DELTA State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has advised clergymen not to seek political patronage or engage in flirtatious relationship with politicians so they could have the moral authority to speak truth to power.

Okowa, who gave the counsel yesterday in Ughelli during the consecration of three bishops of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion by the Primate, Rev. Nicholas Okoh at the Cathedral of All Saints, Ughelli, urged men of God to resist the temptation of seeking power at all costs.

The governor said the church was the conscience of the nation, and as such, a cleric must be seen and perceived to be upright.

“Ministers of the gospel must resist the temptation to seek fame, fortune and power at all costs. 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,” Okowa charged.

The governor stressed that the country was in dire need of prayer to cause miraculous intervention to turn around her challenges.