…Martins marks 10th year as Catholic Archbishop of Lagos
It was double epochal events at Holy Cross Cathedral Lagos on Thursday, August 4, 2022, one was the Priestly Ordination of nine young Catholic priests and the other, the 10th Installation Anniversary of Adewale Martins as the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos. It was also an opportunity for the clergy to speak to the public on national issues, so His Grace Archbishop Adewale Martins, and his counterpart, the Archbishop of Benin City, Augustine Akubeze tasked Government on good governance while calling on Nigerian electorate to vote wisely in the forthcoming 2023 elections. CYRIACUS NNAJI reports.
Martins while delivering his speech at the anniversary Mass which also served as the ordination of nine young Catholic priests at Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos Island, assured the people that the 2023 election will not only hold but that the people’s votes will count
“Let us take seriously the preparations and the elections that are forthcoming, sometimes we can lapse into this feeling that our vote won’t count and therefore we don’t pay attention, the vote will count. I am sure there are some who are even thinking the election will not take place, the elections will take place by the grace of God. And that is why we must call on our government to please ensure that they should allay the fears of our people that the election will not take place, please allay our fears, let our president speak to us what is being done to make sure that everything goes well. It is not enough to look forward to retiring, it is important to see and ensure that things are in place before then.
“Please let us take this election seriously, I ask that we listen to what the politicians have to say, let us listen to details of what they have to say because that should help us in determining what we do with our votes,” Bishop Martins admonished.
He thanked God, his predecessor and the church for cooperation and support “I thank the lord for all that He did and continues to do, I thank his eminence that is here with us, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, we thank the lord for you, we pray the lord to keep you. The labour of our heroes past have ensured that we are where we are today. We thank the lord for the new addition to the clergy of the archdiocese as we have celebrated today. I must say that I am truly delighted that I have this opportunity of serving in the archdiocese this last ten years. I must say I began with fear and trembling.
“My prayer was God would give me a pair of shoes that was my own size so that I could walk comfortably since the size of the shoes which the man before me wore was simply too big for me, I can tell you that in this last ten years I have seen that God answered my prayer. For this reason, by the grace of God, this religious, lay faithful in different areas, we have been able to do many things together for God and his people. All the schools, the fathers’ houses, and the rest of them that we were able to do, by the grace of God, they are the fruits of our working together. I can only ask that as we walk together to be where we are, we must continue to walk together in order that we can proceed to where God has designed us to be. I pray that the sacrifices that you all have made will continue to bear fruit unto everlasting life for all of us through Christ our lord,” Martins prayed.
He also urged the church to storm the heavens with prayers for the country Nigeria “The second comment I wish to make is that I would like that all of us should please storm the heavens with prayers for our country, Nigeria. We all know the circumstance in which we have found ourselves, and we can count all the challenges from one end of the street to the other because they are so many, and that is why we need to ask the lord to take perfect control. Please let us storm the heavens with prayers.”
Martins also call on the Catholic faithful to pray the rosary. “I am asking that we pray the rosary, please let us take it seriously, the rosary is the weapon of war that our mother Mary gave to us, it is a weapon of war that was successful in the years past, certainly it will be successful in our time. God is the same on the throne, our mother is still powerful with her intercession, let us pray the rosary. In addition to that I ask that we also do the novena to our mother of perpetual help, these powerful novena and prayers certainly lead us out of the wood.”
His Holiness, Augustine Akubeze, the Archbishop of Benin Diocese in delivering the Homilies said the validity of the sacrament celebrated for the priest does not depend on their worthiness or their charisma or gift but it works by virtue of the performance of the action prescribed by Christ through the church. He added “To all those for ordination I urge you to know that you are only anointed and sent to preach the good news for Christ. In order to do that very well, you must be close to Christ in the Eucharist, you must be close to Christ in the celebration of the holy office; you must be close to Christ in your faithful observance of liturgical months, and in your submission of your will to your bishop and your superior”.
While speaking on the need for the leaders to listen to their people, said the people must make it clear that their votes are not for sell. He said “Our political leaders also must listen to the people who voted them into power, the electorate must develop an attitude that speaks loud and clear to the political elites that their votes are not available for sell. If over thirty million Catholics in Nigeria decide to speak through the ballot box in choosing our leaders, the politicians will listen. If the Catholics who were part of the delegates at the various major political parties conventions spoke and said their votes and delegates were not for sell the political elites would listen. If the Catholics and other men and women of good will irrespective of religion or ethnic consideration decide to say we don’t want a government that cannot protect our lives and property, the politicians will listen. If we all agree to say the inability created by poor government response to terrorist attacks on our churches and sacred places is unacceptable, the government will listen.
“The major challenge we have is that our political leaders believe that our voices can be bought. To everyone listening to me today, I call on you to make a firm resolution to let your vote be for the candidate who has shown that they have credibility and capacity to bring us together as a people, let your vote be for candidates that can end the downward trend of our economy, let your vote bring into power persons who can end the insecurity in the land, let your vote bring into office politicians who can make Nigeria enjoy the natural and human resources God has blessed us with. We must vote for the security and prosperity of Nigeria, Akubeze said.
