Noah Ebije, Kaduna

The motto, “Christ is our Leader”, of the Catholic Men Organization (CMO), placed enormous task on them as the role they need to play in the pastoral affairs of the church is not far from that of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ.

CMO objective is to foster Christian responsibilities in the family as husbands and fathers and to strength their mission as well as active participation in the church. The role of the 12 disciples as they were instructed by Jesus Christ while on earth with them was simply, “go into the world and spread the gospel of good news.”

In like manner, when members of CMO of Saint Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral, Kaduna, held their 6th Week and Fathers Day celebration on June 30, the Cathedral Administrator, Very Reverend Father Anthony Ikhenoba, told them: “Consider yourselves as mobile Bible because as Christians, your doing should reflect your Christian ways of life. You don’t need to canvass for membership because your ways of life and activities should be magnet that will attract membership.

“Every move you make, everything you say should promote the teachings of the Bible. You must live a life that others can emulate. So you have a big responsibility, it is beyond paying your dues in the organization.

“Whatever you are doing that does not benefit the church and the society, you should have a rethink quickly. You are part and parcel of the church.”

Chairman at the occasion, Chief Chris Nnoli, charged the Catholic men to live up to the expectation of fathers: “You are the elders of the church. You have the responsibility to nurture our children for greater tomorrow in the service of God.”

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CMO chairman, Mr. George Igwesi, said the health of his members was  among the primary focus of the organisation, hence the the event was organised to raise money for medical endowment fund as well as alleviating financial burden on them:

“We participate actively in all the activities of the Cathedral, and we have been able to discharge all our financial obligations as demanded. We also work in communion with other organisations and societies in the Cathedral.”

Guest speaker who is also the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information & Voters Education, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Fesstus Okoye, advised the leadership of the CMO to ensure financial independence for its members ahead of old age: “Get your members prepared for the rainy day so that they can take care of themselves when they are old.”

He said external influences rather than internal forces were the bane of the INEC to conduct the 2019 elections as scheduled, just as he faulted some impressions that the Federal Government influenced the election postponement. He argued that if the elections were not shifted, the country would have been plunged into chaos: “The only option left for the electoral umpire to save the nation from violence was to swallow its pride and apologise to Nigerians over the postponement.

“The commission will review its result sheets and results transmission   mechanism   to   make   them more user friendly and more transparent. The commission will continue to deploy technology for the purpose of improving the credibility of the voters register and Nigerians must assist the commission in reporting multiple registrants, underage registrants   and   persons that have passed on especially during the display of the voters register for claims and objections.

“The commission will make the continuous voters’ registration exercise a truly continuous voters registration exercise enabling those that turn 18 to be registered.”

The event also witnessed fund raising for the medical endowment and the church rectory.