V.I.P – Very Interesting Personality:The Life & Thoughts of Prince Tony Momoh

V.I.P – Very Interesting Personality: The Life & Thoughts of PRINCE TONY MOMOH

 

He started out as a muslim, forayed into Christianity ans now is nestled on an adventurous, very potent point in-between.

A prince of Auchi Ruling House; Yerima of Auchi Kingdom; National Bibliotherapist & Cultural Engineer; journalist; author; administrator; politician; former cabinet minister; thinker; realist; spiritualist – not of the 21st century, but of Tomorrow.

This fully loaded being, Prince Tony Momoh,  is the man Thinker’s Digest team purged of his life thoughts in this month of May, 2014.

Yes, you guessed right: His name is Prince Tony Momoh. If you thought you know him well, think again. . . we guarantee that by the time you finished reading this, you will never be the same again – one way or the other. Whatever feelings/emotions that wells up in your mind, don’t bottle it up, but air it out to us – and we shall be glad to publish it. Happy reading.

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SELF-WILL IN THE WOMB
When my mother began labour preparatory to my brith, she was taken to the traditional Birth Home of Madam Inono, a very prominent Birth Attendant. I was told that I refused to come down when my mother was in labour at Inono’s clinic. That was strange to all then because people associated Inono’ s clinic with mystical powers. It was believed that Inono was only a vehicle for downloading children; that powers in the beyond pushed them down out of the womb of the expectant mother. So, even if she was not around when a woman in labour arrive, she would be delivered of her baby by invisible hands. This claim became stronger after Inono died because many women in labour would go to the delivery room and have their babies. Now my mother moved into Inono’s clinic at midnight of April 26, 1939. But it was said that I refused to come down from my mother’s womb because I said I was not one to arrive at a place under cover of darkness. My arrival should therefore be expected in broad daylight. No amount of heaving and pushing and regulated breathing would bring me down in the dead of night. The family record shows that I was born at 1 pm on April 27, 1939.
I was so stubborn as a child. Stubborn in the sense that I would not allow my mother to rest. I cried a lot. To the extent that my mother cursed me “what you did for me, your children would do it for you”

GROWING UP IN A 305-STRONG FAMILY
My father has 47 wives and 257 children. I am the 165th. My mother was one of the youngest. I was 5 years old when my father died – even before I started school.
In school, there was a time I was sent out of school for not having One shilling and three pence fees to pay. Forty days later my mother managed to raise a capital of One shilling from her business of selling corn cakes and gave me the One shilling. We got the three pence from another source. I came back to school and was taken because I was always top of the class.
We grew up as Muslims in Auchi. After standard six, I was to be employed as a teacher. But the Local Council Authority demanded for a Five pound bribe in 1955 which I refused to pay.

Again, there was a time I was sent away from school because my uniform, my shirt was torn
My eldest brother took me fom Auchi to Okpe Igarra in 1954. He was the very first Christian in Auchi. The Anglican mission said there was a problem with my case. What is it? They said I was a Muslim and teachers in their school would have to go to church! I said that was no problem. That I would go to church. And I began to attend the Anglican church and got baptized in 1958, not with ‘Tony’ my adopted name, but with Suleiman, my Muslim name. All entreaties that I should adopt Tony failed. I told them I had a reason for bearing Tony. I liked Tony Eden who was the Prime Minister of Britain that called the bluff of Egypt on the Suez Canal Crisis. I loved Tony Enahoro who was the most popular politician in my part of the country and I would like to be like him. I also loved Tony Oseni who was the first Auchi man to earn a degree… But my Muslim name, Suleiman having been given to me at birth would be the name I would bear in any form of rebirth. The church had to take it or leave it. They took it!

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My father has 47 wives and 257 children. I am the 165th. My mother was one of the youngest. I was 5 years old when my father died – even before I started school. I was so stubborn as a child. Stubborn in the sense that I would not allow my mother to rest. I cried a lot. To the extent that my mother cursed me “what you did for me, your children would do it for you”
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I cycled 30 miles to Irua to sit for the Entrance Examination into Edo College I borrowed the bicycle and pedaled harder than I had ever done anything in my life. But missed the exam! I was told that the examination had already been done the previous week. So I made up my mind that in the six years to follow, I would make my own academic achievements to the extent that compared with those who went into Edo College, I would not lose anything. And I made it. I got the Teachers Grade III certificate; the Teachers Grade II certificate, the GCE ‘O’ Level and the GCE “A” Level. By 1956 to 1957 I was at Provincial Teacher Training College, Abudu in Benin Division. After I got my Grade III GCE ‘O’ Level and the GCE “A” Level. By 1956 to 1957 I was at Provincial Teacher Training College, Abudu in Benin Division. After I got my Grade III certificate, I taught at Anglican School, Ubuneke for two years. I earned salary while my colleagues were still battling with their Secondary School studies. Within two years I enrolled for tuition from two Educational Houses in England – the Wolsey Hall and Rapid Results College (RRC). While I also applied to Government College, Abraka to do the Higher elementary during which I could still be earning a salary. By the time I was entering Abraka in 1960, I had passed the five subjects entered for in the General Certicate4 Examinations.

FAMILY
When I saw my wife at the head of a dancing troupe from her school performing on the television in the 1960s . I told her that I will marry her. She said she does not want to marry. I asked her why and she replied that because I am too ugly. But I told her that I will marry her. That we are going to have four children. The first would be a boy, the second a boy, the third a girl and the fourth a boy. And that when she is ready she should send for me. I left in anger. In three years we were married. And we had the four children exactly as I said it. Anything I say in Spiritual instinct comes true. Everybody has this power. It is the fault of him or her who does not use his.

ROLE MODELS
Initially it was my father. He was the one who had the greatest influence on my life – even though he died when I was just five years old. Later in life that position went to Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Today I don’t follow any man. My only role model is God.
My late father taught me how to FEEL – feeling in the shoes of others. To feel in the shoes of the other man. Not only feeling for a fellow human being, but feeling in the shoes of everything – tree, fowl, cow etc
I remember an incident between my father, one of my brothers Abeli and myself. Abeli was four years old while I was five. We went to Ikpanu, our father’s residence. A variety of plants were budding. There was this tender coconut tree with its beautiful fronds. We tore parts off and with it, sat down to design wrist watches. Unknown to us, our father was standing behind us watching us. We did not know he was there until he spoke. “if someone removed the fingers of your hand, would you like it? Of course, we answered that we would not like it. He said the parts of the coconut tree we were plucking off for wrist-watches were its fingers. We said we were sorry for what we did. Our father said the sorrow had to be registered for remembrance in future. He invited us to the Out-room. He produced a koboko a horse whip that can draw blood. He was caressing the whip as he gave us a small lecture on how not to be destructive; how you must feel in the shoes of everyone and everything because they themselves have lives of their own. He said plants feel pain and we were wrong to inflict such pain, especially if the plants do not merit it. They should only be put to the use for which they were created.
Our father then announced the punishment: “Give yourselves six strokes each” And that was what we did. Gimah Ogah who was the closest male to our father watched the whole scene

After my father, Chief Obafemi Awolow was the next human being I cherish. For his spectacular achievement in the provision of education in his area of authority. Remember how I cycled 30 miles from Auchi in futile effort to gain admission into Edo College. Later, when Awolowo came, Auchi had five colleges

ENCOUNTERS WITH ARMED ROBBERS
I believe in fighting injustice and discrepancies anywhere I find them – to the best of my understanding, belief and ability.
I was going to Grailland in Iju area of Ogun state on April 27, 1980 – the day I was 40 years old when armed robbers attacked me. One of them said I should hand over the car keys and I asked him what the problem was. I left the car engine running and stepped out. An inner instinct told me to fight and I fought. I, with bare hands attacked the robber with the gun in his hand. I fought the man until I took the sub-machine gun he was holding. At the end of the day, the armed robber fled – leaving behind his wrist watch and sub-machine gun. He crawled into their get-away car in which his robber colleague was waiting and they sped off.
My second encounter with the men of the underworld was in 1996. The robbers – four of them – had come in after an innocent person had come in through the gate. They shot me in the leg. They said they wanted money and I told them that I was not associated with money rather that I was associated with books. I called out: “By the power of God leave me” Then I started advancing towards them. The gang opened fire. And I witnessed for the first time a miracle. They were firing guns at me, but none of the bullets hit myself and my son who was with me. It was as if the bullets were being deflected

RELIGION AND SPIRITUALLITY
In 1971, I came into contact with the Grail Message and it clicked with my soul. Grail Message is a message for the knowledge of Creation. Grail Movement is a group of people who have imbibed the Grail Message and said ‘Let us try these teachings among our people’. Everything in creation is given to us. All we have to do is to acknowledge and worship God. When you have the correct picture; the map of creation, you will kneel down permanently in your thoughts, in your words and in your deeds to glorify and worship God
And imagine the show of love: When nothing could move on earth anymore and the earth was about to be destroyed God had to send his own son to come and redeem us. And what did we do to him? We killed him. And that prayer: Father forgive them for they know not what they do sustained us for 2,000 years. And that prayer of Intercession has not even helped us – we did not take any lessons from it. We are worse off now, spiritually now than we were 2,000 years ago.
We have achieved great wonders in Scientific, medical and technological fields. Jesus said it before He left that we are going to perform “greater miracles” than He did on earth. Are we not performing technological miracles now? But what miracles are we performing in the Spirit? How are we growing the Spirit? But all our focus is on material acquisitions. And these are all things we are not taking away. We did not bring it with us and we cannot take it away. Until you grow the Inner spirit, we are not making any meaningful progress.
I have what I call SIM – Spiritual, Intellectual, Material; RIM – Religion, Intellectual, Material and MIS – Material, Intellectual, Spiritual
Spiritual Intellectual Material –SIM – that is how it should go. You came from the Spiritual; you move through to the world of matter. We have the world of the Spirit; the world of Thought and then the world of Matter. If you do not seek, the Spiritual, you are NOT going anywhere.

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. . .God had to send his own son to come and redeem us. And what did we do to him? We killed him. And that prayer: Father forgive them for they know not what they do sustained us for 2,000 years. And that prayer of Intercession has not even helped us – we did not take any lessons from it. We are worse off now, spiritually now than we were 2,000 years ago.
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Now for the RIM – Religion; Intellectual and Material. The trend today is that most of our people are religious. But instead of Religion to be setting the pace for the Spiritual, we have made Religion the destination. Someone would say: “where is ABC Church? Because I belong to ABC church; I do not want xyz church”. We are in a world of loyalty to the church; loyalty to a human being who is the Head-pastor or General Overseer of the church. This shapes our thought and lands us in the Material it commands. And when you even want to travel, you go and meet the pastor to tell you how to travel when you have direct link with the Almighty God Himself. You have your own volition – Spiritual volition. Through it, you are where you want to be.
Now to MIS – Material; Intellectual; Spiritual. The world is Material today to the detriment of even the Intellectual and the Spiritual. Anybody who is in the MIS dimension and in the RIM dimension will not go to Paradise. So we can have all the church goers today – if they do not know the Spiritual and seek it, they are all not going to Paradise. Because how many of us really know where we are going to in the ultimate?
When you take up the Bible and read and study it, certain changes come to you. First you see it as a book. Later, it becomes a picture. The time you start knowing that you are reading the Bible is when you start knocking on the door of the Spiritual. If it’s just a novel, then you are in the Material; when it takes on the shape of pictures in you, then you start recognizing that the Bible is a photograph of life. The last part of the Gospel of John says that if all Jesus did were to be written, the whole earth would not be able to contain it. There is nothing in the Bible that tells us about Christ. What is in the Bible are the reports of what Christ did. The apostles wrote about Christ.
The exit of Christ led to a lot of persecutions against those who profess to be Christians. In the Roman Empire, anyone who said anything against the prevailing dogma is incarcerated or burnt at the stakes. Darkness was then totally in charge. For 200 years Christians were victimized. It was an offence to be a Christian. And to kill a Christian was then not an offence. If you profess to be a Christian you were tortured first and crucified if you are not a Roman. But if you are a Roman you were crucified without torture. The last pope apologized on behalf of Christianity. But now the Enlightenment is beaming through. We are getting the enlightenment now because the Holy Spirit is taking over the situation and impacting the knowledge to those who are willing to receive it. The fact is that Darkness is not happy where Light is active. The Light will never hand over the Earth to Darkness. There had been a lot of victimization in the past. It is not now that Christians should be victimizing Non-Christians and Moslems to victimize Non-Moslems. It’s all in history. When Mohammed came, they were stoning him in the streets of Mecca. They even broke his ankle on one occasion.

PENTECOSTALISM
Pentecostalism is the function of the Holy Spirit directly at work. Because people are reading the Bible and they are finding out what it can give to them. There is no Group Journey to Paradise. It is an individual journey. You cannot go to Paradise in a group. You did not come to this earth in a group. This Religion is a phase. They would all die off. There was a time we have the Sun God. Where is the sun god now? Religionists would go into different Sects. Later they would come to Recognition of the fact that you do not look sideways for Salvation but you look upwards.

REINCARNATION
Reincarnation is a fact of life. If I am not coming from somewhere, where do you think I got all I have been talking about? I came from somewhere. And I know where I came from.
Physical death is just removing the cloth you are wearing. When you leave this body you move to the next vicinity which is the next solid level.

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There is no Group Journey to Paradise. It is an individual journey. You cannot go to Paradise in a group. You did not come to this earth in a group. This Religion is a phase. They would all die off. There was a time we have the Sun God. Where is the sun god now? Religionists would go into different Sects. Later they would come to Recognition of the fact that you do not look sideways for Salvation but you look upwards.
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This earth of ours is the final radiation of the First Earth out of Seven Earths that are. The Next earth is where you came to before you entered your Mother’s womb; the next earth is what people called the Astra level; the next earth is where you go when you leave the body; the next earth is where you go to every night when you say you are dreaming; when you have a problem and you pray and you go to sleep, the next earth is where you go to when your body is sleeping and you go for a solution; and when you wake up, the solution drops into your hand. And there are people in this next earth, it is thickly populated. And there are different areas. If you are of the light, you go to the light area; if you are dense, you go to the dark area; if you are a drunkard you have your area; if you are a murderer, these areas are there. The earth is the sojourn of the ‘Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. The Ten Commandments came at the appropriate time. And each community has its own do’s and dont’s. So I am sure of what I am talking about. No one is on the earth for the first time. You go and come; you go and come. There are people who could take a look at your palm and tell you how many times you have come. People can look at your photograph and tell you.
But now our time is over on this earth. Soon – I don’t mean tomorrow, for we have 1,000 years given to us to live or learn how to live as ordained by the Holy Spirit. The earth is being cleansed. And soon the earth will attain a level of purity that it will hop over the tunnel of Disintegration. But, God forbid, if it remains heavy as a result of human vices, then it will go down into the tunnel of Disintegration. Only God knows.
Reincarnation continues until you cleanse up everything and you grow enough to take the human form – the form of Man, the form of the Primordial Spiritual. The form of the first Consciousness when the proclamation of Let there Be Light was made-with the radiation of the Holy Spirit. When you achieve that form you now move and you begin to burn off all the bodies you had to put on all along the way. Then you manifest the human form that is called the Resurrection. You have moved into matter, you attended the School of life and you resurrect back into Paradise where you came from. And that is a celebration.

POLITICS
I was a foundation member of the Peoples Democratic Party. We left because of the lack of democracy there. I worked for Ekwueme as Media director in 1999 and 2003. After he lost nomination and they started victimizing those who worked for Ekwueme, I left. Later, my community donated me to General Buhari. Because my people appreciated the good gesture of the man. Buhari in the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) approved 23 Roads to be tarred in Auchi; water to be supplied to three communities. And here is a man who did not know anyone from my area. But before the projects could be funded, Obasanjo came and wiped off PTF. So my people donated me to him (Buhari) and I worked with him for the 2003 campaigns. I see him as a man who has a clean Spirit. He is also not impressed by material things. He brought discipline to Nigeria as head of state. In PTF, many schools, hospitals, universities all over the country felt the impact of Buhari. I believe he is the one who can put Nigeria on the right path. I am with him wherever he is.

BABANGIDA
I was minister of Information and Culture under the regime of Ibrahim Babangida. I had no quarrel with him because he gave me a free hand to do my job. If General Babangida could call me the “philosopher of the cabinet” it meant that he had high regard for, and hopes in me. In my booklet Experiment with Disintegration I warned against taking steps that would destroy whatever good records IBB had. I asked that the Election results be released and called for de-annulment.
ABACHA
When General Abacha took power from Ernest Shonekan who had been installed by IBB as an Interim Head of State instead of swearing in Chief M.K.O Abiola who won the June 12 1993 Election, I wrote a letter to him (Abacha). I advised him in the letter dated September 13, 1993, to de-annul the Election and swear in Abiola and allow him to rule if he (Abacha) wants power to return to the north personified by the Caliphate in the nearest future. I warned him that if he does not take my advice he should forget a peaceful return of power to the North. My brother C. S. Momoh warned me against launching the book (Experiment with Disintegration) saying that the draconian regime of Sani Abacha would descend heavily on me. But the book was launched outside my Office in Anthony village area of Lagos. Chief A. Y. Eke was the chairman at the ceremony. The directors-general of NTA and FRCN were also there.
OBASANJO
I worked indirectly with him when I was editor of Daily Times – in the general crusade to disengage the Military from politics in the run to 1979. We reached out to ourselves. It was even when we quarreled that we somehow came together. He told me “you Daily times editors are not patriotic”. So I wanted to see him to tell him my mind.
The head of SSS arranged for me to meet him. I went with Alhaji Alade Odunewu. Obasanjo said: “I told you to see my Press secretary; you said it is me you want to see. Now tell me what you have to say. I have just 5 minutes for you”. Then I said “Sir, I heard that you said Daily Times editors are not patriotic” Obasanjo said “Yes. So? Am I not entitled to my opinion?”. I responded “Yes Sir. But your opinion can send us to the gallows. .. Sir, I came to tell you that you are paid to be patriotic, while I am not paid to be patriotic”. Alhaji Odunewu’s legs were prodding me under the table urging me to stop.
But I continued: “You can say you are as patriotic as Tony Momoh. We are both working towards saving Nigeria – each of us from different directions. So you can’t accuse us of not being patriotic. Thank you sir”. Then I got up to go. Obasanjo said “Sit down!” And for the next one and half hours we held dialogue. You see, Obasanjo was seen to be a dictator because nobody could confront him. If you confront Obasanjo with facts and figures, with boldness – you will have him. But as a democrat he was a disaster. And I don’t want to say more about that. I wrote to him that you are there (as President in 1979) to re-structure Nigeria. Although Elections were rigged, but he had enough support in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly to restructure Nigeria. He did not do so. And I told him he had a lot of explaining to do to the Almighty God.

YAR’ADUA
I said it then that Obasanjo was making a mistake if he thinks he is putting Yar’adua there as a stooge to manipulate. Yar’Adua is from the North and the Northerners do “Group-Leadership”. They do not do individual rulership which Obasanjo was doing. So Yar’adua undid many things which Obasanjo did wrongly – more than what many opposition leaders would have done. So Yar’dua was purposeful but unfortunately, his bad health did not let him perform. Else he would have been a great success. He had principles and he believed in what is good. But he did not have the health to carry out what he intended for Nigeria. The Niger Delta offer was the greatest concession a powerful man could make to those believed to be weak.

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You see, Obasanjo was seen to be a dictator because nobody could confront him. If you confront Obasanjo with facts and figures, with boldness – you will have him. But as a democrat he was a disaster. . . I wrote to him that you are there (as President in 1979) to re-structure Nigeria . . . he had enough support in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly to restructure Nigeria. He did not do so. And I told him he had a lot of explaining to do to the Almighty God.
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JONATHAN
Jonathan has a great opportunity to prove himself to the new generation. He can make it IF Obasanjo and some other people – E.K. Clark etc – would allow him. If he can have a mind of his own outside Obasanjo and some others, he would make a great president. But if he makes himself a ‘wrapper’ to them, then he would fail like Obasanjo failed.

2011 ELECTIONS
I believe we would have free and fair Elections next year. Otherwise, then Nigeria could go into disintegration. But Nigeria will not go into disintegration because Nigerian does not only have a future, she has a mission. And that mission must be fulfilled. Even when Christ came and Darkness was all over the earth. The earth was going for premature disintegration. But God saved the situation. If Christ had not come, the earth would have gone into premature disintegration. And we who would have experienced the School of Life here would have gone back to Paradise as uncultured beings.

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In the next 25 years Nigeria would be a World Power- anchored on Spiritual Recognition. The Light is there. But the Darkness never relents wherever the Light is active. But Darkness will never win any battle against the Light. Miraculously – only God knows how – Nigeria would be re-structured. . . Nigeria would be among the ten World Powers in the year 2020. After the Jews and the Germans, Nigerians are the next port of call.
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NIGERIA
In the next 25 years Nigeria would be a World Power- anchored on Spiritual Recognition. The Light is there. But the Darkness never relents wherever the Light is active. But Darkness will never win any battle against the Light. Miraculously – only God knows how – Nigeria would be re-structured. There would be more cooperation than competition. Nigeria would be among the ten World Powers in the year 2020. After the Jews and the Germans, Nigerians are the next port of call. The people are already being reincarnated. High quality Spiritual beings are amassing to carry out the task. It would be a Quantum jump; like a big bang. In a short time, all the infrastructures in Nigeria would be working – power, rail, school, hospitals… Take the cue in Lagos. In just three years, Lagos is working. There are some states where things are working.

PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
Strive for the Spiritual in your thoughts, in your words and in your actions. I don’t discuss people; I discuss issues. Check out my column in the Vanguard. Whatever you sow, you will reap. You sow with your thoughts, with your words and with your actions – they will all bear fruit. Every person becomes what he is by his behaviour.

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