular paper and you do the
opposite, what kind of leadership are you going to offer, leadership must be by example.
I said it 29th December, 2014 that
with all that have happened in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan,
we still have about six things we could still point at as his achievements. Distractions
and the insecurity and challenges we have are worldwide; it is not peculiar to
us in Nigeria. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, I want to say that he
has been there for about six years now, change is necessary, why do we need
change? We need change to improve, even if you follow the transformation
agenda, he said that he vowed to do more, this means he vowed to improve and
you cannot improve without change, so everybody is yearning for change, but how
do you want to effect the change?
What is your take on the issue of religion when talking
about political offices?
We have not yet reached a stage,
where we will base our politics on credibility, character and ethnicity. We’ve
not got to that point as religion and politics are largely interwoven, you
can’t divorce one from another. But you must look at antecedents, you must look
at what one has been able to do in the past and how he wants to improve on all
that he has done before. Religion plays a vital role in our politics because Nigerians
are God fearing people, be you Muslim, Christian or whatever you must have
something you believe in. I remember the
June 12, 1993 presidential election that featured Alhaji Baba Gana Kingibe and
the late Chief MKO Abiola. It was Muslim -Muslim ticket, but you see things
have changed, the fastest way to lose election in Nigeria now is to present
presidential candidate and vice-presidential candidate from the same religion.
That would make such person a loser,
now the All Progressives Congress (APC) was wise in balancing the equation with
Christian; of course, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also has Christian,
Muslim candidates.
But the issue now is that, when Muhammadu Buhari
was there as military head of state, what were the things traceable to him as
achievements, what did he do that warranted everyone to point at him as an agent
of change? This is a school of thought, also what did President Jonathan do to
warrant us to say that he would be an agent of transformation, this is another
school of thought.
But I put the whole thing on a scale
and consider both Buhari and Jonathan. I emphasize again, only God can stop
Buhari on February, 14 2015. Why? God remains the deciding factor to put on the
throne or dethrone someone. Jonathan may have the power of incumbency, but
let’s sit down and think, for the past six years, how has he been able to
transform the nation. That is why I want them to go on a debate, talk about
issues, and say ‘this is what I have been able to do and this is how I want to
continue,’ people will listen to him than saying ‘this one is black and this
one is white.’ Actually, this is a general thing, even in the United States of
America, President Barack Obama was smeared by his counterpart that he was from
Kenya and what have you. Anyway, our politics is evolving, people are getting
more aware with more enlightenment than what it used to be, there is an
awakening.
What is your take about doomsday prophecy concerning the
forthcoming presidential elections?
It is already heating up the polity,
President Goodluck Jonathan went to Sokoto State and as soon as he departed,
they took brooms to sweep the place, it doesn’t speak well, he is the President
even aside the politics, there must be constitutional respect for the office of
the Nigerian President. The future, and I’m saying this as a man of God, the
future is in the hands of God, but you see, if God gives us a bright future, it
is not enough, we must stretch our hands to take it. For instance, someone said
that if President Jonathan doesn’t win the forthcoming election, pipeline
vandalism would continue. Buhari said he was going to stop Boko Haram, he said
that he would ensure safety of lives and properties. I’m saying this
emphatically, if we are not careful as a nation and people, the determining
factor is just next month. According to a Yoruba saying (koi sele lara o gba)
if it becomes what it is with the way we are going now, I just pray against
negative prophecies, but we should not ignore them. If we don’t have a change
of attitude towards electoral processes, because nobody is willing to fold his
hands to see his party being rigged or experience hijacking of ballot boxes,
people are not going to take it lightly. I overheard Asari Dokubo saying nobody
should fight, but if you slap me once, I will slap you twice, now the truth is
this, we are at the verge of sound intelligence as par who leads us, everybody
is clamouring for a better Nigeria, but how are we going about it? What do you
have in place to clamour for a better Nigeria? You must not be concerned about
now alone, but about posterity. I would be 50 by 8th of February, so
I’m not just talking, I can tell a little bit about history, history catches on
with people, we can make mistake but we don’t have to make the same mistake
repeatedly, we don’t have to. Again, I say only God can stop Buhari from
becoming our next president. You know why? He is determined despite the health
and certificate saga; he is dogged, so only God can stop him. Jonathan is
determined, only God can stop him. So that is why we must return to God and say
‘God, let your will be done, when we
take our PVC and go to vote with our conscience not just by selling our
conscience.
What is your advice to Nigerians concerning February, 2015
elections?
Let’s have Nigeria at heart, we are
here in Nigeria, we are for Nigeria because we are Nigerians. We don’t have any
other country to call for help, so we must sheathe our swords and contribute
meaningfully towards ensuring a peaceful atmosphere, let us comply to rules,
laws and order.
Avoid provocative words as it were and let’s try to stop those creating menace around us. If we love Nigeria, we will make Nigeria safe, but you see, a whole lot has gone down the drain and people no longer believe in their country, there is no patriotism, people no longer have trust in the system and where there is mistrust, there would be distrust and where there is distrust, there would be distortion, unity will no longer hold, because they will say many things and do very few. If we keep to our words, it is easy to lead Nigerians, we all want to see proves and evidence. Once there is evidence, then, there will be audience, no evidence, no audience.
Avoid provocative words as it were and let’s try to stop those creating menace around us. If we love Nigeria, we will make Nigeria safe, but you see, a whole lot has gone down the drain and people no longer believe in their country, there is no patriotism, people no longer have trust in the system and where there is mistrust, there would be distrust and where there is distrust, there would be distortion, unity will no longer hold, because they will say many things and do very few. If we keep to our words, it is easy to lead Nigerians, we all want to see proves and evidence. Once there is evidence, then, there will be audience, no evidence, no audience.
It is like change is imminent, what will be your counsel to
INEC and stakeholders generally?
It will catch up with them, it is
just like someone throwing a stone into the market, he doesn’t know who it will
hit, maybe it will be your brother, sister or relatives, since what goes around
comes around, we must not make others scapegoats, while we hide in our palace.
Such is not going to be acceptable this time since people are getting more
enlightened by the day. That’s why education is very, very important. If you
find anybody trying to cause trouble, report such person immediately, be a
peace keeper and law abiding citizen of this country, I’ve stated this before,
if we love our country, we will not want any other person to disintegrate it,
maybe there is a riot somewhere and they burn down places, who is losing, it is
the common man. If the airport gets burnt down, the tax payers will then be
deployed to fix it, who loses? We must begin to see Nigeria as our own nation
and country, we should be able to defend the unity and peace of the country and
everyone should become a policeman or woman to debar crime. I know what is
wrong and I go against it, I know what is right, I stand by it, you do your
best and I do mine, we will become the best. We will move on with a little here
and there, if you keep on to be less caring then distraction will set in,
destiny decays in the hands of an idle man, when you remain dormant and
redundant, very soon you will be bothered, just as Boko Haram is in the North
East, we must be bothered now, we in the South West, what affects one should
affect all, we must stand in unity to defend the common good of this country.
What should be the role of men of God on the issue of Boko Haram and the kidnap of Chibok Girls?
Prayer, advisory role and we have the
structure on ground, the Pentecostal Felloweship of Nigeria (PFN) and the
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The leadership of CAN are doing what
they are doing very well though, it is not unique to Nigeria. It is not a
customized thing, but it is a worldwide thing, which cuts across. So clerics
are praying and giving godly counsel, you are only seeing a few, but the things
you are not seeing are more than the ones you see. There are lots of
interventions that have taken place, which are not openly declared, it is only
the ones we see that we know. The military won’t tell you how they go about
their things but we can only see the result. So, we pray that our leaders would
take to wise and godly counsels. The Bible says in the multiple of counseling,
there is safety, so the leadership of CAN, PFN and other Christian bodies have
been doing their bits and again, nobody will like to preside over a nation,
where chaos is the order of the day, I’m not sure anybody wants that.
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