Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday, applauded church leaders for encouraging Christians to be a part of politics and governance in Nigeria.
Okowa spoke, yesterday, at the First Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN)’s Directorate of Politics and Governance (DPG) Regional Conference at PFN’s Alpha and Omega City, Agbarho, Ughelli Council of the state.
Okowa said at the conference with the theme: “Project Nigeria: The Church, A Panacea For The Right Leadership” attended by delegates from Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Edo, Delta as well as Yobe, Adamawa, and Zamfara states, that the church must first realize that it had a huge advantage if it remained united in its quest to ensure that right leaders were voted into office.
He called on church leaders to be united in prayers, trusting God to show the broad path to the success of the nation.
The governor urged Christians to seek the face of God continually, adding: “when the spirit of God leads there will be no failures.”
He said: “I want to thank the Church for beginning to think in this direction. It must be of note that the church is not trying to divide the nation but to unite us with the right communication on our participation in politics and governance.
“For us to awaken the giant in us, we must first of all realise that we are giants. The Church of Christ in itself is a giant and it is possible for us to do a lot of things through prayers and actions because faith without works is dead.”
Earlier, the National Director of DPG, Rev. Femi Emmanuel, said the directorate was established to mobilize, sensitize, educate and awaken the giant in the church.
He described the church as a “sleeping giant” and disclosed that PFN alone had 65 million Nigerians as members.
You can’t have such a number and the country is dying. The giant has arisen and we are no longer asleep. Without organizing our members we are just many for nothing.
We are still going to be praying but beyond prayers we must be involved. The DPG has arisen to change the character and way of how governance is carried out in the country,”
He said.
Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Delta Chapter, Dr. Sylvanus Okorotie, urged Christians in the state to arm themselves with their voter cards and ensure that they voted on election days to install the right leadership for the country.
PFN Chairman South-South, Apostle David Zilly-Aggrey, had said that the DPG was an arm of the PFN, tasked with the responsibility of sensitizing Christians to believe and participate in politics to install right leadership at all levels.
