BLUNT WORDS FOR OUR MEN OF GOD : Methodist Church Prelate, Dr. SCK Uche, thunders: Some Nigerian church leaders are shamefully materialistic ... NewTelegraph

Newly elected Prelate of Methodist Church, NIGERIA, His Eminence, Dr. S.C.K. Uche (JP), in this noholds barred interview with OJIAKU KALU discusses the state of the church, national security and the need for Christians to get involved in politics

Kindly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche, the Prelate of Methodist Church, NIGERIA, formerly, the Methodist Archbishop of Enugu. My election as Prelate took place on September 1, 2013. So September 1 this year was the first anniversary of my election as the new Head of Methodist Church in NIGERIA. This is why I now live in Lagos where the headquarters of the church is situated.

What kind of upbringing and ambition did you have as a boy?

Thank you. While growing up as a young boy in the home of a Methodist evangelist, Paulson Kanu Uche, and his wife, Ebere Kanu Uche, I didn’t know what I would BECOME. But as early as that, I admired the white missionaries that always visited us. Back then, white men were the main ministers in Nigeria.

I knew Rev. Johnson, Rev. Joddy Kings and Rev. Magal. Those ministers always visited us whenever there was Holy Communion, confirmation or such important church activities – until the church came into the hands of Nigerians. Then we had people like Ogan at Okigwe before he became the District Chairman, Rev. J.O. David at Ndoki and others. What particularly inspired me was their gentle appearance, their dressing. We lived in the church premises where I had the opportunity of meeting them. I would mimic them when they left.

I would wear a choir robe and use a paper to form a collar round my neck. This was from when I was about eight years old until I became 12 and completed my primary education in 1966 at Isuochi where my father was then domiciled.

Then there was the issue of what would I do now that I had completed primary school?

My father, with the little money he was paid, thought it was necessary for me to go and learn a trade. He asked me to CHOOSE between being an electrician and a cabinetmaker.

My mother, on her part, discouraged me from learning any trade. It was while we were on this that my mother opened up to me one afternoon on the vow she had made to God before I was conceived. She said she had had two stillbirths – one in 1949 and the other in 1951. As was common with locals back then, they STARTED ridiculing her over her childlessness, while berating my father for marrying from my mother’s family.

So as someone who believed in God, having embraced Christianity at a very early age, she in desperation, would go to the Okigwe Township Church and be rolling herself on the altar like the Biblical Hannah. She said she pledged to God that should He grant her a son, she would ensure the boy served Him all the days of his life. This story stuck in my young mind from that day.

Do you remember the date of this incident?

My mother told me this at Nkwo-Agu, Isuochi, in January of 1966. That was when we returned from Christmas holiday at Ihube, Okigwe.

She thereafter told my father that I would not be going for any trade apprenticeship, but would rather write the common entrance examination in 1966 to go to secondary school. So I sat for the entrance examination that year. I took the federal government common entrance and my choice was Federal Government College, Afikpo; and another for the Methodist Boys’ Secondary School, Ihube. Eventually, I got the two admissions but then the war broke out so I couldn’t go to either of them.

Before the advent of the war, we were considering Government College, Afikpo – because it was more of scholarship; for back then, if you had a distinction in YOUR First School Leaving Certificate, the government would normally give you either full or partial scholarship. It was after the war that I finally enrolled in school and because of proximity, I went to the school that was close to my home. By then, the East Central State Government had taken over schools in that part of the country and as a result, the school changed from Methodist Boys’ Secondary School, Ihube to Boys’ High School, Ihube. So that was where I ultimately had my secondary school education and finished in 1974.

After secondary school, I became a ministerial cadet. A cadet is a young school certificate holder that opts to serve the church. I STARTED with a superintendent of Ihube Circuit – then headquarters of Okigwe Diocese – Rev. G. M. Onyeagwa, and was later posted to Enugu after one year to work under another superintendent, the Rev. Ukaekwe Eke Iheaka, from Item. The second posting after the first was necessary to enable the church authorities to have two reports to compare – to ensure the cadet was of good behaviour.

Fortunately by September 6, 1976, I gained admission into the Trinity Theological College, old Umuahia where I studied for a Diploma in Theology and another in Religious Studies. I graduated and was commissioned on July 29, 1979 and thereafter, posted to Aba to START up the English section because they only had the Igbo section. So I was sent to be the minister for the English section. Then in October of 1981, I got married and was transferred to Umu- Okpara, Umuahia where I spent four years.

On March 30, 1990, I was transferred to Kano because then, there was the need for the minister to manage a church that was made up of all the tribes in NIGERIA. This was because previous ministers on that particular posting had been habitually tribalistic and so did not last long there. The authorities back then needed someone that was not ethnocentric, and perhaps as a testimonial for my success, I was there for nine years. I was managing the Yoruba, Idoma, Igede, Igbo, Ghanaians, Togolese, Gambians and at one time, we had an English couple among the worshippers.

In fact, that place brought me to limelight, for it was from there I went to Jos for my degree programme in Theology/Religious Studies. I did my first degree, Postgraduate Diploma, and was already having my Masters Degree when I moved over to Enugu as the Archbishop. While in Enugu I was one of those selected for the conferment of Doctor of Theology Degree, so that was how I came by the D.Th. (Honoris Causa). In Enugu, I settled down to work. Infact I STARTED building the Archbishop’s House.

I completed the Methodist College while my wife completed the Women Development Centre. We were going at astronomical speed until the election which took me to Lagos as the Prelate of Methodist Church, Nigeria – indeed the first Igbo man to ever BECOME Prelate in Nigeria.

What traits, in YOUR opinion, earned you this rare position?

You know when you do things you may think that people don’t notice the way God is carrying you; they notice it. I was thrilled, intrigued to emerge the Prelate.

Sir, what actually qualifies one as a candidate for the position?

How does the process evolve? You must be a sound graduate from a recognised university. You must be either a Bishop or an Archbishop and must be seen to be sound in YOUR specialisation to be nominated for prelateship. If you don’t have a degree, you will not be considered because this is an office that is internationally recognised. Your grasp of world issues must be reasonably attested to because you are not just a prelate in NIGERIA but indeed, a global citizen. But for me, I must quickly say it is not by merit but rather, by God’s grace because we were 10 candidates from all over NIGERIA. The immediate past prelate in his own characteristic way of doing things, said that the NEXT Prelate of Methodist Church, Nigeria should be a product of prayer.

And because he never had an ordained candidate for the position, the open-secret ballot process was adopted.

By the ordinances of the church, is there usually a collegiate that votes in an election like this?

Yes, we have what we call the ‘Electoral College’. In this particular Electoral College, we had about 150 MEMBERS.

So there was this transparent bucket; as you received a ballot paper, you filled a name you liked. Now the first ballot eliminated six candidates from among us because those ones didn’t get more than one vote each, while some others got nothing altogether. Then the second ballot was to further weed out the candidates – until the best candidate with the highest votes emerged. For you to be a prelate, you must have 2/3rd majority of the votes cast. Such a thorough process took us about five hours! So it was during the final voting process that by God’s grace, I emerged the current Prelate of Methodist Church, Nigeria. And for me as a person, it was like a dream!

But what I like about the Methodist Church is that after my investiture – because you are not consecrated twice; you are consecrated a bishop once, a prelate is a bishop but the number one bishop. While the Archbishop is a bishop in charge of a number of dioceses, the Prelate is in charge of the dioceses, the entire Methodist faithful in Nigeria. Then, another thing I like is the sincerity, love, brotherhood, synergy and utter cooperation I have received from my Bishops and Archbishops since my election. It is thrilling and commendable to work in an atmosphere completely devoid of conflict – a testimonial to ours being such an organised church void of acrimony, animosity, hatred or malice.

We are all moving together in untold love.

What is the duration of a Prelate’s tenure?

Well if you are a prelate, you are expected to serve normally for 10 years. You will first serve for five years and if your service is adjudged satisfactory, you will then be allowed to do the rest years. For instance, Mbang served for 22 years before the constitution was amended because he was the first prelate. Makinde served for seven years instead of 10 because he was 70 years by that date. The rule is that after your 70th birthday while serving as prelate, you must retire compulsorily. In considering a particular prelate’s duration in office, the church determines that.

That’s why one needs serious prayers to be in good health, be a man after God’s heart and to render service to God and humanity. When one does those, whatever BECOMES of one thereafter, is entirely in the hands of God. Before you ultimately became the Prelate – while still a candidate – you must have had a manifesto for the office.

What was it? Well, I’m afraid I wouldn’t readily give you any because what now appears to be my focus was not authored by me. It was handed to me by God Himself. In all honesty, I didn’t see myself as ever becoming one of the candidates, not to ever dream of emerging the WINNER! Remember I told you something about Makinde: how God inhabited him through the proceedings, and this was manifest in his ever maintaining, “I don’t have a candidate; so all the people that are qualified should be given a level playing field so that at the end, it would be God’s choice and not mine.”

I was indeed surprised to see my name among the 10 candidates and because of my unpreparedness ab initio, I didn’t have an agenda or as you called it, manifesto, before my election as Prelate. However, upon recovering from the shock of being declared WINNER, my wife and I went into serious prayers. We tasked ourselves to 21 days of fasting and praying to seek God’s guidance – because we saw the task as enormous and onerous.

On the night of the 11th day, I heard a voice around 3am. I immediately had the thought that something was going to happen, so I sat up on the bed, called my wife and asked, “Did you hear somebody call my name? Someone has been calling my name, ‘Samuel Chukwuemeka.” She replied, “No. I did not hear anything. Maybe it’s a dream.” But what surprised me was that by 4.30am, I went back to bed after going to the toilet and as soon as I lay down, I heard the voice call my name again.

This time, I sat up as I specifically heard the voice command me to “pick a pen and write down the things you are going to do for me.” So I picked up a pen and STARTED writing down the points I heard: 1. ‘Grow the Church spiritually’ 2. ‘Grow the Church financially’ 3. ‘Grow the Church by infrastructure’. At this stage, I knew it must be God talking, as He went on to say, “I have chosen you as a covenant Prelate. If you violate my spiritual standard, I will disgrace you out of office or you may even die untimely.”

He added, “Do not nurse any malice against or grudge with anybody; even if they threaten you, don’t retaliate. Leave the battle for me; you saw the way I elected you. It was not man-made, I did it myself. You are my project.” I woke my wife and we knelt down and prayed; for that was a serious matter. So I have been very careful in the way I conduct myself since then. Before the election, while in our hotel room at Ikeja, my wife narrated to me a dream she had while resting that afternoon. In it, she saw a baby coming down from the sky at a dizzying speed and dropped in her arms.

Later, just as I surprisingly saw my name among the nominees, I recalled my wife’s dream and thought to myself that maybe God was giving the Methodist Church to us to nurse as a baby. I simply felt this in my mind without telling my wife. You know when you are nursing a baby you must be patient, caring, loving, tolerant and generally develop and exhibit deep affection for the delicate infant. It was after the election that I finally told my wife that the Lord has given us the Methodist Church to nurse as a baby.

For a baby to grow, the care must be holistic. So we now have no business in the church other than evangelism. I told her, “For me, I will do my best and for you, the youths – especially the girl-children, are in YOUR hands. You must involve them in the church in Godliness and absolute purity. The Methodist Church is not a church of man; it’s a church of God so you must do your best.” How you nurse a church is through the word of God, you must not compromise. Whatever the Biblical standard that has been set for you is what you must uphold and then of course there is a constitution guiding our church.

You must follow the laws rigidly as provided in our constitution. We must enthrone the Rule of Law and must encourage our MEMBERS to be obedient to the laws of the land and the laws of God. When we do these, the church will grow definitely and we will receive grace to do more for God. You see, people struggle to work for God these days. No you don’t struggle to work for God; instead you ask for the enabling grace and sustenance to implement His instructions.

For those 170 years, the leadership of the church never went to the South-East.

Did this create some crisis?

I wouldn’t say so. But the crisis we had in the Methodist Church which lasted for 14 and half years may be traceable to YOUR question. Not that someone was trying to be the head of the church as it were, but somebody was denied a position he should have occupied In the East and that resulted to the crisis. You know as I’m moving now, there might be some people that are my ardent followers.

There is what we call Zikist Movement: its members saw Nnamdi Azikiwe as their god. Whenever you see somebody occupying a top position, such a person is never alone, there are always loyalists around him. Like President Jonathan now, he has his own followers, each leader has his own, name them – Tinubu, Babangida, Amaechi, loyalists abound for each. So the crisis of that time was between the loyalists of the Igbo man and the loyalists of the Yoruba man. They were in conflict, and that degenerated to the 14 and half years crisis from January 1976 to May 1990 when we finally held a reunion here in Yaba to broker a truce. During that period, nobody had the ambition to BECOME anything because the Methodist Church is a family. It simply happens that by God’s mysterious way of doing things, He makes the people to say, ‘Yes, this is our candidate’ – regardless of where he hails from.

In filling a vacant position in the church, any candidate can emerge from anywhere. If you zone it, it would be dangerous and it would no longer be the church of God. I think God has directed the church in taking the right step. I believe the people are happy with the new development and they are extremely cooperating.

I receive maximum cooperation from every part of the church. For instance, at the conference we held recently in Port Harcourt, we were there as a family, and always meet as a family. At every forum, call it Women’s, Men’s, Youth’s meetings; we meet as God’s family under the Methodist Church, Nigeria, and that is what we are.

Sir, how would you assess the PRESENT church of God in general?

Has it lost its vision of positively influencing the secular world? Yes and no. In every church there is a Judas. Some churches or fellowship groups are living up to the Biblical standard; but others are an utter disgrace.

Look at reports of prominent church leaders now randomly divorcing their spouses as if they are merely changing wardrobes! And some others are involved in syncretism – the act of worshipping God and mammon in combination. Still, some church leaders are shamefully materialistic they are no longer satisfied with what God provides for them – as they thoughtlessly veer into unprintable businesses, all in the name of MAKING MONEY. See, anybody who calls the name of the Lord must depart from iniquity because the Bible says in 2nd Timothy 2: 18 & 19 that everybody that calls God’s name should depart from iniquity. Christians should rely on God and depend on what He would provide. I believe that salary or no salary from the church, when you do the work of God, God speaks to somebody elsewhere you don’t know to bless YOUR church or ministry.

That’s how we should move and that’s how I have been moving in my works for the Lord. I feel shy to beg for personal things but I will not be ashamed to ask you to support my assignment for God. But for me to say I need garri, pepper or a car and go about begging or arm-twisting MEMBERS to have them, God forbid! I will never do a thing like that, and a church leader shouldn’t do that. That would mean underrating the God we are serving. I believe the God I’m serving knows my need, for He says “Seek ye first the Kingdom and all other things shall be added unto you.”

A minister should have and inspire integrity. A minister of God should conduct himself with decorum; he should have strong faith and should know that the God that brought divine breadcake to Elijah is always alive and if you are serving him sincerely with an open mind, He would always provide for you. God is not man that disappoints – saying something but doing the very opposite. He is immutable, immanent, transcendent and knows what is in our hearts. He knows the yearnings and aspirations of His people, and as He provides for the animals in the forests, so He daily provides for us without fail.

Where do we START from in rebuilding NIGERIA morally?

Thank you. I think all hope is not lost. Nigeria still has hope of rebranding, if we must all be patriotic.

Let me tell you, I don’t see any political party as capable of solving the problem of Nigeria, whether PDP, APC or the others. What would solve the problem of Nigeria is the radical reengineering of our mindset as a people. As a people, we all (STARTING from the family level) must will ourselves to daily live for God and for our fellow men, and this can easily be achieved by asking for God’s help.

When we have the fear of God and respect for the Rule of Law, then we will begin to see politics like a game of football in which there must be, normally, WINNERS and losers – with life continuing without schism and rancour. You won’t be my enemy because you are not in PDP with me; and I’m not supposed to be your enemy because am supporting a different candidate from yours, all those are just ways of democratically getting into office to render quality service to humanity.

Unfortunately though, people don’t see it as coming to serve; instead they see it as a means of attaining wealth and stardom. When we know that politics is about service then our thinking will change, we wouldn’t rig to WINelection. Look, you can win as a PDP or an APC person and then distribute your office to other parties. We must begin to play inclusive instead of exclusive politics. If we do just that, Nigeria would reinvent and reposition.

The primary responsibility for the politicians is to provide those things that make life sweet for the people. I went to the UK and from there to Florida recently. In those places, I saw examples of an organised society. No outage, the roads are good, infact you don’t need a personal car to travel around.

I think the government of Jonathan is working hard to achieve same here. I blame our leaders and other public officers for one thing: most of them travel out, but when they come back to NIGERIA they don’t replicate those foreign virtues in their local communities. They rather prefer to BUY houses outside, send their children to school overseas, while the people that voted them into offices are left to suffer. That is unfair.

What will rebrand Nigeria is for us to change our mindset and embrace the fear of God. Nobody should deny the existence of God – whether you call Him Allah, Chineke or Oluwa in YOUR language, He is God and He is supreme and deserving of our complete reverence and devotion – whether at the workplace, at home, at school, in secret and in public. We must fear God and love His people; even though He is a Spirit that we cannot see, yet He is the creator and owner of the universe. We must also create what we call the Brotherhood of Humanity: as God has not given us the permission to shed blood or destroy people’s lives and property.

We should obey the Golden Rule which says to love YOUR neighbour as yourself. When we establish these in our individual lives and homes, Nigeria will rebrand and recover and completely heal.

The National Conference has just ended with the report submitted to the President to be passed to National Assembly for assent. What’s YOUR take on that?

What I know is that there are aspects of the report that don’t need to go to the National Assembly. Issues like creation of states, devolution of power and revenue formula should go to the National Assembly, but the rest parts do not necessarily have to go to NASS. The Executive can implement parts like job creation, conduction of credible election, interfaith harmony, et-cetera.

On the issue of religion really, it is a matter of maturity. When I was serving in the North for instance, whether by accident or by design I can’t actually say, but all my four gardeners were Muslims, and lived in the same compound with me in the city of Kano. In fact, during the religious crisis in that city in 1991, we hid and fed four of them THREE times a day until the whole thing blew over. We saw them as our fellow human beings created by God; we protected them despite not being Christians. In fact, during their Sallah celebrations, we provided them with money and other necessities so they could enjoy with their families. There must be freedom of association and tolerance for those who do not belong to our so-called group.

At no time and by no means must we force people into our beliefs and associations, against their will and volition. This is why I got quite close to the former Emir of Kano. Yes, he was such a personal friend of mine that whenever we had harvest and other events in the church, he always sent his chiefs to honour my invitations. We related so well. So I don’t know why people, especially current politicians, should wield religion as an instrument to divide Nigeria. Instead, religion should be used as a means of integration and cohesion – that is if one truly knows and loves the God one is serving.

See, once you are a man of character, daily eschewing evil in your relationship, actions and utterances, people will be drawn to you. They would emulate your belief without your coercing them. No person should be forced or killed for not following a particular religion. People are animalistic in behaviour.

I don’t think they are in the right frame of mind; if they were, they won’t be killing their fellows in the name of religion, just to achieve political power. On the issue of the abducted Chibok girls, for instance, I have maintained that they want to use the abducted girls for politics in 2015; it’s all about power mongering! And with all seriousness, I curse whoever it is that participates or has ever participated in the sponsorship of Boko Haram. Such a person with his entire family would be eliminated from the face of the Earth, unless the person repents.

But if he does not repent, he cannot escape this curse because he/she cannot kill other people’s children, rape people’s wives, vandalise their property and go free. No! There is law of karma, they would always reap what they sow. They cannot keep their families overseas and turn around and destroy other people in NIGERIA.

They must reap their evil deeds; as they sow whirlwind, they must reap whirlwind. Any religion that tells you that if you kill a fellow human being, you go to heaven as a result, that religion is a false religion and completely evil! God says not to kill for any reason. Since no man is justified by God in taking other people’s lives, what type of religion allows one to kill and vandalise? Such is a satanic religion! So the aspect of interfaith harmony in the Conference Report must not wait for the usual rigours associated with parliamentary processes.

The Presidency should extract matters like that from the bunch and as a matter of urgency, fix them.

How can the Nigerian economy go back to what it used to be?

During our time, while growing up, there was dignity of labour. There was a robust agricultural system in place. Young people then were contented with working on the farms because the reward was high and consistent.

Now you don’t see a young man going to a village to cultivate the soil for the purposes of farming; everybody now wants to go to Abuja, Lagos and anywhere they can GET EASY MONEY from soft or no efforts. Most of our sons have BECOME thugs in the hands of politicians who used them for dubious ends. Our young people must ask themselves this: if political thuggery were good, how come politicians don’t use their children and dear ones? Political thugs metamorphosed into kidnappers and armed robbers, et cetera – because in order for a thug to do the job, he must be high on dangerous drugs.

Now Boko Haram, also a product of political thuggery, is consuming our society and they are regretting it because while they were initially raised to intimidate their political opponents and to help them get into power, the thugs have rebranded into an unmanageable terror to exterminate everyone. My father once told about a policeman who took care of a dog that belonged to a white man who served in Okigwe in the early 50s, and the dog was not fed when the Englishman travelled to the UK.

The policeman abandoned the dog and went to his own village; by the time he returned the dog had become ferocious and belligerent, out of starvation. And as the policeman finally went to feed the dog, the beast seized and tore him into pieces and drank his blood for thirst. Boko Haram was the making of people who used them to destroy other people in order to achieve power through negative means but now it has boomeranged.

And I want to tell you that I don’t like the way some people are now castigating Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika. When he fought Boko Haram ferociously and gallantly – recording palpable victory within a short period – with the country heaving a sigh of relief. Instead of people encouraging him with cheers, they said he was retaliating what was done to the Igbo in the civil war! The same people, not merely satisfied with his removal, have contradicted themselves by alleging that he is sponsoring Boko Haram – the same terrorists he openly waged war against! Whoever plotted that allegation is very wicked.

The Ihejirika I know cannot sponsor Boko Haram, so they should leave him alone. If he were sponsoring the group, why did he order the killing of its leader? Gen. Ihejirika is rumoured to be interested in the governorship of Abia State. Do you think the transition from military to politics is good for him, especially this soon? Why not? He is sufficiently educated and has handled several sensitive assignments in the service of his country. As a responsible community MEMBER, I am sure he has contributed to the development of his community plus that of NIGERIAin general.

Politics is all about transforming people and places with sustainable creativity, and that requires rounded exposure. Ihejirika is young and with fresh ideas just from his high military leadership, no time is better than now – that is if he truly wants to run for the office. As for moving from the military to politics, if you had read history, you would discover that some MEMBERS of the Bush family were in the army before.

Even in Britain, soldiers easily metamorphosed into kings and dukes. I believe that if you retire from the army you are a citizen of NIGERIA and you can vie for any post whatsoeve.r As a bishop now, if I decide to retire and go into politics in righteousness, nobody should stop me. And if I don’t want to go for an elective position, I can be in the background as an adviser. We are all political animals, and I am personally interested in what happens to Nigeria.

Anybody telling you he doesn’t play politics is fooling himself; we all play politics every day. Politics is about the rule of law, good governance, and so is not a dangerous or dirty venture. So if Ihejirika wants to go into politics, I would endorse him 100 per cent. Let him go – even if he’s not experienced, he would learn on the seat.

Despite the ‘dirt’ in politics, do you encourage Christians to be involved?

Yes, and do you know that God was a politician? I really do hope you are not disappointed I say He was. During the time of Israel, when He was appointing people like Samuel, was He not a politician? In fact, politics is a product of theology; politics emerged out of religion, so religion is the father of politics.

But I am talking about politics in righteousness, governance in righteousness. God Himself is the originator of politics, and the whole world knows He is righteous and holy. If we play politics in a Godly way, there would be peace in the nation. The Bible says, “Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to the people.”

The reason we are suffering in Nigeria today is because politics has been left in the hands of evil-minded persons. The equation has to change; righteous, Godly, in fact, men filled with and controlled by the spirit of God should and must START seeking political offices – from ward councillorship to the presidency.

Christians, by their continual shunning of politics, are disobeying their Lord and Master who commanded them to ‘Occupy till I come’. Anybody who associates politics with ‘dirtiness’ and for that not taking charge of his society through political instrumentality, is ridiculing God. And the result of doing so is very dangerous, as we have seen in contemporary Nigeria.