Ogboru is a Divine Instrument, He should wait for God’s time – Emuobor

Rt. Rev. Dr. Diamond Emuobor

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Diamond Emuobor is the bishop of Trinity Gospel Mission International. In this heart seizing interview with Jon Egie, he speaks on issues relating to the political dynamics in Delta State, the controversy surrounding Osama Bin Landen’s death and the hope of Ogboru ever becoming a governor of Delta State. He sees Ogboru as a divine instrument that Delta and indeed Nigeria will use in future and advises him to wait for God’s time.

Our Lord Bishop, can you give us a spiritual interpretation to Ogboru’s perpetual failure in politics?
Has Ogboru failed in politics? He has not failed. I don’t see him to be a failure. Everything bothers on time. I think his calculations and the timing for him to come in is what I will rather suggest, he would have waited for the appropriate time. That people are clapping for you, this is the time, this is the time, is not God’s time. The Bible says to every thing there is time. And after you have reasoned out your time it is also there for you to join the appropriate group, which could help your desire to sail through. If you don’t have that arrangement inside of you, you have not taken counsel with appropriate persons, not all who are clapping for you go on, go on are the appropriate persons. You seek counsel from spiritual men, not those who just come together to fast and pray. Some of them are just spiritual jobbers who want to claim people to failure and all those who have prophesied the lies of their hearts to mean what God is saying; God does not make a lie. God cannot lie. Ogboru is an instrument that God wants to use, but the time, has not come.
The voice of the people is the voice of God and a greater population of the people of Delta have been clamouring for Ogboru, are you saying hat the people have prayed wrongly sir?
Clamouring for Ogboru, if they have clamoured for Ogboru the clamour has not metamorphosed to the ideals of their clamour. So if you say that they clamoured for him, why has it not metamorphosed? It is like pushing somebody to go and do what he is not fit to do now. There are always antecedents. You most be resilient on your antecedents. What are they clamouring for where there are no antecedents. They must calculate the wisdom of God and the wisdom of leadership, the history of leadership before they clamour. That is my supposition.
As a member of CAN what challenges face the CAN in Delta State for the next four years that Uduaghan is going to rule?
CAN has no challenge, all we are doing in CAN we are asking God to do the miraculous and to do what should be done to make his people find freedom from the shackles of the devil which he has used these years past. In the likes of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, to my own judgment, I have been praying since 1977 while I was far away in the village of Iguobazuwa that God should give Delta State, I was praying for Nigeria that time for God to give us a president who will stand up in the church and declare that Jesus Christ is Lord. Who will dance before God like – David did, who will put his knees on the ground and ask God for his favour to lead the people. You will agree with me that around this country I cannot find somebody like Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan as an individual who can hold two handkerchiefs and dance, a governor, who dances in the church, who sings and bends down to clap. All the other governors they are bigger than God, they are bigger than the state, they will never bend down, they come to the church to do their thanksgiving but you never see them sing and dance, they dance mechanically and dance business wisely and all the rest of that. But this young man, the day he was given the to flag in Port Harcourt by Obansanjo that he was going to fly the flag of the governorship, he came with the flag to the church. Find out throughout the whole country if any one governor carried a flag to the church to say, I dedicate this flag to You God, you are the one to lead me and not myself. Go and find out. All the rest the using the name of the church, using the name of Christianity. But this young man has a peculiar character, he brought the flag to the church, I saw it on television and dedicated this flag and said, God you are the one leading not me. And at every point in him whether good or bad for him, he goes to the church to say God, I thank you for this. For the insinuation of people he still goes to the church to say, God I thank you. The Bible tells us in every thing give thanks unto God and I saw this young man practicing, whether inadvertently or what have you, what God said he is practicing it. And so, for God to find such a man, he may have weaknesses, he may have his errors like king David, God will support that person. So, in the kind of life that Uduaghan is living publicly for us to see by the experience I have had of him, before he became the governor, as a secretary to the state government he was organizing all night prayers in Asaba which he sponsored before Ibori left office. Not with the intention of becoming governor but he wanted the government of Delta State to succeed. I happened to have attended that once or twice and I was reading what was this young man up to? God in his wisdom is doing what he is doing in his life and he is not going to be there forever, he is going to be there for his time, it is left for people who are watching what is happening in his life to key into the character he has brought into governance and to from there take a cue if this his how it should be done.
People have been criticizing the clergy, including your group that has been very close to Uduaghan saying that these men of God are Uduaghan apologists, are you saying that because of the peculiar humility of Dr. Emmanuel to God that is why the men of God have singled him out for special support?
It will be foolish of anybody who would say that we are following Uduaghan and as apologists. Uduaghan is following us. We are men of God. We are desiring that God should take over this nation but he should start with Delta State. In so doing we want a governor who will toe the line of God. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:2 that if the righteous bears the rule the people will rejoice. We are looking for a candidate who God will use, who will say to God here am I, use me. Like Isaiah said in Isaiah 6:5-8, here I am, use me. The person may not be flawless but he has given hand to God. If you find a man who says God we want you to be now let me tell you this, Ibori and Uduaghan are the first in this nation to create a special advisory position for the church. That is some one who remembers God, who honours God in what he is doing and thinking, God cannot forsake that person and that is why the church is loving Uduaghan, not all the church, there are people who are false prophets. During the time of Jesus, before Jesus’ time and after Jesus there are false prophets. They know what they want to do and they are doing what they want to do for what they want to get. And once they get what they want to get that is their business of getting close. But CAN in Delta State, we have a concern for Delta State. Now, let me tell you this, Delta State is the first state that was visited by the Evangelist who came as missionary to this country in the 13th, 14th century. The first church, not in Badagry, was in the Olu’s palace and when they left nobody carried the church and the church died before they came back it had spread to other places. Like Sapele there now that is lying down because of in attention and lack of people carrying the history that is correct. So, we are praying. When we find what Jesus found in a man that is loyal to his instructions, he said in the book of Proverbs 8:17, I will love him that will love me. So if Jesus finds a man who loves him he will love such a man. If the church finds a man who is putting his head down say church you are part of it, the church will be part of that administration. Uduaghan is not the first governor to have led Delta State. We have had a lot, from military to civilian, from civilian to military again and back. Is he the first one. And if he is doing something that people are not understanding how it is done, let them go back and learn.
The Arch Bishop of Canterbury is not comfortable with the killing of Osama Bin Laden especially because at the point of his being shot dead he was unarmed, what is your view about that?
The Arch Bishop of Canterbury is a respected clergy man, he has a world of the Anglican behind him but he is individual in that statement. In Deuteronomy 32:33 God said, he that sins against me I will blot out of my book. For Osama Bin Laden to have taken upon himself to have been a leader of murderers, that is drunk with the killing of Israelite, and Americans who believe in Jesus Christ, any man who says he believes in Jesus who is defending the enemy of God, that man is also the enemy of God and God will soon visit that person as an individual also. Because, Jesus said in the book of Matthew 12:37, that every idle word that a man shall say he shall give account; I guess, he is my senior father in the ministry but he may have mismanaged his words by saying that removing the enemy of God from the way is wrong. Then why is Britain fighting to retain what they have lost?
On your own, to kill man who is not armed what is your view?
All the ones that armed robbers are killing how are they killing them? How many die all over the world un-armed. Is that a statement to credit to anybody or to discredit anybody. Why should he be armed at all? Jesus said my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I to you. Why should he carry arms killing people? 3000 people died in a swoop and look at what he did in Kenya, maiming people because of Israel. What does he even understand concerning Israel and Arab? It is a case of Hagar and Sarah. God is the one who made the promise that he will bless the children of Ishmael from whom they are claiming that they are Muslims and all the rest of them. They are the children of Abraham. God made a promise to them that he will give him 12 kingdoms as he gave to Israel, what is the quarrel about? The land you did not create, if God gave a land to any body he is the owner of the whole lands in this world. Any body annexing any part or country that this is my land is as God has permitted. If God did not permit you while you are sitting on the land you acquired and all the rest you could be removed by thunder, tsunami, tornado even the water you are drinking and your food can kill you on your feet. God owns the world, people should learn how to respect God, respect what God has said, believe in the name of Jesus Christ and if you don’t, whatever…just look at it, every property they are using to prepare their guns and all their ammunitions are from God’s creation, yes or no? and the bible has said in Isaiah 54:14, God said, I have made you and given you intelligence to create bombs and all the rest, I have also created the waster to waste it. So, if God is wasting what you want to use in killing other people on you, go back to the drawing board and say, Daddy I am sorry like David always did.
The way and manner Osama Bin Landen’s body was buried at sea will it not resurrect to haunt people who come in contact with it through fish that may have eaten the body?
That rhetorical understanding is an aberration in life. What about the armed robbers that are buried, if you plant yams on their graves and you eat the yam will you become an armed robber? Your father who is an idolater that you buried in the house you live now, does the spirit not affect you not to become a native doctor and not to go to church at all? All those are fallacies.
Crities say Uduaghan will not complete his second mandate, what word of prophesy will you say about this?
Who put him there? Is it the critics that put him there? The God that put him there has a mandate upon his life. My advice to my people, look John, if you come to my compound I planted one seed of mango which I nursed, it has become a tree and bore over 100 fruits at once. I planted cashew, one seed and it has born over 200 seeds. Every one has the opportunity to become great. Is it only by becoming a governor? For you to stand up say I want to lead people … leadership killed Moses. The murmuring of the people killed him. What he said he would do he could not even including the instructions of God. Once some one is in the leadership position, all the led owe that person prayer for him to fulfill the mandate and the desire for which he came to that place. If they will not assist the leader to accomplish his assignment even including the manifesto that is written by him, if they will not assist him, all those people will be impoverished. Look at what is happening in Nigeria, look at the roads. Who are the people. I am angry with PHCN because all those who are at the helm of affairs there are engineers that have studied with the same people doing the same thing all over the world in the same university. But they came to their country and they are unable to put what they studied to action to represent their knowledge. So also is the ministry of education, the husband and wife at home. How do you say, you are a wife you are a husband when your children you cannot train them, you cannot culture? So, every one is guilty. All we owe ourselves is to take advice from God, help one another to succeed. If they are criticizing Uduaghan that he should not be there, somebody will come and take over and somebody will criticize that person again and they will remove that and bring somebody again and they will criticize again. Are we made critics? If you look at Genesis 1:21 after God has created the whole world he saw the things he created that they were very good and so he blessed what he has made that they should be fruitful and multiply, my prayer for anybody in any seat of leadership is for him to fulfill the mandate for which he came to that place. The fulfilling of the mandate of that person will help me in my own little corner whether I am in government or not. If you go to Abidjan, once one house is built on a street the local government or the government comes to tar the road up to that house. You don’t write application you don’t beg. Water, electricity, telephone they come to your house without begging. It is the responsibility of the ministry which is called the ministry of works helped by the council to make sure that every nook and cranny of this our developing nation is developed why should budget be raised and not implemented? It is because of criticism. So, I don’t believe in criticizing people, I believe in praying and helping people to succeed, their success will mrake me to succeed.
Do you think Ogboru will ever become governor of Delta State?
I don’t know the laws that are ruling election to the extent of how many times you have contested. Ogboru is a material for leadership but if he had asked me what do you think of leadership from there, you don’t start leadership from the top, you start from the bottom; one would have advised that he goes to the House of Assembly, the House of Reps or the Senate to learn the bends of how people come into positions. We have respect for him, he is a son of Delta and a son of Nigeria and we have eyes on him that one day, what he has in mind will metamorphose. Look at what happened, King David was entrusted in taking care of what was entrusted to him, the little flocks of the father and from there he encountered a lion, nobody knew. He encountered a bear, nobody knew, but God knew. God was the one who gave him the strength to kill the lion and the bear and when time came for Israel to fight with Philistines this little boy who God gave strength in the farm unknown to his father and mother and brothers, came out that he was going to fight Goliath, a man of 13 feet tall, huge, his javelin was 600 pounds. That he was going to deal with him as he dealt with the lion and with only one stone he brought the head of Goliath by God’s direction. I believe that people who are divinely organized, divinely arranged like Ogboru should wait for God’s promise for him when there will be no insinuation, there will be no back pushing, there will be no mismanagement. He will come, walk into it and take his position and lead the people by the divine arrangement of God. Look at Chris Okotie, he is there. One day, if it is God, he is learning what is happening by what is involved throughout the whole country this time, thank God that he received, even if it is one vote like Sarah Jubril that is success. That is success for him that somebody regards you and you are going to be there. Once God has seen you that you have endured, you have done everything, he says, now it is time, you will be there and nobody will deny you when the time comes. Everybody is going to rally round you to say yes, you are fit to be there.
On that basis how do you advice him over litigation of the electoral cases?
I have always saidto people; I have three policy statements that rule my life: I will not impede your progress, I will not allow you to impede my progress and I will not impede my own progress because whatever a man soweth that he shall reap.
Thank you Sir.