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Tag: conflicts

  • Military adopts gender policy to protect women, children during conflicts

    Military adopts gender policy to protect women, children during conflicts

    The Defence Headquarters says the asymmetric nature of current security challenges in the country has made the military and other security agencies adopt a more realistic gender mainstreaming strategy to defend and protect women and children during conflicts.

    It also said that the Armed Forces of Nigeria has attained 27.9 per cent female participation in peace support operations as against the 17 per cent benchmark recommended by the United Nations (UN).

    The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, said this at a one-day Gender Mainstreaming Conference organized by the Defence Headquarters Abuja on Thursday, November 9.

    He said the Nigerian military had received encomium from the UN and the Africa Union (AU) for adopting commendable gender mainstreaming policies in all its military operations within and outside Nigeria.

    The CDS said: “The available record reveals that the Armed Forces of Nigeria have been able to attain 27.9 per cent female participation in peacekeeping operations.

    “These deliberate efforts by the military are in line with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, mandating countries to develop their own action plans to identify, evaluate and control efforts to achieve the objectives of Women, Peace and Security.

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    “The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was mooted to ensure women and societal security needs are safeguarded through increased emphasis on prevention, protection and participation of women in military operations.”

    Gen. Musa said the conference, themed as “Building Capacity Through Gender Mainstreaming to meet Security Challenges” was tailored at fashioning out the right ambience for the Nigerian military in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating operational and administrative doctrines that would promote and enhance their capacity to combat the myriads of security challenges.

    He urged all participants and stakeholders to be open minded to engage in constructive discussions that would further improve the existing gender policies and gender mainstreaming in the military.
    Musa reiterated that the armed forces under his command would remain focused in championing gender based doctrinal policies both in its operations and other engagements.

    The UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, commended the Federal Government’s efforts in promoting gender mainstreaming in the nation’s armed forces.

    Mohammed said the conference was apt in building on the Gender Policies for the Armed Forces of Nigeria that was launched in 2021, adding that Nigeria, like many other nations, faces many security challenges, both the national and regional levels.

    The UN scribe said the UN would continue to support the federal government in its efforts to deepen gender inclusiveness and bridge the gender gaps in the armed forces.

    She said that the challenges had far reaching consequences, particularly for the most vulnerable members of society, such as women and children.
    According to her, the Nigerian armed forces had continued to play pivotal roles in both preventing and responding to those security challenges while upholding human rights and safeguarding the nation’s security.

    Mohammed said: “Gender mainstreaming is crucial to the peace process during and after conflict because it sits at the heart of our Sustainable Development Goals.

    “Study after study has demonstrated that when we strengthen women’s resilience and leadership, everyone benefits, including men and boys.

    “Women are more likely to foster inclusive modes of governance and coexistence, more likely to build peace and silence against, and more likely to invest in sustainable development and a cornerstone of peaceful, prosperous communities and societies.

    “Women’s active participation and leadership at all levels is essential to building an inclusive, responsive, and accountable armed forces that reflects the diversity of the community service and better response to their needs.”

    The British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Gill Atkinson, said the role of women in policy making in the defence, insecurity and operational frontline had grown and become steadily more important.

    Atkinson said the UK and Nigeria had adopted and domesticated UNSCR 1325, which had made the role of women in peace and security fundamental to the future of the nations’ defence and security.

    She said that Nigeria had shown its commitment to the resolution in many ways such as in the protection of survivors of sexual violence, supporting the call to action to ensure the rights and well-being of children born of sexual violence in conflict.

    According to her, inclusive military and security organizations are the key to helping them meet the standards set out in these agreements.

    “But I think it’s important too that we understand and pay tribute to the women at the grassroots who are working with their communities and upwards through the system to bring peace and security, reconciliation and support both the women and the men in their communities.

    “We must make sure that gender considerations are fully integrated into policy, practices and operational environment and the armed forces can lead the way,” she said.

  • FEC okays N27.4b for states affected by flooding, conflicts

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved N27.4 billion for intervention in states ravaged by flooding and conflicts.

    This was made known by Kebbi State Governor Atiku bagudu who doubles as Vice Chairman of the National Food Security Council.

    He briefed State House reporters after about seven hours of deliberation at the weekly FEC meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House,  Abuja.

    Bagudu said the FEC approved N18.9 billion for intervention in 14 states ravaged by flooding.

    Noting that the list of the states is not exhaustive, he said that the intervention will take form of seedlings, fertilisers among other items.

    According to him, 163,117 beneficiaries would be covered in the affected states, adding that FEC approved N8.5 billion for intervention in states ravaged by conflicts.

    Some of the states to benefit are: Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara.

    According to him, 69,872 people will benefit from the intervention.

    He said: “FEC considered and approved two memos from the national food security council. First it approved the intervention for states that have been affected by conflicts and insecurity, where many have been displaced from their homes and some are living in Internally Displaced Persons camps.

    “While support has been given in terms of accommodation, food, welfare, the national food security council considered the importance of helping them restore their livelihood activities, particularly agricultural activity. Council approved the memo by Mr. President and approved N8, 558,529,755 for intervention in Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

    “The beneficiaries are estimated about 69,872 people. The intervention includes provision of fertilizer, seedlings, chemicals, poultry and animals to enable them resume economic activity.

    “Secondly, council considered and approved the submission which originated from national food security council on states that have been severely affected by flooding. It is not an exhaustive list because the National Emergency Management Agency statutorily provides all states that experience one emergency or the other.

    “Last year, there was unusual amount of flooding in some states about 14 of them and the national Food Security Council considered the impact of that flooding on the agricultural sector, food security, animal husbandry and fisheries. And so, today the council approved an intervention totally N18, 942,818,912.14.

    “Contracts would be awarded to 15 companies to provide seedlings, agro chemicals and fertilizers to 163,117 beneficiaries located in 14 states.

    “The states are Adamawa, Anambra, Beyelsa, Benue, Delta, Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto and Taraba.

    “As part of the work of national food security council, other interventions have been considered and are being worked upon by the beneficiary community and also the livestock sector.”

    On his part, Environment Minister Suleiman Hassan said that the Council also approved another tranche of five contracts totaling N3.09 billion for continuation of remedial work on Ogoni land environmental reclamation project.

    The reclamation project is sequel to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report, for which Buhari flagged off the project in 2016. Sixteen contracts had earlier been awarded for the project.

    He explained that the five lots were brought to the FEC because it was above the threshold of the ministerial tenders’ board unlike the first 16 lots that passed through the board.

    Other approvals by the FEC, according to Education Minister

  • How Buhari‘ll end violent conflicts, by Presidency

    How Buhari‘ll end violent conflicts, by Presidency

    The Presidency yesterday gave the road map of how President Muhammadu Buhari will end violent conflicts across the country.

    A conference of stakeholders on infrastructural and agricultural development to put in place a plan for immediate relief and long-term plan for the expansion of agriculture is in the offing.

    The conference, according to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant  on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, will tap into experiences and best practices to draw up a planned development 20-30 years ahead based on population and development projections and will take into consideration environmental impacts.

    The statement said: “President Muhammadu Buhari has been concerned about these conflicts each time he received those very gruesome pictures of mayhem from several parts of the country, especially as it affected Benue and neighbouring states. He is equally worried about some public pronouncements and finger-pointing that are, in most cases very unhelpful to peaceful coexistence of our diverse peoples.

    “The President is conscious of his duty to Nigerians, not least because he is held accountable for everything that goes wrong. He deeply sympathizes with the families and all the other direct and indirect victims of this violence. He is determined to bring it to a permanent end.

    “While there are many Nigerians who see the conflict between the nomadic herdsmen and peasant farmers as an ethnic problem, others point to religious differences and agenda.  The President does not subscribe to such simplistic reductionism.

    “President Buhari holds the view, as do many experts, that these conflicts are more often than not, as a result of major demographic changes in Nigeria.  When Nigeria attained independence, the population of the country was estimated at about 63,000,000.  Today the population is estimated at close to 200,000,000; while the land size has not changed and will not change.  Urban sprawl and development have simply reduced land area both for peasant farming and cattle grazing.

    “It is therefore both unfair and unkind, for anyone to keep insinuating that the President is condoning the spate of killings in Benue and other neighboring States.

    “President Buhari has publicly condemned the violence at every turn. He is prepared to permit every possible step that can lead to the stoppage of the killings. It is on account of this he brushed aside an opinion that the federal government should challenge the constitutionality of the anti-open grazing bill. He wanted to give a chance to the State government to succeed in stopping the senseless killings.

    “It will be recalled that as he did in dealing with the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria, which required sustained action from the governstead sit down with the government and security forces and carry everyone along in finding an all-embracing solution.”

  • APC post-primary conflicts resolved, says Tinubu

    APC post-primary conflicts resolved, says Tinubu

    All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said at the weekend that the new local government chairmen and councillors, who were elected by Lagosians, will complement the efforts of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the grassroots.

    He said democracy would continue to thrive at the local government level through periodic election of leaders to serve the people.

    Tinubu, who voted at Polling Unit 447, Ward F, Sunday Adigun Street, Alausa, Ikeja around 12.15 pm on Saturday, noted that the exercise was peaceful, judging by reports that reached him.

    He lauded the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) officials and security agents for the peaceful exercise.

    The former Lagos State governor told reporters that the election was a significant leap in the APC’s quest to sustain the tempo of growth across the 57 councils.

    The former governor acknowledged the crisis that engulfed the party ahead of the primary, saying that it was normal in politics and democracy.

    He said the high number of chairmanship and councillorship aspirants generated conflicts, which were later resolved by the party’s leadership.

    Tinubu said: “When we have 57 local governments and there is an average of 13 people who want to be chairman in each council, that is the popularity of your party. They are entitled to their aspirations and intentions. But, you can only have one chairman; you can only have one vice chairman, you can only have one councillor in a ward. You have to reconcile and resolve all the conflicts. And we have done so. When you are in politics, you should expect that level of anxiety.”

    The party leader defended the automatic tickets to former 18 local government chairmen, saying that they had lived up to expectation in their first term.

    He said no aspirant was disqualified or edged out of the primary, stressing that the APC cannot abrogate the political rights of its members.

    He added: “There is no state that is more secure than Lagos. Take that one. You should score Lagos excellent. Score Southwest excellent. And for development, you can see it yourself. Otherwise, I will loan you my glasses. You can see that development going on at the grassroots level. That is why the apex leadership rewarded the exceptional 18 local government chairmen that concentrated well on scholarship, school rehabilitation and problem of sanitation. That is why the leadership endorsed them for the second term.

    “And we were very transparent about it. We said it openly. That is leadership; the apex leadership of the party. We didn’t say don’t contest. We didn’t say don’t run. We didn’t say don’t vote. We didn’t say that you are either disqualified or you have no right. No. Nobody abrogated anybody’s right to vote.

    “Where you have complaints, you watch out for personal interest or complaint. You find individual who had been indulged in personalising their local government. When you take that opportunity from them, you see the combustion. That is the problem. You have to live with it in any democratic exercise. You have to be patient, be tolerant and leadership blame must occur. That’s leadership in earnest. But, this is Lagos too.”

  • How we’re addressing conflicts in Kaduna – El-Rufai

    How we’re addressing conflicts in Kaduna – El-Rufai

    Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai said that the state government is employing peaceful means to resolve conflicts in the state, and it will continue to do so.

    Governor El-Rufai said, his government’s approach to conflicts resolution has given room for steady progress and development in Kaduna State despite the pocket of conflicts.

    The Governor stated this on Kaduna at the opening ceremony of a summit on promoting peace, democracy and stability in Nigeria organized by Journalists for Democratic Rights.

    El-Rufai who was represented by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, however used the occasion to caution journalists to be guided by the ethics of journalism in their reportage.

    He urged journalists to see themselves as agents of peace and development, adding that, “promotion of peace is the responsibility of the media, traditional rulers, religious and community leaders.”

    Speaking, earlier, the Executive Director of the Journalists for Democratic Rights, Mr. Adewale Adeoye expressed worry that Nigeria was faced with unnecessary violence and bloodletting.

    He said it is worrisome that many Nigerians today have no access to food, stressing that, “many of our people go hungry from morning to night without any hope of what to eat.”

    “We are also facing challenges of bitter ethnic contest, our country remains deeply divided. There is lack of an inspiring national spirit.

    There are killings on-going in Southern Kaduna, youth have taken up arms against the state in North-East,” he added.

    He however said that, time has come for the people to wake up and champion the peace-building mechanism for the sake of the country children and its generations yet to come.

    Adeoye commended the prompt response of the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to the last week’s quit notice issued to the Igbos by Northern youths, by ordering the arrest of the youths.

    He said, Kaduna as the melting pot of the country must always be protected against any form crisis, as it can easily spread to every part of Nigeria.

     

  • Conflicts force 25m children out of school, says UNICEF

    Conflicts force 25m children out of school, says UNICEF

    No fewer than 25 million children are kept out of school by violent conflicts, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said.
    UNICEF Chief of Education Josephine Bourne, said: “Conflict and violence has driven more than 25 million children between six and 15 years old – about 22 per cent of children in that age group – from schools in war zones across 22 countries.
    “At no time is education more important than in times of war. Without education, how will children reach their full potential and contribute to the future and stability of their families, communities and economies?
    “Schools also provide a safe haven to children, protecting them from risks of abuse, exploitation and recruitment by armed groups.
    “However, in numerous conflict zones around the globe, the number of children out of school is increasing dramatically.”
    According to UNICEF, at the primary school level, South Sudan has the highest rate of out-of-school children with close to 72 per cent of children missing out on education, followed by Chad (50 per cent) and Afghanistan (46 per cent).
    These three countries also account for highest rate of girls who are out of school, at 76 per cent for South Sudan, Afghanistan (55 per cent) and Chad (53 per cent).
    Similarly, at the lower-secondary level, the highest rates are in Niger (68 per cent), South Sudan (60 per cent) and the Central African Republic (55 per cent).
    UNICEF said out-of-school rates for girls spike for this age group: nearly three quarters of girls in Niger and two in three in both Afghanistan and the Central African Republic are not in school.
    To help raise awareness on the challenges that children affected and uprooted by conflict face in accessing school, UNICEF has been working with Muzoon Almellehan, a 19-year-old Syrian refugee and education activist.
    Almellehan fled the violence in her home country about four years ago with her school books as her only belongings.
    She spent nearly three years in Jordan, including 18 months in Za’atari refugee camp, where she made it her personal mission to get more girls into education, UNICEF said, noting that she went from tent to tent talking to parents to encourage them to send their children to school.
    Almellehan has travelled to areas affected by conflict, including Chad and Nigeria and spoken to children facing these challenges, UNICEF said.
    “Conflict can take away your friends, your family, your livelihood, your home. It can try to strip you of your dignity, identity, pride and hope. But it can never take away your knowledge. Meeting children in Chad who had fled Boko Haram reminded me of my own experiences in Syria. Education gave me the strength to carry on. I wouldn’t be here without it,” UNICEF quoted Almellehan as saying.
    UNICEF said it was running programes to get children back to learning, providing catch-up education and informal learning opportunities, training teachers, rehabilitating schools and distributing school furniture and supplies.
    It, however, said in spite of these efforts, funding shortfalls are affecting its efforts and only 40 per cent of the UN agency’s 2017 education funding needs in Chad have been met.

  • Why we have conflicts, by Buhari

    Why we have conflicts, by Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has listed poverty, injustice and lack of jobs as being responsible for inter-communal and intra-communal conflicts in the country.

    He spoke while receiving a delegation from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, an organisation active in the promotion of peace.

    Buhari, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said to achieve peace, greater effort must be made to eradicate poverty and injustice.

    He described ethnic and religious conflicts in parts of the country as outward manifestations of underlying joblessness, injustice and poverty.

    On conflicts between farmers and herdsmen, the President said a plan to map out grazing areas would be presented to the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) as a temporary solution to the conflicts until cattle owners are persuaded to adopt other means of rearing their cattle.

    Buhari hailed the centre for the relative peace in Plateau State as well as their activity in Southern Kaduna.

    He agreed with the centre that dialogue was preferable to the use of law and order mechanisms to resolve conflicts.

    The centre’s Executive Director, David Harland, told the President that following their success in facilitating the settlement of the inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts in Plateau State, the group had moved to Kaduna State.

    He hoped that the techniques used in bringing peace to Plateau State could soon be deployed to deal with the Boko Haram insurgency and other conflicts.

  • How artistic performances resolve conflicts

    The first stakeholders parley by the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) was held in Lagos last week.  At the parley, the Artistic Director of the Troupe, Mr. Akin Adejuwon used the opportunity to unveil his plans to make the Troupe attain more heights to justify the transformation agenda of the federal government.  It was an opportunity for various interest groups and artistes and other stakeholders who have been working for the good of the Troupe to make their own contributions on how to ensure that the performative aspects of the National Troupe of Nigeria is maintained if not surpassed.

    Adejuwon stated that henceforth the primary assignment of the Troupe is to discover new talented artistes and encourage them to attain their goals in life as professionals.  With these new artistes, it is hoped that the National Troupe assignments would not only become more widespread in outlook, but is also geared towards reaching out to a greater number of people both at home and abroad.

    He said: “We intend to begin this revival project with a three state tour scheduled for this November.  We will organize two festivals.  The first, is the Domestic Festival of Performing Arts.  The other is an Abuja International Festival of Performing Arts.  The maiden edition of the first one is planned for 2015 while subsequent editions will be rotated among the states.  The second one will happen first in Abuja 2016 to make the federal capital territory feel the pulse of the Troupe in its epitome.”

    On the whole, Adejuwon intends to make Nigerian soldiers be a part of the tempo of this performative tendency of the Troupe.  In this regard, he said, “the present security situation in the country brings the import of this arm of government to the fore.  We will represent this importance through our performative expressions and then promote same.  Interestingly, we have just been invited to perform at the Nigerian Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration 2014.  I therefore consider this performance by the Troupe a unique one.  Apart from being the first foot forward within my vision of making the Troupe current and relevant in the Nigerian scheme of things, I see the performance which is billed to take place at the Aso Rock presidential Villa Banquet hall before a select audience of the president, his family and all service chiefs as a way of deploying the performative expression in a conflict environment.”

    Adejuwon also promised to maintain most of the old programmes of the Troupe in order to continue to promote the indices of the art, “since the National Troupe is the apex of Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage.

    In his keynote speech, Professor Sunday Idodo of the University of Maiduguri and the President of the Society of Nigerian Artistes, (SONTA) highlighted the need for the Troupe to be more visible.  In his theme, the performative expressions in a conflict environment, he stated that an active National troupe should be in the forefront of making the whole people, the whole nation and indeed everybody to see, feel, watch and gain from its numerous, constant and engaging performances spread across the nation.

    He said “In the creative enterprise conflict is a constant, especially in the performative genre.  The preoccupation of any drama for instance is to generate conflicts and resolve them.  These conflicts are also derive from human experiences and engagements with his/her environment.  When conflicts are stimulated or imagined, they are also placed within plausible context of human appreciation.  The capacity of the performing arts to interrogate human condition and proffer solutions is innate to drama and the art forms of music and dance can add value and substance to the conflicts.  No one watches a theatrical piece without taking one or two lessons home apart from its entertainment values.

    The beauty of performative expression is its captivating intensity to hold spell bound an audience to a recreated world of imaginative reality that an audience can hardly dissociate itself from.  In other words, when a performative expression is well constructed and presented it does have a hold on its audience and capable of influencing and transforming them too.  It is on this account that the role the theatre can play as a change agent and as agency of mediation in conflict resolution can be understood.”  This is what we expect the National Troupe to be doing constantly.

    In the meantime the troupe is embarking on a three-state tour of Kogi, Ekiti and Kwara from 19 to 26 of this month  with different performances.

  • How artistic performances resolve conflicts

    How artistic performances resolve conflicts

    The first stakeholders parley by the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) was held in Lagos last week.  At the parley, the Artistic Director of the Troupe, Mr. Akin Adejuwon used the opportunity to unveil his plans to make the Troupe attain more heights to justify the transformation agenda of the federal government.  It was an opportunity for various interest groups and artistes and other stakeholders who have been working for the good of the Troupe to make their own contributions on how to ensure that the performative aspects of the National Troupe of Nigeria is maintained if not surpassed.

    Adejuwon stated that henceforth the primary assignment of the Troupe is to discover new talented artistes and encourage them to attain their goals in life as professionals.  With these new artistes, it is hoped that the National Troupe assignments would not only become more widespread in outlook, but is also geared towards reaching out to a greater number of people both at home and abroad.

    He said: “We intend to begin this revival project with a three state tour scheduled for this November.  We will organize two festivals.  The first, is the Domestic Festival of Performing Arts.  The other is an Abuja International Festival of Performing Arts.  The maiden edition of the first one is planned for 2015 while subsequent editions will be rotated among the states.  The second one will happen first in Abuja 2016 to make the federal capital territory feel the pulse of the Troupe in its epitome.”

    On the whole, Adejuwon intends to make Nigerian soldiers be a part of the tempo of this performative tendency of the Troupe.  In this regard, he said, “the present security situation in the country brings the import of this arm of government to the fore.  We will represent this importance through our performative expressions and then promote same.  Interestingly, we have just been invited to perform at the Nigerian Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration 2014.  I therefore consider this performance by the Troupe a unique one.  Apart from being the first foot forward within my vision of making the Troupe current and relevant in the Nigerian scheme of things, I see the performance which is billed to take place at the Aso Rock presidential Villa Banquet hall before a select audience of the president, his family and all service chiefs as a way of deploying the performative expression in a conflict environment.”

    Adejuwon also promised to maintain most of the old programmes of the Troupe in order to continue to promote the indices of the art, “since the National Troupe is the apex of Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage.

    In his keynote speech, Professor Sunday Idodo of the University of Maiduguri and the President of the Society of Nigerian Artistes, (SONTA) highlighted the need for the Troupe to be more visible.  In his theme, the performative expressions in a conflict environment, he stated that an active National troupe should be in the forefront of making the whole people, the whole nation and indeed everybody to see, feel, watch and gain from its numerous, constant and engaging performances spread across the nation.

    He said “In the creative enterprise conflict is a constant, especially in the performative genre.  The preoccupation of any drama for instance is to generate conflicts and resolve them.  These conflicts are also derive from human experiences and engagements with his/her environment.  When conflicts are stimulated or imagined, they are also placed within plausible context of human appreciation.  The capacity of the performing arts to interrogate human condition and proffer solutions is innate to drama and the art forms of music and dance can add value and substance to the conflicts.  No one watches a theatrical piece without taking one or two lessons home apart from its entertainment values.

    The beauty of performative expression is its captivating intensity to hold spell bound an audience to a recreated world of imaginative reality that an audience can hardly dissociate itself from.  In other words, when a performative expression is well constructed and presented it does have a hold on its audience and capable of influencing and transforming them too.  It is on this account that the role the theatre can play as a change agent and as agency of mediation in conflict resolution can be understood.”  This is what we expect the National Troupe to be doing constantly.

  • ‘Conflicts,same sex marriage, signs of end-time’

    Increase in conflicts and terrorism among nations and the ordination of gay men as bishops are some of the signs predicted in the Bible as an indication of the end-time.

    That was the view of the founder of Chapel of Faith Bible Assembly International, Bishop Emeka Nwankpa, who spoke yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra State.

    He was addressing the congregation at a two-day programme for women expecting the fruit of the womb titled: “For the fruit of the womb”.

    Nwankpa said the signs that the world was ending had become convincing, as gay men, who flouted God’s injunction, were ordained as bishops in Western countries, making a mockery of Christianity.

    He urged women to abstain from lesbianism and other immoralities, as they are sinful.

    Over 700 women across the state testified at the programme, organised every three months.