ANAMBRA (Sundiata Post) – Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Chibuzor Obimma is the Spiritual Director of the Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry Uke and the Parish Priest of the Blessed Iwene Tansi Parish Umudioka both in Anambra State.
Popularly called Fr. Ebube Muonso, the charismatic priest bares his mind on issues as captured in this interview on the present political situation in Nigeria, among others.
Nigerians have embarked on nationwide protest over the growing hardship in the country. What’s your reaction to the development?
The implication is that Nigeria is not working. The implication is that Nigeria has no good leadership that cares for the welfare and general good of the people. The economy is in shambles. The reason is that nobody gives what he does not have. It is a pity that those at the helm of political affairs in Nigeria have no economic acumen to foster the development of the country they govern. The greatest indices for measuring development and growth are economic progress. This is what makes a progressive nation.
But in Nigeria, the economy is in a mess. The mistake Nigerians have continued to make is that they elect political leadership based on sentiment. Thus, Nigerians always elect people who understand little or nothing about economic policies that can foster progress in the country. The implication of what is happening in Nigeria today is that the country is gradually going down to a place of destruction. The blame should be on Nigerians who elect the leadership into power.
A political leadership that has no idea of progressive economic policies cannot perform any magic as you can all see in the present leadership. Those at the helm of affairs may have goodwill and desire to move the country forward; but the leadership is not informed. Since the inception of this present administration in Nigeria, I knew that a day like this will come – a day when Nigerians will troop out to the street to protest the excesses of government.
Successive political leadership has sold the economy of Nigeria to the highest bidder. Nigeria’s political leadership has placed the future of the country on the hands of the devil; and today, the country is moving gradually through the path of destruction. The main resource that sustains the economy of Nigeria is crude oil. But in a situation where the country has no reasonable crude reserve shows that the country is in jeopardy.
I want also to challenge Nigerians that this present government has nothing to offer – though they may have the best of goodwill. Nigerian leaders have milked the country dry – nothing is left. That is the reason for the current hunger, inflation and hardship, as well as the resultant uprising and protests across the country.
You were one of the voices calling on Igbo people not to join the hunger protest. Why?
I did so because I believe that Igbo people in Nigeria are not hungry; and they are not disadvantaged economically. Igbo people are everywhere doing their legitimate businesses. Igbo people are making efforts to survive anywhere they find themselves. Go to all the markets in the North, South, West and East – they are everywhere. Igbo people populate all the markets, and they are controlling the markets. Igbo people are aware that they are marginalized politically.
They are aware that they have no share in the government of Nigeria. This is why they empower themselves economically. Go to all the countries of the world, Igbo people are there making genuine efforts to survive. So, if Igbo people are not hungry, what is the essence of the people joining the hunger protest? Could joining the protest change the minds of Nigerians to consider an Igbo person for president or Senate President or IGP or Chief of Army Staff etc? Should it make those in government to make amends for lopsided political appointments which is negatively affecting the Igbo stock in Nigeria? What should it profit Igbo person in the Southeast joining such protest? Nigerians can organize that protest a million times, and Igbo people will not join! If the protest were to facilitate Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, I would support it, and Igbo people will join.
If the protest were to facilitate the release of Nnamdi Kanu; I would champion it. If the protest were to ensure equity, justice and fair play among ethnic nationalities in the country, I would support it and, of course, Igbo people and the Southeast will join such protest. But since such rallies were meant to protest extreme hunger in the land, Igbo will not join because they are not hungry. If the price of fuel is N10,000 per litre, Igbo people can afford it. If a bag of rice is N200,000 per 50kg, Igbo people will not stop eating rice.
Could it also be true to say that you are one of such Nigerians calling for the resignation of President Bola Tinubu?
In the face of the current unbearable economic and social crisis in Nigeria, I lend my voice in calling on President Tinubu and his team to resign and step down. Let the country elect a political leadership that can interpret political and economic policies for the welfare of the country and its people. Presently, more than ever before, Nigeria needs a leader who is a guru in the area of the economy. Good governance, as far as I am concerned, is the ability of a political leadership to interpret economic policies for the best interest of the people.
The hallmark of good governance is the ability to interpret economic policies and programmes. When the exchange rate of Naira to the Dollar is low, and prices of petroleum products are high etc, it will certainly stall economic activities. Political leadership is not in power to teach citizens how to go to heaven or standard of morality; but to initiate policies and programmes that will reduce or curb hardship among the people.
A bad or failed leader is not a leader that has no goodwill; but a leader who cannot factor the welfare of the people into his economic policies and programmes. That is the type of leadership Nigeria has today. There was a time a country like Singapore was among the Third World countries. But in the midst of their economic problem, a leader was elected who could properly interpret economic policies.
That every leader was able to project a policy that was able to transform the country in five years. Today, Singapore is among the First World countries. Also, India, even with their large population, adopted a policy of picking from the street and sending to school. Before one would realize what was happening, the population has specialized in the area of medicine, engineering, technology, sciences etc. Today, India, a former Third World country, is one of the best countries in the area of medicine.
Today, world leaders visit India for medical tourism. Good leadership requires being focused and determined. Regrettably, Nigeria’s political leadership is not focused. Unlike Singapore and India, Nigeria’s political leadership has no idea on how to move the country from where it is to where it ought to be.
What do you suggest as way forward for Nigeria’s failing economy?
President Tinubu should restore the fuel subsidy regime. Let Tinubu’s government do this sacrifice so that the common man will earn a good living. When the fuel price is on the increase, it will affect economic activities and businesses. The major economic problem Nigeria is facing today is a result of removal of fuel subsidy. When the price of fuel is high, it will affect transportation cost, as well as the cost of buying and selling. This is why prices are skyrocketing. As far as I am concerned, there is no visible effect of the fuel subsidy removal on Nigeria and its people. So, why does government say that subsidy removal has come to stay?
There is this notion that military rulers performed better than civilian governments in Nigeria. What’s your take?
Military regime can never be better than democratic government. The problem with Nigeria’s democratic experience is that the country’s political leadership is laced in military despotism. I say so because, in Nigeria, a president is hardly accountable to the people. He does things he likes and gets away with them. In Nigeria, we have a situation where the judiciary cannot control the activities of the president and the executive.
In Nigeria, a civilian president hardly respects the rule of law. So, the three arms of government – the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature have failed the country. In Nigeria, Mr. President appoints the Chief Justice of the Federation. This suggests that the CJN will be loyal to the President, not the office he occupies. Democracy does not work that way. This is not the process in a true democratic rule. In a true democracy, judiciary and the legislature stabilize the executive, but not in Nigeria!
Given the rate of unemployment, hardship and hunger in the land, what advice do you have for those in government?
Those in government should understand that they are relevant and popular because of the people, not because of themselves. This is why democracy is defined as government of the people by the people, and for the people. What makes government relevant is the people. So, the welfare of the people should be the priority of government at any level. When those in government fail in the area of provision of democratic dividends, they have failed completely. What Nigerian government needs to do now is to adjust, and realize that they exist because of the people.
In a space of one week, the Igbo lost three eminent personalities – Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and song star, Onyeka Onwenu. How did you receive the news?
I pray that God will receive their souls in paradise. God created them and brought them to the world for a purpose. They were created in their different kinds, and they existed in their different ways. I will believe they completed their assignments before God called them to glory.
Several people are calling on President Tinubu to grant state pardon to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, come October 1, 2024. Do you support the push?
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a lone voice crying for the emancipation of his people. Nigerian government, and of course, President Bola Tinubu, has no reason for continued keeping of the young man in prison till now, because as far as I am concerned, Kanu committed no crime. In a democracy, citizens enjoy freedom of speech. Kanu is only calling and agitating for the emancipation of his people. He carries no weapon, no gun. What is the reason for keeping him in the cell or prison for this long? So, I call on President Bola Tinubu to make himself a hero by releasing that young man as Nigerians of goodwill are urging him to do.
What is your view about this widespread rumour that the Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, told the church to bless same sex marriage?
That was a misinterpretation! Pope Francis never said so. Pope Francis was only advocating for love. What the Pope was saying is that such people should be accommodated in the church as a way of extending the love of Christ to them. Christ died for the sake of sinners. When Jesus Christ spread His two hands on the cross of Calvary, He meant that the Jews and the Gentiles are welcome to the body of Christ. The church is a body of love – it preaches love and shows love. It is the same way that Jesus Christ entered the house of Mathew and people were rumouring that if Jesus were a true prophet, He would have known that Mathew was a tax collector and sinner and would not enter his house. Now, if Christ did not enter the house of a sinner and a tax collector like Mathew, what then was His mission if not to convert sinners? So, that is the message of Pope Francis when he was calling on the church to show love to that category of people.
