Gbenro Adesina
The Presiding Pastor of Livingspring Chapel International, Pastor Femi Emmanuel, on Friday November 26, 2021, raised alarm over the myriads of problems facing Nigeria, saying that Nigeria cannot survive under this configuration in the next few years.
Addressing the media on the church forthcoming 2021 Annual Word Lifting Conference themed, “Multiplication”, scheduled to hold between Monday December 13 and 19, 2021, Pastor Emmanuel pointed out that if determined constructive steps are not taken to tackle Nigerian problems, Afghanistan may be better than Nigeria in the next 10 years.
According to him, a major cause of concern in the country is that of insecurity, noting that it has escalated to an alarming proportion in recent times with hundreds of innocent Nigerians being killed on a daily basis for no obvious reasons.
According to him, incidences of armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, rape and incest have dented the image of the country in the international community.
He said, “Precious human lives are being callously wasted without scruple by groups of terrorists both within and outside the country and by misguided religious fundamentalists. Nigeria is under a siege of banditry, assassination, and terrorism. No one is safe anymore. Worst still, the situation is deteriorating by the day. This is totally unacceptable”.
“Without mincing words, Nigeria is in a serious predicament and unless something is done quickly to redress the situation, the country and the entire sub-continent of West Africa stand perilously on the threshold of an explosive and immitigable catastrophe”, he added.
The clergy noted that Nigeria is in a terrible war both with herself and with some invading militias, in different forms and guises.
While stating that he believes in the potency of prayer, he noted that prayer alone is not enough.
He said, “The church community in Nigeria must come to realize that in addition to fervent intersession, we must actually get involved in the affairs of managing and governing the country. We should be involved in all relevant areas including voting, recruiting selecting and putting people in political offices from the local government level to the presidency if we are to see the new Nigeria that we have all earnestly yearned for. We can no longer afford to stand aloof or sit on the fence”.
He stressed, “We can no longer afford to fold our arms and watch ungoldly leaders sinking the ship of this nation. We can no longer afford to watch this present crop of leaders mortgage our future. The church that is supposed to be the light and the salt of the earth can no longer afford to be rendered prostrate by bad governance and ungoldly governmental policies. The church can no longer afford to leave the choice of leaders to those myopic, uneducated and corrupt elements. It is high time the church changed her perspective about politics and woke up to her responsibilities”.
He continued, “You and I know that the crux of Nigeria’s problem is leadership deficit. The worst set of people are ruling us, governing us, making unreasonable laws, putting together hostile and obnoxious policies that are largely retrogressive and of no significant value to the populace. God has blessed this nation beyond measure but the only thing that we lack and urgently need is God fearing, visionary, accurate and accountable leadership to translate a huge human and material wealth into improving the lots of her people”.
He urged church leaders to remove their misconceptions and long held biases against Christians’ involvement in politics, noting that this has made the business of governance to be left to the ungodly ones who eventually make laws that affect everyone negatively.
The clergyman also showed his displeasure against the nation’s constitution which he described as a “Jihadist Constitution” and “Oligarchy Constitution”, which put the whole of the country under one tribe.
He noted that the constitution cannot change except the men of National Assembly are changed and the men at the National Assembly cannot be changed unless Nigerians select people to replace them.
He stated, “This is why the church and patriotic Nigerians must wake up. This country must be restructured. We must go back to true federalism. Nigeria is not one country: it is a negotiated country. Nigeria is a country of many nations tied together by force. How come one ethnic group dominates everybody? Nigeria system is a fraud. Our constitution is a fraud. It is very unfair, very unkind. No equity. It allows the minority to dominate the majority. Nigeria cannot be free until we send away these evil politicians. They must be replaced. Our constitution must be rewritten”.
He urged all Nigerians to collect their voters’ cards and participate actively from the ward level and put good people in power, stressing “No amount of protest, no amount of fasting, and no amount of prayers would take Nigeria back from these evil and wicked politicians. We all must arise”.
