By Israel Bulus, Kaduna
The Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and the Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders have opposed the August 1, 2024, nationwide planned protest and call for more engagement with the Federal Government in addressing the challenges.
Rev. Dr. Job Bagat, the Ecwa President, gave the advice on Sunday in Kafanchan, the headquarters of Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State while fielding questions from Journalists shortly after a Thanksgiving service organized for Southern Kaduna elected representatives and appointed officers.
PUNCH reports that the event was organized by the Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders in collaboration with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Southern Kaduna to chart a common front.
Bagat emphasized the need to seek more engagement with the federal government instead of embarking on a protest now, which may not augur well at the end of the day.
” For us in Ecwa, we know that there was hunger in the land, suffering, and hardship which has not been well with our people, but as religious leaders, we’ve not been able to engage the Government.
According to him,” I am yet to meet with my Governor and the Presidency, so, I would not be fair to the Government as the President of Ecwa, to allow my people to go into the protest without presenting the position of my people to the Government, stressing we’ll do that and if the Government fail to respond then we’ll react accordingly.” He stated.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders (SKCL), Apostle Emmanuel Kure, noted that the region is still in a healing process and it won’t be pleasant for his people to go into the protest for now.
He said the region has gone through a lot of upheavals and hoped that this year was going to be a year of their healing and I wouldn’t suggest that we upset it now if you ask me.
” For my people in Southern Kaduna, it was not convenient for us, noting you don’t send a wounded man to war, you allow him to heal first and thank God our Governor, Sen. Uba Sani is making an effort in that direction,” Kure added.
He, however, tasked all the Southern Kaduna politicians and appointees to unite themselves for the region’s sustainable development.
The Catholic Bishop of Kafanchan, Julius Kundi, while delivering his speech, reminded the Southern Kaduna elected representatives and appointed officers that they were elevated into these positions to represent the interests of their people, adding this was a heavy moral burden.
He said they were deeply concerned with both the spiritual and physical development of the land, hence why they were invited to pray with them and to chart a new path on how they can bring the people together to align with their goals, hopes, and aspirations to the objectives of the modern day politics which they are already actively involved in.
“At a moment like this, we need to ask pertinent questions such as: what can politics actually do for our people? How can politics resolve our most crippling
problems in Southern Kaduna? E.g. our inter-ethnic rivalries, the serious economic problems we are faced with, and the religious differences that have
polarised us from each other, adding how can politics help us to create a sense of belonging among our peoples?
He lamented that” the disunity that exists among the political elites; was a problem which we saw as scandalous and has hampered the growth of our people and our desire in this Service of Thanksgiving was to bless and entrust you into the hands of God for divine direction on how to manage these differences amongst yourselves and the Political Parties in Southern Kaduna.
” Despite the denominational differences in the Body of Christ, we have tried and continue to try to use our common faith to inspire our people to unity and
love. It is in like manner we pray you always consider the unity of our people as paramount devoid of any political or religious divide.
” One of the greatest threats to our politics was how to create a sense of belonging among our people through an equitable distribution of opportunities and infrastructure.
“You are our representatives, but often, this representation is too inward-looking Those who have the opportunities focus on themselves, their families, and immediate communities. When numbers become a source of tyranny and oppression, we know the consequences from our experiences with national politics while urging not to allow the same situation to bedevil and create bad blood among us.
“We encourage you therefore to begin to prioritize the development of all our communities. No one from outside is coming to develop this land.” Kundi concluded.
