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The entire nation is under siege while the Nigerian government seems helpless, the Bishop of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Diocese of Umuahia Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Ibeabuchi stated this Saturday, while delivering his presidential address at St. Stephen’s Cathederal.
On the occasion of the 13th Diocesan Christian Men Fellowship conference with the theme: “God Knows You (Jeremiah 1:5).
According to him, “The entire nation is under siege while our government seems helpless. It is no longer a rumour that our once beloved country Nigeria has become terribly unsafe. Students and school children are adopted at ease, and people are kidnapped in their houses. Even our military bases, check points and formations are unsafe. Top military men, our gallant soldiers are kidnapped and killed within military cantonments without anybody being arrested.
“Something has gone wrong even within the barracks. In some areas, Farmers now pay taxes in cash or kind before they can access their farmlands in order to plant or to harvest their crops.
“Our Government is expert in sending the military to other regions of the country where there is relative peace and not to the Northern region that has become a shadow of itself”.
The church therefore condemned the “faith ticket of our ruling party (APC)”, all forms of electoral violence during campaigns, voting, all forms of Political thuggery, killing and bloodshed in the name of politics, and vote buying and selling, while demanding that the law enforcement agencies remain non-partisan and professional in the discharge of their responsibilities.
“As at today, there are security alerts from the United States Embassy, the British High Command and Canadian High Command to their citizens respectively to avoid certain areas of Nigeria which have become prone to terrorist attacks, and the collapse of the national grid for the 8” time and high electricity bills to consumers”.
It further stated “we need a totally new civilian constitution made by a sovereign representation of the ethnic nationalities of this country, we are grateful to God that finally the long ASUU strike has been called off or suspended” and expressed its sadness over the poor attention given to Institutions in Nigeria while the politicians and the wealthy train theirs abroad. I wish to move a motion in this conference that the children of our political leaders MUST study in Nigeria. This is the only way to improve our facilities and also take good care of the staff of our institutions of learning”.
On drugs, the church noted, “We are in trouble as a nation. Unless we urgently take actions, we may likely lose our teaming youths to this virus. Our Nation, Nigeria is fast becoming a major drug hub in the globe.
“It is obvious that the present Constitution of Nigeria is not working with so many loopholes. The effort being made by the National Assembly to amend our current constitution is highly commendable. We need a New Citizens-made National Constitution and not the amendment of a military-formulated Constitution.
“The various state Governments including the Federal Government seems to have been overwhelmed by this devastating flood menace. We call on all to come to the aid of those in the various IDP Camps and also request that something drastic measures be done to avert future occurrences.
“In recent times, it has been observed that the rail line around the state is being dismantled and carried away. Unfortunately, nobody seems to be explaining anything to anybody. Can somebody help! What is happening? | am sure that the Federal Government promised sometime last year to build a narrow rail line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, linking up Ajaokuta, Bonny Sea port, etc. Are they now dismantling the rail line in order to commence the work or are they trying to totally disconnect the south Eastern corridor of the rail line? We are watching!
“When Nigeria is busy moving from one level of inflation, recession, economic hardship, unemployment, to the other, some people have been busy feeding fat from our commonwealth in the name of oil theft and bunkering”.
On Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the church said “we join all well-meaning Nigerians to request the Federal Government to seek a political solution to the problem of the South East and leave Mazi Nnamdi Kanu alone. We cannot be excluded from the affairs of the nation and at the same time forced to keep silent. We want to advise the Federal Government to kindly withdraw the appeal already filed at the Supreme Court by the Attorney General of the Federation, Malam Malami in the best interest of this Nation”.
While appreciating President Mohammadu Buhari for commanding the Nigerian Armed Forces to go after terrorists and wipe them out and which have reduced drastically the activities of terrorists and bandits since the month of September, 2022, the also church commended him over the signing of the electoral bill into law, the use of electronic transmission of results and the use of the BVAS machines “provided they are not manipulated”
On Abia state, the church said “we still call on our state Government to attend to the payment of pensions to our senior citizens. Allowing them to perish out of hunger will not be in the best interest of our people. We are not satisfied with the level of development in our state at 31.
Fielding questions from newsmen, the Diocesan Conference Planning Committee Chairman, Cyril Nwaubani said the conference was apt as it relates to fathers, stating that it took cognizance of the fact that the youths of today is the fathers of tomorrow, hence the need to uplift the lots of the youths now.
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