Poverty in Nigeria worse under Buhari - Bishop Ikeakor

Tuesday February 23, 2016

 

·  Says anti-corruption war not enough

 

Less than 24 hours after the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, scored President Muhammadu Buhari low on the economy, the Bishop of the An­glican Diocese of Amichi, Rt Rev. Ephraim Ikeakor, has also taken the President to the cleaners.

 

In an interview with The AU­THORITY, Bishop Ikeakor de­clared that the poverty level in Ni­geria had not improved under the watch of President Buhari.

Bishop Ikeakor, who spoke to our correspondent at the Bishop’s Court, Amichi, Nnewi South Lo­cal Government Area of Anam­bra State, appealed to the Presi­dent to sit up with his team and fix the economy before it collapses.

 

He said that even though the fight against corruption was wel­comed and commendable, when wrongly prosecuted “it may boo­merang hence the need to fix the economy, compile the names of the looters and come hard on them rather than playing to the gallery.”

Bishop Ikeakor continued:

 

 “Then, coming to Dasukigate, all I can say is that we have problems in this country. For those who can advise our leaders, I want to paint a picture of what we are seeing in Nigeria.

 

“Nobody is commending cor­ruption; nobody is aiding or abet­ting corruption but like I said in the case of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and the Move­ment for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of (MASSOB), when you fight a battle with the wrong approach, you’re going to cause more disaster. Here you are shouting that you inherited a gov­ernment that is almost collapsing or is dead.

 

“Assuming it is a hospital and somebody in a coma is brought to you. As a doctor, would you aban­don the person in a coma to start looking for who caused the sick­ness? The first thing is to treat this person in coma before looking for the cause. What am I driving at? The fight against corruption is right but the timing may boomer­ang. The duty of the present gov­ernment now is to fix this country so that it can start working.

 

“Our education is collapsing; our economy is going down the drain; there seems to be confusion in everything. Poverty is growing exponentially and we are aban­doning these things and saying we want to arrest this person, ar­rest that person at this onset.

 

“You have four years, why should this first year be a year of arrests? That is my own view. Let the problems of Nigeria be treat­ed by its leadership first. Let them sit down and make a comprehen­sive list of who these people are,” he said.

 

On the face-off between for­mer Governor Peter Obi of An­ambra State and his successor, Governor Willie Obiano, Bishop Ikeakor said: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. They have a private matter. They should settle it with each other. Politicians have their way of handling themselves and if you throw yourself in there, you may become the scapegoat. When they will resolve it, you’ll not be there.

 

What you’ll see again is where they’re waving at you in the television. So they know what their problem is. They have not told us. Let them not, because of their personal gains and interests, destroy our dear state.

 

“Both of them are wonderful people. Nobody can deny that Pe­ter Obi did great work in Anam­bra State. Anybody undermining it is an enemy of progress. We can’t also take it away from Chief Wil­lie Obiano that he has picked up a lot of things Obi started and he is working on them. So, two of them are great men we have pro­duced but let them throw away their selfish desires and work to­gether for the good of the state.”

 

The Bishop said Governor Obiano needs to listen to the church if he must succeed.

“You must listen to the peo­ple who will tell you the truth, eyeball to eyeball. It is the church that will tell our gover­nor the bitter truth. These men and women running around him are only interested in what they can get from him,” Ikeakor stated.