Category: Sunday Interview

Presiding Bishop of Christ Vessels of Grace Church Inc, as well as the National Coordinator, Integrity Ministers International Ministry Incorporated (IMIM), Bishop Kayode Williams believes in the unity of the country despite all its imperfections. Little wonder as one of the staunch supporters of President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he has come hard on clerics who have been fanning the embers of war and division in the country over the outcomes of the 2023 general elections. He spoke with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf. Excerpts

As a staunch supporter of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who even went as far as prophesying his victory ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries and the general elections, how do you react to certain clerics in some quarters spewing hate speech, calling for cancellation of the entire process?

When God speaks it is very clear. God revealed to me at the time that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is His choice for Nigeria for the 2023 general elections. There is no controversy in God’s words, neither is God is an author of confusion. Never. All I have to say is that all those who think they can spoil the work of God cannot succeed. Never. Personally, I think it’s rather sad that supposed men of God have been heating up the polity ever since the 2023 general elections were concluded. Many of them have assumed the position of God cursing, swearing and proclaiming doom for the country. My question is this, why are they playing God? A winner has emerged from the election already. Yes, they don’t like the choice of the president-elect. No problem. But is it enough to rain curses on the country and its people? No. Why not allow the court to decide the fate of all the contenders? God said that He will discipline some of them because He doesn’t want them to die now so that they will see the glory of God in Nigeria, a new Nigeria. He said that He will punish them for misleading the people, for saying God said what when God has not spoken. You need to listen to what some people are saying that they will burn Nigeria. Majority of them have become demonic. God said that I should go and warn them that any man of God that said that there will be confusion on that day May 29th, He said that I should tell them that He will put confusion in their midst. God said that there will be no bloodshed. God said that Nigeria will be congratulated worldwide. God will use Tinubu to turn around Nigeria’s fortunes for good. God said that those of us that are ministers of gospel should return to our first love, which is preaching the gospel and not to become ministers more concerned about who is building the biggest cathedral, where is the spirituality? People are now worshiping them (pastors) and idolizing them. They are not worshipping God again, so God said that He is not happy with them, and He is ready to visit His wrath upon them.

Against the atmosphere of tension over the May 29th handover date, there are fears in some quarters that some people are planning to install an interim government in place of a democratically elected government. Are these fears valid or unfounded?

May 29th will be hitch-free so sayeth the Lord. Nigeria will be great. On the 29th of May, Nigeria will be great to the glory of God’s kingdom. So, Nigerians should not be afraid because Nigeria will experience the touch and move of God, it will appear like when the dove came down with a prophetic message from God. God said that there will be no coup, it will be a smooth transition. Nigeria will be peaceful. Just like God said before the elections He said that there will be uproar, upheavals and threats, tension and so forth, yet Tinubu will emerge the winner at both the primaries and the general elections because he is the next president of Nigeria. I was really disturbed when the revelations first came to me. But I don’t play with God. Why should I play with God that saved me from the prison dungeon? He saved me and brought me out to raise me for His kingdom. Listen to what some people are saying that they will burn Nigeria, but God said that Nigeria will be congratulated worldwide. He said that He will bless Tinubu with long life and sound health; that people that are exaggerating about Tinubu’s health saying things that they do not know, should just watch and will see how God will use Tinubu to turn Nigeria around. Nigeria will so change that it will be competing with Dubai, people marvel at the greatness of the country that God will bring through Tinubu’s administration. He will use Tinubu to lift Nigeria to a greater height that the critics will be baffled. That all the people that have turned themselves to demigods, He has finished them. God said that He will use Tinubu to turn things around and we will have a new dawn in the country.

There is a lot of anticipation as to what will be since you already said the inauguration will be hitch-free. Now, what would you like to see within the first 100 days of Tinubu in office as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

Within four days of his inauguration, Tinubu will come out with people who will show that it is a government of integrity, and they will work well to improve the economy of the country. God Has said He will give him (Tinubu) the energy to pick the right people to join him to do the work. He will touch so many areas that will rebuild the nation and put it on the spotlight. The inauguration will be heavenly celebrated. Among the proposals of the renewed hope which is in itself prophetic divine message meaning that God has a hand in it. In fact, the programme Tinubu is going to implement is a divine step socioeconomically. It will be followed by the will power of governance to translate. As I said earlier, note that the first four days he will come out with people which will show that it is a government of integrity, though people will say some of them have been in government before, but they will work well to improve the economy of the country. Indeed, it is a new dawn in the history of Nigeria as we usher in a government truly people-oriented, committed, passionate and ready to serve the public good. I see Tinubu doing lots of positive things across Nigeria and nobody will be left out of the massive project for Nigeria renewal under Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Should Nigerians look forward to fulfilling years under a Tinubu presidency?

Surely, we all should look forward to a greater country. In Lagos state for instance, we have seen the good work of the current administration who’s going to take over from himself. Like Lagos that will benefitting from the divine glory, the rest of Nigerians too will prosper beyond measure. Lagos is extremely lucky. There is no gainsaying the fact that the young man (Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu) there is God’s agenda for Lagos State. Thankfully, he has also been surrounded by people who can do it but all he needs to do is to open his eyes more to look for new talents that will also join him. As they say, you don’t change the winning team. What do you mean by the winning team? Even in football it is when they start shopping for new players that they pay for that they begin to lose. All I am saying is that there are people with greater talents that are flourishing unseen in the jungle of the world, and they are very close to the seat of power but have not been given the opportunity, yet they have the capacity. let Lagos tap into the unseen, forgotten talents that have not worked for him before. Creativity is what we need now that is what Lagos needs. Whenever Tinubu talked, he talked about Lagos, he did not abuse Buhari; he was so intelligent. He told people that this is a renewed hope. So, we are expecting loaded actions from all states even the PDP states will cross over.

• Sudan returnees recall horrors of war

While the war for control of power in Khartoum, Sudan, rages, with casualties on both sides, and innocent civilians falling, evacuated Nigerians, which at the last count stood at 1,984, have been sharing their experiences. Gboyega Alaka, who caught up with two evacuees: Muhammad Nura Bello in Sokoto and Bello Mukhtar Abiola in Iseyin, Oyo State, reports.

“It was not a funny situation. We were holed up in our hostels for days and we could neither go out nor get any good sleep, as the sounds of rapid gunshots, artillery booms, fighter jets and bombs went on ceaselessly. My room was at the top of a three-storey building but I had to relocate to the ground floor for safety. Even whenever I needed to get my belongings from my room, I went there with great fear and I hardly stayed a full minute before dashing back downstairs, because of the fear of being hit by stray bullet. Most of the civilians that have been killed in the war have been through stray bullets, not deliberately. These were people who were sleeping in their houses. So we all lived in fear and always lying flat on our belly.”

The above were some of the grave experiences Nigerians caught up in the Sudan conflict over power control currently raging in the North African country, went through, as narrated by 22-year-old Bello Mukhtar Abiola, a fresh graduate of Mass Communication from the International University of Africa, Khartoum, who was awaiting his transcript when the war broke out.

For the records, the Sudanese conflict is a power struggle between two generals: Abdel Fattah Burhan and Muhammed Hamdan Dagalo. Burhan leads the Sudanese official army, while Dagalo heads the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group vying for more power in government.

Some have even labelled the Rapid Support Forces as a bandit group that became legalised and subsequently began craving more power.

Speaking via the telephone from the comfort of his home in Iseyin, Oyo State, Bello, who said he was among the first set of evacuees, continued:”To say we were close to being consumed in the war would be an understatement. My campus hostel was very close to the barracks of the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces barracks. Not far at all. The conflict started at exactly 9am on a Saturday, three weeks ago. We started hearing gunshots and heavy ammunitions were brought into the capital. We heard fighter jets flying in the sky over the top of our building. The Rapid Support Forces started converging near our hostels. They literally camped outside our school, by the gate. That way, they practically took us hostage, because the Armed forces were targeting them from the sky, and they probably figured that they would not want to mistakenly hit the school buildings, where there were a lot of foreign students, because of course they wouldn’t want any diplomatic rows with their governments. In our school alone, we had over 80 nationalities living in the hostel, and if they mistakenly affected any student, it could lead to another thing. But the Rapid Support Forces put us in danger in the process.”

Asked why he had to go all the way to Sudan to study Mass Communications when virtually all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria offer the course; and why he didn’t return home, having graduated, Bello responded to the first part of the question first.

“Because of the condition of education in Nigerian, where a four-year course becomes six, seven year course, due to the unending strikes and other factors. Secondly, I had a brother already studying Computer Engineering there; he helped facilitate my admission. And then of course, I got a scholarship, courtesy- Munadhama da’awatul Islamiyyah. It’s an international organisation propagating Islam.

“To answer your other question, I only graduated early this year. It was a four year course. But for the corona virus, I would have graduated even earlier.  We had a total pause due to the pandemic. We were all ordered to stay indoors. I stayed back because I had only collected my certificate, and still expecting my transcript. Also, I was yet to stamp my certificate. This is criterion for validating our credentials. For this reason, I am imploring the Nigerian government to help intervene. This problem is not peculiar to me, majority of us that graduated this year still has one certificate or transcript to collect or even stamp by the Sudanese government.

“In my set alone, we were about 500 Nigerians that graduated, while overall, we had about 2,000 Nigerian students studying in that schools. And there are several in other universities within the city. Based on what we experienced, I wouldn’t want to go back. I would prefer that our government intervene on our behalf, so that if it is possible, they should just send our transcripts. The Federal Ministry of Education can intervene on our behalf; I learnt they have already offered to absorb those whose education has been interrupted.”

Blood for power

Explaining the origin of the bloody conflict, Bello said: “The allegation was that the vice president was planning a coup. Of course the government wouldn’t give in to ordinary militants. If you look at the history of the vice president and how the force was formed, they were an ordinary militant group, formed in 2013 by the former president, Omar Bashir. It was he who eventually legalised them and turned them to Rapid Support Force for the Armed forces of the country. Since they overthrew the former president in 2019, the vice president has been in government, because they formed a national government, which comprised the civilians and military.”

He recalled that his initial instinct was to wait and hope for the fighting to stop, so he could find his way out of the country, but it got worse. Although the fighting was only in Khartoum, it was enough threat, as he and other Nigerian students were caught in between the crossfire.

“We ate in the dining hall, but at a point, it was difficult for the kitchen to get further supplies. Later, they found a way out. The soldiers never really entered our campus, even though they were so close. On one occasion, they invaded the school and headed for the dining hall, where they carted away our food. The kitchen staff had to prepare another round of food for us. That was a few days before our exit. They were getting close and things could get worse.”

So they began to pray fervently for any opportunity to just get out, Bello recalled.

Fortunately, the (Nigerian) government’s intervention came.

Six days at the border!

“We got information from the Nigerian Embassy that the Nigerian government was willing to evacuate all Nigerians who were willing to leave. They created a group on Whatsapp, so we could be abreast of relevant information. We were told to converge at the university centre, where a bus would pick us to the Egyptian border. Yes there were a few hiccups, which lasted about three days, but a bus eventually arrived and we set out for the Egyptian border.

“Fortunately, the journey through Khartoum to the border was peaceful, because there was a 72-hour ceasefire. But there were signs of war everywhere – heavy military presence, signs of destruction, destroyed buildings, burnt military vehicles and stuffs. One good thing, however, was that the conflict had not spread beyond Khartoum, so even Sudanese were migrating out of the beleaguered city.

“When we left Khartoum, we passed through a huge desert until we got to the Egyptian border. There, we spent a harrowing six days, because the Egyptian authorities had to wait for approval before letting us in.

“For a long while, we didn’t see any government officials to even check us up, so there was no food, no shelter, no water. We had to gather the remaining money with us to buy some loaves of bread, and that was what we were eating morning and night. The Red Cross personnel that we saw only catered to the Sudanese, who were fleeing from the conflict. On one occasion, one of them brought us water; but that was all.

“We were sleeping mostly in the buses, but after four days, the bus operators ordered us out, saying they had waited enough. That day, some of us slept in the open, while some slept in the little mosque in the desert. Eventually, when we were let into Egypt, you needed to see the tight security that escorted us to the airport. The police were in our front and back, monitoring our movement. I think they were particular that no Nigerian escaped into their territory. I was in the first NAF (Nigerian Air force) plane that evacuated Nigerians from Egypt. That was last Thursday. The plane, I learnt was for about 80 people, but they had to squeeze all of us, over 90, in, because the Egyptian authorities insisted that no Nigerian should be left behind at the airport.”

Happy to be home, safe

“Yes, I’m happy to be home, safely. Though I had plans for my master’s degree, but for now, I’m fine. I just hope the government would step in about our credentials. Overall, I give them pass mark, they did well despite the hiccups,” Bello said.

Death came really close – medical student, Muhammed

For Muhammed Nura Bello, a 30-year-old final year (500-level) medical student, now back in Sokoto, his home state, the fighting was close, but not as close as that of Bello’s International University of Africa.

His own school, Sudan International University and flat, where he resided outside the campus, are in Azhari area, and the Rapid Support Forces fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces, have a base in the neighbourhood, a few kilometres away.

“If you climb the roof of my flat, you can see the Rapid Support Forces base. Not only theirs, there are other strategic military bases around the city. The fact that I live outside the campus also makes me and my colleagues a bit more vulnerable. There is this other institution, Africa International University, of which it is only a road that separates them from the base of the forces. You could say that they were close to more danger.

“One good thing that worked for us was that we were on holidays when the war broke out, so they did not invade our campus. It was towards the end of the Ramadan fasting, and Sudanese traditionally don’t work during Ramadan. As a final year student, however, I didn’t have the luxury of total holiday, so I was busy studying. I had planned to go on Ummrah, but it didn’t work out, so I concentrated on preparing for my exams, which was billed for a week after Sallah. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out as well.”

Narrating the fierceness of the fighting, Muhammed said, “I can tell you that during air strikes, the fighter jets came close to our building, as they flew, releasing salvoes. The artilleries also tried to attack the jets, and fearsome booming sounds rented the air. It was that bad; and to think that we were caught in between! Anything could have happened. It continued like that until we left. When the fighting started, some of our colleagues who had gone to the hospital for clinical training were trapped for a while, and we had to see how we could help get them back home, especially the females.”

As doctors and medical students, weren’t there efforts by the forces to conscript them?

“No, that did not happen, as all the doctors, even the native doctors, went into hiding,” Muhammed replied, laughing.

Why school in Sudan?

Going to study outside the country, and especially in Sudan, has its advantages, Muhammed stated.

 “First, it helps you avoid delays, which can turn a five-year course to a ten-year course. Also, you’re able to meet people, learn Arabic and get more grounded in Islamic Studies. That is why a lot of Northerners go there. It is like home because we share the same climate and the cultures are almost similar. And then the people are very friendly.

“Also, their education system is one of the best; even better than Nigeria’s. As a medical student, you have opportunity at direct clinical base studies. You can confirm this from any Nigerian Sudanese products; their medicine is more of practical. If you study Biochemistry for example, they would teach you the most important application of Biochemistry in human life. That’s the difference between theirs and Nigeria’s.

SOS to the government

“Initially, we thought it was one of those clashes and disputes that they would resolve in no time, like they usually did. There was a time when they had almost three presidents or two, and eventually they resolved it and life continued normally; so we didn’t see this as a war. But when two, three days after, the shelling continued unabated, we realised this was different. I felt there would be need for Nigerians to be evacuated, so we started talking with the Nigerian Embassy. Of course they were also aware of the danger, because the embassy is located in the epicentre; most of the embassies were near the commanding centres and the presidential villa, alongside all the strategic army flashpoints. We requested them to please start speaking with the government of Nigeria for evacuation. We also started mobilising through the social media… talking to journalists; I started an interview with the BBC, telling them to pass our message to Mr President, that we were really in danger; and that there was no food, no shelter, no electricity and no security. At a point, the prison was also broken open and convicted criminals were let loose. That of course portended more danger, because amongst them would be hardened criminals, armed robbers, murderers, rapists; in a society where order and security had broken down! And alhamdulillahi; though it seemed like nothing was going to happen initially, they eventually moved into action and the evacuation process began. We received some buses from the embassy, and our students, who had gathered in one university called El Razi University, also in Azhari, boarded and we started out. There are three universities within the same area.

“About four hundred of us boarded the 50-passenger capacity luxurious buses and we exited Khartoum. Notably, there weren’t any serious incidents, as we travelled through the city towards the Egyptian border. Each time we came to a check-point, they looked through and as soon as they realised that we were Nigerians, they allowed us passage and wished us safe journey.

“At the border, we had to wait for clearance, which took us almost ten days. That was a tough one but we had to manage the situation. We had no accommodation. However, some of us found their way to a small village called Wad Alfa, where they took shelter. The people were quite nice. Some still couldn’t find shelter; some Red Cross people assisted, they gave some space to our people; some slept in buses, while those who couldn’t find accommodation were left stranded. Later the bus drivers left and those who had been sleeping in the buses had to sleep in the open. I was lucky, my bus driver didn’t leave. He remained with me until he was able to rent a house for us. He actually offered to do that for me rather than leave me to sleep in the open. He also gave us food and water. He was Sudanese. These were the conditions until the Egyptian authorities allowed us into their territory. “

Asked to assess the government’s evacuation efforts, Muhammed said, “It was good but it could be better. Sometimes, there were some gaffes, but to be frank, the government officials tried; especially the humanitarian services like NEMA; the NEMA DG was with us for almost three days at the border. We came together with him to Nigeria. I think his name is Aminu.”

Obinna Iyiegbu known as Obi Cubana is CEO of Cubana Trading and Investment Company. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, he talks about his passion for hospitality, new exploits in the beverage sector, challenges, opportunities and strong belief in women empowerment.

You studied Political Science, are you planning to go into politics at some point?

I have actually said it over and over again. I read political science but I don’t do politics. I am a businessman, I am called to do business , I have excelled in business and I can only do business.

You are known for empowering people, how is your company giving back to society, especially young people?

In terms of CSR, we at Cubana trading and Investment group are known to give our best. I am going back to the University of Nsukka in two days as a Speaker for their 50th anniversary. I have a lot of things to motivate them, to have a prize for the best student and to possibly give some scholarships for them. So, we do all this because we believe that empowering them educationally is the best weapon to arm any person who wants to succeed in life.

They can actually veer off along the line, you can do anything you want to do like go into fashion, music, a professional barber or anything. But the most important thing is to get the basic education. Someone like me, if I didn’t get the basic education, I may not have been able to manage my success the way I have been able to manage it. We do our best to empower our youths in terms of education mostly. We give you something to build you for tomorrow. We need people that would take over by the time we are no more.

What inspired the name Odogwu?

The name is known globally. This wasn’t the first name, we toyed with so many others, went to NAFDAC, trademark and then to the quality control.

Anyone that is a great person, the name Odogwu is attributed to the person. Prior to Odogwu coming on board, you see big men who drink Odogwu wrap it up with serviette. They hide it because they feel it is a drink meant for the poor. But, we are trying to tell them that we are all human beings. You can actually have access to pride while consuming the bitters. It is not expensive; in fact, it is cheaper than most products in the market.

It has its own benefits; people say it destroys this and that. But you know that anything coming from the stable of Cubana, we are interested in quality and we do the best standard practice in everything we do. What we did was to make sure that the people who consume it don’t have to hide it anymore. You can openly and brazenly take it out, put it in your pocket and say I am drinking bitters. We actually changed the narratives of our bitters.

What are the milestones recorded?

We have been able to gather some graduates together to present this product so that people who are educated and well placed can market the product. We have been able to export the product across to places like Canada. I was personally at the Lounge of Odogwu Bitters in Canada, UK, Germany and Paris. The day we landed in Paris Airport, it was like a carnival. The maximum we could fly with all finished, we got to the Tower to take pictures. You can see the joy, making them proudly Nigerian. We are trying to export culture, trying to show them that Nigeria is not just about bad things.

What inspired the feminine touch and the name Hush?

The name Odogwu came across as if it is only for men. There are women too. The product was also marketed and consumed by women. So, we said Hush, this for women, end of discussion. It has lower alcohol, just about 6 per cent.

How long did it take to work on the product?

From the first day we launched this particular product, we went back to work in the field for marketing. My partner was in the lab trying to get as many products as possible. You have to look at the

demography of the Nation, not every part of the country consumes alcohol. That is how we came up with this Malay and we want to take every part of the country. So, that it would be all inclusive. Our office is dominated by females and one of our visible ambassadors is a woman.

Let’s talk about the challenges?

Of course, we faced many challenges .We have seen diesel rise from where it was to where it is today.  There is also the epileptic power supply. Once diesel actually rises , it affects us, it affects production and everything but we cannot add money at every point because of competition. So, you find a way to navigate it, while also maintaining the quality of the product.

Right now, you cannot predict or forecast anything or say you would use N100,000 to produce XYZ because you may spend N300,000. So, you find your way to manage it ,so that it does not affect the final cost of production.

It takes a toll on us but you have to keep at it. Some day the reward will come. We had situations where we could load the product to another destination, the drivers would divert it. Stolen goods, bad roads, accidents but the good thing is that we deal with trucks that are insured so that the distributors or our company do not bear any loss. That is taking the products from one point to another, the other ones are manageable.

The instability of the naira due to the economy is a challenge but at every point I try to stabilize it, so that it doesn’t go beyond the reach of the people that created it. As luxury as it appears to be, it is still very pocket friendly. It’s a sustainable product, and sustainable brands.

From day one , the prices of our product have been the same but because of the value we put on the product some people decided to up the prices. It is not coming from us.

The theme for this year’s International Women’s day is Embrace Equity. What does this mean to you?

Equity is relative and I believe in Women’s empowerment. I am a very good example of a family man. I put my wife first in everything. As you can see, all our directors came with their wives and if you sit on the board meeting here, you will see that it is dominated by women. So, I believe in Women’s empowerment.

How have you been able to deal with issues around taxation and import?

We comply 100 per cent with taxes. We have chartered accountants here who look at our books. We are like the goldfish, we have no hiding place. We are visible in both the social and mainstream media, we don’t hide. We are open to all the agencies of government to come over. We file our tax as at when due. Also, in terms of Effex, we try to get at the parallel market, at the official market because you have to meet up with demand, depending on how much is allocated to you. Life is not smooth; there are ups and downs but we try to navigate to keep the business alive.

We have a wonderful team that knows the Nigerian market that knows where to go. The most important thing is to know where to place the product in Nigeria. As well as most West African countries. We have visibility and we have an amazing team that can withstand any competition. The Nigeria market is too big and we are only looking for a percentage of it. The most important thing is to have your own presence, announce it, hold down your own and make sure that the quality is consistent, the marketing is consistent and the focus is there and the prices competitive.