Our leaders need to really wake up and restore human dignity, says Bishop Ighele @ 70
Bishop (Dr) Charles Ighele, the General Superintendent of Holy Spirit Mission (aka) Happy Family Centre, recently clocked 70 years and his members celebrated him with a party which took place at the International Headquarters of the church at Akonwonjo, Lagos State. Bishop Ighele used the opportunity to speak to CYRIACUS NNAJI about his birthday, the church and national issues. Excerpt:
How do you feel being 70 and in the vineyard of God?
I have celebrated my birthdays, 40, 50, 60, 70, and I feel happiest on my 70th birthday. You know, when I was 50, for me, it was just a celebration, just an enjoyment. When I was 60, I said, hey, second half of my life starts. Then at 70, I am launching out what I will call my Glorious final term. So, I feel so motivated, I’m so happy.
I have never felt happier in my life because of what I want to do. People have to be moved out of poverty into the Kingdom of God. So, I’m happy and I feel fulfilled, excited.
So, what would be your message to the body of Christ and the nation on this occasion of your 70th birthday?
You see, the message is this. I seriously feel that the church is not yet the salt of the nation.
It’s not yet the light of the nation. So, you see Christians who don’t live the normal Christian life, like I said, the normal Christian life according to Galatian 20:20, “Crucified with Christ.” That’s the normal Christian life. The old man must go and then we live the new life in Christ. You see, there must be circumcision. When a male child is born in the Kingdom of God, the child is circumcised. You are born uncircumcised. You now get circumcised. Also, when you are born again, you are again born uncircumcised; you now have to get yourself circumcision of the heart which now takes place, renewal of the mind, to be Kingdom-minded.
So, it is just that many are born again, but they think like unbelievers, talk like unbelievers, lie like unbelievers. This is the problem that we have. So, the Bible says that if a light has been in darkness, how great that darkness. Some believers are making fun of us. So, my motivation is how to get things done the proper way; that is my motivation. And I don’t want to be a part of the crowd at all, no matter how popular that may be.
Your message to Nigerians and Nigeria as a society
You see, they taught us in Political Science class in those days that the people get the government that they deserve. So, that is it. Now, Nigerians have been corrupted right from the 60s. They’ve been made to live like bad people. This is the truth. The average Nigerian will not behave better than the average Ghanaian. You see, three or four years ago, we went to Benin Republic, and we went through Idioroko. This is the first time I have gone in my car. Normally, they come and pick me, and as we passed the Customs and as we passed the border, we saw okada people wearing their helmets. In Nigeria, they are not wearing their helmets. So, you see, there is something wrong with us as a nation, as a people. People have been corrupted into bribery. So the typical policeman needs to become a beggar, everybody becomes a beggar. And the leaders really need to really wake up and restore human dignity.
I keep saying that the human being is the centre of development, not bridges, not airports. No. When God created everything, the stars, the moon, everything in place, He now created the reason for creation, which is man. So, you see, roads are being constructed, buildings being built, but the human being in Nigeria is living among the worst. In Libya, the cheapest prostitutes are Nigerians. Now, in Ghana, the remotest villages there, are where you find Nigerian youths residing; they push trucks, selling things because the Cedi is more powerful than Naira, and then light is more constant there.
So, Ghana that Nigeria was far better than, I won’t talk about Singapore. So, you see, it’s a shame really that we can’t be at this level. And instead of us to think about development, we think about how to be in power. I’m not criticizing any leader. I’m talking to all of us, you know. When Trump and the other man, Biden, when they were contesting, they say, with this agenda I can change America; they bring their own system to want to bring about a change. But here, we contest just to be in power, not for development. So, everything gets crashing; education, everything.
So, the four factors of development, nothing, the question of Labour, zero; Capital, the poor can’t have access to capital for development. Then, Entrepreneurship, where most of our entrepreneurs, people who should be sharp there, they sell by the roadside, nothing that they can really think, apart from a few who escaped. Then, Land, that’s a big problem.
Adam Smith wrote a book in those days, The Wealth of Nation. And how a nation is able to harness the four factors of production, the book is telling me how a nation is richer than the other. That is, our leaders don’t know the factors of production, how they can be harnessed.
So, for me, I just, from my corner, I launched a campaign. So that the leaders, let them construct the roads but the human being must be the center of development. Nigerian human being is too cheap, uncivilized.
How symbolic is this 70th birthday celebration?
Ah, so symbolic. In fact, this is the 70th, I have never felt like this in my life, this year, we are going to lay foundation stone for the National Agricultural and Rural Development. This year, the African Children’s Village, you know, this year, we are going to dedicate the New Life for Teenage Mothers’ Center, which is already there; this year, so many things, you know, the University Farms have started, you know, with Agronomists and other people in charge. So, all these things, they are now here when I am hitting 70; that they are all coming up. So, I see ahead of me a bright future. That is why I say that this is my glorious final term. It must end in glory. And I’ll be so happy to get people out of poverty; that is my goal.
Any fear growing up?
I was timid. I used to be afraid. I did not think I was going to be a leader. So, from primary, secondary, I was not considered to be a prefect anywhere. I was just timid like that. Then, to my surprise, when I went to Federal School of Arts and Sciences, Sokoto, for HSC in 1974, they made me leader of the drama group. I was shocked. I was shocked that, you know, I could do it. I now found out, when I finished my university education, this was when re-education started to happen, Personal development. I read leadership books, lots of them. In fact, I have thousands of books, and about 70% of them are Christian books. 20-30% are non-Christian. Harvard Journals, I have them.
So, I see that in me is leadership; in you is leadership, but to build it up, that is what matters, and then when I came across, in fact, years ago, that was when I chose to be powerful or powerless. I read the book, Powerful or Powerless. I said, hey, I’m going to be powerful. How do you do that? Your knowledge base increases. And then, you are powerful to the extent to which you help people. You are great to the extent you help people, like I told people before, that by the time I die, I want written on my grave here lies a holy man of God. That’s what I want to be known for. And that is what, by the end of my life, I want to be known.
What has been keeping you going in spite of challenges?
Oh, I take things easy. I’m a dead man. I see myself as a dead man. When a man is dead, you tell the man you are crazy, will he hear? He won’t hear. He won’t know. So, I’m crucified with Christ. So, when there is a financial problem big like that, I’m calm. So, people know me that nothing troubles me. I have trained myself to have confidence in God. I know the Bible says that there is no problem that God cannot take care of. All things are possible for good and those that love God. So, like somebody said, there is always the grace to rise again. No matter whatever we face, there is the grace to rise again. So, I look forward to that. I fill my heart with that. And I found that whatever I fill my heart with is what happens to me.
Can you talk a little bit more about what you said, that you don’t use people to build ministry?
No. That is evil. That is evil. Jesus came to give people hope. It is evil. You see, the idea of ministry has totally changed. You don’t use ministry to be a big man.
No. In fact, I don’t want to be a big man. I want to be a great man. You use ministry to build people, not people to build your ministry. That is my philosophy since I took over at Holy Spirit Mission. Moreover, like I said, use ministry to raise people up to where they are supposed to be in life, and not to use people to make you feel important. You must build people to have a sense of self-worth. The greatest gift of man is to be loved, that is the greatest gift of man, to be loved and respected.
Your members surprised you with a party, unannounced, how do you feel?
For this very birthday, you know, to be frank, last year, people told me to buy a lot of properties. We bought so many properties last year, as a ministry. And then the people brought money willingly. So my birthday now came up, I said, come on, are you raising money for my birthday? They said, yes, some churches, 5 million, some churches, 6 million. It was my birthday. I said, no, you can’t do that; they have tried enough some months ago. You can’t do that. They said 70, I said, let it be 70. Let me do it quietly. So please forget about it. So I now wrote, I announced to the church please stop raising money for my birthday. So that was how it is, yes this birthday, it was important for me. But you have to think of the people.
So today, I was coming to church. Normally, usually, this morning they came to the house. People came with their saxophone to sing Happy Birthday. And that was all.
Coming for service, today is Tuesday, normally, only to arrive and I saw what I saw. I had no inkling of it at all. These ones I’m wearing, it was here; I wore them. So, I am surprised, and like I joke sometimes, I’m overgassed and flabberwhemed.
What is the role of mummy in your life?
The role of mummy, like I have said she’s is not covetous. She’s not hungry for fame. She’s not hungry to be rich, we follow each other. So her role has been the kind of wife that I need, not a wife who will make me feel inadequate, not a wife who will make me feel as if I have not achieved enough. You understand when you have a spouse who makes you feel as if you’ve not achieved enough, it makes you want to do the wrong things or not fulfilled, but my wife will say, darling, don’t worry, don’t worry, you are trying, let’s move on. So, she’s my number one encourager.
