High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, former Chairman of DAAR Communications and a PDP Chairmanship aspirant.

Renowned marine engineer, media mogul and businessman, High Chief Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, is one of the leading contenders for the chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party, whose election comes up on December 9.

In this interview, Dokpesi speaks on why he wants to lead the party and what the PDP and the people of Nigeria stand to gain with his victory.

Excerpts:

One wonders why you are venturing into the murky water of politics at this point in time instead of consolidating on the media industry where you have made a name.

I retired from Daar Communications a couple of years ago and, for that reason, I am not actively involved in the daily operations of the company. But as the founder and a substantial shareholder in Daar Communications Plc, I still have the privilege of looking at issues that concern Nigeria.

And the truth remains that Nigeria is my interest; the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the black race is my major concern and my major interest. And up to the time I stop breathing, I will continue to be worried about the issues of development and progress of the black race.

I recall that when we were growing up, we had hopes and aspirations which have not  been fully achieved.

So, the only way I can continue to contribute to the attempt to make Nigeria flow with milk and honey and to be a place that is united, a place that is workable for all Nigerians irrespective of religion, tribe and position in the society, is through a political vehicle where I can effect change. And for that reason, I cannot fold my hands and sit back and look without contributing effectively to the dreams which I dreamt about Nigeria, my hopes and aspirations for a better Nigeria, a prosperous Nigeria, a Nigeria flowing with milk and honey, a Nigeria that is united, a Nigeria where every citizen, according to its ability, can find a place for themselves.

But all these aspirations you have enumerated can be actualised through many other platforms other than PDP chairmanship.

Let me say that I have been an active member of the PDP since 1998 but because I was running a media organisation and so on, my sympathy, my membership did not mean anything to me. But I lent my support to deepening democracy in Nigeria. I looked through all the political parties at inception and if there was anything that actually attracted me, that made the PDP very important to me, that left the necessary impact on me, it was its commitment to the unity and stability of this country. That clause in its manifesto that speaks of developing the country uniformly, of giving opportunities, creating job opportunities for the younger ones, making Nigeria a place of hope and respect and with these ideals of actualising a united Nigeria, got me carried away and I needed to continuously remain in the party to lend my support. So there was no need for me to aspire to lead the party over the years.

But the PDP ran into leadership crisis and I feel that in dealing with the crisis, the PDP needs a bridge-builder and I feel that I have that in me. And the PDP needs people that are courageous, I think I have that in me; PDP needs somebody that is capable of admitting the mistakes of the past and be determined to really look for the solution, and for the challenges that we have, you need a visionary leader. And the party needs rejuvenation, rebranding, reconstruction, rebuilding; all of these I think I am able to do effectively; that is why I am offering myself for service to the party.

The party has had many Chairmen from 1998 till date and many of them were not given a standing ovation at the end of their fractured tenures. What are you going to do differently for the party if you are victorious?

You would recall that, last year, when I decided to run for the chairmanship of the party, I adopted a totally different role. To me, the party must be returned to the people; it is the delegates and the people who should determine who should serve them in what capacity and I went round the country to offer myself, to introduce myself, to understand the problems of the ordinary man out there because, as far as I am concerned, the party is not in Abuja, the party is in the heart of people in the various villages, in the various wards.

Those who have been there in the past never went through any democratic process. They were all appointed by godfathers, by ‘garrison commanders’, by people who simply sat down and anointed their cronies to do their bidding.   As a result, their commitment and loyalty was not to the people and the party but to those who anointed them. But I want to be nominated by the people so as to also serve them in return.

I want to achieve the dream of the ordinary man in the streets for a united Nigeria and PDP is only a political party that can galvanize and mobilise the people in this direction today.

What does returning the party to the people entail? Are we likely to see a situation such as we saw in the NPN days when the party was supreme and could stop a non-performing governor from getting its ticket to run?

Let me state equivocally that the era you referred to, the NPN, UPN, GNPP, NPP years, were years that party supremacy was well respected, you had strong leaders of the party. Chief Akinloye was the Chairman of the NPN and there was no doubt that there was respect for party constitution. Clearly then, it was the party that determined elected persons’ manifesto, monitored their performance and held them accountable to the people.

But do not forget that in 1999, the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo both ran for the presidency but in a bid to assuage the pains of the South-West as a result of the cancellation of the June 12 election, the PDP decided that somebody from the South-West and preferably Chief Olusegun Obasanjo should come back.

Obasanjo was coming from prison. His only exposure and training was what he had had in the military; so he brought the military mentality, unitary command system into the party. So, as far as he was concerned, he was told that he was the leader of the party and at the same time the head of state, commander-in-chief of the armed forces; the governors too were designated the same way.

In an ideal situation, the president and governors must be apolitical once they are elected, they must serve all Nigerians irrespective of political party they belong to.

Similarly, the head of the political party should be the Chairman of the party, as he is the one to articulate and work together with his team to come up with a manifesto for the party which those that in government can market to the public for acceptance and be implemented by the government that is elected on the platform of the party.

But we had a military mentality in the sense that people who were not democrats and could not understand how exactly we were supposed to run a democracy have been running the system over the years. So, it has been a learning curve and we must forgive them but this is the time to correct those things in the PDP.

Under my watch, the party will be supreme; under my watch, we are going to make sure that governors are accorded all the necessary respect and support that they need to implement their programmes, but the party shall be supreme; the party shall take responsibility for the manifesto, for the programmes that are implemented in the states, hold the governors accountable and the party must be in a position to sustain itself because it is said that ‘he who pays the piper dictates the tune’.

Are you certain the party will provide a level-playing field for all the contestants come December 9? I am asking that question because some of the aspirants have raised the alarm that the composition of the teams for the election is lopsided in favour of a particular aspirant.

Let me say that in actual fact the Caretaker Committee should not be blamed. When you enter a contest of this nature, people are bound to be aggravated, anxious and suspicious of everything that is done, but if only you can appreciate that we are human beings, we can make mistakes, then the suspicion would be reduced. The truth of the matter is that various leaders and persons in the party were asked to nominate people into a three-man committee, whose mandate is merely supervisory. They are not the people to conduct the election.

Having said that, it is also necessary to recognise the fact that there are 36 states of the federation and what we should really have is to get one person from each state to be sent to maybe not their own states, maybe neighbouring states and so on and these become Chairmen. But, in this case, I think five or six persons and their friends have been spotted campaigning with a particular aspirant from the South-South, thereby giving room for suspicion.

That notwithstanding, we could have resolved it without the heat that came up. I do not feel threatened or worried about that because I know that the Chairman and members of the Caretaker Committee are people of impeccable character, people who are committed to a successful transition. I know that they also want to do everything possible to make sure that this whole process is without rancour or any type of challenge.

Has the loss of the 2015 presidential election taught your party any lesson that may shape the party’s future?

Yes, the loss of the 2015 election was a failure foretold. There is no gainsaying about it. From sometime in 2010, we were in a group called the PDP Reformed Group that was chaired by a former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, and co-chaired by then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Masari, who is now governor of Katsina State.

I provided the secretariat for the group and I was the coordinator of the whole process. There were about six governors in the group and pointed out the dangers inherent in the party and raised the alarm that the PDP was slipping but we were ignored. 

Even the Adamu Ciroma and Alex Ekwueme reports on the state of the party were not implemented because of the militarization of the administration of the party. And for continuously drawing the attention to the poor state of the party, we were all suspended and, at a point, expelled from the party for daring to say there was the need for reform in the party.

Okwesili Nwodo came in and, for attempting to carry out reforms in the party, he was thrown out of the party. Ogbulafor, who wanted to stick to the zoning formula of the party, was also thrown out.

So after the election, there as what we popularly referred to as the Ekweremadu Report and, thereafter, the Prof. Jerry Gana’s Strategy Review Committee, in which the best brains and the most active actors of the PDP were put together to review and identify the immediate and remote causes of the loss of the election, written and unwritten reasons; some of them which you cannot say you put into writing but you must know they are there. It was approved by NEC, which, in the absence of a Convention, is the highest organ of the party.

Among the issues identified as the main problem of the party is impunity, lack of respect for zoning principle, supremacy of the party, funding of the party and provision of a level-playing field for all members. It is, therefore, imperative for the PDP to emerge from the failure of 2015 to be fully rebranded and be repackaged and be represented to the people of Nigeria. Its manifesto must reconnect with the people of Nigeria while the youths and women must be given more prominent roles to play in the party. In addition, necessary reforms must be carried out to make the party more attractive to Nigerians and win their confidence as 2019 approaches.

The vision and values of the founding fathers must be sustained and modified to meet the development that we have worldwide.

I am confident that I will benefit from those reports and I will vigorously pursue and implement these measures to make the party more accessible and acceptable to Nigerians.

We must clean the erroneous claims by the APC that the PDP is clueless and corrupt. And in doing so, there is nothing wrong in using one or two experienced members in the new working committee.

What gives you the confidence that you can win this chairmanship election?

My confidence is in the people; it is in the amount of the sacrifice I have made for this party while not expecting a dime back. In all that I have been doing for the party, I have never done so with the mindset of becoming the Chairman. I am vying for the post because there is a vacuum that has been created and because of the need to look for a servant of the people, not a master.

What we get wrong all the time in this country is that the very people we elect to go and represent us, to serve us, often turn themselves into our masters. And we agree and accept these servants of ours as our masters out of hunger, poverty and stomach infrastructure. Often, we forget that they are only there by our own grace. We must learn to ask them to be accountable to the members of the party. In my own case, I want to be accountable to the citizens of Nigeria if, by the special grace of God, we win the presidential election in 2019, I want to mobilise, I want to strategise to get the youths of this country together. I got to the pinnacle of my career as a youth and there is no reason whatsoever and there is nothing that stops and demeans any person from getting to that height today. We must create the enabling environment, we must continue to sustain because the future and stability of this country depends on the younger generation.

From your experience, what is wrong with Nigeria and how can it be fixed?

Nigeria is well blessed with mineral resources. Nigeria has well trained and well educated manpower to drive the economy, drive the society. Unfortunately, we have wrong leadership, we have misplaced priorities.

Note: This interview was published in the Sunday 26 November edition of Vanguard

President Muhammadu Buhari.

As the second term bid of the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari continues to dominate the Nigerian political space, the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, a northern pressure group has told the President to forget seeking a re-election in the 2019 presidential election.

According to the group, all efforts by Buhari to seek a re-election at the polls would not receive the support of its members.

Alhaji Yerima Shettima, President of the AYCF made ti s known while speaking with the Sun in an interview at the weekend.

“Honestly, the situation is nothing to write home about and we cannot continue hoping that anything will happen from now till the next one year,” he said.

Shettima added that the youths could no longer continue to fold its arms while the Buhari administration appears to lack what it takes to run a successful government.

“We cannot continue over and over. We have come of age. We cannot continue to fold our hands and be complaining. We must be in the mainstream. Most of them had the opportunity but they could not do it well and I do not see them doing it better now at their age. The truth is that our expectations of this government have not been met.

“Everything they promised during the campaign and in their manifesto. The reason why everybody sought for change was that we thought this government will fight corruption tooth and nail without considering whosoever is involved. But we have now realized that the fight against corruption has become selective. Then two, the issue of insurgency, leave it or take it, to us, as laymen this battle is not over. We cannot or the government cannot justify the fact that we told Nigerians that the fight against insurgency is over. Almost every day we have had casualties. These are the two core issues.

“The third one on the campaign was the issue of power. This is nothing to write home about even though the Minister of Power told us that a responsible government should be able to fix power within six months.

“That has not been achieved more than two and a half years after. Now it is nothing to write home about; the same thing with roads. Even the issue of petrol pump price is another one. We were told during the campaign that immediately they resume office, fuel price would go down to N40 per liter from N97 per litre. Now, a government that promised this rather than keep to their promise raised the price astronomically. Now, it is between 70 and 80 percent increase. That is giving us a lot of concern. Certainly, whether you like it or not the government must take responsibility and I have no doubt in my mind that between them and God who created them they know they have failed Nigerians.

“And when people take responsibility, then we will begin to forgive ourselves. If they beg for forgiveness we can decide to overlook it and also forge ahead. But certainly, never again will anybody make this mistake. Never. Honestly, the situation is nothing to write home about and we cannot continue hoping that anything will happen from now till the next one year. We cannot continue to imagine that.

“That would assume we are living in imagination and the truth of the matter is that from now until January what the government has been able to do is what they can do for this tenure and I do not think that Nigerians are prepared to be fooled for the second time.

“We will insist that those above 60 do not come on board again and that our generation should stand firm to take our destiny in our hands. We will jettison the issue of the difference in ethnicity, religion and other mundane, divisive sentiments to insist on good governance. We are enlightened and we know exactly what we want. We constitute about 70 to 80 percent of the population and if democracy is about numbers, we will achieve our aim.

“Even before Buhari, the North has other people who we can vouch for their integrity who are not up to 60 years. I have no doubt in my mind there are. In fact, I am one. We cannot also assume that he alone can do the job. He does not have a team to go with, simply because they took advantage of his ill-health or his age,” he noted.

Shittima, who has become a known figure particularly since the deadline he issued to the Igbo to quit Northern Nigeria on October1, 2017, stated further that Nigerians have been living in imagination but as things continued to unfold, no one was prepared to be fooled for the second time.

Asked if he is also going to contest, he added, “I may, I may not. But I am saying we have a lot of them. We have a lot of people of my generation who can do better and who also have integrity. Nobody can question the integrity of Muhammadu Buhari, but I am also saying that governance cannot be single-handedly run in a country like Nigeria,” he concluded.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria's ex Vice President (1999-2007).

"A party that does not take the youth into account is a dying party. The future belongs to young people," Atiku is quoted as having stated in his renunciation letter.

For me,  the above statement is quite alien to our polity because none of the aging politicians has ever believed in any power shift to the generation next. But I would like to humbly concede here that coming from Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria's ex Vice President (1999-2007), that statement is pretty commendable. On the contrary, the statement at the same time doesn't appear to muster enough clout to pull my heart towards any plan to enter into any political romance with him as my eyes don see hwen from Nigerian politicians, past or present. 

Thus, I dare to state here that the statement is as worthless as the Zimbabwean national currency. It has the semblance of a weather-beaten old wives' tale meant only to rouse the consciousness of the Nigerian youths to believe that a Nigerian leader has at last risen from the East (North East though) who places value on their relevance in the power equation in Nigeria. Fa, fa, foul! Atiku's statement, if carefully weighed on the Nigerian-type political scale, based on the well known antecedent of the level of disdain that our leaders have for the youths, it could be trite to postulate that it has nothing to do with his love for the Nigerian youths to take leadership positions in the country. But he could very well  prove me wrong and consign my fears to the trash bin of history. That means he must prove his sincerity. And that means if he's sincere, then he should adopt a couple of Nigerian youths, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, nurture them and sponsor same to some of the highest political offices in our dear country and watch them grow. Then, and not before then would I throw my entire support as well as the support of the numerous Nigerian youths whose lives I have influenced and positively imparted behind him.

Someone please take this message to him.

I am Charles Ideho and I pledge to Nigeria my country...

As the controversy surrounding the alleged withdrawal of the security details attached to Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra State rages on, the Police authorities have further clarified the issue, stating that no fewer than 221 police personnel are attached to the Governor.

In a statement by the NPF spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood, a breakdown of the personnel attached to the governor indicated how much protection has been built around the governor.

Here’s the breakdown:

1. 1 ADC

2. 1 CSO

3. 1 Unit Commander from 45 Police    Mobile Force (PMF)

4.1 Administration Officer to administer the police personnel.

5.  43 personnel of PMF, from 29 PMF

6.  54 PMF

7.  62 personnel of PMF from 45 PMF,

8.  46 personnel of Special Protection  Unit (SPU)

9.66 personnel of conventional policemen.

Willie Obiano, re-elected Anambra State Governor.

The Police Spokesperson said with this, the security personnel attached to Gov.  Obiano were more than the strength of some Police Area Commands in some states of the Federation.

“This is done to ensure optimum safety and protection of the executive governor of Anambra,” he said.

The spokesman said that contrary to the allegation of the withdrawal of Obiano’s ADC or any other police officer attached to him Obiano was not true. He explained further that the ADC and Chief Security Officer (CSO) only were called to the police command in the state on Tuesday, November 14 to attend a lecture with personnel deployed for the governorship election. Moshood said that the two security officers returned later after the lecture to their duty posts at the Government House in Awka. He said that security arrangement currently being implemented by the force for the November 18 governorship election in the state would not be compromised.

“The force will also ensure adequate protection of the electorate, INEC officials,election observers/monitors, electoral materials and the general public before, during and after the election,” he said. 

President Muhammadu Buhari's official visit to Ebonyi State. 

President Mohammadu Buhari is currently on his first ever visit to Ebonyi State and indeed the South East.

This is coming 30 months after he was sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 5 days to Anambra State gubernatorial election and 19 months to the end of his first tenure. One or all these may have formed part of his reasons to visit the South East Zone at this time.

For those that will easily adduce reasons of his ill health for this delayed visit, it must be pointed out that during the same 30-month period of his administration the President has visited well over 25 countries of the world, some of which he has repeatedly visited a number of times. And in case they want to push the argument further that the President needed to situate Nigeria “solidly” diplomatically, I must be quick also to tell them that, no foreign policy could be solid when the domestic policy is in shamble. The Bible says a man who is not able to provide for his household is worst than an infidel. In this wise, a President who is unable to build consensus and harmony among the various components of the Nigerian society is yet to be a national President.

For the record, President Buhari is not the first President of the Fulani stock to have been rejected or accepted by the South East, South South and South West.
The 1979 general elections results pattern aptly confirms this.

Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the candidate of NPN who became the President after that election, won 7 of the then 19 states (Sokoto, Kwara, Bauchi, Benue, Niger, Rivers and Cross River State). Chief Obafemi Awolowo the UPN candidate won 5 States (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo and Bendel States (as it then was). The Great Zik of Africa who flew the flag of NPP won 3 States (Anambra, Imo and Plateau States respectively). While Malam Aminu Kano of PRP and Waziri Ibrahim of GNPP won two states apiece – Kano and Kaduna and Borno and Gongola (as it was then known).

From the analyses of the above winning pattern it could be seen that each of the candidates was able to maintain a stronghold only in areas contiguous to his region of his origin except Shagari who made incursions into the Southern Minorities of the old Rivers and Cross River states. But Shagari was never known to have expressed open antagonism against the then West, East and North East that did not give him overwhelming votes. He was a President of Nigeria and was also acknowledged by all.

In 2007, the late Umaru Musa Yaradua, another Fulani who became the President of Nigeria was not overwhelmingly voted for in the South West, yet he never showed in words and in deeds that, he never liked them.

So why is Buhari’s Presidency different? Why is there a seeming frosty relationship between the personage of the President and the people of South East and South South?

The reason for this is not farfetched. Apart from the brickbat that characterized the campaigns towards 2015 elections which would have ended with Buhari’s election, the open proclamation of President Buhari of “favour” to 97% voters and “detriment” to 5% voters in far away US, is at the crux of the present frosty relationship. That proclamation so to say, must be admitted to have been un-statesmanly and un-presidential. No leader anywhere in the world says that to a section of a country he rules over and expects to be cooperated with. That is the genesis of the existing distrust and mutual suspicion between the President and the South East/South South blocs.

It is upon this premise that the current visit of the President would be viewed. Some are of the belief that the President is trying to curry new favours in the South East Zone with 2019 in view, having failed the South West and its leaders that provided the crest upon which he climbed to power.

Others are saying that he may not have had anything to do with the South East if not for Anambra election that is coming up on Saturday (November, 18, 2017). Therefore his main purpose, they opine, is to campaign for the APC candidate in that election.

For me, whatever his reason(s) might be, he must be made to understand that as a President of a country, the whole country is his constituency. He must shun pettiness and primordial considerations. He must openly chastise the criminal marauders called Fulani herdsmen that are maiming, killing and destroying people’s farmlands.

His lopsided appointments which his vice and other aides have been denying but recently admitted by him must be addressed. Beyond the South East, he must begin to tour other parts of the country to see things for himself. Buhari’s sense of compassion must be activated as he currently seems to have none. A situation where his country men and women he swore to protect are slaughtered in cold blood without open commiseration and show of concern portrays him as a President without human feelings. 

If he does these, he will surely see that the fear initially created by his utterances would be dispelled by his deeds. That is my candid advice. Enjoy yourself Eze Enyi Oma 1.

Emmanuel Adebayor.

Emmanuel Sheyi Adebayor, the Togolese international football star is currently facing hostility back home in Togo. This followed the comments he made regarding the political situation in his country.

The captain of the Togolese national team who plays for Turkish top flight football club Istanbul Basaksehir said in a recent interview that the protesters should first think of contributing to the country. This has attracted some fury from anti-government protesters.

“If the President leaves, will the people without jobs find one more easily? Not sure. We have Libya as an example with Gaddafi. We saw this country with and without him. Libyans are regretting it! The Togolese diaspora in Paris who talk about marching, fly back to the country if you want to march,” he told French media So Foot after some hesitation.

This comment has attracted a lot of criticisms from opposition supporters on social media who also said they weren’t surprised because he had supported President Faure Gnassingbe in 2015 during the presidential election.

A 14-party opposition coalition is calling for the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe, the return of the original 1992 Constitution that stipulates a two five-year term limit for presidents as well as a two-round voting system. Anti-government sentiments have continued to heighten in a protest that began in August 2017.

Sen. Ben Murray-Bruce. 

The Common Sense Advocate and Founder, Silverbird Group, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, has been receiving attacks over his twitter comment on which he seemingly threw his weight behind the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development on the ragging controversy regarding the building of the Ministry’s website for over N70 million (about $192,000). The Senator who represents Bayelsa East Senatorial Zone of Bayelsa State, South South, Nigeria and author of “A Commonsense Revolution”, had taken to his twitter handle November 12, 2017 stating that he was fine with the explanation given by the ministry of mines on the 700 million website.

The Senator was responding to the defence earlier put up by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi Minister, to clear the air on the allegation 

According to Dr. Fayemi, the ministry acquired an integrated IT infrastructure comprising two data centres, an off-site recovery centre, civil and environmental works on the centres, running of the centres till end of first quarter 2018, training of over 225 officials locally and internationally amongst other cost components of the entire infrastructure and programme with the said sum.

 To this, Senator Murray-Bruce twitted: “I am fine with the explanation given by the ministry of mines on the 700 million website. In fact I commend them for coming out clean with the facts. That is transparency and the minister’s responsiveness is commendable,” he had twitted.

But no sooner had he twitted than attacks from his followers started coming in torrents.  His tweet attracted about 149 responses, 339 retweets, and 669 likes.

Here are some of the responses:

Haliaeetus Vocifer‏ @hazizsegunNov 12 “Thanks for this. Our senator has pulled traffic to himself by misleading us.”

Maduoma Alaoma‏ @MaduomaANov 12 “But he hasn't owned up to his fake news and propaganda yet. He said "I am fine with the explanation given by the Min on d 700m website"

Dennis.Ag‏ @denniskezehNov 12 “700million website & you're commending him? All Nigeria politicians deserve to die by hanging. The day of mass revolt is at door!”

Louissa‏ @_NaijapresidentNov 12 “Not by hanging, the rope might be fake.”

Jumah Ileyemi‏ @jileyemiNov 12 “Details of said 700million. Kindly read and educate others."

Oga @benmurraybruce Always do your findings next time before coming to public. Thank you, God blessed Nigeria.”

Nwaka uchechi‏ @NwakaucNov 12 “What explanation did he give you?? Please let us know the explanation that might make you be fine with such mismanagement of public funds, I used to respect you as one fine politician we have I think that might be in question right now.”

K.O.Obidiwe.‏ @AmeGerian01Nov 12 “That website must be 3D and capable of printing iron and steel from computer. In fact the website has made Ajokuta functional just with a click. Ndi Oshi.”

Haliaeetus Vocifer‏ @hazizsegunNov 12 “Sir. Oga Bruce got it wrong. IT infrastructure is different from website.”

Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah.

As the debate regarding the propriety or otherwise of whether to pay tithes to Nigerian pastors or not rages in Nigeria, a Ghanaian Prophet, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, has declared that Jesus Christ is fake. The Prophet, who founded and oversees Glorious Word Power Ministry International, Ghana, said this in an interview on Kofi TV. According to the Prophet, the real name of the son of God that died for and brought salvation to mankind is not Jesus but ‘Yeshua HaMashiach’. Explaining the difference, he noted that “YESHUA” meant “Salvation” and HaMashiach” meant “The Anointed One”.

The “Man of God” emphasized that the Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to whom every Christian refers and prays to as the Saviour of the world according to biblical history, including the New Testament accounts, remained largely a fabrication of first-century Romans who produced the gospels as a means of subduing the messianic divinity of the Jews.

He further made clarification that the identity created of Jesus Christ was a mere tool of mental warfare applied by Constantine the Roman Emperor at the time, to get the Jews psychologically defeated in order to compel them to accept their (Romans’) administration in place of the Jewish traditional government and the age long institution.

He stressed that by this, the Romans were able to manipulate the Jewish’s (and to a larger extent the Christian’s) thinking to believe in a new deity called Jesus as “a divine personality subordinate to God”, which to him, remained an error.

The Prophet said, going through the Christian Bible, several contradictions could be observed, particularly in terms of the translation from the original tongue, as a way of giving strength to his argument. To him, the truth remained sacrosanct no matter how many people would disagree with him, citing Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams, founder and overseer of Action Chapel International, as someone who knows the truth and uses the name Yeshua HaMashiach rather than Jesus Christ during prayers.

He concluded that the name recognized in heaven of the person of the Saviour of the world, was not Jesus Christ but Yeshua HaMashiach, adding that the miracles wrought by the mention of Jesus Christ happened because the spirits understood the name to mean Yeshua HaMashiach.

Kurtis Adigba

All over Nigeria—and I have travelled to many parts­­—I have seen literally the same problems: poverty, bad or non-existing infrastructure, broken Justice system that allows rich criminals escape punishment and incarcerate the poor, a broken healthcare system that can hardly perform its basic duties in taking care of the health needs of the sick. I have also seen addictions to drugs and other low hanging intoxicants that are elevating death rates in small and big cities.

The major causes of these problems are, corruption and malpractice in the management of our public resources. And on this, we tend to agree. What we disagree about, are: what is corruption, who is corrupt, who is qualified to fight corruption, and how the war should be fought.

In sane societies, common pain should lead to common purpose, and common purpose to common solutions, so you would think, but not so in my country, Nigeria. This is because the ruling political elites have weaponized Religion and Ethnicity, both of which they effectively use to divide and rule the people. Someone, who is evidently corrupt, may not be in the thinking and estimation of some people because he comes from the same area with them, speaks their language, and shares the same faith with them. Corruption, in other words, is not corruption if the perpetrator is a “son-of- the-soil”, or a brother and a sister. It is no corruption, if we benefit from it in one way or the other. We have no common value system.

Too many of us can deconstruct everything but many cannot construct anything and make it work. We have so many people, including former and serving Presidents, Governors, Ministers, and Chairmen of Local Government Councils, and Chairmen of Federal and State Boards, going around and pontificating on corruption, and dividing public opinions on this destructive issue. Incidentally, these were very persons that were very corrupt during their service to the country. And they are succeeding because they think we all suffer from collective amnesia. Some say, ”They are speaking truth to power”. Really! Speaking to power and confronting injustices are good impulses...don’t get me wrong. But when people start building coalitions and organizations to deceive and hoodwink others into supporting a push back against the fight on corruption, it is despicable. It is even worse when they want to be seen as champions of fairness, due process, and the rule of law.

Why is it so difficult and almost impossible for us to unite against the divisive politics of corruption when the things that unite us are more than those that divide us? Why have we become so selfish and insensitive to the pains of others? Why are we no longer our brothers and sisters keepers? Who stole our common humanity? We need to go back to politics of reason and rationality. We need to redefine our values and teach them to our kids all over. We need to agree and understand that stealing is not smartness or sharpness is stealing; that violence is no substitute for dialogue, and that in nation building, we are all equally important.

We can make Nigeria the country of our dream.

God bless Nigeria.

-  Adigba, a Lagos based legal practitioner, is Principal Partner at Kurtis Adigba and Company