Impeaching Buhari will disintegrate Nigeria – Iloh

• Commends Ambode as a positive governor

By SUNDAY ODIBASHI

AN elder statesman and advocate of good governance, justice and equity, Dr. Moses Iloh, has condemned the speculation that the Senate is planning to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari. Though leadership of the Senate has since refuted the speculation, Iloh, however, in an interview with National Daily in Lagos, admonished that impeaching Buhari will disintegrate Nigeria.

The elder statesman was of the view that Buhari, today, symbolizes the unity of the country, warning that removing him from office could even cause civil war that would dismember the country. He called for caution as the APC navigates the storm of internal conflicts.
He remarked that President Buhari is fighting corruption against fortified elite who are so strong and have amassed wealth to fight back.

Moreover, Reverend Iloh expressed his support for the decision of Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State to ban street trading in the state after the sad incident at Maryland, Ikeja, about a fortnight ago. “That is an act of discipline, act of decency. The Lagos we are today is what I call Fashola’s Lagos, beautiful Lagos, and this governor is doing something, he wants to sustain it; he wants to further beautify Lagos. What he is doing is correct,” Iloh declared.

He, however, questioned if it is not possible for Governor Ambode to find a kind of makeshift market for the poor traders. “You don’t have to build Tejuosho kind of market but clear an area for temporary structures. So, anyone of them can go there and have a temporary space,” he noted. “To clear them from the streets is fantastic. Ambode is maintaining Fashola’s Lagos and people should support him for doing that. That is wisdom,” Iloh said.

The elder statesman further maintained: “I see him as a positive governor; a governor who is out to ensure that the good things he met on ground are sustained and improved upon. He is sustaining and improving Lagos; so, when he leaves in eight years time, we will have Fashola/Ambode’s Lagos. He is doing a good job and I support him.”

Iloh subsequently bemoaned the monumental social vices ravaging the country. “This is a country without God, a country without Allah. This is a pagan country,” He lamented. He stated that “whoever is walking the earth must know that at the end, whether you are a Muslim, you go to what they call Gidan wuta alahira; if you are a Christian, you go to hell;” adding that, “Everybody in that gidan wuta, which means hell, goes through perpetual punishment.” He regretted that, “We have come to the level where Nigeria has become a pagan country and if we don’t do something about this, people will cry at the end.”

Iloh observed that “this is a country that has no regard for God;” adding: “Whether you are a Christian or a Mohammadian, they are the same; you have to respect God, love Him, honour Him; but Nigeria as a country does not recognize God, how much more loving Him.”

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The elder statesman decried that Nigerians have deliberately graded this country into one characteristic; observing that majority of the people, about 90 per cent, are hypocrites.

“Nigeria has come to a level that I can confidently say that Nigerians hate the poor; they want the poor dead. Nigerians no longer show any respect for elders. Nigeria is a country where, today, they have no respect for human life. This is a country where they kill, destroy anyhow. This is a country that lacks the simple human nature of justice, there is nothing like justice. Corruption has destroyed Nigeria,” he lamented.

Iloh reiterated his proposition that corruption is not just stealing money, that, corruption is spoiling. Corruption, he said, has spoiled Nigeria. So, Nigerians will start fighting the disaster that is awaiting them, he said, arguing that, “today, because of the materialism instincts, the society is dominated by paganism, people are serving mammon, worshiping idols.”

The elder statesman remarked that nobody who fears God will kill, expressing his disgust over the manner people rape and destroy the virginity of four years old, three years old innocent children. He also lamented that the boy who abducted Ese from Delta to Kaduna state, impregnated her, humiliated and dehumanized her, has now been granted bail. “What type of law does Nigeria practice,” he protested. He admonished,“they are demonic, they are evil, they have no fear of God. I tell you this prophetically today, if this country does not repent and go to God, Nigeria will perish.”

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He lamented further that the entire system is dirty and not necessarily an issue of a single leader to correct. “I hate a situation where everything is Buhari; is everything Obama in America. In Britain, when Prime Minister David Cameron noticed something didn’t go right in the EU referendum, he resigned. Later, Theresa May took over, will Britons say everything is Cameron, “he stated. “These people, because they are hypocrites, everything is Buhari,” he said, noting: “This is a dreadful Nigeria… God forbid the further existence of this kind of Nigeria.”

The elder statesman further regretted that Christians in Nigeria who preach the bible have mischievously remolded Christianity into religion, saying that Christianity is not religion, Christianity is life.

Moreover, Iloh stated that plea bargaining does not mean someone didn’t steal. He argued that, “If you didn’t return the money, there can be a way the law will squeeze you and squeeze the money out of you.” He, therefore, advocated that, “in this fight against corruption, the federal government should make a clear distinction between fighting the corrupt and fighting corruption,” adding that, The corrupt will not just give you his money, he wants to deceive you, wants something. In plea bargain, I give you part of what I have stolen, then, whatever I keep by myself, I have it. Then, it is recorded that I was never a thief.”

The elder statesman further said that for some other corrupt persons, once the government tries to take the loot from them, they will organize boys and give them money to riot so that they can break Nigeria, and the Nigeria they stole from does not exist. “The corrupt are evil and dangerous. That is why the federal government should retrain some judges to have the elements of integrity, courage. Those who are high court judges go to Churches, Mosques; what seed are they sowing. You should judge a church by what Christians are doing. Judge the Muslims by what the Mohammedians in authority are doing. I had thought that by now, at least one person would have gone to jail for corruption. Things are getting more difficult in Nigeria; the poor are suffering without hope,” Iloh declared.

“If you have stolen and you know what you have stolen, what the law says is that they should put them into prison. May be because you have returned your loot, the jail term may not be that severe but you can’t go unpunished. So, if a man negotiates plea bargain, he returns the money, good; that does not exonerate him from the crime,” Iloh stated. “So, I call upon those who still claim they are Christians to try save Nigeria; those who are Mohammedians, I call on them to save Nigeria. Allah didn’t say go killing people or rape people. As far as Allah is concerned, if you rape, they kill you for raping. So, those who are Mohammedians should wake up to save Nigeria; Christians, wake up if you can restore the dignity, the virtues of Christianity because Jesus came to give us life and give us life abundantly. So, you live and let others also live,” he summed up.