General Overseer of The Synagogue Church Of
All Nations, Prophet T.B. Joshua, warns politicians not to derail the nation’s
democracy. He spoke with TAI ANYANWU. Excerpts
There are so many troubles in Nigeria
today, problems with insecurity, threats to national unity and political
manoeuvres by rival political parties. What are your comments concerning these
troubled times in the country?
It is a normal thing for a country that has
a bright future, God’s promise. A bright future always attracts persecution,
condemnation and enemies when it’s realised that the future is bright; you will
see a lot of pressures and threats. The country is on the path to greatness; it
will compete with any Western nation in the future and the Western nations know
that Nigeria is going to be a giant. That is why their support in these trying
times is needed. There is no country that has not passed through this.
All the countries that have become great
today, they all passed through turbulence that nearly consumed them. How we
manage the situation matters. If we don’t manage it well, we will not witness
the greatness. It is not that the greatness would not come but it would not be
for our generation. The greatness will still come but for the coming
generation.
With the turbulence being experienced in
some states of the federation; and the election just around the corner, how do
you think this will play out?
Elections will not happen in some states because
of the frequent attacks. This could affect between three to four states. The
states would be a no-go area due to violence and elections would not take place
in those states unless we move closer to God. We must intensify our prayers.
This is what God has showed me and you can imagine what would happen if
elections don’t hold in those states. It would have great implication for our
democracy.
How should we manage it?
We should not allow the politicians to politicize
all the areas of our lives. For example if you want to enjoy anything, you have
to be part of their party – to get a job etc. Unless you are part of their
party, you cannot benefit from things that should be available to you as a
citizen. Look at electricity, health etc. – they have politicised everything.
Even religion has been politicised; Christianity has been politicised.
Politicians go to church; the pulpit is where they campaign now.
Even they go to churches and mosques to
bomb them. These are people in church who had gone to pray for themselves. Must
everybody become a politician? How we handle the situation at hand now matters.
If the situation is not well managed, we will find ourselves postponing the
great Nigeria, meaning we will not witness it but it would be witnessed by our
children.
Don’t let us politicise every area of our
lives. Let us carefully play our politics with keen decency because 2015
matters in the history of Nigeria. It is either we cross the bridge
successfully or it collapses. A good Nigerian that wants this greatness should
be able to pay whatever proper price that is needed to be paid to make this
dream of a great Nigeria possible. If your being in politics will make this
greatness come, then join. From now to 2015 is a very important period in the
history of Nigeria and if we don’t manage the situation well, our democracy
would be rubbished.
How do you mean … that our democracy would
be rubbished?
A situation where there would be
lawlessness – lawlessness in the sense that the law would not be capable of
guiding us because of the pros (for) and cons (against) as contained in the
law. That would now take so much time which would lead Nigeria to a discussion
table. Where would you and I be at that time?
What can you say about APC and PDP?
In body we can call it APC and PDP but in
spirit, they are one and the same thing. I am yet to see the difference. I am
looking forward to seeing the difference.
The president has just suspended Sanusi
Lamido and people are saying he is being witch hunted because of his revelation
on $20bn missing oil money. What is your take on this?
There are some agencies that are technical.
CBN is one of the agencies that we should not play politics with or politicise.
One, the head of the agency should do away with politics; the president should
also not play politics with the agency.
With the situation in the country today and
the agitation on 2015, what advice do you have for politicians not to create
more tension in the polity and what is the way out?
The advice; many of us need to leave
politics while many others need to join, in order to inject fresh blood. The
people that need to leave politics are not the common people. This is in order
to avert the disaster that could rubbish our democracy
The Synagogue is now like a tourist centre;
what’s happening here that is different from what is happening in other
churches?
There is nothing happening here that is
different from other living churches. If there is any difference, it is the
availability of abundance of anointing to meet needs. Where there is demand,
there is supply, says the Lord.
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