Looters should not go to prison as VIPs –Rev Moses Iloh

REVEREND Moses Iloh is the founder of Soul Winning Ministries, Yaba, Lagos. The octogenarian man of God is frank and passionate about Nigeria’s growth. In this interview, he commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his anti-corruption crusade, stressing the need for the support of all and sundry to win the war. Excerpts:

Sir, what can you say about Nigeria and 2016?

This year 2016 is very crucial for Nige­ria. I see it as a year of abundant blessings but it will come with very intense temp­tations to hinder those blessings. Nigeria can become a huge country after this year. But there will be so much tempta­tion that will make people impatient to satiate their longing. Today, three things control this country. The first is politics, the second is religion and the third is ethnicity which you may call tribalism if you like. Let’s start with politics. Poli­tics in Nigeria has become an avenue to steal, to kill and to destroy the economy. It’s no longer an endeavor of the brilliant and people with good intention. Once you say in Nigeria that you are a politician, the first thing people say about you is that you are a thief, a liar and a crook.

In Nigeria, when you ask people what their profession is, they say they are poli­ticians. Isn’t that disgraceful? We have come to a situation, when we have to look at our politics again. The credo of Nigerian politicians is steal, kill, destroy. It must not continue like that. You’ll dis­cover a lot of very rich people with big businesses, big houses and they are all ex-politicians or serving politicians who have defrauded and stolen the nation blind. Some of them are above the law. A country can’t make progress like that. Their dirty politics impoverish the youths. They give the youths N10,000 and the lat­ter are ready to die for them because they have nothing. We have to find a means to tackle this evil.

My understanding of healthy politics is proper management of the affairs of men, preferably by the righteous or the mor­ally sound, or by honest people. But the danger about the politics in Nigeria is that religion has deteriorated and corrupted the politics of this nation. Christians and Muslims in Nigeria do not do what the Bible and the Quran say. If you look at Christianity today, we have two classes of leadership. Leaders of Christians and then we have Christian leaders. The lead­er of Christians is a crook, a thief and liar and he’s brilliant and smart. To him, the church is a commercial enterprise. How do you explain it that in Nigeria you hear people say this is the richest pastor? That is sacrilege. Jesus said to those who will follow him: “Birds of the sky have nests, foxes have holes but I do not have a pil­low to lay my head.” That is the creator of the entire universe, the king of kings and Lords of lords. He said so because he came to preach the gospel but today what do we see? Competition between the church leader and director of NNPC on who is richer or competition between church leaders and the governor of Cen­tral Bank over who is richer?

Today, because Christianity is so bas­tardized nobody is preaching “put your treasures in heaven; where your treasure is, there shall your mind be.” Pastors no longer preach that to their congregations. Nobody is telling the congregation that you cannot serve two masters, you can­not serve God and Mammon and that you must choose only one. Jesus said so and nobody is emphasizing it in the church. You are a prominent member of the church if you have money and pros­perous. You become a deacon with entou­rage, but the ordinary man who borrows money to go to church on Sunday or who treks to church on Sunday nobody knows him, nobody asks of him and they are the ones Jesus came for. People come to your church barefooted, some borrow money at the end of the service and hang around to see if anybody will oblige them with small money to return home. But the lead­ers of Christians have jets no Christian leader has. Many of them are not Chris­tians, they are brilliant people who em­ploy public relations and marketing tech­niques but then look at their backgrounds, who were they before they became lead­ers of Christians. Who were they?

So, that is the danger today and it’s very much in Nigeria that we have very few Christian leaders. And, of course, they are not doing their best. How many of them preach and tell you the Bible says you’ve got to turn yourself over to the Lord. They only tell the congregation what they want to hear, talk about miracles and the poor innocent fellows are glued to them believ­ing it will come to pass. They also wield influence in politics of Nigeria. Some of them can even buy half of Lagos. That’s robbery and crookedness, not what Jesus said. The disciples at one stage of their lives sold what they had so that those who didn’t have could have. A church that is doing so well is somewhere and cannot pay a member of his congregation’s rent. How many leaders of church will help them out?

The politics of Nigeria has been fur­ther poisoned with false prophecies like “you will be next president and you will be next governor”. Since Christians want to have a Christian governor, they ask non-Christians to choose a Christian for them who will be their governor or their senator. That’s ignorance and the Lord said “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” You go and tell your pastor that you want to contest an election into your state’s House of Assembly and the first thing your pastor will ask you is: “Do you have money?”

If a member of the congregation is honest, genuine, meticulous, and has integrity, why don’t these categories of clerics come together and sponsor them to change this country? The church in Ni­geria should be ashamed. It’s been com­mercialized and so has Islam. Of course, you have the real Imam who will never tell his congregation to kill Christians. So also you have fake Imams who preach to Muslims what please them and exploit them to get what they want. I study the Quran and it never tells you to go kill Christians. Religion is the enemy of this country. Christianity is not a religion; I repeat, Christianity is not a religion. But in Nigeria, leaders of Christians not Chris­tian leaders have turned Christianity into a religion and that’s disastrous. Christian­ity is life. Today in Nigeria, religion has helped to establish three distinct groups. The honest ones are very few. They are righteous, honest and calm, believing God for tomorrow. There are Christians and Muslims who believe in piety and if you want to see real integrity, honesty and truthfulness, they’re present in ordinary Nigerians. Politicians call them ‘ordinary men’.

The second group is the very rich and dishonest. You have them among spare parts dealers, you have them among those who sell mobile phones, you have them in the Central Bank of Nigeria and the police. They’re numerous and they control Nigeria. The honest ones are few. The third category consists of hypocrites among Muslims and Christians. They pray for their politician friend to win election for him to steal money. The pious Muslim is straight forward, humble, genuine and doesn’t kill anybody. The fake Imam on Friday is very holy, on other days, he’s a devil incarnate. Also the fake pastor is holy on Sundays but on weekdays, he’s a devil incarnate. Nigeria will be a blessed country but there will be temptation.

Corruption is in every stratum of our society. Corruption is not just stealing money, it’s spoiling too. You converse with them, they spoil you. At times in sports, I hear they feature aged people. So, what are they teaching that sports­man?
You’ve already spoilt him. He knows the only way he can survive is to continue to be a liar and a cheat. In the university, a girl or boy has to bribe a lecturer to pass exams. The lecturer has corrupted them. We should stop regarding corruption as just stealing money; people corrupt and destroy others by teaching them how to lie. Christians should go back to the Bible.

What’s your assessment of the country generally?

The country is in the right direction. Buhari is a blessing. God loves Nigeria, everything in Nigeria is supernatural and we’re blessed with human resource. God knows that the problem in Nigeria is cor­ruption. So, He keeps looking for who will go for Him, who He will send. He found one man who is not a Christian but inside him he abhors corruption, he wants to deal with corruption and he has been con­sistent and very faithful in that bid. God picks him up to be the president of Nige­ria. Today, how many Nigerians want him to succeed? Those who go on air to criti­cize him, where were they eight years ago when we were roasting in pains? Some people come out to talk nonsense.

There are lots of problems in Nigeria. Rioting here, demonstrations there. I be­lieve they are sponsored to hinder the president from doing what he has come to do. He has come that we might fight cor­ruption. He said it clearly that if we don’t kill corruption, it will kill the country. So, the country is faring well, but majority of these people don’t want Buhari to suc­ceed. Don’t be surprised if, by tomorrow, workers go on strike. Everything is being done to hinder the crusade against cor­ruption. There are all kinds of critics who distract his attention. In 2016, Nigerians should give him all the support. If you are a thief and you’re arrested, you go to pris­on. That’s what the law says. Look at the conduct of some of our lawyers on televi­sion and you begin to thank God that you are not a lawyer.

Would you say the judiciary is part of the problem in this country?

Right now, they are part of the problem. They should please do what is right in the interest of Nigeria. If anybody is ar­rested, the law is clear. As a lawyer, you help to bail him. But they are too critical of everything. In our courts, it’s one case with two different judgments. What kind of judiciary is that? The law in Nigeria is a bloody ass. It’s only in Nigeria that the court takes a decision and people say it cannot be implemented. Then they start causing trouble because they want to dis­tract the president and pull him down and eventually make him fail. But we are pray­ing for him, he shall not fail.

Concerning Dasukigate, shouldn’t President Jonathan speak up?

President Jonathan is quiet not be­cause he does not know what to say but he wants all those who misled him to fall into their traps, to drink their own medicine. He knows that in the end, it will come to him. So, why must he be in a hurry now? If he should speak up now, it will incriminate him. Maybe, he gave the order. If he gave the order, then he’s culpable. Corruption should be dealt with severely. Those indicted should return the money and face prosecution.

What’s your take on Nnamdi Kanu?

No, I will not support what I do not know and what’s not right. He must have been badly briefed. He didn’t witness the war. He doesn’t know what it is to be at war. The first clue that they want to run into trouble is they are agitating for Biafra they don’t even know where it’s coming from. They also disobeyed their elders. They have no respect for elders. So, which Biafra will they sustain? Is it that they want to kill all elders they don’t respect? So, the foundation is wrong and I also believe that the objective of the whole campaign is to bring the president down. Go to Imo, Abia, Anambra and all of these states and see how ex- governors virtually ruined the states. Oh, they didn’t want Biafra then. Why is it now that a president who wants to help them is in power that they want Biafra? The whole thing is targeted at bringing down the president and any attempt on the presi­dent will fail because God put him there and his intentions are right.
I thought as an Ibo man you‘ll sup­port Biafra. Not so?

No. I will not support what I do not know. It’s not right. You start a thing and you disregard your elders? Don’t you have a father, don’t you have a mother? And they are principally Christians. The Bible tells you: “Honour your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land of the living.” But you disregard your elders. What country are you trying to form, a country where youths will never get old? The foundation is wrong, it’s not right.

What’s your advice for President Muhammadu Buhari?

Let him have some secret advisers, he may not have to pay them. They will tell him exactly what’s going on. Some of them can even be foreigners. Nobody knows them. Some Nigerians want him to fall so that there will be no Nigeria to fight corruption. Nigeria is a terrible country when it comes to corruption.

Your birthday is February 13th and you are still strong and full of life. What’s the secret?

I will be 86 years old next month. There’s one gift God has given me. It’s contentment. I’m very contented. I’m hap­py. I have a happy home, a happy family. The Lord never told me Moses, I’m going to make you a millionaire. He said to me son, I promise you something- I will give you everyday your daily bread. When God gives you daily bread, it’s enough to share with other people. Every day, God gives more bread than I can eat and share with other people. I’m praying to God that He should give me the anointing to get hon­est people together that will fight cor­ruption in this country. Corruption can be defeated. If I have my way, I will run a political party. But in Nigeria, you cannot without money. I will call it the ‘Millen­nium Party’ and you know there are good people in Nigeria who will love to join that party. The foundation of the party will be righteousness, honesty, truthfulness and integrity. These are the things that don’t cost money.

What judgment awaits those who have looted the country?

Right now, no one can say for certain that anybody is looting; everybody is con­centrating on those who looted. It’s nice to clear the mess of those who looted and then jump on those who are looting. They should not be allowed to escape.

Some of them have already been in­flicted with one form of ailment or the other. Is that part of the consequenc­es of their actions?

Don’t forget that fear is very disastrous. Some of them if they are inundated with fear of the consequence of what they have done, it may lead them to become sick. The shame, the humiliation and the fear could be very devastating.

How would they atone for their hei­nous crime against the innocent peo­ple of this country?

Firstly, the law should have its cause. If they returned what they stole and make up with the lord, then they could escape spiritual punishment. But I think physical punishment is important as a deterrent.

What form of punishment?

They should not make any new laws for them, they should not go to prison as VIPs, they should go to prison as ordinary citizens.

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