Pride, selfishness in church, government are Nigeria’s major burden

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General Overseer of Family Restoration Ministries and Convener of the Network of Christian Kings of Nigeria, Supreme Archbishop Emmanuel Powerson, in this interview with SEYI SOKOYA, he speaks on national issues and other sundry issues.

What is your assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration so far?

I noticed that he has been focused, and determined in an incredible way that the nation may evolve in the right direction. I commend him and his government so far. I have to say this as a cleric and as a son of a late politician, I am surprised and happy with his administration so far.

Are you in support of Nigeria’s disintegration given the prevailing situation in the country?

We are too integrated to go apart. We have intermingled. For example, I have an 87-year-old woman who just returned from the hospital. She is from Akure and her husband is from Uyo and their oldest son is 58 years old. The couple has been cohabiting for 58 years. Now, if you separate the nation, where will both of them belong? I know about dual-dual citizenship but that is not what we are saying. What we are saying is that why is there a plot to disintegrate the nation.

We need to stay together; things must not fall apart and that is the way I have always seen it. I grew up with Igbo boys in Lagos; with Lucky, Chukwudi, and Nnadia and until now, I don’t have many Yoruba friends, but Igbos and that is the kind of life we live. Go to any part of Nigeria, you will find different kinds of people. Look at me as a father; I have a lot of spiritual sons and daughters in the north, especially in Taraba State where I have well over 100 of them. What happens to them? So, I believe the marriage of confidence is because the system works, but the system before now was selfish.

What kind of burden is Nigeria under?

It is pride and selfishness and it is from the pulpit to the presidential palace and I say that without any apology. With all due respect to our fathers in the faith, Nigeria is in the bondage of quick-fix syndrome. When a 14-year-old boy wants to start driving a Mercedes Benz, has he striven enough? He doesn’t even know what life is all about. They go into Yahoo Plus, and all manner of fraudulent acts. They don’t want to labour but they want to get money at all costs. So, we are in bondage of shortcuts; cutting corners and that is what led us to where we are now. Whether you believe it or not, we are not in any political bondage.

You can see the amount of money found with Emefiele. How many of us have such? It is so sad that nobody has national interest at heart anymore, even pastors.

A pastor is preaching because he is looking for money to run his ministry and take care of his family. However, there is something called life management. Go and find a job if the work of God is not fetching you money.

There is hunger in the land, what is your advice to our leaders?

We are now in the right direction and it will work. The removal of oil subsidy is one of the steps in the right direction. Imagine, we are here suffering but you’re providing fuel for Cameroon and Chad. Who made that deal? If whoever that made the deal is still alive, he/she needs to be locked up. We are here suffering, you’re thinking of the needs of other people. Yes, we are sister nations, but at this point, we are dying.

My advice to the government is that they should stay on the right track to negotiate it. Create a legacy that will not be forgotten forever and we will be fine but to remove poverty. We all have to go back to farming. Take our attention away from oil because it dries up. Let Nigeria be a country that feeds itself and the world and then poverty will be out from the grassroots to the top.

What is the role of the church in today’s world?

The church needs to come back to reality. The role of the church in today’s world is to stop playing religious games and be pragmatic. Let them stop pushing dogmas rather than doctrine. Let them stop pushing personal ideas (criticism). Let the church begin to preach love within the church. Let me say this, the place where you can find true love is the church, but the place they don’t execute love is the church.

Nobody persecutes the innocent more than the church. The church has to come back to basic and serious teaching. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world and gave His only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” but that is not the end of the story, John 3:17 says “For God sent His son not into the world to condemn the world but through Him that the world might be saved.” But the church specialises in condemnation.

So, the role of the church is actually to collaborate and help instead of condemning. The church has to go back to exercising and showing love. Love without discrimination; love without hypocrisy. Speaking in the tongue is good, but it doesn’t make sense when you don’t have love. Look at it now, especially in Nigeria, God has proven to us that the church can fail. 90 percent of churches supported Obi, where is he now? Those prophecies during the electioneering period by pastors were made out of selfishness, and pride of unguided and unfiltered emotions.

Churches are spreading but the true salvation is dwindling, why?

True salvation is absent and the reason for that is because of money. Our parents in those days gave what they had to the church and pastors managed what was given them, but it is not so these days. Real salvation is not being preached anymore and our message has been reduced to overcoming the enemy and financial prosperity. The church must be vision focused.

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