By Cyriacus Nnaji
Diocesan Bishop of Lagos, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Right Revd (Dr) Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye, has stated that the only criterion for the realization of a truly united Nigeria is the promotion of justice, righteousness and love.
Bishop Olumakaiye made the disclosure in his Good Friday message titled ‘Give us Barabbas’.
He said “If we want to get it right there is need for us to promote justice, righteousness, love, and that is the only way we can sustain the unity of this nation, or else we will be deceiving ourselves.”
Olumakaiye called all the people of the nation to return to Christ “Every one of us should return to the lord, and I believe that at the end of the tunnel there will be light, return to the lord and allow the light of the gospel to prevail over this nation.”
He decried the preference of the bad over the good in the nation saying that it was the same thing that happened during the time of Jesus Christ when the Jews asked for the release of Barabbas at the expense of the Lord, Jesus Christ. “What I will like to say to our nation today is to ask ourselves why do we prefer evil to good? And this has been in existence since the beginning of creation. Today the people where asking for Barabbas at the expense of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were saying give us Barabbas and let Christ be crucified.
“In summary they were asking for the evil over the good, that evil should triumph over good. And when you look at what is pervading, ravaging our nation today, talk about greediness, militancy, insurgency, kidnappers, bandits, Boko Haram, all these, they are evil, and you see people following them, people listening to them, and even the government, they are not doing anything as if they are promoting evil.
“When we said we want to give amnesty to Boko Haram, bandits, those that kill anyhow, murderers, it is a big surprise, and there is need for us to have a change of heart if we don’t want to pull this nation down, if we are not rubberstamping evil, there is need for government to come out with the full wrath of the law and make sure that justice prevails in this nation, let righteousness reign in this nation, the revered Bishop stated.
He called on Nigerians to vote for the righteous people in the 2023 elections “You see today, who are the politicians? The righteous people will not be voted for, people that are clean will not be voted for, we have been voting for dishonest people, greedy people, corrupt people, some of them from prison even to the House of Assembly, from prison to the House of Representatives, from prison even to Senate, they use their money to subvert justice, they use their money to silent the righteous people.
“I think that enough is enough, if we want this nation to progress, if we want development, we should now champion the cause of good people,” Olumakaiye stated.
