Apostle Johnson Suleman, the Senior Pastor of Omega Fire Ministries, OFM, has expressed sadness over the incessant killings carried out in several parts of Nigeria, West Africa, by suspected herdsmen.
In an exclusive interview with an online media platform, Aledeh.com, the Apostle stressed that the “body language” of the Nigerian government is empowering the suspected killer herdsmen.
Apostle Suleman also lent out his voice to address the proposed “Hate Speech Bill” which proposes that any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person shall die by hanging upon conviction.
“It is a shame,” said the man of God. “It irks me when people talk about governance and miss insecurity. If you study the Hitler revolution of Germany, you will discover under Hitler there was so much development, infrastructure, companies. The economy boomed but today Hitler is still regarded as the worst ruler Germany ever had. Why? Insecurity; people died. It doesn’t matter how much you recover, you only recover money for a living man,” he added.
According to him part of the reason for their anger against him was that he “was talking about the Fulanis but that wasn’t about the Fulanis.
“I don’t know if there are Igbo herdsmen. I don’t know if there are Efik herdsmen. It’s not about tribe or people. Now global terrorism index says this militia group (Fulani herdsmen) is the fourth deadliest in the world. When I saw the women protesting I wept. I screamed on the pulpit that day because some of my members had been kidnapped by the Fulani herdsmen, two of my members have been killed.
“Recently, the one that would have caused a problem was when the chairman of Urhobo Progressive Union was kidnapped and some of the militants called me and said they will set the country on fire. I was the intermediary that was talking to these herdsmen so I know what I am talking about. This is firsthand information. They (Fulani herdsmen) said I must pay and I said ‘you guys are mad’, pay for what? The UPU chairman was kept for two full days.”
Apostle Suleman also lamented that the body language of the leadership at the centre does not reflect a state of emergency. In his words, “They see it as something that will die on its own and this kind of devil has to be tackled headlong.”
The clergy also disagreed with the suggestion of the inspector-general of police that arms should be mopped up, stressing that international law allows anybody to carry light arms for self-defense so long it is licensed.
“If you are talking about retrieving arms from the people you have to retrieve arms from the herdsmen. People don’t fear the cows, they fear the gun. If the people are crying about the herdsmen, the attack on their produce and the farmers, people don’t fear the cows, the people fear the gun. I am sure growing up you saw herdsmen carrying sticks not guns but now it has changed into carrying guns about so if we do not stem this, I don’t see Nigeria having any agricultural future.
“Farmers have been chased out of their farms and that is going to increase the state of unemployment which will get back to us because everything is in shambles. It is not enough to make certain statements. Now there is a town in Benue, I can’t remember the name, but the herdsmen have taken over that town in Benue. They are not dead; they are alive so if you want us to believe you’re serious in dealing with this people then use that as an example. Collect the arms don’t kill them, don’t arrest them, just tell them to submit their arms,” he submitted.
Asked to rate this government’s fight against corruption, he said he doubted if they knew the meaning of corruption.
“Nigerian government fighting corruption? No! What is corruption? Corruption is the pervasion of due process. Corruption is not recovering money. Ninety percent of the appointments tilt towards the north, that’s corruption.
“People have been killed but when you speak, they arrest you, that is corruption and the truth is the government at the centre doesn’t know that anytime a man speaks and you go after him, you are raising up a hero. He becomes a hero and a hero can start a movement and a movement can snowball into a political party so you have gotten more opposition in your hands. If people speak against what you do, leave them; ignore them but when you have a leadership where people at the centre are very intolerant, a man says something you come after him.
“All of a sudden there is so much emphasis on hate speech and the present government rode into power on the premise of hate speech. They would speak against the opposition, they would deride them, and they would say all kinds of things against them. You must know there is a thin line between hate speech and freedom of speech, so when you tell people not to talk you’re putting them in trouble. People get to a point where they say to themselves, after all, I will just be arrested I won’t be killed. When you keep flogging a child or threatening a child, it gets to a point you push the child to the wall, when the child says ‘okay they will flog me’. Have you noticed everybody is talking now? People do videos in their homes. Yes because you’re giving them reasons to speak. Everybody wants to be popular.
‘I was in the east one time. While I was in there, I listened to radio Biafra then. I liked the man. I liked the way he was talking but I didn’t see it as a major force. I just felt he was airing his opinions. I am referring to Nnamdi Kanu. I said, wow this guy talks well. I think I like him. The next thing I heard he was arrested and I was like ‘why will you arrest him?’ This is going to be a movement. I called for his release. The more you keep him behind bars the more his people will like him even people who don’t like him will like him. Nigerians are sympathetic in nature.
“When he (Nnamdi Kanu) addressed the press, he said the best thing Goodluck Jonathan did was to ignore him. So you end up raising heroes. This pastor speaks you arrest him and make him popular, that one speaks you arrest him, so people are now riding on your back to popularity. So when people speak, you should ignore. There cannot be true leadership without tolerance,” he concluded.