MICHAEL AKINOLA 

President of the Omega Fire Ministries worldwide (OFM), Apostle (Prof.) Johnson Suleman on Sunday, 10 December put a smile on the faces of 14 Nigerians who recently escaped from slavery in Libya as he gave them a cash gift of N4 million.

Suleman, who runs ‘Touch Of Love’, an independent gift-giving scheme that seeks to provide material assistance to needy people across nations of the world including emergency funds and in-kind gifts, had called out and blessed the 14 Nigerians midway into the Sunday service.

Lamenting the sorry state of leadership in Nigeria which he believes regularly aids the exodus of promising Nigerians into less blessed countries, Suleman counseled the nation’s leadership at all levels to ensure that the nation’s systems work in order to convince the youths that they have a future in their country.

His words: “I heard some people saying that they didn’t know why Nigerians are running to Europe and America. See, if Nigeria is good, nobody will leave. The only problem Nigeria has is that our system is not working. If you go to Europe or America, it’s not as if there is no poverty there; there is poverty, the only benefit is that they are the systems that work. You are paying for light, it is working, you are paying for anything, it is working. In Nigeria, you pay for everything, nothing works! So, how do you expect people to stay where they feel they don’t have a future?”

The man fondly called ‘Oracle of God’ continued: “Check the list of ministers in our government, there is no young person. How then do they focus on the youths when they are all old? They are the same set that has always been in power. They are recycling power. Also, we have a system now that say they are fighting corruption, I say they are not fighting corruption; they are only recovering stolen money. Corruption is the perversion of due process. It is corruption, when you empower people from your own states at the detriment of other parts of the country. Recovering money is not fighting corruption.”

“In as much as I do not support this get-rich-quick syndrome, I will continue to say that we must make Nigeria work. I overheard that even in the deportation camp there is some cartel being run by Nigerians. Can you imagine that? Nigerians selling Nigerians into slavery! That tells you that we are the problem of ourselves. If you go to America, an American will tell you that I’m from America, if you go to London, a Londoner will tell you that I’m from London, if you go to India, an Indian will tell you that I’m from India, but if you go to Nigeria, a Nigerian will tell you I’m Ibo, I’m Yoruba, I’m Hausa! We are so tribal conscious. So, we are the problem of ourselves. How can Nigerians be slaughtered in Libya and a Nigerian is the head of the cartel! You are selling your brothers and sisters and you think you are going to enjoy that money? We love strangers we don’t love ourselves.”

“Think of businesses like Shoprite and others like it, if they were owned by Nigerians few Nigerians will patronize them. But because they are owned by foreigners, we all queue up to buy from them. If DSTV was owned by a Nigerian , Nigerians won’t subscribe to it. You will begin to hear something like, oh, he is not from my tribe; he is Ibo, I’m Yoruba. We hire White coach to coach Nigerian footballers and we make his conditions very favourable. When we hire a Nigerian coach, we don’t pay his salary for months, thereby killing his morale yet we cry that we lose matches.

While speaking to the deportees, Suleman urged them not to regret or cry that they ever ventured outside Nigeria for greener pastures but to put the experience behind them and rejoice that they are back home alive. The shame, he said, is on the government that cannot take care of its own.