Northern Christians’ll teach APC a lesson over Muslim-Muslim ticket – Prophet El-Buba

The General Overseer of the Evangelical Outreach Ministries International, with headquarters in Jos, Plateau State, Prophet Isa El-Buba, speaks to JAMES ABRAHAM about the implications of the ruling All Progressives Congress Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket for next years’ elections

You’re an influential voice in the North, what are you telling your followers ahead of next year’s general elections, given Nigeria’s critical need for a leader who is truly a nation builder, as opposed to one who sees leadership as an opportunity to advance their personal interest?

If you look at my antecedent and my background, you will realise that I have consistently insisted that we must get it right; we must get people who have integrity, not only integrity but also intelligence in leadership positions. You can have integrity but lack intelligence and with that you cannot run a system. And then, you can be intelligent but lack integrity, the result will be systemic bankruptcy. So, you must have a combination of the two as a leader to be able to drive the system.

By the grace of God, across the board, both the Christians and the Muslims, I have the commitment of a large number of people who identify with my stand, who believe in the message I stand for and that message is that Nigeria must get its leadership right. All of Nigeria’s problems stem from leadership deficit. Nigeria has witnessed very few moments when sincere people sat in the leadership saddle and gave us a glimpse of what is possible if we have good leadership in place. Let’s not go too far away; even within the present government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, there was a time the president was away abroad due to illness and his Vice President took over as the acting President. We saw within that short moment, positive dramatic changes in security, the economy started coming alive, the dollar that had almost become something else crashed down against naira and so on. That development just showed us that the country’s problem is leadership deficit.

This time around, we have decided and are determined to get a leader who can serve Nigerians rather than somebody who is going to use Nigerians to drive his own business. At this particular point, we have to get somebody that is young. The purpose of the young age is because of the complexity and depth of Nigerian problems. We need younger leaders who will be able to contend with the enemy of Nigeria and rescue the country from the hands of the enemies, both nationally and internationally, who have vowed to run it down. It must be a person who has competence, character, commitment and credibility to run the Nigerian nation.

Presently, we have a northern President; the next President should come from the South. And going to the South, the Presidency must go to a southern Christian. That is equity; that’s fairness. It is the only way to give people a sense of belonging in the system. Right now, the right thing is a southern Christian as President and a northern Vice-President. That is the message I’m passing.

You’ve seen the line-up of presidential candidates for next year, do you think the nation stands a chance of getting a leader that exemplifies the qualities you just enumerated?

I’m a student of history and I will tell you the truth. You must realise that the most uncomfortable, inconvenient season is when true leaders emerge. True leaders emerge out of pressure. True leaders emerge out of crisis. True leaders emerge out of a situation where there is  total confusion. For instance, David in the Bible was not among the powerful in the nation neither was he recognised in any way. David was just a shepherd boy. But there was a situation that confronted everybody in the nation and the army and the commander at that time could do nothing about it.  Goliath was intimidating everybody and staring everybody in the face. Suddenly, there was someone who emerged and took the responsibility to drive the process. Remember, when he was driving the process, Saul, the king, the army general didn’t join him to go and confront Goliath. But because David was doing something for the sake of the people, God gave him the support and we saw what happened eventually – Goliath was eliminated. This is exactly what is going to happen in Nigeria. The way things stand right now, I have said it very clearly, Nigerians will not go for the APC in the forthcoming presidential election.

Why do you say so?

It is very clear. Forget about this issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket. The real issue is that the party’s flag bearer is not competent, not to talk about his age. Simply put, he has neither the competence nor the energy required to drive the Nigerian system. And of course, with the Muslim-Muslim ticket, the APC has messed up its chances without remedy. The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party is a northern Fulani man. I supported him in 2019 because it was North-North issue. So, I stood for Atiku and asked everybody to go for him and we know that he won that election but now, I ‘m saying that the Presidency must go to the South. The PDP too shot itself in the foot by allowing Atiku to emerge as their presidential candidate when another Fulani northerner is about finishing an eight-year tenure. I believe there are competent young Nigerians that the people will rally round and the country will get it right this time around.

Does it matter to northern Christians that the APC is flying Muslim-Muslim ticket?

It’s a sacrilege. That decision is injurious to the faith of a people. Nigeria’s population is about 230 million. More than half of that number is Christians. You can only joke with that population at your own peril politically. On the average, there are more than 50 million Christians in northern Nigeria alone. You can’t try to neglect, abuse or look down on a people that control this large number. Even if they are 10 million, they need to be recongnised properly. You can’t say that out of 50 million people, there is no competent person to be the Vice President. Generally, no political party in Nigeria in its right senses should have contemplated fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket or Christian-Christian ticket. Nigeria has not matured to that level. It will take years for such trust and confidence to be built in the people.

There has been this outcry of Islamic agenda. How do you justify this one faith ticket and disabuse the minds of the people on that? It’s unheard of! Let’s not even go that way but you could see the structure under the APC administration – President, Muslim; Senate President, Muslim; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Muslim, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Muslim; National Chairman of the APC, Muslim; presidential candidate, Muslim and now you are also bringing a Muslim as Vice Presidential candidate. With that, you are already giving credence to what the people are saying about an agenda to Islamise Nigeria. There is a saying that wherever you see smoke, there must be fire, no matter how small it is. That is the reality. So, it is an abuse. Even the Muslims themselves are not happy with the decision of the APC to field a Muslim-Muslim ticket. I have hundreds of messages in my phone  from our Muslim brothers expressing themselves and saying that they are not happy with the APC’s decision because that is like trying to hurt a family that is trying to build itself.

Is this to say that you share the view that the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket is tantamount to calling the bluff of the Christians in the North?

My understanding of Tinubu’s decision to pick a Muslim as his running mate is that he decided to look at the Christians in the face and say “Uwaka,” which is an abusive word in Hausa. Go to communities and towns in Kano, Kaduna, Gombe, Borno, Plateau, Niger, Nassarawa and every other state in the North, that is the feeling of Christians. The feelings are the same across the states in the South. You need to interact with the people to see the anger.

Some have expressed the fear that terrorism and killings by Islamic fundamentalists may worsen if APC wins with Muslim-Muslim ticket. Do you think this fear is valid?

The fear is valid. I will tell you that the activities of the killer Fulani hersmen, the terrorists that are having a field day now are being organised and sponsored. These terrorists are doing a paid job with a clear mission. They believe that they will destabilise the whole system such that the 2023 elections won’t hold and they will be able to hijack power. And they believe that Nigeria is a conquered territory. I can clearly tell you that truth. That is why the government of the day is treating them with kid’s gloves rather than pound them as they should be. It’s just that it has now started hurting the northern Hausa communities unlike before when it was restricted to areas only inhabited by Christians in the communities. Now, there is the other stage of trying to eliminate the Hausa communities in the North. I have a Fulani blood in me so, I’m not against my Fulani people but against the Fulanisation of the country and they are riding on the Islamic agenda as a driving force and they also want to deal with the Hausa. So, the agenda is true. The ordinary Fulani man, who is used to sticks and cows, where does he have the money to be able to acquire AK-47 riffles? The question is: why is it that the military always announces it whenever they want to carry out an onslaught against the terrorists?   You don’t announce your plans to go after somebody or groups of people who have been terrorising the people. Rather, you invade their territories and sweep them away.

The Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria had earlier warned parties against Muslim-Muslim ticket, saying Christians would not vote for such a ticket. Do you see CAN and PFN boycotting the APC in next year’s election?

Absolutely and I’m saying it categorically even though the national bodies of CAN and PFN have made no statement on that but I’m part of the leadership of the Christian body. We are totally boycotting the APC and its presidential candidate and what they stand for. It doesn’t matter if they make any changes, the damage has been done and the intention has been revealed. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Who they really are is what they have demonstrated in choosing the candidates.

Let me quickly tell you that we are making a move across the whole country. Of course, you will have that two per cent of hungry Christians who would still be singing their praises. We won’t stop that. In life, you will always find that one per cent that will prove to be greedy or act as betrayers. But I can tell you that 99.9 per cent of Christians are going to totally make a collective statement with their votes. And our Muslim brothers, many of them who are solidly behind us, will also flow in the direction we’re going. I tell you the truth, the real northerners are angry. If you check, the people that are really suffering in this country are the northerners. The core northerners have been impoverished by their own people who are leaders and they are tired of the situation. Right now, they have found out that they have been using religion and tribalism to deceive them. Right now, their eyes are open and they have been wondering that since Buhari has been President, what has he done to better their lives or what value has he added to the North? The crisis in the North has become 10 times worse than what he met. It is the same with the economy and other indices of good governance.

I will tell you that work is going on. Discussions are going on and we are very much prepared to make sure that we teach them a lesson of their lives so that no politician or anyone else would ever take the Nigerian people for granted again. They should never test the will of the Nigerian people and we will prove that during this election. Let anybody bring bullion vans to try to buy votes or intimidate the citizens, that will not work this time.

In the past few days, I have received threat messages that I should not try to do what I’m doing. But they don’t know that I have passed that level where I am afraid for my life. I have passed that stage; I’m not afraid of death. There are a thousand and one other people like me. Today, if I’m no more alive, I’m sure they will rise up to continue what I’m doing. So, we won’t stop what we are doing and we will prove to any hired thug that enough is enough because they will be prayed for spiritually and at the same time, prayed for with hands.

What is your view on the submission that competence ought to be placed above religion in the choice of Nigerian leaders?

We try to use English to try to confuse ourselves. As much as Nigerians will love somebody that is very competent, they will not pick a Yahoo-Yahoo guy and make him the leader.  The Yahoo-Yahoo guys are smart and very intelligent but you won’t make them your leader. The fact is that Nigerians are spiritually driven. I hear people talking about placing competence above religion, but the fact is that nobody can divorce the marriage between competence and spirituality. The two go together.  The fear of God is rooted in spirituality. So if you have somebody who is competent but he is coming to steal, does that help the nation?

A few days ago the President lamented that it’s difficult governing Nigeria and that he can’t wait for his tenure to end and leave. Some say the President’s remark was an admission of lack of capacity and he should resign. Do you agree?

For me, I don’t think he knows what he is talking about. It’s just his normal incompetence and lack of the fear of God on verbal display. When President Buhari came on board, check it, for six months, Nigerians were calm and cool and were following his instructions. He was a man that Nigerians were waiting for to give them direction. But when he started acting on the counsel of sycophants that he surrounded himself with; people who do not mean well for Nigeria, he made things difficult for himself. A few competent ones that he has, like the Vice President, he messed them up with the ill advice of some people who claimed that the Vice President was going to overshadow the President.

Is a new Nigeria possible? How soon do you think it can happen?

I see a new Nigeria now with the way things are going on. A new Nigeria is emerging. That’s why I produced a film which will be released very soon to the Nigerian nation, of a vision that I saw, that in two years, Nigeria was turned around to become one of the strongest economies and one of the greatest nations on earth.