Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Ikeja Province, Tope Ilesanmi, in this interview speaks with Adeola Ogunlade about the insecurity challenge in Nigeria and why Lagos PFN is building an Investmnet Secretariat. Excerpts:
The southern governors met recently in Lagos and reached a resolution that the next president of Nigeria must come from the south; do you think this is what we need at this point in time?
As traditional politicians, they may be correct because Nigerians view things from the perspective of tribalism and ethnicity, unlike advanced countries, people think beyond tribal sentiment.
It may be because of our complexity but I know there are countries that have more ethnic groups than we have in Nigeria. What Nigeria really needs now is to search for the right man for the job.
In management, we call them level five (5) leaders actually. I mean leaders who have the knowledge to actually know who and who are needed in any department of an organization. So, that should be the proper thing; but we on the other hand, because of the way Nigeria is structured – they may be correct in their own way.
But if you look at the situation of the country critically; are we not trying to replay the 2015 scenario?
Well, I have told you some time ago that as far as Nigeria is concerned, the present crop of political leaders that we have cannot take Nigeria to her destination .They don’t really have the mind to build Nigeria as a nation. For that reason – what is objective is not their focus: you will agree with me that what is in the mind of 90 percent of them is what is in it for me. Once that becomes the motive, even though there is a critical subject before them, they will set it aside. That is just the problem.
Let’s look at insecurity in the country: what do you think security operatives can do differently to salvage the situation?
Yes Kaduna is having a lion’s share of kidnapping at the moment, but down south too; we are having our own, there is no place in Nigeria that is safe. When I went on a spirituality index a few weeks ago; only Lagos State seems to be working – some are in the red zone, some are in the amber zone, while Lagos and one other state is in green. And it’s so bad that when you have 90 percent of all the states in a state of insecurity: I feel the best thing for this man called president is to step aside. Babangida did it; so let him step aside for someone else to lead. Because there is nothing you can suggest to the president that he will use. State police that many states are trying to resort to may to some extent help them. Amotekun will somehow help them, but that thing will turn against us as a nation, because the governors that have put them together – they themselves are immature in leadership. They may want to use it against the system in years to come.
The best thing we need right now is if President Buhari wants to solve the problem; it won’t take him more than one week. It is just for him to tell the Air Force people to bomb everywhere they see these bandits. They know where the bandits are – an investigative journalist wrote sometimes ago that he was tracing the movement of bandits that kidnapped his friend, so this thing is not cast in iron – it’s something that is doable, but since the leadership of this nation is not sincere, there is nothing they can do about it than to step aside and allow people that at least want Nigeria to succeed even though they cannot take us to our destination do the needful.
With just two years left for the administration; will it not create some political imbalance for the country should the president step aside?
Is the nation Nigeria balanced as we are talking? Everything is on disequilibrium and for that reason, you will agree with me that for the next six month to one year – let me not take you too far; when Yemi Osinbajo stood in gap for Buhari when he went for medical break in 2017: do you know the level of fairness; do you know the level of economic changes that happened within those few months; and so the person that knows what to do if he should take over now – give him between three to six months, there will be calmness; there will be security and then we can breathe some breathe of relive. Imagine an exchange rate of N500+ to a dollar, no one would have imagined that such a thing will happen in Nigeria. So, the best thing to do between me and you, and the ancestors in Nigeria is for this man to step aside; there are people he can hand over to. We are not suffering from external forces; we are suffering from internal forces, which the federal government is complicit in.
Still on insecurity: another set of students were kidnapped from the Bethel Baptist College in Kaduna last week, which forced the state government to shut some schools. If we are shutting down schools for these bandits, is Boko-Haram not winning through the back door?
Well, the answer is still the same. Everything rises and falls on leadership. The people that say they don’t want western education; their leaders have become multi millionaires through western education. And, if they say they don’t want it, it is a deception just to mislead the southerners. The truth of the matter is that the leadership of the North wants only a few elites to remain in power – go and check; all of them are sending their children to the best schools abroad: are you saying they don’t want western education? Sending their children to U.S, to U.K to study show that they want it, but they are not making provision to protect the interest of the poor which should also go to school because they know that when the people are enlightened and educated they can free themselves from the indirect slavery that the northern elites are keeping them. It is not as if putting an end to Boko-Haram is an impossible task but it is because it is also feeding the egos of the northern elites.
Okay, now let’s come to the Church: the PFN recently launched a N200 million fund for its state secretariat. Why build a state secretariat when there is a national secretariat in Lagos?
My own province being an investment secretariat and that is exactly what the Lagos State PFN is trying to do. It’s an investment secretariat; not just a secretariat of a few offices – only a few parts will be reserved for offices, the rest are going to be commercialized so that it can generate funds for the state. It will reduce the financial burden on the members if that is done.
In other words you are saying PFN wants to be sustainable for the future?
Yes, it will be self-sustainable financially as the years go by.
But, PFN is a strong organisation in Lagos and members pay dues; are the dues not enough for the day-to-day running of the secretariat?
We call it subscription and they are grossly insufficient to meet the running of PFN. This is because there are lots of challenges that the members are going through. And when I say members; there are some big ones that have made it, but the up and coming ones need some leverage. Without that there are lots of such challenges that keep coming that PFN might not be able to handle and even the subscriptions that are being contributed yearly are grossly inefficient. As a province chairman, if I tell you how much I have to spend personally from my own pulse – is much. And it is more for welfare because when founders are just starting ministry there will be tests and trials of faith. At that time they need some measure of help from those that have made it. Personally, I have to be responsible for their well-being – the subscriptions are too low compared with what the challenges are.
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