Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev Henry Ndukuba, has urged public office holders to imbibe the lessons of Easter and make sacrifices that will lead to the improvement of lives and the well-being of the people.
Speaking at the church service held at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp, Gwarinpa, Abuja, Ndukuba appealed to political office holders to emulate the leadership style of Jesus Christ and serve the citizens selflessly.
He decried the weaponization of religious and political identity, which, according to him, is exacerbating division in the country, and called for love, unity, and peaceful coexistence.
He said, “Let us learn from Rwanda, a place that knew what death and sacrifice is and they have learned their lessons.In our own case, if the Rwandan genocide were to be in Nigeria, the genocide wouldn’t be forgotten. In our own case, we would be playing it up in order to gain a political advantage.
Ndukuba, who decried the high level of corruption in the country, said, “Corruption is killing this nation. We are witnessing the weaponization of corruption. We want to remind ourselves, the Cocoa House in Ibadan was not built with oil money.
“The old Niger Bridge in Onitsha was not built with oil money including the scholarship that raised a great number of our leaders today, because they benefited from the government scholarships but how many are benefiting from their leadership? People believed in the young people and invested in them. What are we getting today? Jesus died as a young man, at 33, we should pay attention to the youth.
“We are asking that our leaders learn from the Lord Jesus Christ. We need the love that is so sacrificial and willing to do anything to improve the lives of the people, but more importantly, to look at the long term.
“Jesus did what He did because of the eternal purpose. And sometimes our people are so quick in awarding contracts that they will gain something now without looking at the larger picture, the future of the nation.”
He stated that Jesus came to set humanity free from every bondage of the enemy, adding that the huge price paid by Jesus on the cross over 2,000 years ago is still effective today.
Ndukuba, who also emphasized the need for sacrificial love among Nigerians, said, “We thank God that today we commemorate, remember and celebrate the death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, which was a cruel death. It is called Good Friday because it is a day that God fulfilled what he proposed for humanity by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die a shameful death. He was only 33 when He died.
“A young man of 33 years is still having so much to accomplish in life. But we can see that this is the purpose of God in his life. He was cut down in his prime just to fulfill the eternal purpose of God. Jesus, the son of God, died on the cross of Calvary as a propitiation, as a sacrifice for our sin, as a price for our debt, as a payment for our ransom.”
The Primate stressed the need for the government to give more responsibilities to young prople to enable them to contribute their quota to nation building.
