The Nation Newspaper

Tag: religious leaders

  • N7b bribe: PDP is blackmailing religious leaders, says El-Rufai

    The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government of blackmailing religious leaders, to weaken their moral authority.

    El-Rufai, who addressed reporters yesterday, was reacting to an allegation that the Federal Government gave N7billion and N12billion to the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Islamic bodies, to campaign for President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The APC standard-bearer said Imams were invited for a seminar in Kaduna, organised by the Office of Vice President Namadi Sambo, on how to achieve a violence-free poll.

    According to him, the Islamic clerics attended the occasion innocently, thinking they were there to seek a way forward for successful elections, “but their pictures were taken and circulated to the media, with an allegation of receiving N7billion for the Jonathan campaign.”

    The former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who noted that CAN was also blackmailed, said the allegations had pitched the Islamic and Christian clerics against their followers.

    He added: “The plan of the PDP-led government is to undermine their reputation and blackmail them in such a way that religious leaders can not tell their followers the truth about the way the country is being mismanaged.”

    El-Rufai recalled that that was how the revered  traditional institution in the North was desecrated in 2011 and the people almost rose up against some emirs during and after the elections.

    He warned people not to fall into the PDP’s ambush by insinuating allegations against religious leaders, saying they remained the only institution people listened to, because the ruling party had compromised traditional institutions.

    According to him, monarchs and religious leaders are used as shock absorbers for suing for peace during upheavals, such as war or crisis.

    “The traditional institution has been weakened by the government. So we shouldn’t allow religious bodies and clerics, who are the last line of defence, to be destroyed by PDP,” the APC governorship candidate added.

    He promised that an APC government in Kaduna State and at the centre would restore the lost glory of the traditional institutions and religious leaders and organisations.

     

  • Primate to religious leaders: don’t encourage ethnicity

    Primate to religious leaders: don’t encourage ethnicity

    The Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, has urged clerics and religious leaders to preach unity and dwell less on ethnicity, which he said can destroy the church and the country.

    Okoh said the absence of unity in the church is affecting the nation’s progress.

    He spoke yesterday in Abuja at the launch of the activities marking the 25th anniversary of the Diocese of Abuja, Anglican Communion, with the theme: “Celebrating the Faithfulness of God”.

    The diocese, created from Kaduna Diocese on November 26, 1989, has eight arch-deaconries. It has produced two dioceses, namely Diocese of Kubwa and Diocese of Gwagwalada.

    Okoh said the church and the country suffered the same problem, and the church could salvage the country.

    According to him, the nation made a slow progress, following disunity among the citizens.

    “The challenge affecting the country, which is also affecting the church, is ethnicity, the absence of unity. You will agree with me that today we have a nation, but we are not united. If we are united, our country would have made much progress,” he said.

    The Primate added: “We (Anglican Church) want to unite the people in the church and make ethnicity  less attractive. Hopefully, by the grace of God, we will extend it to the country.

    “In the church, we want to teach it, emphasise it, make everybody accept it and give it as a gift to the nation, so that anybody who has gone through the teaching of the church will have no difficulty interacting with people from any part of the country.”

  • NSCDC boss, NUJ, Bode Ola, religious leaders, banks mourn Olayinka

    Senator Bode Ola; the national leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ); the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti; the Ansar-Ur-Deen Society of Nigeria (AUD) and the General Overseer of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Bishop Francis Wale-Oke, yesterday visited Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi to condole with him on the death of his deputy, Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka.

    The Assistant Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Zone F, Mr. Oladipo Jacob; the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Reginald Ihejiahi and his ECOBANK counterpart, Mr. Jibril Aku, also visited the governor.

    Ola said the late Olayinka contributed a lot to the state’s growth.

    The Ekiti Catholic Diocese, led by the Vicar-General, Very Rev. Father Felix Odesanmi, said the deceased was a key player in the Fayemi administration.

    He said Christians would continue to pray for the administration’s success.

    Bishop Wale-Oke prayed God to avert evil from the state and sustain the peace there.

    AUD National Missioner Sheikh AbdulRaham Ahmad led members of the Muslim society.

    Aku said Ecobank was “proud of the late deputy governor’s achievements and would be greatly missed by the Ecobank family and the good people of Ekiti State”.

    The late Mrs. Olayinka worked with Ecobank before joining politics in 2006. She worked in the financial sector for 21 years.

    The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) also condoled with Fayemi.

    The union, led by its Deputy National President, Mr. Rotimi Obamuagun, said Fayemi and the late Mrs. Olayinka fought hard to “salvage Ekiti’s democracy from the hands of the oppressors”.

    It urged the governor to handle her death with “philosophical calmness” and pursue the vision they shared.

    The union urged the Federal Government to establish more cancer centres across the country.

    The state chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) said the late Mrs. Olayinka did her best to complement Fayemi’s grassroots development drive.”

    In a statement by the Special Assistant to the Governor on ALGON Affairs, Mr. Gbenga Sodeinde, the association said: “She handled ALGON matters with keen interest. She coordinated our activities with a sense of direction. She showed pragmatism and made observations with a keen sense of patriotism whenever she inspected the five-kilometer road projects in each of the 16 local government areas.

    “She was an asset. She possessed the rare qualities of courage, hard work, cheerfulness, care, decency and sane politics. She was a dogged and competent personality. We are, however, consoled that she left her indelible foot prints on the sand of time, having excelled in her banking profession and later in politics.”

    The funeral rites for the late deputy governor would begin in Lagos on Tuesday with a service of songs and a commendation service.

    Her remains would be flown to the airport in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Wednesday, from where she would be taken to Ado-Ekiti, her hometown, in a motorcade. She will be buried on Friday.