The Anglican Bishop of Aguata Diocese, Rt. Revd. Dr Samuel Ezeofor, has admonished Christians travelling for Christmas and New Year festivities to refrain from extravagant expenses and mingling with people with questionable characters.
Ezeofor, in a homily at Honeywell Hotel’s maiden Christmas festival of Nine lessons and Carol, held at Umuchu, Aguata LGA of Anambra state, said Christ should be the centre stage of the celebration not spending extravagantly.
According to him, “Christ coming brought salvation to mankind. The best celebration is for you to open your heart to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. It is appalling that people steal, kidnap and commit other manner of atrocities just to shine in the Christmas.
“At the celebrations, some will drink foolishly. There are sacked business apprentices returning with minted currencies in N20 denominations. These might be their last savings yet they will throw it out as there are others remaining. Don’t allow that to deceive you. You can only find out that they were sent packing by their masters when they did not go back by January or February.”
In an interview, the founder of the hotel, Mr Godwin Ezeemo, explained that the reason for the event was to help rural dwellers to feel among and believe in themselves rather to be running to cities.
“I decided to bring the event to the village as part of my think home policy. This is going to be an annual event. It is to encourage people living in the village to identify their potential and utilise them for job creation and overal development of the rural communities. This will also help to decongest the cities where people often travel to enjoy live,” Ezeemo added.
Earlier, the Chairperson of the Committee, Rotarian Joy Mbachi, emphasised that Honeywell group intended to use the annual festival thank God for His mercifulness and to evangelise for Christ.
