• Religious leaders fuelling graft, says Idowu-Fearon
• Cleric tasks politicians on forgiveness
THE Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Revd. Nicholas Okoh has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that Nigerians reap more benefits in terms of development and peace ‘just as he urged the citizens to support the President to fulfill the pledges.
Meanwhile, Bishop of Kaduna Diocese, Anglican Communion, Dr. Josiah Idowu-Fearon has accused religious leaders in the country of promoting corruption and bad governance by allegedly collecting money from politicians through donations and other means.
In the same vein, the Primate of the African Church, His Grace, Rev. Emmanuel Udofia, has advised politicians in the country to be focused and forgive one another as doing so mark them out as God’s children.
Speaking at the annual Bishops’ Retreat with the theme: ‘Bishop as the overseer, an evangelist, an administrator and a Pastor,’ which ended at the weekend at Ibru Centre, Agbhara-Otor, Delta State, Okoh advised the President to continue to be prayerful and do what was right.
“He has the mandate to govern Nigeria and he should govern prayerfully. Nigerians also should remember that he was overwhelmingly supported for some reasons, they should therefore allow him to fulfill the mandate,” he said.
Okoh reminded Nigerians that the Church has never reneged on fulfilling her role in making prophetic proclamation to both the leaders and the governed in the nation but has no power to enforce what is expected of the government and the citizens to do.
“Representatives of the Church neither attend Senate meetings or the National Executive Council meeting. Yet within the space available to us, I believe we have always been doing what we are supposed to do. Historically, the role of a prophet is to go about making prophetic proclamation and I believe that the Church has carried out her prophetic role which is to draw the attention of the leaders to the needs of the people they are leading at a particular time according to revelation received from God. This we have been fulfilling and we will continue to do so,” he stressed.
“It is another thing if our prophecies are taken seriously by those who ought to benefit from them and the scriptures tells us that it is not the duty of the prophet to ensure that what he prophesies is taken. That should be left to the beneficiary but definitely, judgment awaits anyone who snubs God’s directive,” Okoh said.
He called on Nigerians to walk in the New Year with the fear of God, with love for one another and respect for all to ensure progress in the country. He also reminded those that are predicting bloodshed in 2015 to jettison such ideas.
He said: ‘‘It would be in the interest of all of us as I said on Christmas Day that refugees are not the happiest people and we should not make ourselves refugees either in our nation or any other country in the West African sub-region because no country has the capacity to absorb Nigerians as refugees. We should make sure nobody leads us astray to begin to destroy, burn or tear down the little we have laboured to build.
“It is not justified to say that because the government has not done this or that, we should begin to kill people or start to destroy which will not be justifiable. Government is not the name of anyone and we are all part of the government and we should remember that whatever we do today will be reaped by those innocent children we are giving birth to tomorrow,” he further cautioned.
Okoh said the only way to ensure smooth election come 2015 is for everyone to follow the truth and Jesus, the Prince of Peace says: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” and anyone who follows me will know the Truth,” he said.
“If anyone because he lost election begins to instigate people to go on rampage, he should remember that a lot of innocent souls will be adversely affected and whether he believes it or not, God will bring the perpetrator to judgment.
“No evil will happen irrespective of the negative prophecies by some people if we all do the right,” he said.
Idowu-Fearon explained that Nigerians should not expect politicians who now use religion as a political tool to campaign and win elections to perform wonders in transforming the nation if they continue to dish money to religious leaders in order to sustain their seats in power.
He also chided Christian leaders who have formed the habit of using body guards and retinue of convoy vehicles to transverse around the country, saying that they were now moving away from the teachings of Christ and indulging in worldly activities.
The bishop, while criticising both the Christian and Moslem leaders for condoning corruption in the country, argued that since politicians of Christian and Muslims extractions have disappointed God and the people in tackling graft in the country, they should pave way "for those who are neither Christians nor Muslims to lead the people in 2015 to salvage the country".
Addressing a press conference at the weekend, Idowu-Fearon said it was becoming shameful to have men and women who profess Christianity and Islam, playing politics with religion, stressing that "non-Christians and non-Muslims appeared more truthful and sincere in all respect even though they are not too visible and vocal in the society".
He further expressed disappointment with religious leaders in the country, saying that as long as they could not organise successful and simple elections within their religious community, they have no moral right to tell politicians about how to organise free and fair elections, therefore they should put their houses in order for others to emulate.
He said: “It is a tough thing, but I will want us to either forget about religion or look for people who are neither Muslims nor Christians, but they are more honest to lead us, and we have them. You don’t see them in churches, you don’t see them in mosques, but if they tell you this thing is black, it will be so if you investigate. We have people like that. We need to begin to encourage people to put into practice what our religions teach us.
“There are too many sermons we are hearing all over about how to organise elections, how to do this, how to do that. Let the Christian community live by example, you heard of the Methodist Church election, some people went to court, and so on and so forth.
“These things are not right, you cannot tell me not to steal, and I find you stealing. If the Christian community and the Muslim Ummah cannot organise simple elections, they have no right to tell politicians anything about elections.
“For me, it is leading by example, which is the role I believe the church and the Muslim Ummah should play. Let them do it openly for everybody to see it, whoever the people agreed to be put there, let it be done publicly and creditably so that even those who do not belong to your religious community will be able to say that that community is good. That is what witness is all about on both sides. God made it possible for this country to be put together in 1914. It is on this platform that both Christians and Muslims can hope to continue to be together even after the 2015 general elections.’’
Idowu-Fearon stressed: “What baffles me in this country is our religiosity, if you switch on your television it is about many sermons on how to make money, Fridays, in our mosques, Sundays in our churches, they will be good business. The President is a Christian, the Vice President is a Muslim, our governor in Kaduna is a Muslim, his deputy is a Christian, and this is what we find everywhere.
“In the Eastern part of the country, if the governor is a Catholic, the deputy will be either Anglican or Presbyterian. These are people who go to the mosques, they listen to sermons, these are people who go to our churches, and they listen to our sermons. What sort of sermons are we preaching to these people?
“No matter how you look at these things, because Nigeria is such a religious country, everything comes back to the religious leaders. If a religious leader is straight, he keeps to the tenet of his or her faith, people will follow him. I am looking forward to a time that a politician will bring money and the church now says we are not taking this money.”
Udofia added that as leaders they should be disciplined and be role models, showcasing the qualities of Christ as the light unto other people’s darkness, for the nation, society and the Church.
He made the call at the African Church Salem, Lagos, adding that whatever politicians do now they should remember that one day they will give account to God. “Wherever we are, we are there because God wants us to be there. And one day He will call us to give account of it.”
He urged them to rule with the fear of God. “When they have the fear of God in them they will able to plan well and do what they want to do with passion.”
The cleric also advised Christians who wish to go into politics to do so not with the mind set of making money but to serve.
From Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna), Isaac Taiwo and Adeniyi Idowu Adunola (Lagos)
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