I was a hoodlum; a lady made me to know God —Archbishop Powerson

Just recently, Transparency International ranked Nigeria as the 146th most corrupt country out of the 180 in the world.  How do you see this?

I think they are wrong because they don’t have the correct data.  I have preached in 179 countries of the world and to be honest with you, I am a Nigerian by birth. I lived here until I was 18 before I left the country.  I have not seen a country as corrupt as Nigeria. From the moment you come out of the plane, everybody is expecting something from you.  That statistics is wrong because I think Nigeria should be about 170th or 179th or even 180th.  Egypt is like that too.  Egypt is corrupt while Nigeria is very corrupt. The corruption in Nigeria is unheard of.  One thing I can say as a man of God is that the whole system will soon change.  It is just the dynamics of poverty or selfishness that is causing all of that but I see this nation coming out with an unusual glory that people will start saying let us go to Nigeria and see how they made it.   I had once said that I don’t trust any of the leaders until I see their performances.

What is your view over the perceived killings of Christians in the Northern part of the country?

I think it is double standard. I think it is a form of passive aggression. A killer is a murderer and a murderer is a criminal. Nobody is being brought to justice and this means that at the upper level of government, they have people that are aiding them.  Aiding and abetting of these people is from the government. So, I think that the government is not doing enough. I wish I could have a dialogue with President Muhammadu Buhari to tell him some things. He is a man I met as a young boy then at Falomo shopping complex in Ikoyi, Lagos. He was there as a military attache in NNPC, while my uncle was the personnel manager. There wouldn’t have been anything called religion without people and they are killing such people under your watch and you couldn’t do anything. If you look at it very well, they have a hidden agenda to Islamise Nigeria. For the Buhari I know, he has friends who are Christian and  I personally know his driver who is a Christian in 1978/79. He asked the man not to come to work on Sunday because he wanted him to go to church.

What is the network of Christian Kings of Nigeria all about?

The Bible says ‘when the righteous go, people rejoice’ Let me say it’s going to be beyond Nigeria but first of all, God sent me to Nigeria.  The purpose, vision and mandate are to make whoever is ruling each village and each city fear God. Some of the things we were talking about the judicial system, the political system is the lack of fear of God.  The purpose is to make sure each throne is ruled by God and not by the devil.

How has the experience been in the vineyard?

I will clock 40 years in the ministry by March 24. I thank God for how far He has brought me. I was once a hoodlum, I was a thug minding my own business and doing my own thing.  It was at Prophet Timothy Obadare’s crusade in Ibadan, Oyo State, in 1978 that caught my attention and I calmed down a little bit, but on getting back to my village in 1979, God sent a cleric to my village at Igbajo, Osun State and my life was touched during his sermon. I didn’t go near because I was listening from afar with some girls. So, one of the nights, the cleric made an altar call and a young lady asked me to go there and the rest is history today.