Fiery cleric, Prophet Lai Bamidele, in this interview with Kayode Fasua, says President Muhammadu Buhari has failed in many areas and so does not deserve another term in office. Bamidele, who is the General Overseer of Glorious End-Time Evangelical Ministries, a church in Lagos, laments that under the present crop of leaders, the country is on a cliffhanger. Excerpts:
How would you assess the state of the nation, Nigeria?
It is unfortunate that Nigeria has found itself in this sorry pass today. I would say I am part of the fault of what is happening in the country today. When President Goodluck Jonathan was not doing well, I was one of the ministers of God that really went back to God and prayed that God should change him. In my own case, it was a 21-day prayer and fasting programme. There at Efon-Alaaye Mountain in Ekiti State, the Lord told me that he had abandoned the Jonathan administration, that he sent President Jonathan on a mission but that he missed it. So, God said that he had ordained Buhari to take over, but that Buhari was not really the expected Messiah. And dutifully, I descended from the mountain and told Nigerians through different newspaper publications that Buhari would win the election.
And here is a man who was in his Daura village in Katsina, waiting for the final hour from God, having failed to win the presidency three times. But God used the political leaders in the opposition to persuade him to run. Now in power, Buhari has forgotten that past and the entire country is in pain.
So when God spoke, saying Buhari was not the messiah, biblically, I understood what God was saying. But I was looking at the background of Buhari, whom we all knew as a man of integrity. So personally, I supported him. But today, I have come to realise who the President is and I really regret giving him my support. When Buhari came and God said ‘he is not the messiah’, I was looking at it, that could people still buy this man? Or that, could they turn him to another man? It was not until recently while I was praying, while all these killings were happening, that God referred me to the book of 1st Samuel, chapter 8 in the Bible, where the story of King Saul is. God said Buhari is the Saul of Nigeria. He said Buhari was not his choice but people’s choice. The same way the Israelites were crying that they wanted a new King, whereas God was waiting patiently to bring a king for them; but when they could not wait and they started pestering the prophet to give them anyone as king, then Saul came in at the right time and he made the Israelites see pepper.
If God could disgrace Saul, disgrace other tyrants that came after him in human existence, who is any present leader that will be impossible for God to unseat? Let us wait till next year.
But the Buhari administration claimed that it brought about some economic reforms…
There is a problem with our leaders. The moment they get to Aso Rock Villa, they forget their past. The President, while campaigning, said he would work towards an exchange rate N1 to $1. But rather than see things move in that direction, all we saw was dollar moving to over 500 against the naira. It was only when he went abroad for medical treatment that the Vice President moved in and brought down the high exchange rate, making us to now exchange the dollar for N305 today.
Again, Buhari, shortly after he came to power, increased the price of fuel, and compounded the poor man’s problems. This government would have increased the price of fuel again but it is only waiting for Buhari’s second coming, which, God willing, will not happen.
If God could disgrace Saul, disgrace other tyrants that came after him in human existence, who is any present leader that will be impossible for God to unseat? Let us wait till next year
What is your assessment of the security situation in the country?
First and foremost, we have never had it so bad. There is kidnapping every day, to the extent that it has now become a ‘lucrative business’. The Fulani herdsmen are busing slaughtering people of other ethnic nationalities like fowls, in a country that has a constituted government, police, army, the DSS, the Civil Defence Corps and other security outfits. It would also seem that the President is too weak to stem the tide of these gun attackers, known as Fulani herdsmen, because they are from his ethnic group, or that he simply lacks control over his subordinates. The Inspector-General of Police had been accused of disobeying many presidential orders, yet the man (I-G) is still there. And this, sadly, has fuelled speculations that the President wants to use the IG for the 2019 elections; the same way he used him for the Ekiti election.
The noise they are making that the Boko Haram has been defeated is merely speculative and has yet to be matched with reality. You hear of killings in the North East every day, of how some policemen, soldiers were killed en masse. When are we going to get out of the woods?
Now, we can make sense out of the many things Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State has been saying about the President. I’m not a supporter of Fayose. He is lousy and careless in talking, but there are some facts that Fayose often says about the state of the nation, as we are now face-to-face with those ugly realities.
Besides, the President is ethnic-biased in his major appointments to sensitive security positions in the country and this, regrettably, is an infringement on the Constitution that stipulates the federal character in federal appointments.
The Chief of Army Staff is from the North East, the Minister of Defence is from Kebbi State; the Director of DSS is from Katsina, specifically from Daura, and he’s from Buhari’s family. The Minister of Defence is from the North, and the Chief of Staff is from Borno State.
I can also confirm to you that there is discrimination in the Federal Civil Service now. I even have a case of a spiritual daughter that was removed just two weeks ago as an Assistant Director without doing anything, just because she is a Christian. She was taken to a lower place and then they brought in her subordinate to come and hold the post because she was about being a Director in that Ministry. The Director is to retire before the end of the year, and they knew she was the one that would take over the post. Which country are we in?
But as for the Yoruba race where you come from, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is solidly behind Buhari. Is it that Tinubu has foreseen what you have yet to see?
May I say this? Tinubu has let down the Yoruba nation. I used to be a fan of Tinubu; I used to be his dire-hard supporter. I am a minister of God, I belong to nobody. But as a person, I have now withdrawn my support for Tinubu because I discovered that he does not have the interest of the Yoruba people at heart. He is simply selfish. Look at the way people are suffering. What is the use of having a one-time activist like Tinubu in our democracy? He has not only gone back in his queer display of love for Buhari, but has, to me, failed all those who cherish him. After the death of Gani Fawehinmi, we don’t have any activist again. Where are the activists? They are all lined behind Buhari’s government. Everyone closes their eyes as if nothing is
happening.
Another disappointment too is Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. His fellow Christians are dying; Fulani herdsmen are slaughtering them, but he has chosen to keep mute, pretending as if all is well. Even look at Adams Oshiomhole and Nasir el-Rufai. About 200 people were killed by Fulani gunmen in Plateau; same weekend, they were so insensitive to the pains and anguish of the people, and started dancing ‘shakushaku’ or whatever they call it, at the APC Convention. Posterity will judge all of them.
