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.”
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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