Insecurity: Stop Deceiving Nigerians, PFN Tells Buhari

By Sir Ralph Okhiria

National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and President-General of Gospel Light International Ministries (GLIM) – New Covenant Gospel Church, Rev. Dr. Felix Omobude, in a recent interview with media men in Benin City, spoke on a number of national issues including RUGA, insecurity and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to come out clean on the security situation in the country.
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Sir, what is your take on the planned RUGA settlement across the country by the Federal Government?
The RUGA system of rearing cattle as proposed by the federal government is not an honest way of settling the herders/farmers clashes. PFN has continued to call on the federal government to encourage Ranching. Cattle rearing are a private business, like people planting cassava, groundnuts or plantain. Government doesn’t acquire land for them. They plant their crops on the lands they acquired privately. So cattle rearing are a private business. All the federal government can do is to persuade the state governments where cattle rearing are a major business to encourage their herders on modern ways of rearing cattle. The nomadic cattle rearing system is become outdated. People eat beef in London and you don’t see cattle on their streets. They eat beef in America, Kuwait but you don’t see cows on their streets. So, I want to call on the federal government not to divert attention with RUGA. What they should do is to encourage those who do the business of cattle to go into ranching and that is the position of everyone of us in leadership of PFN.
Sir, besides taking lands from people in order to implement RUGA, many Nigerians are of the opinion that the RUGA system is also a plot to systematically Islamize Nigeria. What is the opinion of PFN on this?
Never in the history of this country has Nigerians been so divided.
Never in the history of this country has Nigerians been so suspicious of one another. Government should come with clean hands in driving their policies and understand the Multi-ethnic and religious nature of the nation in driving their policies, appointments; that should be at the back of their minds.
What is your take on the persistent insecurity in the country?
It is terrible, the killings are everywhere. The North, the South, the East and the West, people can’t travel on our highways without fear.
People go to the farms, they are afraid. So, this is a challenging time the nation is in. As it has always been canvassed, every responsible government works to ensure security of her citizens. It’s a primary responsibility of government. Therefore, the PFN is calling on the federal government to do more than condemn violence. Bring these perpetrators to book. These herdsmen that are killers; why do they vanished into the thin air as soon as they commit
heinous crimes? Why are they not prosecuted? Why are many of them not behind the bars by now? Government should not been seen or perceived to be shielding some people. So, any right thinking Nigerian must be worried about the state of insecurity in the country.
What is the way forward on this?
I believe the government has to look at their security apparatus; re-engineer them. I believe that government should be fair to everybody. Do everything possible to reduce the level of poverty in the land. I believe that our institutions should be properly funded and empowered so they do their work effectively. Now some say many of the killers are foreigners who came into the country; but we have the immigration, we have the customs, the police, we have border patrols.
So, I think there is need for the government to look into that and must work toward uniting the nation because the nation has become so divided. The herdsmen we use to know are not killers. Communities accepted them. They were not going about with AK 47. Where do they get their guns? Who supplied the arms? So, the government should not just be preaching peace when people are being killed, their property destroyed, their wives are being raped, the government must do something that the people can see and understand that government is working.
Now that President Buhari is in the process of selecting his cabinet members, what is your advice to him?
He should address the imbalance in his appointments and make every part of the nation to feel a sense of belonging. Government should understand that when you give what belong to A to B that is also corruption. So, if this government is fighting against corruption, it should be thorough and fair to all in appointing his cabinet members.
Sir, how do you react to the call by some Nigerians that Pastor Adeboye should be suspended by the PFN?
I think the suggestion for Pastor Enoch Adeboye to be suspended by the PFN is ill-advised. While PFN respects the rights of the people to protest, but we think that protests should be done justly and those who embark on protests should conduct their investigation properly before embarking on it. Pastor Adeboye and the Redeemed Christian Church of God are very loyal, dedicated, committed members of PFN. You know that the PFN has been very vocal in national issues and all our key leaders including Pastor Adeboye are part of whatever press release we made and the stand of the PFN. Pastor Adeboye has contributed in counsel, in ideas and has always contributed to anything that PFN does. PFN leaders of at point reasoned that if we allow everybody to be speaking on issues, we could be singing a discordant tone. Therefore, PFN has been speaking on national issues on behalf of its leaders. Agreed we have the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the PFN and other
Christian bodies but the PFN voice has been very loud and that is the resolve of all our leaders including Pastor Adeboye. So, it should be clear that Pastor Adeboye and the Redeemed Christian Church of God are founding members of the PFN and have remain consistent in supporting the ideas of the fellowship. We donated to various Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across the country and Pastor Adeboye and Redeemed are major donors to these projects. I realized that those demonstrators want things to turn for the better for this country but their grievances should be channeled properly and to the appropriate quarters. So, calls for the suspension of Pastor Enoch Adeboye from PFN should not have even been championed by anybody or group.
What is your reaction to the current infighting between Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Governor Godwin Obaseki?
As an Edo man, I’m not only concerned but very worried over the disturbing development in the state branch of APC. We tried to settle them but one of them failed to fully cooperate with us. What is happening in APC in Edo state is a fight between the APC family members. I only hope that they will quickly resolve their differences. You know, human beings are very slow in learning from history and I would wish that the leaders of the APC have learnt from their past mistakes. Edo people love peace and we love our governor. We like what he’s doing. I wish to call on the APC leaders to put their machinery in place to resolve their internal crisis as quickly as possible. Good enough, both Comrade Oshiomhole and Governor Obaseki are illustrious sons of Edo state.

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