As Okowa urges prayers for the nation

By Festus Ahon

ASABA—THE Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, yesterday, consecrated three bishops with a call on them to be good shepherds over their flocks.

Consecrating the bishops  at the Cathedral of All Saints, Ughelli, Delta State, Primate  of the Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, charged them not be wolves but rather good disciples of Jesus Christ and good disciplinarians.

Those  consecretated bishops are Foreman Nedison (Bishop of Jalingo); Bishop Olubunmi Akinlade (Bishop of Ife) and Bishop Andrew Olu Igenoza (Rector, Crowther Graduate Theological Seminary, Abeokuta).

The state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, who also spoke at the service, charged the ministers of God to resist the temptation to seek power at all cost.

Noting that the church is the conscience of the state, Okowa said, “Therefore, the man of God must not pursue political patronages or engage in flirtatious relationships with political leaders such that they lose the moral authority to speak the truth to those in power.”

He urged the ministers to resist the temptation to seek fame, fortune, and power at all costs and congratulated the new bishops on their successful consecration.

“The state of our nation today is one that requires fervent, unceasing intercession, because the national economy is in dire straits, and virtually all sectors of our national life are in limbo.”

Stressing that the country is a nation in desperate need of prayers, he said, “It is going to take something miraculous or supernatural to turn the current situation around.”