From Ben Dunno, Warri
The Catholic Bishop of Warri Diocese, His Lordship, Most Rev. Anthony Ovayero Ewherido, has expressed hope that Nigeria still stands a chance of attaining greatness if the leaders would not continue to abuse God’s love and mercy for the nation and begin to purge themselves of their evil, greed, selfish and corrupt ways.
Speaking in a chat with newsmen during the 45th Annual National Convention of Ladies of St. Mulumba (LSM) Nigeria, held in Warri on Friday, Bishop Ewherido, decried the nation’s worsened situation, noting that despite the love God has shown, the citizens are pulling themselves down and inflicting hardship upon themselves.
“The fact that the nation is already in flames and we are still not burning shows that God is still with us. The leaders should take take advantage of the mercy of God on our nation and begin to change their ways to please God for the greater good of the nation and people they are called to serve.
“Nigeria is an enigma and if I start talking about Nigeria today this interview will not end. I have an imagery of Nigeria in my mind that gives me hope and makes me not give up and this could be found in the scriptures.
“In the book of Exodus, Chapter 3, we were told that God met Moses and what attracted Moses was the burning bush. Even though it was in flame, the grass was not burnt. That’s because God was there.”
“Nigeria is in flame but we are not burnt, we still go to parties, go to school and go to do our businesses. We still do everything because God is here. And I think as Nigerians we should not worship God just by lips in going to the mosques on Fridays or churches on Sundays.
“We need to allow God infuse our very lives as people because most of the people who are bastardizing leadership and politics as well as corrupting the nation today are Christians and Moslems. So they are religious people in whom God’s presence had been denied.”
Continuing, he said: “And we need to awaken ourselves again to the mercy of God that’s keeping Nigeria alive in spite the devastation that we have done with our own hands to the gift of God to us as a nation.”
Earlier in her speech, the Noble President of Ladies of St. Mulumba, Lady Ngozi Anthonia Obah, noted that the 45th National Convention held at the Jubilee Retreat & Conference Centre, Effurun, near Warri in Delta State, on Friday, was very unique in the sense that it was the very first to be organized by the new LSM administration.
She reaffirmed commitment to poverty alleviation among members by seeking ways of assisting each other to be self-dependent through the ‘Touch Life One On One’ national charity program aimed at uplifting the living standards of their members across the country.