I wept when Ebri said Lagos APC held primary election — Isong

The National Publicity Secretary of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and General Overseer of Christian Central Chapel International, Calabar, Bishop Emmah Isong, recently spoke on a wide range of national issues. He said 2019 election results would shock Nigerians. He spoke with AnietIe Akpan

What do you say to Nigerians, now that major aspirants for 2019 elections have emerged?
Regarding politics in Nigeria, people should wait till December, when I shall be giving my prophecies. But because elections are very close, I’m telling Nigerians to get ready for the unexpected, as 2019 election results will shock everyone. I also want to assure Nigerians that this will be another election, where votes will count. Forget about Osun State and the rest. Their cases are in court and judgment shall be given one day.

Nigerians should please get ready to use their voter cards. There is so much hunger in the land. People in my family ask me for food everyday and I don’t have enough to go round. Nigerians should be prepared to express their disappointment and lack of confidence in the current administration in 2019 elections. The PVCs shall become AK47 civilians will use to fight forces that are against them.

Does the national PFN have any plan for the coming elections?
Yes. At the national level, we are all in accord and are speaking with one voice, from the national president to members and the states, which have to also reflect what national PFN is saying. What we have been saying is very clear. For the coming elections, Christians should get their PVCs. They should be proactive and get ready to vote into or out of power any political party or government at state and federal levels.

Secondly, Christians should not be docile; they should not be withdrawn and refuse to vote. Thirdly, they should pray to God to raise a candidate that will genuinely promise the end of wanton killings of Christians. That is the Christian agenda. We want the killings to stop. The manipulation and disparaging of our religion must stop.

What is your view on political parties’ internal democracy?
When it comes to internal democracy, I score all the political parties zero. Both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have no internal democracy. In fact, the smaller and little known parties are better in that regard. Even the wife of Mr. President corroborated it; that results were written inside vehicles. Let me give you an example, although I won’t mention the political party.

I lodged in a hotel in Uyo and was about to check out and enter my car to drive back to Calabar, when I heard gunshots and gunpowder smelling everywhere. I had never seen people with eyes so red. The hotel was barricaded, as they engaged in physical fights. I ran back into the hotel with the help of my Personal Assistant and inquired what the problem was. I was told the people just returned from the venue of nominating delegates of a political party.
Somebody who defected from one party to another was in a room in the hotel writing candidates’ names. This occurred on October 5 this year.

Such cases are prevalent in all the political parties. So, my recommendation is that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should take over nomination of candidates from political parties and not just be an observer. Some INEC officials usually go to collect bottles of coke before returning to their duty posts. Take for example Lagos State. They said there was no primary in Lagos. Did you not hear the Clement Ebri committee said there was no primary and then the next day, my very respectable Clement Ebri, the most honourable Cross Riverian I knew in Nigeria, said there was primary. I wept.

I knew Ebri as number one, when it comes to integrity. He was the best this country produced in terms of honesty. So, if Ebri could wake up to say there was primary, I wept for my country, because I knew there is trouble. If the foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do? Where is the right foundation, if at nominations of political parties we are messing up?

It is the people the political parties throw up that you and I will vote, when the time comes, and already we are getting it wrong at that level. The worst is the APC, which has two governorship candidates in almost 20 states. This is what made the President’s wife to cry out, wondering why Oshiomhole, who had been a labour leader and human right activist should allow such to happen under his watch.

So, what do you think is the problem and how can we address it?
The problem with members of the political class is that they have no game plan for changing people’s lives. Everybody knows what they do during campaigns; they hire thugs and rent crowds. Are you aware that all the crowds at PDP and APC campaigns are all paid? Persons in the rented crowds get paid N2000 and even N500. They have coordinators and hire buses to convey the crowds to venues. Do Nigerian electorate know they are selling their future, their birthright by doing this? Do they know this is injurious to their rights and privileges?

I would advise Nigerians that anybody who cannot better their lives with his/her money should not bring the money to voting units. If you are so rich, then use your money to change lives.

Could this be due to poverty?
I have a solution to the issue of poverty. All bodies, including the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Akwa Ibom Union, Igbo Union, Yoruba Union and the rest of them should organise themselves into pressure groups. They should gather at a designated place to carry out a revolution or write a resolution(s).

Anybody desiring to be governor should be made to sign the resolution. We do not need their manifestos. We can even put a curse on intending political officials. They will be afraid to behave anyhow, when they get into office. Politicians are deceiving us. I vote human beings and not political parties. Don’t vote party, vote persons with track records, because there is no party that can give salvation to the people.

What’s the spiritual implication of all this?
There are three spiritual implications. One, we need to give our lives to Jesus. Our leaders need to be born again. They need to have Jesus in their lives because it is the absence of God in their lives that makes them so wicked and greedy. Why is it that lots of money is spent only during elections? Before now, they were telling us no money, but now candidates are spending heavily to buy their way through? You know how much governorship and presidential forms cost?

This is just to tell you that Nigerian political class is a disappointment. Where were they hiding the money before now? They say the economy is harsh, that we are in a depression. But the politicians are having a nice time, sharing money. In all of this, somebody is cheating somebody. One percent of the Nigerian population has hijacked the national cake and that’s where we have found ourselves. The people must be ready to get back power from the political class. I don’t want to recommend socialist government, because it has its own issues, and we are talking about the spiritual dimension here.

Secondly, most of our politicians who go to churches and mosques in the day go to shrines to get powers and bathe at junctions in the night. All of us have heard of politicians bathing at junctions and in possession of human parts, to mention a few. Most of these politicians have had their hands tainted, because they came into power through diabolical means. And they do everything to suit their masters. Children and adults are getting lost on a daily basis. People are just disappearing anyhow. What do you think is responsible for this?

They engage in all sorts of atrocities, all in a bid to clinch or retain power. It is very serious. It is terrible and is not surprising that God appears to have forsaken Nigeria. I am saying all this because you asked if there are spiritual consequences. These people are deadly, their craving for power makes them dabble into occultic things.

Thirdly, people are using religion as opium to oppress and for land acquisition. Religion is no more about you going to worship God in church or mosque. Presently, it is, if you are a Muslim, I bring my Muslim people to kill and take over your land. If I am a Christian, I bring my people to kill and take over your land. So, if you insult me, I just go to contest in elections, and if I win, and become president or governor, the vendetta has begun. I start to deal with you. I will give the killers police and military cover. And I won’t arrest anyone or visit the scene to stop the killing. Nobody cares anymore.

People go into communities and wipe out children, rip open pregnant women, and Nigeria is still going ahead with elections. They call it farmers/herders crisis. But the school children that got killed, were they also farmers or herders? The Catholic Church that was attacked in Benue, was it also farmers? So, you can see it is not farmers and herders crisis.