The Archbishop of Kaduna Province of the Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Timothy Yahaya, has tasked clergymen and women to preach peace and tranquility while on the pulpit, noting that some preachings send wrong signals which could affect the country adversely if continued.
Speaking in his Christmas message at the St Michael Anglican Church on Monday, Rev. Yahaya preached message of hope, noting that despite the challenges facing Nigeria economically and security wise, there is hope.
“Merry Christmas to all Nigerians. Christmas is a time that rekindle hope to all humanity. Our message is there is hope in the midst of all the conundrums in our world today. In the midst of all the somersaulting economy in Nigeria, I still want to say to Nigerians Christmas signals hope.
“I think the greatest problem with Nigeria is everybody is a clergyman we don’t know who is licensed to preach or who is not, we don’t know who is qualified to preach or who is not. When you have quacks all over the place who are making sure that they heat our polity, and our security agents are looking at them quietly, I don’t think that would help nation building. In nation building, this country must sit down and think thoroughly about the kind of messages that come out of our pulpits. We must say the truth the way it is but we must not sensationalise the nation.
“We must not be seen to be politicians because as it is today, in the toga of religion, people are now partisan and they are now becoming politicians. If religion must be seen to build this nation, we must tolerate one another, we must preach peace. In this compound you see one school, this school has produced doctors, that is part of nation building. In this school you must learn morals, there is no way you will come here and be a bad citizen. We have about three hospitals now within this state, we are sinking boreholes, we are teaching people how to farm, we are doing empowerment, that is part of nation building.
“But I want to say one of the problems of Nigeria today is religion. Religion that has helped other nations is becoming the bane of our nation. So, I want to plead with religious leaders, let them think before they talk and let us be very circumspect. If we fail to get the issue of religion right in this country, only God knows where it will stop and God forbid. Jesus is the Prince of peace, we pray for peace in our country. Let us go to other countries of the world and learn from them. Singapore is a country of people with more diverse religions than Nigeria yet nobody preach rubbish.
“We have our holy books that should direct us on what to say but at times, even me as a religious leader, when I listen to things being said I get perplexed, I get worried, I get disturbed and I ask myself, where are these people trained? Why are we thinking that religion is not as important as surgery, when we get it wrong, we will regret it. To me it’s better we sit down and think it through, what do we do to ensure that the right people are the people passing messages in this country.
“This covers every religion. The last election, it was God that saved this country, the way people were talking as if heavens would fall. That is not what we are trained to do. We are supposed to be men and women of peace, if we must open our mouth we must make sure it leads to peace, tranquility and development in our country. Because we have followed and some of the things we said send wrong signals. As leaders we must have to think twice and do the right thing,” he said.
Speaking on the transport subsidy scheme introduced by the Tinubu administration to ease people’s movement during the yuletide season, Reverend Yahaya urged government to ensure transparent implementation to avoid the funds being siphoned.
“Government announcement in Nigeria at times becomes mystical. Even yesterday I asked people leaving Abuja to the East, they told me they didn’t see any subsidy. I want to call on President Tinubu, let this not be another white elephant for this country. How do we know the statistics of people traveling? How do we know the money we are releasing is going correctly to subsidize transport?
“When we are going to declare things in this nation we need to think it thoroughly. Because for me this may be money for the boys again in an economy that is struggling like this. It is a very good thing if it would be done properly but for now, the implementation is almost on ground zero. No implementation and yet I believe some people are claiming money. Claiming money for what? We don’t understand. When you are going to do something, be sure the strategy is correct. If the strategy is not correct, the impact will not be there because it would not be done,” he said.
