Follow Us on Google
From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Right Reverend Magregorious Enyioha is the president of Ibo Senior Citizens Affairs Foundation (ISCAF), a philanthropic body that caters for the welfare of the elderly ones in the Eastern region. He is also the General Overseer of Friend of Jesus Global Mission Incorporated. Besides being a cleric, he has been upholding the culture and tradition of the ‘Ibo’ as he prefers to identified people in the Eastern region with. He is also the revered Mayor of Ovuru ancient kingdom in Imo State.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, he expressed his feelings on the ethnic profiling currently experienced in Lagos State, as well as other sundry issues. Excerpts:
The 2023 election has been won and lost, what’s your general view of the whole process?
Nobody won anything and nobody lost anything, but we’re still waiting for the victor to emerge.
What about the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, declaring candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Bola Tinubu, winner?
Anything that happens in the night is not always a good thing ,robbery always happens at night, but we believe that INEC is testing BVAS because they have not used it before ,that’s why you should not blame them. I’m begging Nigerians not to hang them ,they’re testing BVAS ,if they test something they have not used before they can go back and know how to handle it well.
You might have heard about the ethnic profiling in Lagos State where people of the Southeast, especially traders are being persecuted by their Yoruba brothers, what is your reaction to this?
Before this began,I have already raised the alarm, but nobody would listen. I’m still calling upon the government of this country, if they still want one Nigeria and still love one Nigeria, let them stop pretending as if they don’t know what’s happening ,keeping mute will not solve the problem ,let them chase the black goat before it gets dark ,the president has the right to cancel whatever he feels is not going right in the country ,he has the right to stop anybody going contrary to the constitution. I was happy when they said nobody should make inciting comments that such person would be arrested, but you see somebody who is already going contrary and you did nothing to stop him.
When you said you have seen somebody starting it, what exactly do you mean?
Irrespective of all they’ve been doing, killing, burning ,they still have the guts to lock the Southeast traders out of their shops in a land that you said we own it together; if the government keeps mum,that means they know what is happening ,how can something be happening in a state ,the governor cannot make a pronouncement ,police,DSS are there and they cannot do anything. As it’s in the above, the governor and Mr President have to step in. He has the right to declare state of emergency in any state where there is unrest .
I had wanted to ask you what you think is the way forward?
Yes, it’s a pity Nigeria has become a lawless country where anybody think they can do whatever they like and go scot-free . How can somebody boldly in a country telling somebody if you fail to vote Mr A or B that you’re going to make the place ungovernable and you see it happening and could not do anything ,what I’m saying in essence is that if they fail to extinguish this fire that is burning, I’m afraid it may burn so many things .
Alright sir, I observed you have been carefully choosing your diction,you have constantly referred to the Igbo as Ibo and your foundation,Ibo Senior Citizens Affairs also have Igbo pronounced as Ibo,can you explain the difference in the acronym?
Igbo is not our language, it’s Yoruba language, meaning ‘bush’ . Today, there’s a place called Ijebu Igbo ,that’s the bush area of Ijebu where they get timbers . When Fela was alive he said you smoke Igbo ,that’s weeds ,we’re Ibo, there was a time in Ile Ife when they say “don’t mind this Igbos,” they mean bush people in their local parlance ,go and consult the Oxford dictionary, even the people that colonised us know that we’re Ibo ,they’re the people leaving in the Eastern region .
Tell us the main objectives of your foundation, ISCAF?
Ibo Senior Citizens Affairs Foundation is licensed ,it helps all levels of age grades to build a society without war ,that’s why we always talk about peace and telling our youths to mellow down. But when you push them to the wall,they may react . ISCAF also stands for providing succour to the aged who can no longer provide anything for themselves or do anything for themselves ,you know there are many senior citizens who participated in developing Nigeria ,they used everything they had, but now they are in the villages ,you know the system here ,somebody retire to go and suffer and die ,use and dump ,but in a civilised area people retire to go and enjoy their benefits and what they laboured for ,this thing we call pension,people think it’s government’s money ,no it’s money somebody worked for ,saved in the hands of the government ,so that when his strength is failing him ,he can now fallback on those savings. Pension is not a gift from government . So ISCAF stands to help such people, go to the rural areas,many are bedridden . We’re trying to liaise with the government and individuals to assist these aged people .
Since you have insisted that Igbo are Ibo ,do you believe in Ohanaeze Ndigbo?
I want you to understand something ,Ohanaeze Ndigbo are answering their name, are they aware that the word Igbo is not a good word for them? There’s what is called lack of knowledge, they might not have known . Look at Pentecostal, for instance, many churches answer it, but this name came from one man ,they formed an association and many began to answer it.
So, you mean they should have answered Ohanaeze ‘Ndibo’ rather?
Yes, we are Ibo and they can answer Ohanaeze Ndibo if they reason along with me.
Some pro-Biafra groups have insisted on referendum for a way forward in Nigeria,what’s your own opinion about referendum?
The time of referendum has passed, this is time for restructuring, if you check very well,the spirit of God is upon Nigeria now ,first in history, the citizens have come together saying they need a change. This is exactly what former President Goodluck Jonathan wanted to do in his constitutional conference ,if they had agreed to come together, understanding would be there. Nigeria is going back to the drawing board and that’s restructuring. I wish we can go back to true federalism ,there’s nothing bad if we answer United States of Nigeria. Thank God today, they’re finding different natural resources in different parts of the country. Nigeria is blessed ,if we restructure, you will see that killings,hatred,hate speech will stop. Nobody will ask Igbo to leave Yoruba land and nobody will ask Yoruba to leave Igbo land or Hausa to leave Igbo or Yoruba land because we have understanding.
