Bishop Hyacinth Egbebo, Catholic Bishop of Bomadi, has expressed regrets that Nigeria has been grossly unfair to the Niger Delta and its people.

In an interview with FEMI FOLARANMI, Bishop Egbebo, whose jurisdiction covers Warri South, Burutu, Bomadi and Patani Local Government Areas of Delta State, the whole of Bayelsa State and parts of River State, also described President Muhammadu Buhari as a disappointment, warning that if Nigerians make the wrong turn by bringing back those that have foisted pains on the country, then it could be the end of Nigeria as a country. He also described the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as insensitive, even as he insisted that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, was his preferred choice.

As the only Catholic Bishop of Ijaw extraction, you have been very vocal over the plight of the Ijaws and the Niger Delta people. What is driving this passion?

Yes, as far as the Catholic World is concerned, I am the only Catholic Ijaw Bishop and by my own training I have been exposed to a lot of things. I worked as Superior- General of Missionary Society of St Paul of Nigeria and that exposed me to work in so many places. I have been to so many parts of this world. With all my exposure, I have studied and have had social interactions. I have seen a lot of good things.  So when I became a Bishop here, I knew how downtrodden our people have been and still are. I saw that the reality of what is happening here is not commensurate with what is possible for our people, given the kind of resources we have given to Nigeria. I interpret that along God’s intention that God really intended something better than what we have here.  If you read John 10: 10, which is my motto, Jesus said “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.” This is what drives my spirit because God intends better than what we are getting. Of course, seeing the deposits of crude oil that is gotten from the back of my house is enriching the entire country and we don’t seem to have much recourse to enjoy it.  So that is my driving force. I am only drawing attention to the fact that this is injustice at its peak. Nigeria has leaned on us for too long and we can no longer breathe as it were. 

What do you think is responsible for the underdevelopment of the Ijaw Nation and the Niger Delta region?

I blame it on the Nigerian or African factor. Africans do not believe in investing in infrastructure. They believe investment in infrastructure is a European thing. This is why they take the wealth and just go and enjoy it. The Nigerian thief or African thief are worshipped and served. He gathers everything for himself. He doesn’t seem to be generous. If he is generous; it is just to give the crumbs to his subjects.  That has been our pattern. This is the problem with Africa. In Europe, leadership is for service, it is to enrich other people. But here, those in positions of leadership take everything.

As regards this area, people would tend to think it is difficult to develop here. To some small extent, this is true, I have been building here and I know it takes so much to build a house here; I have to put some rocks on the ground to ensure the foundation is not affected. You have to import many things, granite etc. These are not nearby. Unless you have the wherewithal, you would really not want to invest here. That is why we have to thank God that he has given us this wealth. God knows this place is difficult to develop and he has given us the wealth. However this place is not more difficult to develop than other parts of the world that has been developed. If you have been to Texas, it is a marshy place that has been transformed. A priest of the Missionary of St Paul lives in Houston and so I have been there several times. That place is wetland, yet it has been transformed.  Dubai is what it is yet, they transformed it. The fact that it is really difficult to develop is not really the point. Our people don’t just invest in infrastructure.

When European culture met with us, we felt so overtaken. We felt they were superior to us and gave up everything that we had, instead of developing along our own lines. Today we are living in the shadow, which is so unfortunate. Africa should contribute to life.

This is why what Peter Obi says resonates so much with the dream we should pursue. Nigeria should be a productive place, not only consuming. We can produce.  People seem not to dream dreams; even the dreamers don’t get support.  Look at Tinapa, it would have been something beautiful but it didn’t get the support of the Federal Government and those with the money to invest.  Of course if we dream real, this Niger Delta coastline would have been a beautiful beehive of activities of ships coming in and out, and not concentrating it in Lagos only.  Agge, Ekeremor Local Government Area is where our crude oil is being shipped out. So why would they be taking only crude oil out? This coastline is a beautiful gift. Do you know the kind of sand we have? Even the waters and the wind is what we can use for our own electricity. These are things unexplored under the pretext of “too difficult to develop.”  I thought Jonathan would have taken advantage of his position to put roads into all these places and put a seaport. Lagos is prosperous because of the seaport. Lagos is not the only place that should have that opportunity of so many ships berthing.  I see that we (Niger Delta) are so short-changed. There are several minerals across the country but it is only the oil that is being taken. We have Gold in Zamfara, but it is being taken for those that own it.  We don’t hear of gold being explored for the rest of the country. Every hand is on the oil. When you see the new management team of NNPC (Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation), you just weep, they are all northerners.  Oil blocs are owned by northerners.  This is something behind the back of my house yet I can’t have electricity, roads and good schools. Our schools are empty and we are expected to compete with students from other places for spaces for admissions in the universities. This is not right. This is what is fuelling my anger which I put in words.

But people have also blamed political leaders from Niger Delta for the underdevelopment of the area. Do you agree with this view?

To a large extent, yes. But underlining that is that these our political leaders have been put there by the North. Just take a case study of Niger Delta Development Company (NDDC), the management team cannot be appointed without the endorsement of Aso Rock.  They put you there, the contract is meant to go their own way. The NDDC was meant to improve our life here but they are doing nothing.  The same thing goes for the Niger Delta Ministry.  So our political leaders are not autonomous, they are stooges.  They are placed there by their godfathers from Abuja. So how do you do things independently? They can’t.  For instance the oil ministers have been coming from here, but who appoints them and tells them what to do? They have to please their godfathers and yet we are still supposed to blame them for not doing enough.  They are a big sell out. They appoint people that are their friends. These people so appointed did not grow up here. They grow up in the cities. They don’t relate to life here in any form. This for me is the reason why they are not empathetic

Looking at Nigeria, how would you describe the state of the nation?

If Nigeria appears before God, God will be so offended. Nigeria is a beautiful tapestry of God’s gift to humanity. Nigeria is so gifted. We are a mosaic of gift; except that there is no leadership. We have suffered this leadership deficit for a long time.

Probably the first time we have good leadership is when Murtala Muhammed came on board. He meant well seemingly, but was short-lived. He was so selfless. A leader should be selfless and be committed. The rest have been involved in squabbles. The leadership in Nigeria should be visionary enough to sit down and look at the resources we have and exploit these resources to our own advantage. We have not been able to do so. We have the numbers. Look at China, human capital is a great resource. Nigerians are leaving this country for other countries.  Our doctors are leaving. Look at those going to Europe through the Sahara Desert, when they rescue them, they find out that most of them  are more educated and trained than their own people at home. The brain drain is because there is no leader here to harness these gifts.

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The only kind of hope that we can now is what Peter Obi is saying. He seems to be selfless enough; he seems to have a vision and would be listening to people. Leaders who don’t listen to people are arrogant and don’t care how they take all the money home and there is no machinery to really restrain them. This is why Nigeria is poor the way it is.

On top of all these is the agenda to foist one tribe on all of us. It is like the Fulani believe they are the people we should all worship. Insecurity has come as a result of this. I am surprised that not too many people in Nigeria are thinking about this. People have really emboldened the Fulani people. If we put them back to power, I don’t know where Nigeria would be. It could be the end of Nigeria. If Nigerians make the wrong turn, it would probably be the last we see of Nigeria and I don’t wish that to happen. It is bad enough. You can see the price of things. You can see the situation on our road. You cannot travel from point A to point B without your heart being in your mouth. That is what it is now because of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. This is traceable to one source and the leadership is supportive of all these.

What is your charge to Nigerians as we prepare for the 2023 elections? 

I will tell them the answer is in the winds and it is so clear. Listen to those who are campaigning. They should not only listen but also check their antecedents and ask if they have really impacted on leadership. Leadership is the biggest problem we have. If you put these people back, who have been causing these problems, then we are looking for more trouble.  It means we are saying whatever they are saying is okay. Nigerians should vote for those who are going to deliver, which Nigerians should know very clearly.  In Nigerians’ hearts of hearts, they know. If you don’t know, then you are not a Nigerian. These people that have foisted this difficulty on us should not be allowed back to power.

What is your view about the Muslim- Muslim Ticket?

The Muslim-Muslim ticket wouldn’t have been a problem but for the conditions we have now. Everybody applauded Idiagbon- Buhari at a time. Nobody even looked at whether they were both Muslims because they meant well. But now those factors are not like that anymore. If you are not a Muslim, you cannot be appointed into anything now. Nigerians have been short-changed. There is no way for the Muslim- Muslim ticket. It is insensitive. It shows they don’t care about the rest of us. And they think that Muslim is the way. What business do we even have to put Arabic on our currency? Nigeria cannot be turned into a Muslim country. The Christian population is overwhelming.  For you to have the President and his Vice, both being Muslims is an aberration. Nigerians should never take it.

Do you have faith in INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) conducting a free, fair and credible election?

Listening to INEC, it seems they meant to deliver on free and fair elections. But the fact is that lots of politicians are scheming around their good intentions. We saw how so many names were put in the voters register and that registration we were told nobody would be able to tamper with. It means those people were given leverage.  You never know between now and elections what they might work out to gain advantage. So everybody is afraid of what to expect. It is good also that they say we would have a hardcopy of the result and also transmit them. Either way, if we collate all these we would get the right results.  What I am afraid of is whether people know the dangers of voting wrongly.  That is where I am more afraid. If everybody is determined to flush these people making us suffer by developing the right attitude, then the voters would be the king.  For instance in my place here, people have no television to watch or radio to listen to, so it is what people tell them that they hear. Except now with the phones, things could be different, but how many people have that kind of phone. So if you don’t give us electricity, what others know watching television, we don’t know. So people need to be informed about what is happening in Nigeria. It is the people that can bring the change and the change is so necessary.

President Buhari said he is determined to ensure a credible election. Do you believe him?

President Buhari has been saying a lot of things. He is determined about many things and yet he has not fulfilled those promises. He told us that it is going to be N1 to $1, we don’t have it. He said our roads would be tarred, we have not seen it. All what he has promised, we have not seen any of them. If he says he is determined to do that, I hope so. President Buhari for me is a big disappointment. When he came, he appeared so forthright and we thought he would deliver on his promises like before. Probably Idiagbon was the spirit behind his government back then. He has allowed all the sectors in Nigeria to be so corrupt and doing things according to how they want to do it.  We hear of many parastatals not able to submit all money spent.  He gives an order and it is not carried out. Then he goes flat. Is that the Buhari you would have envisaged today? It is just so different. This Buhari is so different from the Buhari we all thought. He said if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us. Now corruption is killing us. Everywhere is so corrupt.   He said they have done a forensic audit of the NDDC. Where is the report? And they spent so much money on the audit.  He was to revamp the refineries. Subsidy, according to him was a farce. Subsidy has not been taken away and we are paying so much for fuel and it is getting worse. I wonder who is sitting there.  We are saddled with mediocrity. Nigeria is a pity and of course Buhari is a big disappointment to everybody. He is not the same Buhari of those days.  I was not so enthusiastic about him. I did not know he was going to come on board. We were quarrelling with Jonathan because he was not doing enough. People said now we have gone from frying pan to fire. Well if Jonathan was doing well, nobody would want to jump into fire. Jonathan should have done a lot of things for us here. When I spoke to Jonathan, he said he could not do this and that. Now Buhari is doing everything for his people. The oil pipes are being laid to his place. Look at Dangote building the largest refinery in Lagos. Why not where the oil would be drawn from? Look at the looting of Nigeria’s oil. They thought it was all these boys doing bunkering. Now it is the politicians stealing the oil.  So many people have died, but it doesn’t bother Buhari . He doesn’t even go there to say sorry. Is that a leader? It’s like Nigeria is dead. Something just died in the country. There is no leader.

If you are to pick among the Presidential candidates, who will you tell Nigerians to vote for?

I cannot pretend at this point because we are in a sinking ship.  Obi is shoulders, head, and neck above every other person. He is the only hope we have. If we don’t take this opportunity and if we make a wrong choice apart from Peter Obi, well I don’t know where Nigeria would be. I see Peter Obi like a lamb among so many wolves. That guy’s antecedents are clear. You would never get any governor who would get out without borrowing.  He paid all the pensions.  There was a time when girls from a Catholic school, Regina Pacies Secondary School, Onitsha in Anambra went to the USA and won gold in a science competition. This was because Obi impacted so much on the education sector. They came top where you have China, USA, and France.

He doesn’t need our money. He is rich.  He is a trader and says he wants to help Nigeria to prosper. So why should we not take it?  His submissions make sense to me. The rest are like wolves telling us that we should not be afraid.  Why won’t I be afraid when I know that by their antecedents they have been stealing all their lives? Obi may not be a saint but in the political sphere, he is different. I plead with Nigerians to let us try the option of Peter Obi and I think we would make a headway.  We need to be productive. Nigerians are very creative to turn this country around. We won’t be going cap in hand to be begging; rather it is people that would be begging us. This is where Peter Obi said he wants to lead us to.