Archbishop of the Province of the Niger Anglican Communion and Bishop of the Awka Diocese, Anambra State, Most Rev Alexander Ibezim, recently marked his 60th birthday anniversary, and in this interview with Cajetan Mmuta, he speaks on the raging debate over the joint Muslim ticket by the All Progressive Congress (APC), ahead of the 2023 elections, the issue of the North-South dichotomy, among others

The 2023 elections are drawing nearer, and one of the major political parties has fielded a joint Muslim ticket for the president and vice-president offices. Some people are saying that it does not matter. Do you go along with them in this, or does it matter to you?

Let me tell you, if Nigeria is going to succeed, the country should not play with Christians in Nigeria. Whether you like it or not, Christianity has suffered persecution, even right from the days of Christ, up till now. But, at whatever level, you find out that the church will always succeed. So, it is in the interest of Nigeria that the church succeeds, because anywhere the church does not succeed, that place will go back into darkness. So, as to whether Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket, it is important that Christians should have a say in government. We are not second-class citizens, and by the time you start treating Christians as second-class citizens, you are finished yourself. So, I am looking at a Christian-Muslim leadership; that’s Christians should be on top, and the Muslims should be the second person. That’s what I am looking at, but if you now say Muslim-Muslim, as if Christians are nothing, don’t neglect your wife or wife don’t neglect husband, because even if as a family you come out and say a man must marry man or woman must marry woman, you see that that family is not complete. So, for Nigeria to be holistic, for us to be truthful to ourselves, we must recognise that the church must not be played with. When you are playing with the church, you are playing with fire and nobody fights the fire of God and succeeds. That’s my answer to you.

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Some few weeks ago, some bishops graced the occasion of the unveiling of the APC presidential running mate. Some people said they were genuine bishops, did you identify any of them as genuine?

Well, I don’t blame them, but when proliferation entered into the church, mind you, it is just because they saw those people dress like that. Nowadays, many people call themselves bishops. Even you can now put the cross and sew clothes and say you are a bishop. If you come to CAN meetings many people come there and say they are bishops. Are they truthful to themselves? It is because that proliferation has come out through the church, and the enemy is using it to attack the church. But my advice is this; if you claim that you are a bishop, let it be that God has sent you, but if you are using that to deceive the church and the nation, you will pay the price because nobody will deceive the church of God.

The ongoing ASUU strike is badly affecting the future of the children, what is the way out of this?

Our children have lost almost one year staying at home. One of the things you must avoid is being a praise-singer, because when you continue to say things like that you are hardening the people who are supposed to do the right thing. I said it clearly, the government has failed. When you say change, have we seen a good change? Is it changing for good or bad or worse? And you are now asking me about schools? I did not say they have not done anything, but what I said, from what you have observed, there is a complete failure. And unless we start addressing these failures constructively with truth, then things will get worse. That is not to say that I will not compliment the areas they have done right in the past. Mind you, some leaders will start doing well, then at a point in time, the whole thing will turn to another thing. As a church leader, I know that if up to fifty people call you in a day, 45 of them are begging. Is that a healthy society? It shows that society is very unhealthy. Nobody will like his children to be beggars; nobody will like his children not to have a future. No woman will dress up in her family and go to the market with little money and come back home without buying any reasonable thing for the family. So, the government must wake up. This is a serious matter.

Today, we have an unwritten rule in this country that power rotates between the north and southern Nigeria.

Now, when it’s the turn of the south to produce the president, those of them who told us in 2015 that it was their turn to rule Nigeria will have candidates from major political parties, the PDP, APC, and NNPP. Do you think it fair for the north to produce the candidate, considering that unwritten rule?

On the North-South dichotomy, you are a Nigerian. It’s something that has been on; the game is on, but listen to this, I will say, the north-south dichotomy; we are calling on the south to be united. The south seems to be too divided. Even in the Igbo land now, you see division. So, that is a question. It’s food for thought for all of us.

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Can’t the south be united so that they can present a common front?

That’s a question you will take to them to answer. Once we deal with that question of division, you will find out that the south can speak with one voice. But as long as there are so many divisions, Nobody, and of course, look at the Igbo land now with all these that are going on, Imo town is different, Ebonyi State is different, Anambra is different, Abia, and you want magic to happen. A house that is not united will always fail, that’s a principle, and that principle holds that united we stand, divided we fall.

What can you say about the journey so far in God’s vineyard?

Well, it’s a wonderful journey. I cannot tell you about my journey without my wife, so, mama, I congratulate you, Mrs Martha Chioma Ibezim, my beautiful wife, God bless you. I thank you for your support all these years. She is the mother of our five children and our daughter is doing her houseman ship as a medical doctor. This is the nuclear family, and they will help us in this ministry. The children are prayer warriors. They help us carry the burden. At times, they help me even to put on my cassock, and they will polish my shoes. They will say, daddy, no, your cross is turned upside down, and they will put it right. They are so wonderful, and I commend them for that. And they know when I come home angry; they will ask what’s wrong, is there anything? And whenever I see they are cheerful, I will just drop the anger. So, they know that I don’t carry anger from the church back home. I cannot go forward without recognising this family, especially, when I was undergoing my tedious studies in the United States of America. I was a student for seven full years. I read my MBA (Masters in Business Administration) for three years, and PhD for four years, and throughout that time Mama (wife) was in charge of the home. That’s why, you know, success is not one-way; some people will come and forget those that did things that nobody sees. So, I’m not a hero per se without them, particularly, the people God used to help us. I want to thank you for all those years in the USA, far away in Chicago. How you used to drive me to the airport, especially, when we have to take a three hours flight from Chicago to Atlanta where we planted a church, as well as being a student; driving during the slow and coming back to take care of the children, it’s not an easy task. We did not lose any of you during that time, so, we will not lose any of you here. God was so faithful to us. I will also use this time to recognise my parents because they laboured so much for us. Unfortunately, they are no longer alive, but they are alive in that as Christians we believe that when people die, they go to be with the Lord. But they know that their son is now the Bishop of Awka and the Archbishop of the Province.

“So, for Nigeria to be holistic, for us to be truthful to ourselves, we must recognise that the church must not be played with. When you are playing with the church, you are playing with fire and nobody fights the fire of God and succeeds