The former Governor of Anambra State has charged clerics to speak out against the ills of the society. Obi was speaking on Friday, while delivering the key note address at the 35th Methodist Bishops’ Conference at Methodists Theological Institute, Umuahia.
Obi who spoke on the topic, “The Church and Economic Recession in Nigeria: A Concern for Spiritual Reflection”, said that the vital lesson from the present recession was that once the society is progressing, it was for the benefit of everybody; once it was not progressing everybody suffered, including church leaders.
Indicting some men of God of complicity in the situation that led to recession, Obi lamented that “we have seen public officers who did not have kobo but within months built houses. Unfortunately, it is the money that should have been saved for the state that they squandered. Rather than condemn such, some men of God preside over their thanksgiving and praise them to high heavens.”
As one of the solutions to recession, Obi appealed to churches to encourage their members to engage in productive ventures and discourage the culture of materialism.”
Decrying the practice where some pastors hand over car and house keys to their members that are yet to be gainfully employed, Obi reminded them, quoting St James, that prayer without good work is dead. “It is good to have faith, but we cannot run the churches or our lives by mere recitation of pater nosters (Our father). A popular cliche says that heaven helps those that help themselves,” Obi said.
In his response, the Primate, His Grace, Archbishop Chukwuemeka Kanu said that having listened to Obi, the church was right in inviting him.