Nigeria’s political sanity can only be restored by invoking traditional god’s on political and religious leaders – Proteus Uzoma

Professor Proteus Uzoma is a man known to stir up the tide of the storms. A man of implicit knowledge, in virtually every thing including nothing. ln this exclusive interview with EVEREST EZIHE of newstap.com.ng he spills the beans of renaissance on the nation and African cultural, traditional and religious heritages. It is a talk provoking bombshell. Excerpts

PROF CAN YOU BRIEFLY INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO OUR READERS

My name is Proteus Nathan Uzoma, a Professor of Philosophy of Religion. Am a social critic, social crusader, an apostle of social justice, as well as a community leader and an ambassador of truth, equity and fairness.

AS A PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, WHAT IS YOUR ASSESSMENT ABOUT RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN NIGERIA ESPECIALLY, CHRISTIANITY

Christianity to an extent, has helped in the development of the society, but it’s an obvious truth that the christian religion is one religion that has built an industry into the culture and tradition of the people. Thus, Christianity itself, has become a culture of its own inside the people’s culture.
I can tell you authoritatively that without Christianity, Africans and Africa would have been more developed and advanced than we are today. Christianity, particularly the type that is been practiced recently and today, is something funny. Christianity in all intents and purposes have lost its value and intents because of practitioners and leaders avarice to deceit and materialism

IF THIS IS NOT BLASPHEMY, WHAT ACTUALLY MAKES YOU THINK THAT CHRISTIANITY HAVE LOST ITS VALUE AND INTENTS

I have already said part of it. However,what makes me think that Christianity has lost its value or loosing its value and intents, are the ongoing revolutionary yearnings of Nigerian and African youths to revive their ancestral good cultural and traditional heritages.
Modern youths don’t value mixing African culture with Christianity. They’re apprehensive of the fact, that all those that looted their countries wealth and common patrimony are either Christians or Moslems, without an eye blink or recourse to African culture and tradition in similar circumstances.
Using Nigeria as a case study, history has proved that all the political leaders that looted the country dry are either Christians or Moslems, and their religion leaders are at home with their financial embezzlement and misappropriation, so what are we talking about? Can they do these, if the Gods of the land like Amadioha, Ogun, Igwe ka Ala, Afa etc are involved in their swearing in? Emphatically no ! And the society would have been better off. It’s now very difficult for modern Nigerian youths to reconcile the sanity of Christian or Moslem religion in the positive affairs of men or the society. It’s very very difficult for them to reconcile this, that’s why on their own, they’re championing the course of going back to their roots. There are serious moves for cultural and traditional renaissance, as a realistic means of guaranteeing societal sanity and progress, amidst the controversies trailing the christian religion as of today.
AS A PROFESSOR IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, WHAT ARE THESE CONTROVERSIES TRAILING CHRISTIANITY AS A RELIGION

The controversies steams from the facts that the leaders of Christianity have built another religion contrarily to the religion of Christ.

HOW DO YOU MEAN, OF BUILDING ANOTHER RELIGION INSIDE THE CHRISTIANITY RELIGION AS JESUS CHRIST CANVASSED

There are new paganistic creeds that have developed over anthroponification of the personality of the dignity of Christ. The practical example is seeing our day to day life activities like, me I no go suffer ! I no go beg for food. Me I no go suffer, I no go beg for bread, God of miracle, na my papaa oooo!!!! The Christianity we practice today holds the boldness of Godliness but denied the power of spirituality and holiness. It’s a religion that’s not rooted in love again. Christianity has become such a religion that when members contribute money, build schools, hospitals, hotels etc those who contributed to these projects; they and their children don’t benefit from them, because they can not afford to pay for the goods and services therein. Where then is the morality, equity, empathy, fairness and justice? Is this what Christianity as a religion should be ? Obviously, I see no difference between the political setting and Christianity that’s been practiced today. Emphatically, no difference.
Christianity of church, that’s Incorporated with husband, wife, children, relations and friends. Haba mallam !

WHAT THEN MAKES YOU THINK, THAT IGBO CULTURAL AND TRADITIONAL HERITAGES ARE FAR BETTER THAN THE CHRISTIANITY RELIGION WE ARE PRACTICING TODAY

What makes me believe not just wishful thinking is that, let have a case study of our elected political leaders like President, Governors and Law Makers, in the South East for instance, these elected officers are christians, I challenge you, in the next political dispensation, can we stop swearing them in with the bible and let us use Amadioha or ancient ofo known in Igboland as God of instance justice, in swearing them in; saying if they steal public fund or manipulate figures let the Ofo or Amadioha strike them dead, I can assure you that the moment this is done, the society will witness less corrupt leaders and there will be tremendous developments and transformations.

PROF BUT MODERN SOCIETY SEES THOSE THINGS AS FETISH, BARBARIC AND PAGANISM

What do you mean by fetish? You see paganism is a western form of manipulation. The word pagan, simply means people of primitive religion. I don’t have that believe that there’s any religion that is primitive.
The British Colonial Masters came with manipulation of words, to suit their exploitative missions. They talk of fetish, superstitious, simply because of their inability to understand the cosmology of Igbo cultures and traditions.
Moreso, there inability to understand the traditional and natural creeds of the people. The relationship between Igbo man and the society made them feel that they were serving nature and not God but God is nature.
This is a deliberate great misconception and manipulation of the people’s mind sets, to achieve selfish purpose. Recall a letter written by one of the Colonial Masters that visited Nigeria around 1846 AD, his message recently went viral in the social media, they’re unable to understand the Ibos as sophisticated people, they strategically resolved to conquer the people by rubbishing and conquering their cultures and traditions, dominate them and make them believe that every thing foreign is better, so that they can dominate and exploit them, that’s the essence of western colonialism and imperialism. This is exactly what they succeeded in doing and they’re still doing. They deliberately instituted logger heads between us, brothers and sisters. Thus, Professor Mbiti once said that, what was practiced in Africa was not just slave trade but more of abduction and torturing of humanity. A total rape on the people’s psychology and intelligence.
History has vindicated this axiom, that the western world has never been fair nor seen anything good with the black race. If the religion they brought to us was manipulative, before the coming of the Colonial Masters in Igboland there was Christ existence in Igboland, before they brought this Jesus Christ, we Christians are worshipping today.

IT SEEMS, YOU ARE ON A VOYAGE TO RATTLE THE TABLE, HOW DO YOU MEAN, THERE WAS CHRIST IN IGBOLAND, BEFORE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHOM WE CHRISTIANS HAV BEING WORSHIPPING EVEN TODAY AND TOMORROW

If you look at the Christological analysis of the person called Christ. The person of Christ epitomizes love, unity. That was the religion He brought. He never founded Christianity. Remember Christianity was founded after He left, He didn’t come to find religion. People now exploited the teachings of Christ and formed religion, which am not against, the critical point is that the same Jesus that brought this religion to us, made us know that we should love one another.
Now let me ask you, I have been to United States of America, and different parts of the continents, do you know that there are Churches up to today, if you are a black man because it’s owned by a white man, you will not have access to it and you will not even work there?.
The level of discrimination in Christianity is unassuming. Do you know in one of my visits abroad, I meet a renowned Pastor, who boldly told me that a black man can never be in his Church.

HOW THEN DO YOU JUSTIFY THAT THE CHRISTIANITY WE PRACTICE IS FAR BETTER THAN OUR TRADITIONAL RELIGION

Am saying there was Christ advent in Igboland, and the Christ am talking about in the traditional society, we have a way like I told you before of policing crime and criminality, we have a way of organizing things.
The traditional society was well organized, such that the people knew who a thief is and was, we know how to deal with issues within the traditional society to establish truth and justice. If you discreet the land, you must appease the land because mother earth is sacred, but today, Christianity has made the mother earth invalid, abused and bastardized. Right from ancient of days, the traditional religion is a sacred religion. I can honestly say, there’s nothing demonic about traditional religion. It’s a religion of love, fairness, equity and social justice.

BUT UNDER TRADITIONAL RELIGION, THE WORSHIPPERS, WORSHIP TREES, FETISH THINGS, STONES, RIVERS, HILLS, THINGS CREATED BY ALMIGHTY GOD AND MAN MADE SYMBOLS AMONG OTHERS, WHILE UNDER CHRISTIANITY, THE ADHERENTS WORSHIP, THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH AND EVERYTHING THEREOF, THE ALMIGHTY GOD IN TRUTH AND SPIRIT, HOW DO YOU JUXTAPOSE THIS.

When you try to reconcile Christianity religion with traditional religion, you will certainly run into controversy based on conventional ideology of modern believe and business, especially those who are very fanatical with their teaching and very fanatical with their believe system. However, I must give you a very beautiful background. I told you that there was Christ in traditional religion before the advent of Christ in Christianity
The Christ I mean is that our people practiced sincere and natural love, and the tenets of Christianity is love your neighbor as you love yourself. Every tenets of Christianity were practiced here before the Western adventurists brought Christianity as an ailing religion to Africans.
Am talking about communal life, if you as a visitor pay visit to the house of a typical Igbo man, the first thing he does is to offer you kola, the kola symbolizes holy communion, which was a reflection of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, which is an order in Christianity that unless you drink my blood and eat my body, you are not worthy of me. That was a symbol.
It was a symbolic expression but people took it literally. What you call ugly caved images which is a symbol of anthropolifying the diety of Almighty, if you meet some of the Priests you will see them with some of these ugly caved images, they’re not worshipped, they’re not worshipped that’s one thing we don’t understand. They are mere symbols for remembrance and representations. These are akins to traditional religion.

THEN, WHY ARE THEY THERE

They are there just as you have relics in Catholic church, just as you have the moulded images of Joseph, Virgin Mary and other Saints in Catholic Churches and other Christian denominations, they’re all symbols, they’re all channels to reach the unknown, the Almighty God. The traditional man doesn’t worship those images par say. What people don’t understand, is that what you called Amadioha in Igboland is the holy spirit.

HOW

The symbol of the holy spirit is a dove bird, what then is the symbol of Amadioha, white ram and in Igbo traditional society, Amadioha doesn’t kill somebody who’s upright.
Amadioha is a just God.
I don’t see Amadioha as evil spirit. Amadioha is observed in the phantums of Gods, collection of God’s as we have them in the traditional society, they are there to sanitize the society, so as to have a more organized peaceful society, but today we use fire to fire to chase those things out, and they’re there laughing at us, that’s why the present day believers are tired of all these things and the youths are seriously advancing for us to go back to our ancient religion and roots because that are the things that sustained our ancient ancestors and they’re good to us and our environment.
For instance, Christianity told you to ignore your ancestors, your ancestors were demons, they worshipped this and that, but in the Catholic Church today, they still venerate and respect the ancestors in the name of saints. Why

BUT THE ANCESTORS THEY REVERENCE ARE NOT SAINTS
What then are the characteristics of a Saint ? A sin less man ? No, because the bible tells us that all have sinned and come short the glory of God, including the Saints.

THEN TO YOU, WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SAINT

We have more Saints in Igboland, than in Rome, quote me any where and any time. If it’s made possible for people to die and come back, you will know that the majority of the Saints in the world would be the Igbos. Remember, heaven is a relative term and unrealistic existence, by definition of heaven, the next planet after the earth is Mars. I have not seen in the entire sacred books that only one religion can lead one to see God.
So when you are in Mars, you are in heaven by English definition. Thus, heaven is a state and a place, and as a place there’s no sacred books of antiquities, the bible, the Zorah, Quran,Torah, Bhagavad Gita, Guru Granth Sahib, Vedas, Bayan,The Book of Mormon, , Dhammapada, Tao Te Ching, Upanishads, Puranas, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Kitab-i-Aqdas,Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh scriptures), Tibetan Book of the Dead, Diamond Sutra, Prajnaparamita Sutras and Lotus Sutra just mention any of the religious books, I have not seen where, it’s written that only one religion will lead you to heaven. It’s not possible, it doesn’t mean that practitioners of traditional religion will go to hell, that’s bull shit !
I will not worship that God that would put somebody that observed the laws of nature and then send him or her to hell, where he or she will burn forever or eternity. Honestly, that’s not a good God and the God we serve can not be so wicked to that extent to His creatures.

WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE TO NIGERIANS AND THE WORLD AT LARGE

My message is so simple. Let us revive our culture. Let us revive our tradition. The ones that are not contradictory to the level of civilization, and levels of our involvement that can unite us more than the one that can separate us. Let us live in unity and let us stop this segregation, if God is one, every religion should be respected.
It should be a taboo to segregate against a traditional religionist,or a Muslim or Buddhist etc because you feel that they are unbelievers. Who’s an unbeliever, an unbeliever is somebody who doesn’t believe in God and I have not seen a person who doesn’t believe in God, even the atheist believes in God.
They believe in God because if there’s no concept of God, the atheist wouldn’t have been talking about it.

YOU HAVE BEEN PERSISTENT IN CANVASSING THAT IGBO’S, NIGERIAN’S AND AFRICANS AT LARGE SHOULD GO BACK TO THEIR CULTURAL AND TRADITIONAL HERITAGES, ARE YOU NOT WORRIED THAT WITH THE LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS, AS SIGNIFIED WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, (AI) THAT THE CULTURAL AND TRADITIONAL RENAISSANCE WILL NOT IN REALITY BE AN INHIBITION TO THE ENTIRE SOCIETY VISION OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY

It’s an impeccable historical fact, that basic civilization and advancement not only started in Africa but in Sub Sahara Africa. What is AI ? Artificial Intelligence, Africans were more advanced than that, are you not aware that our ancestors were practicing by location.
There was a man, in those days in my village here in Imo State, any time he wants to travel, he will just lay on his mat, in the next few seconds, he is already where he wants to be. Which technological advancement is more than that ? Africans have their own levels of developments and advancements.

BUT, IT’S NOT BENEFICIAL TO THE ENTIRE SOCIETY. IT’S ONLY BENEFICIAL TO HIM, THE ACTOR

No ! No !! No !!! You see in commerce, the entire essence of business is to make a gain and that your gain is benefitting another person and another person is benefitting from the gain, so whatever thing you do that serves your interest also serves the interest of others. Without you, others are not there and without others, you are not there. It’s a world of symbiotic relationship.
WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKE PEOPLE SAY AND BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE CONTROVERSIAL?

Am controversy personified, because, I do not believe in what other people believes. I do not do what they do. I do not teach what they teach. I am not a conventional convetionist. I go beyond conventionalism. I do not think, the way they think because I know that, he that understands the hidden truth is a lonely man and I have always been lonely but later when they must have passed through the path I have left for years, they will now arrived there and begin to celebrate me, while am ahead of them.
That’s the bedrock of all the controversies, am associated with. I think ahead of my contemporaries and I know far above my peers in life.

FINALLY, HOW WOULD YOU LOVE TO BE REMEMBERED, IN THIS WORLD OF FRIVOLITIES AND UNCERTAINTIES

I want to be remembered, first as a pathfinder, as a man who said things that people find it difficult to say because of their stomach. Thus, there are certain truth, people thinks if they say it, their church will not grow or their Pastors will sack them.
Am not afraid of such things. I am not a Pastor nor a Bishop nor General Overseer, infact I do not even exist. I want to be remembered as an apostle of truth and an ambassador that crusaded for social justice, equity and fairness, just as my father, Mazi Nathaniel Ojoyibo Egwim, a great man of indomitable courage, and a disciple in the temple of truth, equity, justice and fairness.
A man who in all certainties of righteousness and holiness died at 103 years. It’s always my sincere wish that in the next life, I will always have him as a father.