By Christopher Oji
General Overseer of Spring of Life Global Mission Inc., Iju, Lagos, Bishop Jerry Nwor, has advised the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to give peace a chance and allow the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, to concentrate on his job as the chief executive of the state.
Nwor said Wike, immediate past governor of Rivers State, has been elevated from state to federal level and should be grateful to God and move ahead with the new task he has been assigned to do.
The bishop, who spoke during his 70th birthday at the church auditorium, said: “I have been careful not to dabble into politics because I have been there before. What is ruling that place itself is service on the throne and though they wanted to show self but it will always disappoint. I will advise Wike to concentrate on the job that God has given him at the centre. God has used him whichever way at the state level and there is a promotion for him at the centre. He should concentrate on that and leave the young man and just be a counselling father. He should just be a good counsellor, not competing. He should allow the young ones to grow, not overshadow them and come to say I will rule the place and so on. If God has given the man the opportunity, leave him, because God is the one that makes kings and removes kings.”
The cleric noted that though the FCT minister was instrumental to the emergence of Fubara as governor, he should tread carefully as God has the final say. “Fear of God should be the key. All of them believe in God so they should allow God to reign in that place, not self.”
Nwor advised the administration of President Bola Tinubu to resort to people-oriented economic policies and programmes because the economic situation in the country is biting hard and everybody is feeling it.
“I am sorry, I don’t want to be political, because I coined a phrase. Three quarters of the populace are Tinubutised. What I mean by Tinubutised is the effects of the policies of the president. He might mean well by the policies but the policies are Tinubutising everyone. Only those who are Tinibuists are not feeling what is actually happening now. And for that reason, they are buying them up and they come out talking all this nonsense they are talking about.
“The nation is suffering. The middle class is wiped out, there is no middle class anymore. People are Tinubutised, people are suffering and my advice is that their activities, projects and policies should be people-oriented. What is the value they are adding to people? Rather, people are suffering, instead of value being added to them.
“I am close to the people and I see people that cannot cope and they don’t have what to eat and you see them, for three days, they have not eaten. Someone has been calling me since yesterday, I think I will reach out to that person and I know why the person is calling, it is food.”
On the issue of insecurity, Nwor said Nigerians must know that perfect security is in Christ and those who run to the Lord will be saved. “But again, God has given into our hands the wisdom to handle issues that affect us here. If greed is taken out of the way and the security men are allowed to do their job, I believe that the incentive to the security people can be taken care of because they know where they are; even the government knows the people involved but they have not been bold enough. Some of them, because of selfish reasons, have not been able to tackle bandits, kidnappers, and unknown gunmen because they will lose the means of their greed.
“Ruling out greed and allowing the troops by motivating them and giving them the free hand to do the work as it is meant to be done, security-wise, without regional bias, it will be solved.
“What is happening in the East is not what is happening in the West; so you see regional bias in it. Leave them to do their work without bias. Rather, what we are hearing is that another arm of bandits has emerged and it will multiply when we leave God out of it and allow sentiment, regionalism, tribalism to come in. We will not be able to win the war on insecurity.”
Thanking God on his birthday, Nwor said he faced many challenges, especially life-threatening ones, but God helped him surmount all the challenges and he gave his life to the service of God.
“Normally, you know my life story, you know I like everything simple and low-key but the church said they would do it this way and I am so proud of them. God gave me the strength to reach this age and I believe there is still much to do. So, I am happy with all they have done. I am happy with every person I have made contact with, with all the congregation. I am so happy that God allowed me to reach the age of 70 and still be very strong.
“My advice to young people is that when it gets to marriage, they should be focused and love should be the basis. Two, we know that no one is perfect, there is weakness in me and there is weakness in the other partner. You must bear with one another and pray for each other for a change and ensure love, which the Bible says covereth all things.
“People should believe in God despite what is happening today. First of all, the Bible is clear about these things. In the last days, many people will have that attitude of doubt about the existence of God. They will faint and not be serious with God, but we never should give up. God is still God and still reigns in the affairs of men and still has His purpose that can never be changed by any man, no government can change the purpose of God and, therefore, we should hold unto God. A nation or people without God will go nowhere, but with God we can surmount any problem and challenges. So, my challenge and encouragement for the young ones who are coming up is that they hold unto God tenaciously without giving up and I believe it shall be well with them. There is no regret in serving God.
“ Anyone who is trying to question the existence of God by saying, where was God? God is self-existing and you cannot query that. There is God and there is heaven. Even ancestrally, if you know, most of us came from the village. Who believe in ancestral worship. The first thing they do is they call upon the God of creation and deliberate on the God of creation and they say it through their ancestors. In other words, they believe that there is God somewhere, the God that created everyone. They believe and the Bible is very clear about that; we have even proven it, but we cannot go into that now. It is a serious one that God exists, no matter what the atheists have said or what people are joining them.
“It is pathetic to hear that even pastors are beginning to say that there is no heaven. In other words, they are already derailing and they will miss it but my prayer is that there should be a recalling on the part of these pastors to come back,” he said.