The Presiding Pastor of the Livingspring Chapel International, Femi Emmanuel has been talking about why patriotic Nigerians across religious doctrines must take over the country’s political space from the present crop of leaders that are mortgaging its future.
Pastor Emmanuel charged them to get actively involved in managing and governing the affairs of the country to get her out of its serious present predicaments.
The cleric stated this during a press conference heralding this year’s Livingspring Annual World Lifting Conference.
The Conference, with the theme: “Multiplication” and the church’s 28th year anniversary, will hold between 13th and 19th of December, 2021 at the church’s headquarters at Aduloju Bus-Stop, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State.
Pastor Emmanuel, while stressing the need for Christians and other patriotic Nigerians to go beyond the principality of prayers to transform the political agenda of Nigeria, lamented the state of insecurity, which he said has dented the image of the country in the global community.
According to him, “it is important, however, to note that prayer alone is not enough. The church community in Nigeria must come to realise that in addition to fervent intercession, we must actually get involved in all relevant areas including voting, recruiting, selecting and putting in political offices from local government level to the presidency, if we are to see the new Nigeria that we have all earnestly yearned for.
“We can no longer afford to stand aloof or sit on the fence. We can no longer afford to fold our arms and watch ungodly leaders sink the ship of this nation. We can no longer afford to watch this present crop of leaders to mortgage our future.
“The church that is supposed to be the light and the salt of the earth can no longer afford to be rendered useless by bad governance and ungodly governmental policies.
“It is high time the church changed her perspective about politics and woke up to her responsibilities. You and I know that the crux of Nigeria’s problem is leadership deficit. The worst set of people are ruling us, governing us, making unreasonable laws, putting together hostile and obnoxious policies that are largely retrogressive and of no significant value to the populace.
“God has blessed this nation beyond measure but the only thing that we lack and urgently need is God-fearing, visionary, accurate and accountable leadership to translate a huge human and material wealth into improving the lives of her people.
“The church community seems to have been an imprisoned community. Our general overseers have imprisoned us. They must release us, mobilize us to the grassroots. Real politics is at the grassroots and this is what the political warlords have captured. They have arranged and put their own people there.
“The evil law called constitution is nothing but Jihadist constitution. A constitution that puts the whole of the country under one tribe. This constitution cannot change unless we change the men at the National Assembly and men at the National Assembly cannot be changed unless we select people that will replace them.
“This is why the church and patriotic Nigerians must wake up. This country must be restructured, we must go back to true federalism. Nigeria is not one country, it’s a negotiated country. Nigeria is a country of many nations tied together by force. How can one ethnic group dominate everybody?
“We can’t save Nigeria by protest, it is high time our youths left the streets. Nigeria can only be saved when good Nigerians, educated Nigerians, patriotic Nigerians and productively busy Nigerians go to the grassroots of Nigerian politics.
“The physical participatory dimension, input and involvement that will create the new Nigeria we need are what the church must rise up to activate,” Pastor Emmanuel said.
Outlining events that will feature at this year’s World Lifting Conference, the pastor, listed word ministration, worship, seminar and workshop, ministers’ conference, free medical outreach and love feast as part of activities outlined for the programme.
He added that Bishop Francis Wale Oke, Evangelist Tope Alabi among other ministers are expected to minister at the Conference.
“One major thing that makes a people cohesive and perhaps operate as a family is communication, which is fostered by the availability of a forum to meet on a regular basis.
“One of the proofs of God’s presence is growth and recordable progress. We have reasons to be thankful to God because we are not where we used to be despite the challenges and oppositions the church is marching on and the gates of hell shall not prevail.
“I would like to say that this is not our ultimate, after a level there is always the next to level. We are of the opinion that things must always get better, we are a people of dreams and vision, this is the reason we are still very much relevant at the forefront and advancement of God’s kingdom and lifting of mankind.”
“We are set to make our impact better felt, not just as a religious organisation, but as a partner with the government in the areas of youth empowerment, provision of basic infrastructural facilities, establishment of schools, hospitals and provision of other facilities; playing a supportive role together with the government in stemming the tide of insecurity, corruption among many other vices bedeviling our society,” Pastor Femi Emmanuel said.
Packaged by Kunle Gazali
