By Abraham Oladipupo
The Anglican Bishop of Ibadan Diocese, The Most Revd Joseph Akinfenwa has advised Nigerians to put their focus on God and stop depending on government because according to him, those in government seem set in their ways.
He made the submission while speaking to Church Times after delivering the charge at the Diocese’s 24th Synod.
The event held during the week at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Inalende, Ibadan.
Revd Akinfenwa noted that Nigerian leaders are not in want of positive advice that could move the nation forward but have always turned deaf ears to such good pieces of advice
‘Our leaders have chosen their paths and not many words could bring them back. They have continued to turn deaf ears to the plight of the poor.’ Akinfenwa said.
According to him, the responsibility of the Church is to pray and give direction which he said the church has been doing.
‘From when I came into the ministry our leaders have always spoken against evil, misdirection, misjudgment and misunderstandings of the leadership in the political sector and when I assumed duty, I have joined them in looking at ithe problem of Nigeria critically critically to try to show them the way”. He said.
Despite all the efforts at trying to make Nigeria better through wise counsel the Anglican Bishop said there has been no visible result..
He said, “The Anglican, the Catholic, the Pentecostal, The C & S and many other denominations have continued to speak up and I am one of those who have been sending messages through internet, emails and other media every Sunday but the sad thing is that our political leaders cannot hear”.
While insisting that Nigerian leaders are deaf to the yearnings of the people, he said “There is something the Yoruba call dedere, it has blocked their ears. No matter what you say what they want to do is already in their mind and that is what they will do and that is what they always do and once they fall and fail they call on the church again o come and pray, rescue the situation”.
Akinfenwa however called on the Church not to lose hope in prayer and must continue to pray. “We only need to focus on praying to God who is almighty God as our theme at this synod implied. We should also pray that God will create a new path, to touch the hearts of wicked leaders and bring them back to reasoning”.
The highly respected clergy made it clear that joy is coming when he added that, “We must not lose hope in prayers because the joy of this country is coming but it will come at great cost. God is giving them time to see if they will change”.
