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Secure your lives with PVCs, catholic priest tells Nigerians

By John Akubo, Lokoja
04 May 2018   |   3:13 am
The Parish Priest of the Church of the Archangels, Gadumo, Lokoja Catholic Diocese, Rev. Fr. Cyril Fanaye, has challenged Nigerians to safeguard themselves against killings and other hardship through their permanent voters’ cards (PVC) come 2019. He therefore advised the citizenry to vote wisely. During a mass yesterday to celebrate the feast of St. Joseph…


The Parish Priest of the Church of the Archangels, Gadumo, Lokoja Catholic Diocese, Rev. Fr. Cyril Fanaye, has challenged Nigerians to safeguard themselves against killings and other hardship through their permanent voters’ cards (PVC) come 2019. He therefore advised the citizenry to vote wisely.

During a mass yesterday to celebrate the feast of St. Joseph the worker, which coincided with the May Day celebration, cleric admonished Nigerian workers not to entertain fears in their struggle for emancipation, noting that apprehension for their lives, families and property could cripple them.

He said: “Removing fears out of our lives is important in spite of the current situation in Kogi State and Nigeria where non-payment of workers and inability of security agents to secure lives have become the order of the day.”

Fanaye recalled that in 1955 Pope Pius XII pronounced May 1 as the ‘Feast day of St. Joseph the worker’ to counter the communist then, similar to what obtains today.

He noted that the dignity of labour was to be uppermost, as workers’ sweat ordinarily should be rewarded with pay, regretting that the current state of things in Kogi was aberrant.

Admitting that though there was no more communism, Fanaye added that St. Joseph is still being celebrated because the people then stood up to defend themselves through prayer.

The parish priest said in the midst of non-payment of salary, hunger and starvation, killings of Nigerians and Christians especially by the herdsmen and Boko Haram sect, people should rise up to defend themselves not with weapons but through peaceful engagements like Martin Luther King (Jnr.) and Nelson Mandela did.

He added: “We must fight not with arms because if evil begets evil, it will be evil raised to power two, as there will be no peace, and if there is war, how many of us will be left?”

Fanaye urged Nigerians to rise up and fight with prayer, adding that selfishness of those at the whims and caprices gullible of their leaders was one of the major drawbacks of the country.

According to him, “if there is a call to occupy the Government House today, many Nigerians would not have the courage to go out and stand to be counted for the reason of their personal gains.”

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