‘We no longer need establishment of churches in Nigeria, but…’

Pastor Alamu David Tunji (JP) of the Christ Apostolic Church, Agbala Itusile, Abule Egba, Lagos, in this interview with SEYI SOKOYA, speaks on how Nigeria can overcome the current challenges facing it.

The current challenges facing the country are threatening to break it up to the extent that some are clamouring for secession. As a cleric, what is your take on this?

The clamour for a Yoruba nation (or Igbo nation) is not the solution right now. How can we be a great and independent nation when we aren’t united? We are too proud; a lot of northerners, male and female, are not shy to engage in menial jobs. How many Yoruba people can do these menial jobs? We all want white-collar jobs. Our orientation in Yoruba land is different; we spend lots of money on frivolities. If one Hausa man is wealthy, thousands of people eat under him; that won’t make him leave his environment. If a Yoruba man gets rich, the first thing he does is to relocate to upscale communities, instead of upgrading his community and making life better for his neighbours.

Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo was leader for eight years in this country, yet he could not repair the road to Abeokuta. The road to his farm is bad, and we want to establish a Yoruba nation. The Northerners stopped bringing foodstuffs and pepper, and within two days things became difficult. What are we proud of? The majority of our youths are into fraud.

Psalm 13:3 says: “When the foundation is faulty, what shall the righteous do?”

The foundation of this country is bad. We have totally forgotten our foundation; we have lost it. This is what led to our trials and tribulations, especially lack of security, stealing, kidnapping, fraud, and all sorts of criminal activities. Leaders in the country – government and religious leaders – have forgotten the foundation on which this country was laid, but if God helps us to remember our foundation and guides us to make amends where necessary, Nigeria will get better.

What do you think is the way out?

I want to advise our leaders, most especially, our leaders in government and our religious leaders, our prayers have been answered concerning our country. What is left is to take the necessary steps. Countries that do not engage in prayers as much as we do are comfortable; they have great economies and are happy. We pray without ceasing and our country is still not better; the reason is that we are not doing what is necessary. We are only being religious.

I have studied the system of worship and religion in other countries. I noticed that churches are not easily seen around. In Israel, Sunday is just like every other day, but in Nigeria, Sunday is the day we all get dolled up to get to church, with our Bibles, with full congregations and we still do not have a better country. What we need are steps and not prayers. If we will pray, it will be minimal now, because our prayers have already been answered. Let our minds and senses be open.

Some people claim that the church has also been affected by the hardship being experienced in the country. How true is this?

That is the truth because we are all in a system that is not working so well. For instance, I called one of my church members that I wanted to pray for him at midnight when I was conducting my vigil, but he didn’t respond. He later returned the call in the morning and told me that he intentionally did not pick the call because he wasn’t in need of prayers at that time as he was hungry and there was no money for him to buy food since his business had gone bankrupt.

At first I got angry, but when I thought about it, and realised the truth about the saying that: “a hungry man doesn’t listen to preaching.” He didn’t need preaching or prayers at that time; he needed help, which I rendered. If care is not taken, this situation will escalate beyond control in the country; we haven’t seen anything yet. Things have gone awry. Robbery operations are usually carried out at night but it now happens in broad daylight. I am appealing to all religious leaders; this is not about establishing churches in every street.

I heard one of our leaders saying he was going to build a 500,000-capacity auditorium. This is not what is needed at this time. What we need is to help make life better for people and bring the nation back on its right track. The creation of opportunities in all ramifications, including agriculture should be our main goal. This will even ensure food security to an extent. When I was in Egypt, I was offered a lot of food. I got to know that food was not a problem for them. In my entire sojourn, I didn’t see people that were as hungry or malnourished.

The Coronavirus incident should have taught us a big lesson. Ministers of God that are building a 500,000-capacity auditorium; when there was lockdown, how many people did you see in the church? We need action to be taken. Politicians and our leaders in government are the ones spoiling this country. Somebody went to see a politician and was given N2 million for fuel. If that money is used to farm, do you know how many people will benefit from that? The Lagos State government made transportation for the poor easier. Now the rich envy the poor because they get stuck in traffic, while the poor get to their destination faster through BRT. We ought to emulate that. The poor should also live comfortably.

I have been privileged to travel abroad and I see what is happening over there. We need to take measures. We should fix our country, let there be constant electricity supply and roads must be fixed. God has blessed us so much that even with agriculture the story of the country can change for the better.

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