NIGER- The former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Prof. Jerry Gana, has stressed the need for Nigerians to be united rather than shedding each other’s blood.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gana, also the ‘Haske Nupe’, addressed newsmen after the three-day Synod of the Anglican Church in Busu in Lavun Local Government Area of Niger on Sunday.
Gana said, “I must thank the Busu community for their hospitality, they have been very receptive to the guests.
“I am extending my heartfelt appreciation to all our brothers in Busu including the Muslims who have been very supportive.
“This is the spirit of Busu. We are together and that is what the nation needs, togetherness.
“No need to kill because of religion like what is happening in other areas.
“If you kill because of religion, then you are psychic. You don’t know God, that’s the truth.”
According to the elder statesman, anybody who kills does not know God.
He said, “Anybody who knows God will love his fellow men and women.
“Therefore, I like the spirit here, we have tremendous respect for each other.”
Gana, who was grateful to God for the epochal honour given to his hometown to host the Synod, saying, “I am too elated.
“The Christian community in Busu is a very small one, but it is very dogged and committed.
“Our founding fathers were men and women of honour as well as prayers.
“The foundation they laid is now manifesting and we are grateful to God for getting this honour to host the Synod.”
The former minister said that the Synod was meant for big Churches, saying, “we are small, but big.
On the state of the nation, Gana said that Nigerians have no business being too poor sequel to the abundant natural and human resources God has endowed the country with.
He said, “The nation is well endowed. We are too well endowed to be poor.
“Honestly, I am too angry with Nigerians. We are so rich, yet so poor.
“The reason why we are poor is that we don’t do the right things in a sustained way.
“Instead, we go about having strategies about killing people.
“God hates all those who shed blood, whether you are a Christian or a Muslim.”
According to Gana, wherever blood is shed, there will be God’s curse on the land.
He said, “We should therefore come together, serve God, honour and love one another.
“We should work together and have productivity to move Niger and the nation forward.
“If you are a farmer, farm well, if you are a trader, trade well.
“Wherever you are and whatever you do, do it well.
“God will bless us and not steal or kill.”
Gana commended Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, for handsomely supporting the event, saying, “he is my very good friend.
“He really wanted to honour me in my own hometown, Busu is no longer a village,” he added.
Also speaking, a former Provincial Archbishop of Kaduna, Most Rev. Edmond Efoyikere-Akanya, while deliberating on the theme of the synod, said it fits into the present situation of the country, which requires the people to return to God.
He explained that as a Church, Ministers should continue to teach the faithful to abide by Biblical teachings to prepare them to overcome the challenges of end times.
Efoyikere-Akanya expressed the belief that referencing Christ as the foundation of the Church would bring everlasting joy to the brethren. (NAN)
