• As AG ends 2023 Peniel in Enugu
From Geoffrey Anyanwu and Precious Ali, Enugu
The General Superintendent (GS) of the Assemblies of God (AG) Nigeria, Rev. Paul Emeka, has tasked the three arms of government to sincerely work together to save the country from the present economic hardship.
Speaking at the grand finale of the Church’s 2023 Annual Revival Summit called Peniel, with the theme, “A return to the Holy Spirit,” which held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium Enugu, the cleric specifically asked President Bola Tinubu to be sincere and show genuine love for the masses in Nigeria.
Emeka said having been affirmed by the Supreme Court as the President, that Tinubu should justify the reason he was brought to rule the country.
He said, “My first advice will go to the electorate, the people who voted, I know some of us our candidates did not win, some of us felt that our candidates actually won majority votes but they were not declared because of the corrupt system we have. My advice is that everybody should get consoled, knowing that ultimately God is the one that controls the nation, gradually we will come to a time where what we bargain for is what we shall get. But for now let us take heart knowing that God is still in control.
“The President of this nation who has emerged, my advice to him is to make sure that he justifies the reason he was brought there. People are actually suffering in the nation, so this is not the time to play political game and just to grandstand and show people that you are the president. Anybody who will come down to earth and aim at solving the problem of this country, I now you can’t solve all the problem but the basic ones are handled, I tell you we will look on that person as the messiah. So let them be sincere number one and let them show genuine love for the masses in Nigeria so that we can be proud to say this is our President, he loves us and he is concerned.”
On the part of the National Assembly and Judiciary, the GS warned the lawmakers and the Judges to ignore bribe and live up to integrity, saying, “The Lawmakers equally should work in collaboration with the President and let them know why they are there. Where the President is not getting it right, they can invoke the powers and clauses of the law to correct things. Let them not settle for bribery, not anybody that is given money he changes while masses are suffering, they don’t care again because they have gotten money. That will be the ostrich method who buries its head in the sound and say, since I am not seeing people, people are not seeing me.
“Applying it to our situation the lawmakers can as well bury their heads in the naira given to them and then come to tell us that Nigeria is well, the President is doing well, everybody is doing well. I’m not saying that they should condemn the President where they should not but where he needs to be brought back to his senses they should do that very job and do the things for which that very position they occupy is made for, so that they will mitigate to an extent the sufferings of the people of this country.
“Exactly, I want to say that, that saying that the judiciary is the last hope of the poor and the masses is no longer holding true. People believe now that the judiciary has become the last hope of the select few and it is also the last hope of the rich ones, that what they are saying and it is playing out as people believe. What we want to say to the judiciary is, they are living in Nigeria, they are hearing the complaints of the people, they are human beings, let them come together and do the right thing.
“Here now we have if is five judges or 10 judges or whatever, you just hear them, unanimously they will agree on a thing. We are not judges but we know what is white, we know what is black, let them live up to expectation. And what I said to the lawmakers is what I say to them, ignore the bribe and live up to integrity and do the right thing to correct this country so that the suffering of the people will ease. What I want to say is that what is involved in the country is live or death of the people so they shouldn’t play politics with us.”
Speaking on the Peniel which had about 5,000 people including ministers in attendance, Prof. Emeka said, “It has really been a good one, we started it Monday people came from different parts of this nation and since we started till today it has been a tremendous one. Number one, is that people attended very well and of course I know because of the things happening in the country today, people have to come to find solution from the Holy Spirit or from God.
“I also would want to say that the Speakers have been measuring up to the expectation and purpose of this programme. God used the Speakers to handle the issue of the Holy Spirit. One aspect of it that trills me and gladdens my heart is that they have brought the Holy Spirit to bear on the problems we are having and in our personal life. They have shown us how the Holy Spirit is concerned about us so that it is not just an exoteric entity, something you discuss philosophically, theologically, metaphysically and otherwise and there you stop. They have really shown that the Holy Spirit is concerned with our problems, our finances, our wellbeing, our healing.”