But why do you always emphasise it?
Because He would have no right to judge the world if His own house is in a mess. His own house is in a mess, so why would He go judge the world?
Your wife always maintains a low profile compared to first ladies of other churches…
My wife is not a first lady. She is Mrs. B. She is a pretty and intelligent woman. Her ministries are five-fold; which are our five children – three girls, two boys. Two of them are with master’s degree, the last two are in the university, finishing next year. That’s it. We maintain that low profile because we own nothing, we are stewards.
We also learnt that former President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to use your church for his thesis. Did he do it?
I do not know anything about that. I am hearing it from you for the first time. He only wrote to me that he would like me to come and commission his ministry and I turned it down and said: “Thanks a lot.”
Why do you call pastors who visit Aso Rock Palace Prophets?
It is from the Bible. Those who eat from the table of Ahab cannot bring a convincing message to Ahab. It is not all of them that do that. There are some who don’t while some pass through the back door. There are some whose hands are not free. In all my interactions with President Jonathan, it was only on one occasion I said he should stand and let me pray for him and I didn’t take a dime. I contribute my quota to the development of my nation. I cannot be bought because I have already been bought by Jesus Christ, who paid that maximum prize on the cross of Calvary. And I don’t need anything from them. The few things I need for the rest of my life are not in the hands of man. No, the President can’t do that, and that’s why he goes up and down. And his wife goes to hospital. Long life, he can’t give it. And like Muslims would say Aljana – heaven – he can’t give it. These are the things I need for the rest of my life. I don’t need money from them because I can work and if we compare notes, when God blessed me and decided to prosper me, the President was sill a salary earner.
Churches nowadays are being criticised of preaching prosperity instead of righteousness. What is your take on that?
Prosperity is part of God’s message. But prosperity must be with purpose. Prosperity without purpose will just lead you into captivity. Then you get caught up with money and when you have no purpose and you don’t know why it got to you, you would misbehave. But prosperity is a godly message: “I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospereth.” But righteousness is what exalts a nation. So when you have prosperity without a balance of righteousness, you believe that money can do everything, so you would do everything for money. Money can buy bed, it cannot buy sleep, it can buy education, it cannot buy brain, it can buy food, it cannot buy appetite. So money is not everything.
What was your most memorable day as a pastor?
It would shock you what I am about to say. I have had two of such days. The first was when I saw the little children of this church, ages between four and 10 reciting the things that they’d been taught, I heaved a sigh of relief that by the grace of God, I have been able to give to a generation what I didn’t have. The level of revelation that they displayed on that day brought tears to me because if they got it right, then Nigeria would be better because they can stand and choose to win by righteousness. It is something that happened here and it touched me significantly.
The second was the day my second daughter caught the revelation of Jesus Christ and walked up to me shouting: “Jesus is real!” I said, ‘Okay, now that you know it is not just something that we are mouthing, pursue Him.’ Those are memorable days in my life as a Christian.
His Take On Nigerian Politics
In 2011, you ran with Buhari. This time around, you don’t seem to be in the pack. Some are defecting, others are declaring their ambition to run next year. Where do you stand?
I thank you; you said I do not belong to any pack. Eagles don’t fly, they soar. You only see one eagle in the sky at a time. So I don’t belong to any pack. I had already written this in the book that is coming out – the series of events that took place before I accepted the prospect to be a running mate to Gen. Buhari, a quintessential and absolutely incorruptible leader, a leader that stood by many and has a burning passion to see a Nigeria that works in his lifetime. He was not looking for power anymore. At the last election, he said he would never come out again. But myself, el-Rufai and Jimi Lawal went to his room in London and persuaded him not to create a vacuum. I still believe in my heart that it would take the best of the North and the best of the South to steer this nation aright.
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