From: Wilfred Igwe, Abakaliki
The Prelate and Moderator of General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Prof. Emele Mba Uka has warned politicians against exerting too much pressure on the polity by reason of the upcoming 2015 General Election in the country.
The Prelate, Rev. Prof. Uka, who handed this warning while speaking to newsmen during the opening ceremony of the 2013 General Assembly Executive Committee Meeting of the Church at St. Peters Cathedral Abakaliki said: “I will like them to know that future can only be controlled by God and not by man”.
According to him, “while the politicians in power are busy thinking about the 2015 election, they should never neglect the present challenges facing the country which should be given priority attention, such as, the ASUU strike, which is still on; bad roads, still here; the Boko Haram issue and so many other evil things still around.”
He, therefore, called on the politicians serving at various levels of governments to be more concerned about solving the aforementioned problems and let 2015 alone. He said his prayer is that by 2015, God
will set aside some of the politicians that are bad and raise for Nigeria a new crop of leaders that fear God and will rule our nation the way it should be ruled.
“In fact, I’m praying God that most of them that are very, very evil should not still be there till 2015; some of them, their hands are smeared with blood of innocent people; some of them have been engaged with corrupt practices”, he stated.
He said, the feeling of the General Assembly Executive meeting of the Presbyterian Church, with respect to the issue of corruption in the society, is that of sadness. He bemoaned that the issue of corrupt practices in Nigeria seems to be coming from the top down to bottom.
“You hear of judges engaging in bribery, you hear of members of Houses of Assembly engaging in bribery”.
According to him, the problem of corruption has persisted because offenders are not punished properly, explaining that some people engaged in corrupt practices are freed in Nigeria, but jailed overseas.
He, therefor, asserted that the Church in Nigeria has a responsibility to continue to preach against evil and fear God, maintaining that making money is not the ultimate thing in life, in the sense that people come to this world empty and would go back empty.
He seized the occasion to explain that the choice Ebonyi State for the General Assembly Executive Meeting is because the state is the cradle Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, in that it was planted 1886 in Unwana, and has contributed significantly in the area of medical care in the state. For instance, the Presbyterian Joint Hospital Uburu, was established in 1923.
