• Christians, Muslims, others are victims of genocide

By Kehinde Aderemi

National President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, (PFN) Bishop Francis Wale Oke, has assured Nigerians that the organisation would continue to engage in actions that would impact Nigeria positively. 

Bishop Oke’s assurances came recently during an encounter with journalists, at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), where he spoke on the programmes lined up for the week-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of the PFN.

The cleric explained that the PFN had, since its inception in 1985, been blessed by God, noting that the vision of the founding fathers in bringing the Pentecostal believers together in unity under one umbrella is being fulfilled from generation to generation.

Bishop Oke went down the memory lane, highlighting that in the last four decades, PFN has made great impact in Nigeria through preaching of the gospel of God and also by changing the lives of people from evil to good, and from sin to righteousness.

The cleric described prayer and the gospel of Christ as the weapon that can change the heart of the people.

“When people received the gospel of Christ, their lives change. We have been preaching the gospel for years and God has been blessing our efforts. As we encourage people to live Godly life. We also teach them to be true disciples of Christ. And they are all over the country in their millions.

“Fervent prayers of the righteous avail much. The prayer of the saints is helping Nigeria. The moment we stop praying, evil will take over. So, prayers of our members in their millions are preventing enemies and the evils from taking over our nation,” he said.

The cleric mentioned the various landmark achievements of PFN in Nigeria. He also highlighted the impact of PFN in education, health, politics, security as well as in spreading the gospel through scholarships that were given to students in the secondary schools and universities. He also noted that the PFN usually engages in humanitarian services including poverty alleviation programmes across Nigeria.

“Look around and count the numbers of private universities in Nigeria. You will see that PFN has the largest number of Christian universities in Nigeria. That is also applicable to secondary schools across the nation. So, in the education sector, we make a lot of impact.

“Even in the health sector, one of the earliest, private health facilities was established in Benin by our member, the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa. It cuts across either by professionals or the churches as Pentecostal.

“Even among the industrialists, the impact of certain individuals who are members of the Pentecostal and are also industrialists in this nation can be felt.

“Also in the political space, you will see prominent Pentecostal people, making major impact.  Whether in the executive, legislative or the judiciary, what we teach them in the church, what they learn from church becomes a market place activity.

“For instance, the entire Pentecostals teach the basics of the scriptures. There’s no Pentecostal church that does not teach on redemption, salvation, turning people back to God.

“This nation could have had other names worse than what it is today, but for God’s word that is being taught in the churches, particularly in the Pentecostals. The impact of the Pentecostal church is actually felt across different sectors that are germane in this nation,” he said.

Bishop Oke urged Nigerians to change the ugly narratives of the nation. He said efforts should be made to work on the positive things in Nigeria and project those things to the world.

“There are positive things in this country. Recently, there was a rumour about a coup and everybody was standing up to say we don’t want a coup in this country.

“Somebody said we are in Nigeria criticizing the government, making presentations because we are in a democracy. Bring in the military and everybody will know the difference.

“Whether we  have been able to highlight it or not, there are good things in Nigeria and we should begin to identify those things, talk about them, even as we talk about those things that we want to be improved upon.

“The aspect of talking about negative things in Nigeria is not actually right because if Nigeria is as bad as what we think it is, none of us will still be here.

“So, the impact of the church is visible. All the good things that are happening in the country are  part of the contributions of the PFN and the body of Christ,” he stated.

The man of God acknowledged that there are challenges in uniting diverse groups within the church, but assured that the key purpose of PFN is that the church of God might be one.

He quoted Bible verses, saying one of the prayers of Jesus Christ before he died was that the church would be one.

“We have the capacity to be able to bring the different leaders in the Pentecostal fold together and be able to teach, pray and dialogue among ourselves, resolving issues that come our way. These are part of the things that we’re doing to be able to make sure that the fellowship is together,” he said.

He said the PFN would continue to pray for Nigeria. “Our nation needs more prayer,” he stated. “Until we get to the Eldorado, where we can say uhuru, we will not stop praying for this nation because the results and importance of prayer cannot be over -emphasized.

“We will continue to teach more of the things that can help Nigerians to be who they ought to be from the perspectives of the scriptures.

“There’s so much the scriptures has to teach about righteousness.  There’s so much the scripture has to teach about living right with our neighbours. There’s so much the scripture has to teach about peace in our nation, about governance in our nation. And we are looking forward by the grace of God to bringing those things up much more and trust the Lord for a rebirth in our nation.

“We have to intensify more effort to teach the people the need for a rebirth in our nation in different aspects. It won’t happen overnight, but undoubtedly you keep building up. No structure is completed until you keep adding a little bit and a little bit and a little bit,” he assured

In his remarks, National Secretary of PFN, Bishop David Bakare, also highlighted the positive role the PFN has played in reducing the spate of insecurity in Nigeria.

Bakare said prayer is the strongest weapon the Christian organisation is using to confront insecurity in Nigeria. The PFN scribe warned against genocide in the country, even as he urged the Federal Government to stop killings across Nigeria.

“Our strongest weapon is spiritual. That does not mean we don’t have other things that we do. Most times, we have to douse the tension in the nation by talking to our people to see what we can do to ensure that the nation is one, the nation is united, and the nation is committed.

“Our people are committed to the growth of the nation. The level of awareness that we are also giving our people about governance and politics is a major contribution of the PFN.

“We’re looking forward to a situation of less terrorism in the nation. There is a recent discussion about genocide in Nigeria.

“The position of the PFN is that genocide exists, but it’s not about just Christians. Our concern is that whether Muslim or Christian, stop the killings. That’s our priority.

“We don’t want Muslims to die. We don’t want Christians to die. We don’t want a situation where there is genocide of Christians today, and when it stops, we have genocide of Muslims tomorrow. We are looking for a situation where the genocide is stopped, whether among Muslims or Christians. Let the killings stop.

“No innocent Nigerian should lose his life for any reason, whether for religious reasons, for tribal reasons, for political reasons. Let Nigeria live in peace. Let Nigerians be able to live with their two eyes closed. That is what is important to us in PFN,” he said.

The PFN secretary emphasized the need for government to be responsible for the welfare of the citizens. He pointed out also that government exists for the welfare of the people.

“PFN always speaks truth to power. Leaders in the political or other sectors must know that the welfare of the people is important,” he said.

Bakare also gave insight into how PFN has been managing its members across the nation. He said at 40, the dream of the founding fathers of PFN has been gradually fulfilled.

Dreams of our founding fathers are being fulfilled gradually. Today we are talking about 65 million membership of the Pentecostal.

“Can you imagine a situation where there is no Pentecostal and 65 million people are just spread across the face of the nation without leadership, without guidance, without direction? That could have added much trouble to the nation’s problem,” he said.

Part of the dreams of the PFN, he stated, is to see that members of PFN becomes one.

“The dream is to see that there is order. It  is to see that the gospel is being propagated to the maximum and that’s happening in Nigeria.

“There is so much evangelism going on in Nigeria by the Pentecostal fold. Whether you talk about Redeemed Christian Church of God, Living Faith, Deeper Life, and the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry, among others, there is so much evangelism going on, where we reach out to the world for Christ,” he stated.

The cleric also explained the role of PFN in politics. He said there is a department in the organisation that oversees politics and governance at all levels.

“We now have a department in the PFA called Department of Politics and Governance, headed by a former deputy speaker of the House of Assembly, who is now a preacher, a pastor, a prominent person in Nigeria, Reverend Femi Emmanuel.

“PFN is using the  department to educate Pentecostal churches to see the need to participate in governance and show practical examples of how things ought to be done. The department is also involved in sensitising, encouraging members of the Pentecostals not to leave governance to the people,” he explained.

Bakare explained that the PFN introduced a register to serve as a database for its members. He said the PFN sponsors poverty alleviation programmes and initiatives for its members.

“Most of our leaders take care of the needs of their members. This idea of going to church and all you do is the pastor’s collect offering is not true. That’s not all.

“During COVID, why everywhere was shut down, we were feeding people in our church. Both Muslims and Christians together, at least 400 persons per week were being fed regularly.

“We take care of medical bills. During that period, even if people had malaria, the church was taking care of it.

“This year, on the first week of December, we’ll give out scholarships to secondary school and university students. I have about 5, 000 widows to take care of. We’ve been doing this for a while.

“People like Matthew Ashimolowo takes care of thousands of widows. Our president, Bishop Wale Oke had once held a programme in the stadium where he provided food for thousands of people. So much of this is going on in the Pentecostal fellowship. We take care of the people and ameliorate their pain and suffering.

“The future of PFN is bright. We are looking forward to having more of our people trained in governance, entering into politics and bringing Christianity to governance,” he explained.