Edo state governor Adams Oshiomhole spoke with the national executive members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who visited him in Benin yesterday.
“Right now many of us are worried about the goings on in the country. I cannot stage a protest now because I will be misunderstood, but my heart is in the mood of protesting, so that my own children will not inherit the iniquities of the evil we see every day,” he said.
“We are in very challenging times and we are buffeted with a good number of elite entrusted with state powers at various levels privatising those powers and behaving as if they are gods and dealing ruthlessly with those who are powerless and applying the resources in a manner that is offensive to the poor,” he added.
Oshiomhole said Nigeria is treading a dangerous ground that might threaten the foundation of its existence. “Things happening around, for me, represent very dangerous signals. There are people who do not wish the country well and unfortunately there are men and women who cannot claim to have a future and messing up the future for everybody else.
“It is the lot of the Christian community to speak out where it matters, so that those who are deaf can hear and those who are blind may have their sight restored so that together we will build a nation that is God fearing and where the people will benefit from the resources that God so generously endowed us with.
“We need a lot of activism as we approach 2015, that a nation is not like a private enterprise, that only the people are permanent, leaders will necessary come and go and that is the promise of democracy, we need you to help all of us.
“So I want CAN having shown courage, having spoken out even in the days of military dictatorship, now in a democracy, we need more of that courage.”
He urged Christians to continue to pray for the continued existence of the nation, saying, “It is the prayers of our Christian brothers and Muslim brothers that keep Nigeria going.”
Earlier, CAN General-Secretary Rev Musa Asake, representing the President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said, “We in the CAN are happy with what you are doing in Edo State, our men and women continue to give us pleasant reports of you great support for the church and your delivery of democracy dividends and people oriented projects in Educatiion, Health, youth empowerment and infrastructural development.”
