INTERVIEW: PFN Will Play Crucial Role in Emergence of President in 2027 — Archbishop Isong
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
Arch Bishop Emmah Gospel _Isong is the President and Founder of Christian International Central Chapel, Ikot Enebong, Eight Miles Calabar. He is also a member of the World Christian Leaders Conference with headquarters in South Korea and Executive Director the Remedy for Victims of Religious Prosecution and Discrimination and an Advisor to the US Consulate on anti-corruption representing Christians. In this exclusive interview with JUDEX OKORO, Editor-in-chief of THE BEAGLE NEWS, Isong disclosed that the PFN will have a role to play in who emerges the President in 2027, maintaining that the association will no longer sit on the fence. He decried the high rate of religious persecution around the world and called on world leaders to protect the rights of religious worshipers no matter their denominations. The tele-evangelist also called on President Bola Tinubu to embark on policies and programmes that have a human face so the poor will not be suffocated.
Excerpts...
PFN has a new leadership. What agenda can you set for them to ensure there is unity and peace among members?
Yes, the reelection of Pastor Dr. Wale Oke as the national President of Pentecostal fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) sometimes in February 2025 was tough because of the trajectory. People are getting more enlightened even in Pentecostalism, people are more interested in leadership, and Nigeria is getting more proactive even in spiritual leadership that was just the trajectory that made it a little more competitive. He has been given his second term and people are jubilating. Oke has been a very friendly and prayerful person; a social mixer and he deserves a second term. Even the people that competed in him appreciated and congratulated him. I can tell you that the PFN will not sit down and watch 2027 they will be more proactive. And internally, the PFN has become 40 years this year as a fellowship so you expect landmark infrastructure like the new national headquarters in Abuja which they have done the ground breaking. Hopefully, construction should start and many other things I'm sure in not holding brief for him will surely come up in the next few years.
Recently the World Christian Leaders Conference cried out over persecution of Christians in Japan and there was a survey conducted about it. What motivated your involvement?
I belong to several organisations and in one of those platforms, the World Christian Leaders Conference with headquarters in South Korea and in our activities, noticed that religious freedom was stiffened and suffocated in Japan whether you are a Muslim or an idol worshipper, Buddhist, traditional worshipper or Christian. We noticed that you do not have the right to practice your religion no matter what in Japan. So a national survey was done in some quarters. In fact, I was consulted nine hours to the end of the survey because you need a minimum number of signatories to be able to appeal to the United Nations Charter to hold a nation responsible for religious freedom. So that is what I promoted for nine hours and we went through Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, and we were able to raise excess signatures for the United Nations Human Rights Commission to hold Japan responsible. So it's not just a Christian thing, we've spoken for the Muslims, Hindus even those who worship stick. If you don't have religious freedom you cannot even say you are a Christian. Sometimes when we are back home here we see things in the smaller picture and say Methodist and Qua Iboe are quarrelling but once you step out a little you notice that it's bigger than denominations; it's now bigger than faith. It is now human rights, it’s now a world platform.
A few weeks ago you were with the United States embassy and other religious leaders to see how to strengthen the relationship between Nigeria and the United States. Can you expatiate on that?
No, what happened was that the former Consul General, Mr. William, has been moved because of the new government in the United States. So, we have a situation where there is an acting consul general that has been appointed for Nigeria at the US consulate office so they use the period of Ramadan to call for a dinner which other religious leaders like me were invited to. And don’t forget, I am an Adviser to the US consulate on anti-corruption representing Christians and one Imam Abdul Kareem Schefu also speaking for Muslims. So, were there with other religious fathers like Pastor Paul Adefarasin and other Imams, the head of Fulani Seriki of Lagos, people like Mike Igini that has been a legendary name in Nigerian electoral affairs and others were at the dinner. So, we used the opportunity to introduce the acting Consul General to the interfaith community. We also used the occasion to discuss the Nigeria America relationship. You know America is the senior brother to Nigeria, they are interested in our anti-terrorism activities, trade chambers and our anti-corruption stance. America always believes that if Nigeria has a high perception index in anti-corruption, we will attract more investments into Nigeria because the reason for our dwindling economy is corruption. We are a wealthy and rich country but we are not able to cut our coat according to our sizes. Few individuals have accumulated wealth over the years that has caused poverty.
Nigeria has had an issue about religious freedom in the US Congress, are we sliding down in this respect?
In Nigeria we live in denial. I don't know why Nigerian politicians think that dry cleaning their image in public will give them higher public perception. Let me tell you every time any of these countries like America is asking what is happening in your country, they know more than the answer you are going to give them because they satellite, run the spies and have the CIA, informants and some of them have a way of getting the information without asking you. So, when, for instance they ask you that Christians are persecuted and prosecuted in your country you say no, nothing like that. Are you telling me that America is stupid or they have no technological brains? These guys are more sophisticated in information gathering more than what you are dishing out to the table.
Why then do we live in denial continually, which makes us hypocritical in our policies? The Bible says when you confess your sins, and forsake them, God is faithful and just to forgive your iniquity. What's wrong to say higher level of persecution and discrimination and possible terrorist attack have been on Christians especially in the north. Have we forgotten that Leah Shraibu is still in detention? Are we forgetting the Catholic priest that was recently beheaded? It's wrong to be hypocritical in responses especially to international communities because they know you more than you know your name. With technology everything is in the open. Funny enough, Tinubu’s government has been more serious than Buhari and Obasanjo and others who were former generals. The airfare recently killed 20 terrorists and released a number of hostages in the north. This is under the same Tinubu that gave us a Muslim-Muslim ticket. You voted Buhari because you thought that a former general was coming into power and our greatest problem was not security. So the government knows what to do and we should stop being hypocritical before the international community because they know Christians are under persecution.
What can you say about Tinubu and the national economy? How do you access his policies so far?
When you are analysing policies at the federal level, take a look at policy formulation, policy execution, and policy assimilation. Policy formulation is like a tailor cutting the dress to fit the size of the customer. The Policy execution is if you own a tailoring company, do you have enough materials to sew the cloth according to the design of that customer, that's the work of the ministers then Policy assimilation, does your policy plan go down to the local people, does it touch my life and will of affect my father and mother in the villages because it's just not enough having the big budgets and the long convoy of these ministers. That a policy is good in all intentions and purposes does not tantamount to its affecting lives positively to the rural communities. That's why I say sometimes we vote a good leader or a righteous leader, it's not enough he can be good and nice in intentions but the supervisory ability to make sure it trickles down to the communities is what we are still facing in Nigeria.
Still on the issue of Tinubu, the fuel subsidy and of course the tax reform how do you see this reform as a tax expert?
Tax reform is a very good law for a society because the government is not supposed to be funded by petroleum but by taxes. Taxation should be run in a way that you rob Peter and pay Paul. The rich are supposed to pay more so that the poor pay almost nothing. Like it's practiced in many environments, you reduce the burden of taxes on the poor so that small scale businesses can grow. You don't pluck your oranges when it has not ripped. You wait for it to be ripe. Tax reform law is supposed to be very good for our economy if it has evolved and comes from down up rather than up to down. When policies come from up to down, the capitalists will dictate the tone of taxation and that will enslave the poor. The cost of living can be reduced for the poor. Remember those days we used to have low-cost housing. So, when we talk about reducing the cost of livelihood for the poor, we are also talking about reducing local tension (like former governor Ayade will say), you take off the burden from the shoulder of smaller families. The poor are supposed to breathe so that the rich can sleep. If the poor cannot breathe well the rich cannot sleep because some of these policies of government will return to the streets.
Remember what Awolowo said that the child of the poor that you refuse to educate today will persecute the child of the rich which you have sent out to educate. The poor child will grow up to rob him, grow up to kill him, grow up to block the road for his car not to pass. Taxation is the greatest policy of any government, in as much as it will help government mob funds and sponsor infrastructure. We are supposed to have money from industrialization, taxation, exploration of oil, not everything coming from the rate of Naira to Dollar so it will be a good thing if it is well implemented the people in the chess table can shift the burden to the higher class. Tinubu is a master strategist in the area of taxation so he should be able to do that. Nigeria is a mixture of a capitalist and a socialist economy. In a capitalist economy you work as much as you can and exert control over me but in a socialist economy when if you work and have the power I do not allow your control of power on the poor to be excessive so that will not suffocate. So that is where we should be in Nigeria, we cannot completely wipe away taxation otherwise the government will die.
How will you rate the level of corruption in the country today?
Anti-corruption in Nigeria is thinking of governmental effort, which is the EGCC, ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau. That's the perception of a Nigerian when once you say anti-corruption. The fight is 99 percent shifted to governmental agencies whereas in normal cline, anti-corruption is imbibing a cultural behaviour in which the society naturally hates cheating, maltreatment, accumulation of wealth, stealing and of course abuse of public property. Let's assume the government has good intentions which you and I know. There is corruption everywhere in Nigeria. For instance, how about the woman that brings a wrong measurement to measure garri for you on the market? How about the lecturer in the University that adds mark and goes for women or girls to befriend?
How about a pastor who diverts church project money that was meant for a school and now buys for himself and his wife a Lambo. If we want to dissect the anti-corruption fight, we are going to go back to three areas of this fight. One is individuals, how they grow with certain values in families, family cultures. Then we go to the second level which is education, school are we still teaching moral studies, history, religious studies then the third level we will now have is the religious houses, how are they able to check it.
