•Says Jonathan is a very religious leader

By Caleb Ayansina

The Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, is also the Chairman of the Christian Pilgrims Commission. In this interview, he speaks on the Jonathan administration and the expectations of Nigerians from the Buhari government. Excerpts:

Why was it necessary for your church to host a farewell service for former President Goodluck Jonathan?

The service was a package and our intention was to say ‘go into the future with God’. If you don’t leave God out of your journey, He will help you; that is the main issue about that service. ‘That election has failed you, you are likely to be disappointed in your friends and colleagues; perhaps in your political associates; you may even be disappointed in Nigerians. The whole thing is that, you are going forward into the future, whatever may be the circumstance, probably you have money or you don’t have money, whatever may be your situation, God will not fail if you stick to Him’. So, we were asking him (Jonathan) to go into this uncertain future with God, who is certain.

Were you led by the Holy Spirit or any information to prophesy into Jonathan’s life?

*Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh

No! I didn’t have any information. When you are in a particular place, you get trapped; it was like that to me when I was in the Army. I never thought that one day I will use my hand to apply, to say I wanted to go on voluntary retirement. In the Army, we were used to end of the year promotion for those entitled to it; after that, there is what they called career review and posting. These three things were always there at the end of the year for people serving in the military.

That year, I was already thinking about these three issues when I got a letter. I was in office and they said Episcopal Synod met in Abuja, and they gave me a letter to Asaba to go and be a bishop. I had two days to reply, whether I will go or not.

That was a situation i did not plan for. That is kind of situation I saw in that man (Jonathan) that day, and I said, ‘God does not fail people. If you have enough faith to go forward into the future, you will not be disappointed. At the moment, definitely, leaving the office of the president, people will be saying you failed election now’. What is there to congratulate somebody who has failed election? But if you go by faith, you are likely, after about six months, one year, begin to realise that there is life outside the State House.

President Jonathan was surrounded by great men of God and now it has come to the level that everybody was sympathising with him. Will you say all their efforts were in vain?

Looking at it from a human point of view you can say that, but looking at it from a spiritual point of view, God sees the end from the beginning. He takes the whole thing as a linear scale, not a pocket of an issue. His life has a programme, every one of us has a programme with God and we won’t spend one day longer or one day left.

So, that aspect of his destiny has been fulfilled, he has been in the State House. He has to move on to the next subject, that next subject is what I don’t know. I have seen that in my own life and I know it is so in your own life.

When you complete an assignment and God sees that there is no more need for you to be there, you move on in your own interest and in the interest of the larger community. It is not because you have lobbied very well or you have not lobbied very well, it just happened that the time is up.

People criticised men of God around Mr President for involving in politics. Did it occur to you that they were on the excessive side in their conduct in that regard?

From my own angle, the work of the Church is to provide a prophetic guidance. The work of leading a nation is a serious job; if you have a perception that this is the way this man ought to go, you have a duty to make it known to him. Whether he takes it or not is another matter. If you check the Bible, the prophets made their views known. But in most cases these views were not taken; in that case, you have played the role of a watchman, you see what is happening and what is coming, and you say ‘this thing is likely to happen….. if you don’t do this……’

After you have left, they say ‘don’t mind that man, he is a mad man’. Or ‘he does not know what is doing’. That is not your problem; your problem is to release what has been revealed to you. And when you have done that, you go back to your base; you don’t force anybody to do what you have said, because the choice to disobey God is there for human beings.

The good thing is that there is a blessing if you obey and there is a consequence if you disobey. That is the Deuteronomy way of putting it.

How do you assess the relationship between the Jonathan – led administration and clerics?

Seriously speaking, Jonathan is somebody who loves the Bible. You can see that it is not an accident; his mother is always there in the church, even for morning devotion. He has the privilege of a very deeply committed mother on the issue of godliness.

So, how much he himself has taken that as a way of life can be seen in his early morning devotion no matter how hectic. He really tried as president to follow it; it is not everybody with the schedule of government office who will deny himself food or drink and all that. Then, in terms of Christian principle, he tried to look at people with regard. He has a very large heart for people who have offended him, people you can say he ought to take a pound of flesh from.

What area do you want the new administration to focus on?

First and foremost, there is what I consider a theological and political capital that there is peace after Jonathan conceded defeat after the election. It is a theological and political capital in the sense that where it does not exist, there will be no country. If you don’t have peace, there will be no country.

So, this capital, the new administration needs to take advantage of it, to do more to promote this peace, because with the problem of Boko Haram, the problem of regional suspicion, tribal suspicion, this is key to future development.

No matter which way you look at it, whether from the PDP point of view or from APC point of view or from the point of view of the collective smaller parties, peace is essential, and so, this capital must be properly understood, properly utilised, so that Nigeria can go forward.

It could be ignored, undervalued or properly valued, depending on the way they are looking at it. But the presence of that capital is not in doubt, and it is a major capital for further development of this country. This is the peace that had been brought in by the behaviour of President Jonathan.

Second is the issue of the unity of the country. No matter what you want to do for Nigeria, if there is no unity, they just look at you with suspicion, it will not go forward.

So, there is need to take advantage of this political capital of peace and go forward to do more to achieve unity of our people, because right now there is tension; when you talk about ethnic issue; ethnicity, tribalism, there is tension. Some people feel safe, while some feel insecure. What is programme for reassuring everyone that you belong? This is the main issue, after that, other issues like electricity, education, food, etc. can come. All these are secondary. Primarily, they should focus on peace and oneness.

What is your message to the new government on the call that religious bodies should pay tax?

The Church is a registered charity organisation. What is bringing the issue of taxation is the one-man ownership of some churches. Since the Church is a charity organisation, there is no need to pay tax. But if the Church has an establishment that generates income, such a Church should pay tax on its business entity to government.

There should be a way of regulating ownership of churches. The Jonathan administration has given the mandate to CAN and NSCIA. If any of these organisations has hotels, schools and other outfits like bakery, we have to pay tax.