Founder of Soul Winning Church in Lagos, Reverend Moses Iloh, is one man that believes so much in quick transformation of Nigeria to a better country. In this interview the elder statesman talked with passion on the current happenings in the country, especially the ministerial nominees and the senate. Being an ace sportman, he also talked about football.
Excerpts:
What is your take about happenings in Nigeria, especially the ministerial nominees?
As far as I know now, Nigeria has moved to a level where there should be no more question of tribe. You know what I mean? Tribalism. You are Igbo, you are Hausa. What has happened to Nigeria is that Nigeria now has two distinct tribes. You are either in the tribe of the corrupt or the tribe of the morally decent. No other one. That is where Nigeria has gotten herself to. Because corruption has become so powerful. Don’t forget as I keep on saying, Moslems and Christiansthe top ones, came together and formed this new religion called corruption, which is very strong. Anybody telling you that because they say I’m Igbo or I’m Yoruba, I’m Hausa it’s all hypocrisy. Its either you are on the corrupt side, which is very powerful and profitable side or you are on the righteous side. I don’t capitalize on the word righteous as if it’s Christianity, I mean morally sound. Now, we’ve got to that kind of level. People must try to take a stand. If something is right, it does not matter who is there, support him because you are right and he believes in what is right. If something is wrong, say its wrong and try to amend it or condemn it. Now, what is happening in the senate with the ministers is ridiculous. Asking them to go and declare assets is too childish. I want one senator who has no terrible record about corruption to lift his hand up, to point his hand at anybody. Remember in the bible, the woman who committed adultery and they brought her to Jesus. Jesus stated to them, is there any of you who is righteous? Cast the first stone. What the senators are trying to do is cause confusion in this country. My attitude to a minister is that if we Nigerians through our president find that you are useful, we are begging you to come and help and somebody has to ask you, declare your assets. Time to do that will come, there’s time to investigate everybody. Tell me one senator, who is clean, let him come out and let us give him half of Nigeria if he likes. Where are they? Senate for me is a place when you are a governor; you have stolen enough you run into the senate, hoping that you can get immunity that you enjoyed as a governor, so you can continue to enjoy the immunity. Distinguished what? It hurts me when I hear people describe a senator as distinguished. Distinguished what? Oh my God, except I don’t know the word ‘Distinguish’. I feel that when you go and get a man, like Buhari now, I look at Buhari as a captain of a team, you want to play a football match, your greatest interest is to pick a team that you understand will work with you and you will win the game. But don’t forget, when you start the match, if in the first 15 minutes somebody is injured or faulty, what do you do? You change the fellow. The law allows it. He looks for people he thinks can work with him to achieve his goal. His main target is to change this country. Why don’t we allow them? If I am one of the ones who want to be minister, I kick it out. I don’t need to go there. I have no skeleton. It’s becoming humiliating. One thing in my cupboard that you must look at, the word politician today in Nigeria is related to stealing. Politics is not meant for crooks. Politics is the proper management of the affairs of men preferably by the morally upright. That is politics. But when you hear now in the television, everybody talking about politics everywhere, they talk about politics as corruption. It’s a shame. The Change that we require today is to see that only the right people come into political office. Right now, it is known that you are appointed into a political position to go and steal, to go and make money. That is very bad. It’s so sad.
That is very bad. It’s sad. What I am saying is, look at people who want to be ministers, look at what their antecedents is, you can call for declaring assessts anytime you like to do it. But you use it now, you try to humiliate them, they even stated the assessment of the interview will be broadcast live. Damn it all. If I was any of those fellows with any integrity and conscience, I’ll say hang it, I don’t want it. Hold it, I don’t want it. You are looking for people to come and serve not to humiliate them. You want me to come and help change my country; I have records to show that I can do it from what I have done before. Take a man like Fashola. He’s done a terrific work in Lagos. Can you close your eyes and forget what he has done in Lagos? Just because you want to make him a minister, then you humiliate him, because everybody believes you are going into politics to steal? The way the senate is approaching these things to me is very unfair to the dignity of man. None of them bribed to be nominated. Did everybody in the senate declare his assessts? Do you realize that the present Senate is corrupt? You saw the trick they played. How can that kind of body begin to ask somebody to declare assets? I feel sorry for the president because he doesn’t understand Nigerian politics as we know it. What I am saying is, he should be very careful, don’t try to humiliate a good person just because you want him to give service, otherwise in future, good people will refuse to serve.
What Buhari should know
The other one is that the president must know that within PDP and APC are people who don’t want him to survive. He should not just think that the opposition is PDP; in APC there are people who cannot stand the fight against corruption. I feel sorry for him. The situation is dangerous, the situation is very dicey. Its like saying lets run and somebody behind you has a gun, as you run forward they shoot you from the back. He’s got a very difficult situation but let’s hope that good people in Nigeria who are not even in politics should begin to speak up, garner support for the president. That is why I say to you Nigeria is divided into two tribes. Tribe of the corrupt and tribe of the morally decent. So those who are on the right side, it doesn’t matter where you come from, come out now, especially the elders and speak, and organize yourself into a particular support force to make sure that the president stands firm because when this fight of corruption comes so much the corrupt will be fighting and don’t forget that all the big, big businesses that are succeeding in Nigeria, their foundation is corruption. These guys have money, they can fight but the only thing that can fight them is, if the good ones can begin to talk, you don’t have to be a political party to say this is bad and good but everybody is just calm and waiting. No, that is hypocrisy, this is Hausa man, and this is Ibo man. That is a lie now. Nigeria is either you are on the corrupt side or you are on the righteous side. Those who believe Nigeria is on the path of righteousness or morality should now constitute themselves to a real power that will give the president full support for what he wants to achieve not for who he is if you like. If you don’t want to achieve a fair, honest, dignified Nigeria you are trying to achieve the corrupt Nigeria. What did the bible say? The lord himself says if you are not for me you are against me. There is no in-between.
Concerning this ministerial stuff, elderly people and women are not well represented too, what’s your take on that?
When you say somebody in their 30s, find out how he was brought up. Today, if you want to be cheated hard fall into the trap of a young man. Most of the young people today are smart crooks because that is how they are brought up. Look at all those who are born since the military regime started in this country they are so smart. Are they trickish, are they crooked? You can’t trust a young man with your money or business and relax. Be very careful, he will outwit you. That is why we need to change our educational system. Take teaching of moral impact to school. A young boy, he has got his masters degree, go and check very well, maybe his parents have bribed the lecturer to get it because he wants to get job, because Nigeria believes in certificates not what you can do. So how many of them are fair, free, neat and just? How many youths? You wait until Nigerian youth tricks you, oh boy, you won’t forget it. I don’t think this is the time for it. Let these ones that they nominated go there and do what they can do. Concentrate on our education system, make sure salaries of teachers and civil servants are paid. Let them take four years to hurry up and do what is possible so that any youth being brought up in Nigeria will be somebody who is morally upright. How many youths today respect elders? How many youths will find their way to steal money and give somebody and jettison it, they will go for it. If you talk about young people into politics now, I will say no. Let these ones take their time, sit down and see that the foundation on which we raise our youth is sanctified, purified and put life in schools to teach morality. You know we have the reputation of examination cheating, what are you talking about getting the youths into the system? People go to England with masters degree from here, but when they get there they have to retake exams, because a lot of things about the youth is fake. I am not saying there are no good ones. There could be very good ones but they may not be living in Nigeria. There may be good ones who because they don’t like what is happening in Nigeria, they are in Nigeria but they are doing their things quietly. They are not noisy, showy but they are good. This is why I am so angry about what you call the visible church in Nigeria. The visible church in Nigeria has failed. It’s more than a business organization than organism that brings up life. The education system in Nigeria is also in trouble. What do Christian schools and Christian churches and Sunday school should be doing is to raise up children learning leadership from day one. As you are training them, you are training them to be leaders, to learn to take responsilities, to show integrity. There are three things which are so important in life and they are free of charge, you don’t pay for it. Honesty, humility, integrity. It doesn’t cost you one kobo. The poor people in the village have them. These are what we should inculcate in our children right from the Sunday school, right from the school, to teach them the responsibility of leadership. A child is going to night club. I hear they take pack of dollars showing it off. Is that the youth you want to appoint t a minister? So we should stop destroying our youths if we want them to go into government. Let this government be allowed to sanitize our education system, inculcate in the youth as they are growing the responsibility of leadership, humility, integrity, honesty. Let it be something that you virtually inoculate them with.
What about the low representation of women in government?
Then what do we say about women not getting into government? Women should go into politics and not wait for a man to propose to you. The population of women supersedes that of men. Almost two million of them are educated. They should go into politics and show what they can do but they are waiting for the man to take them. Don’t forget that can be expensive to the woman. They have to be careful. I don’t think we should worry about women and youths now. They will come in future. Let this particular season be a season of sanitizing the polity of Nigeria, and let our children be honest, humble and to have integrity. Look at what we read in papers about girls in the university? Go to Dubai, most undergraduates are going there to prostitute. Not that they want to prostitute but the country has become so bad and difficult. I heard some of the prostitutes in Dubai are saying they are already building houses for their parents and if they were in Nigeria they couldn’t do that. They are not prostitutes because they want to be prostitutes but it is circumstantial. So, let us change our country that they can come back here. Today, if you are a youth or a woman and you don’t know anybody of influence you cannot get nothing. No matter how brilliant.
If you don’t know people who have money and they can virtually abuse your body you can’t get anything. A lot of women are teachers, lecturers in our universities, running private schools, let them inculcate in our children the desire to grow up as leaders who have integrity, honesty and humility.