THE Presiding Bishop, Living Faith Word Outreach Ministries, also known as Winners Chapel, Dr. David Oyedepo, on Tuesday, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said that Nigeria as a nation lacked men of integrity in all spheres of human endeavour.

Oyedepo, who spoke at the 54th birthday thanksgiving service of the Ogun State governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel, held at the Valley View Auditorium, Isale-Igbehin, Abeokuta, said that many unqualified men and women were occupying leadership positions in the country, believing that until Nigerians began to improve on its values, they might not get the desired results.

Bishop Oyedepo told journalists that he, alongside some other men of God, visited ailing President Umaru  Yar’Adua on Monday.

Asked whether he spoke with Yar’ Adua one on one, the bishop said the visit was personal, saying that it was not for public consumption.

He refused to confirm to journalists whether the four-man Christian delegation spoke with the president, saying, “Yes, it is true. The visit is personal, but I don’t owe any public explanation on this visit.”

The cleric contended that people with lesser ideas and knowledge must not be allowed to lead the people, insisting that the foundation of the country needed to be re-examined.

He said: “Our foundation as a nation and people needs to be re-examined. Men and women of integrity are lacking in Nigeria. Nigeria’s integrity is sick at all levels; from the family to governmental levels.”

Bishop Oyedepo opined that the nation’s founding fathers were men of integrity and character with great intelligence without any qualifications and observed that qualifications in most cases enhanced corruption.

“Our forefathers were not ruffians. They were men of integrity. In most cases, academic qualification enhances corruption. Our forefathers were men of character and integrity. They were very intelligent, that is why they can maintain their territorial integrity,” the cleric added.

Bishop Oyedepo explained that Nigeria had unlimited potential, wondering why at 50, the nation was still not among the developed nations in the world, adding that “Nigeria has lost virtues and credit which must be recovered.

“Nigeria has unlimited potential. Why are we still crawling while we are supposed to be flying? Our problem in this country is largely based on our inability to test or prove who our leaders should be. We operate a leadership system without a formula.

“Many unqualified teachers teaching in our schools today are responsible for mass failure in the West African School Certificate Examinations,” he said.

He called for the inculcation of values inherent in the nation’s forefathers in the younger generation so as to build leaders with great qualities.

He wondered why some people in government could not define ‘budget’ and even ‘government’, saying novice should not be put in positions of authority.

“Such people have no knowledge of whatever they are doing, yet, they still do it. How can somebody be in government and cannot define what ‘government’ is, even what is ‘budget’? Can you now invite such people to come and appraise?”

He said that Nigeria remained a great nation with great people, noting that religious bodies and individuals had great roles to play towards building the country.

Bishop Oyedepo added that the country’s problems remained solvable, adding that Nigerians must not wait for anybody to solve these problems for them.

Dignitaries at the ceremony included the Chairman, First City Monument Group, Chief Subomi Balogun; representative of Yeye Odua, Chief HID Awolowo, Reverend (Mrs) Tola Oyediran; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Nigeria’s High Commissioners to Ghana and Zambia, Senator Musilu Obanikoro and Mrs Folake Marcus-Bello; former military Governor of Oyo State and sole administrator, Ekiti State, Major General Adetunji Idowu Olurin (rtd); former military administrator of Oyo and Ogun, Brigadier-General Raji Rasaki (rtd); Chief Idowu Sofola (SAN);  Chief Abiola Dosunmu; Chief Alex Onabanjo; National Co-ordinator, Oodua Peoples Congress, Chief Gani Adams.

Others included traditional rulers, house of clergies and other eminent Nigerians from different walks of life.

Meanwhile, more public anger, on Tuesday, trailed the guided visit by some clerics to ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua, while a cabal has barred Acting President Jonathan  from seeing him.

The Save Nigeria group (SNG), led by  Pastor Tunde Bakare, described the action as an affront and embarrassment to the country.

The group, which comprised other eminent personalities like Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Commodore Ndubuisi Kanu and General Alani Akinrinade, said it had never been so bad for the country that a faceless clique rode roughshod over the people.   

The SNG spokesman, Mr Yinka Odumakin, told the Nigerian Tribune that the ailing Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was not subjecting his people and nation to a similar psychological war.

“It shows that Yar’Adua is dysfunctional and dangerous conglomerate of provincial men who have no link with modernisation. It takes the lowest of primitive beings to lack the capacity to comprehend the public relations disaster their actions are causing.

“Or how do they think any rational person would view a situation where an ailing president who can’t be seen by the acting president has suddenly become a tourist attraction for  clerics? Nigeria has never been this embarrassing to humanity,” Odumakin decried.

He said those behind the current hide and seek over the ailment of Yar’Adua were only wasting their time by allegedly hiring idle clerics to visit the president.

A group of Imams had visited the president at the weekend and claimed that his condition had improved dramatically, while some Christian clerics paid a similar visit, on Monday, claiming that he nodded when they prayed for him during the visit.

In view of the recent visits by Islamic clerics and Christian leaders to President Yar’Adua, a leader in the Niger Delta, Chief Tunde Smooth, on Tuesday, raised the alarm that the cabal loyal to the ailing president was instigating crisis in the country.

Chief Smooth said the cabal, made up of former and serving political office holders, were using the illness of Yar’Adua to cause disaffection and destabilise the administration of the Acting President Jonathan.

Chief Smooth, the Bolowei of Obotebe Kingdom in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, said the recent “staged-managed” visit of some religious leaders to Yar’Adua was aimed at causing disaffection in the country and frustrate Jonathan.

He, therefore, challenged the clique to allow Yar’Adua to make a broadcast to the nation or visit the National Assembly to convince Nigerians that he was recuperating.

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