Cleric Backs Buhari’s Anti-corruption War, Subsidy Removal … Laments silence on Christians’ plight

Cleric Backs Buhari’s Anti-corruption War, Subsidy Removal
… Laments silence on Christians’ plight
Sunday Okobi
In order to sanitise the system and rid the economy of various blockages, a prominent Christian leader in Nigeria and head of Wordbase Assembly Church, Lagos, Bishop Humphrey Erumaka, has rallied all Nigerians to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against corruption and the planned removal of oil subsidy.
The clergyman lamented that the economy is desperately down; therefore, all Nigerians must back the present administration to come up with measures that will help cushion the effects of the present global economic downturn.
“We shall all overcome the current economic, political and social problems,” he declared, adding that:  “We should be focused and pray for our president, support him in the areas we can because kings are made by God. I implore both the Muslims and Christians to accept Buhari as God’s choice to lead us this period. Working with him, not fighting him will help us. Nigerians should cooperate with the president even in the area of anti-corruption for the good of the country, even if not all the stolen monies are recovered, his anti-corruption stance will put a check in the heart of whoever that is in government that there is a day of accountability.”
Erumaka who made the clarion call to all Nigerians at a recent press conference to herald the annual sixth edition of ‘Festival of Power Prayer Crusade 2016’ taking place at Okota, Lagos, from January 4 to 17, meanwhile, decried he plight of Christians in the North-east region, saying: “Their pain should be felt, echoed and ameliorated all over the country because endurance has elastic limited. We don’t want this country to explode or implode; therefore fairness should be the government watchword.”
According to him, “With all perimeters of evaluation, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong in probing the activities of the past administration, but let it be done without losing focus on the people’s welfare because what is ahead of us is greater than what is behind us. Corruption has really dragged us as a nation backward. From my interaction with a lot of people, especially this Christmas, I learnt that many Nigerians are celebrating the yuletide in pain because of lack of resources. Things seem not to be moving financially well, and the economy is desperately down, therefore, the present administration needs our support to salvage the situation.
“Our economy has been oil-dependent, and it’s like oil is failing us right now. But for a nation as big as Nigeria, with the various mineral resources imbedded in our land among other endowments, this is the time the leadership of the country should rise up and give the people alternatives. I also subscribe to the removal of fuel subsidy so that whether it is by importation or local refining, let there be strong competition in the oil industry, and all over the world, the pump price of oil has also dropped.
 
In Nigeria, the crude oil price has dropped, which means the refineries are getting crude oil at a very cheap price, and put in a little to refine it. So there is no reason for us to even pay N87 per litre. If there is competition in the oil sector; you will find out that petrol is supposed to be sold as low as N60 because crude oil price has gone down tremendously.
“So President Buhari government should be courageous to remove the oil subsidy and things will normalize in their own accord.”
 
 
While encouraging Nigerians to believe in their government, he quoted the scripture saying ‘we shall hear rumours of wars but we should be of courage because the end has not yet come’, “so to all Nigerians, no matter the tribulation, the rumours, the end has not yet come.”
 
On the alleged nonchalance of Christians leaders over perceived persecution of Christians globally, he said he does not believe that Christian leaders have done nothing on the issue. “For instance, Nigeria is one of the Christian nations with a louder voice on the matter, Nigerians are speaking out against it and the Pope is equally speaking loudly against Christians’ persecution and violence worldwide.
The cleric added that: “The Nigerian government has also been silent on the plight of Christians in the country. For instance, there are reports that former National Security Adviser, Col Mohammed Dasuki (rtd),  gave out money to individuals and private public organisations to cushion the effect of Boko Haram attacks but the Christian community was neglected by the same government, not even a penny was given out to rebuild destroyed churches and rehabilitate demoralized Christians.
“The present administration should therefore learn from what happened to the past government and avoid the mistake it made before with their insensitivity to the plight of the Christians. The pains of Christians in the North-east should be felt, echoed ameliorated all over the country because endurance has elastic limited. We don’t want this country to explode or implode; therefore fairness should be their watchword.”
Still on the persecution of Christians, Erumaka further said: “The only difference is that the doctrine of Christians does not allow us to march violence with violence, and apparently, violence is a louder voice than peace. But because people like ISIS and other terrorist groups are killing people and we are not retaliating does not mean we are not speaking against it. Also, in the past, United Nations was a very loud voice for Christian but its current leadership and that of United States are softer on global violence than past leaderships. It is not only about religious extremism, every form of violence must be discouraged. We cannot also forget the contributions of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the North-east region.
It is therefore the government, not Christian leaders that are silent over their plight.”

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