Ololade Adeyanju/
Some eminent Nigerians today raised concerns over issues of insecurity in Nigeria as they unveiled an initiative to unite religious groups and ensure peaceful coexistence in the country.
Addressing its maiden press conference today at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, the Legacy Initiative International led by the Grand Patron, Chief Kenny Martins and the President, Dr Bolaji Akinyemi, along with other members of its executive unveiled the vision and mission of the group that is out to prepare Nigerians for responsible citizenship and credible leadership, as well as instituting a legacy of responsible citizenship for good governance through public enlightenment.
Dr Akinyemi observed that Christianity teaches love and Islam teaches peace, yet both ideals are elusive in Nigeria.
Harping on the need to cross the dividing line and forge agreement towards nation building, Dr Akinyemi said, “Legacy International Initiative is much concerned about high scale of insecurity and lawlessness in the nation, which has led to wanton bloodletting and huge number of internally displaced persons.
“It is saddenning and disheartening that with the global reputation of the Nigerian nation as a highly religious country, the great percentage of our citizens alluded to the Islam and Christian faiths, yet the expected effect of the teachings of these religions is far-fetched.”
While delivering his speech, Chief Martins said, “Legacy is an Organisation that has been long in coming. Many well-meaning Patriotic Nigerians have been meeting for nearly one year now and searching for solutions to some of the most divisive issues in Nigeria as a Country, namely: Ethnicity and Religious intolerance. They have spent sleepless nights, travelled long distances for consultations and spent their meagre income on logistics for a cause which is for the common good of all our people in Nigeria. I am very proud to have been associated with them all the way,” Martins said while addressing the conference.
He added: “These consultations have been costly in terms of time and resources to the organisation, but they have given us a great insight on the enormity of the challenges presently facing our Country and the need for all hands to be on deck towards repositioning our Country on the right trajectory to even development and less acrimony.
Martins made it clear that the organisation “is neither a religious organisation nor a partisan political organisation”. He described the group as a social organisation attempting to tackle a social problem through the building of concessions among National Elites.
Wondering why Nigeria is such a dysfunctional society, even with all the natural, human and spiritual resources, Martins drew the audience’s attention to developments in neighbouring Ghana as he compared the state of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport opened in 1979 by the then Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and the Airport opened in Ghana three months ago.
He also rated hospitals in Ghana above those in Nigeria in healthcare delivery.
“There’s something missing in our equation,” he said. “Why don’t we bring God into our equation? It’s redemption time.”
According to him, the Leadership of the organization had met with religious and opinion leaders including: The Arch Bishop of The Catholic Arch Diocese of Lagos; the Arch Bishop of The Catholic Arch Diocese of Abuja; the Sultan of Sokoto; the Etsu Nupe (Emir of Bida), the Prelate of The Methodist Church, Nigeria; the Primate of the Church Of Nigeria, Anglican Communion; the Leader of the Christ Apostolic Church; the Leader of Living Faith Church a.k.a Winners Chapel; the Leader Of NASFAT; the President Of CAN; the Vice President Of CAN; the President Of the National Christian Elders Council; the President of the Christian Counsel of Nigeria; the Leader Cherubim and Seraphim Church; the Leader of the Celestial Church of Christ; the Leader of the Trinity Church; the Leader of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry; the Leader of Goodnews Miracle Church; the Leader of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity; three former Presidents; many former Governors; many serving Governors, and many senior Legislators.
Martins revealed that members of the group included seasoned professionals from different illustrious backgrounds, great women of substance and very vibrant youths from all parts of the country.
“We also have members who are Nigerians living in the diaspora. Our diaspora members contribute to our debates through the social media. We also have functional offices in the United Kingdom and other European Countries, while the United States and Canadian wings are fast coming up,” he said. “Apart from peaceful co-existence among Nigerians in the diaspora, our diaspora members have asked us to advocate they should be allowed to vote during elections as many other countries allow their citizens in the diaspora to vote during general elections. In the case of the Nigerian diaspora vote, we understand that there is, in fact, a subsisting judgement of a Nigerian High Court directing the appropriate agency to allow diaspora voting, which judgement is yet to be executed or complied with.
“The twin issues that Legacy has decided to focus its advocacy upon are not in the least exotic. These are hard-core issues that have prevented our Country from developing as fast as it could have developed over the years. The good news is that with the work of Legacy and the organisations that have pledged their support to it, the twin evils of Ethnicity and Religious intolerance will be drastically defeated and degraded in Nigeria, if l may use that contemporary terminology.”
Other members of the group who spoke at the event, covered by NewsmakersNG, included Rev (Dr) Fred Odutola, Pastor Dotun Ojelabi, Amb. Dare Bejide, Pastor Abimbola Olawore, Prince Chudi Chukwuani, Hon Emelia Uzeude and Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, who observed: “When the British were here, we were not killing ourselves because of religion. Why are we doing it now?”
Rev Odutola, who decried how the conscience of the electorate is easily bought by politicians with cash, blamed the followers for giving Nigeria poor leadership.
Here are other things Martins said about the group in his lengthy speech: “The slogan of Legacy is, Legacy Our Size, Our Strength. Please help me echo it. Legacy!!!!!! (Our Size, Our Strength) Legacy!!!!!! (Our Size, Our Strength). The Size we are referring to is the size of our Country Nigeria with nearly 1,000,000 square kilometres of arable land mass. The Strength we are referring to is our Population of about 200,000,000 citizens and mind-boggling human and Natural Resources which God has endowed us with as a Nation.
“Our Population of Muslims in Nigeria is more than the Population of any other country in Africa. Also, Our Population of Christians in Nigeria is more than the Population of any other country in Africa. Only Nigeria has the capacity to feed 200,000,000 people per year and still remain the largest economy in our continent.
“It is, therefore, a thing of regret that often times the narratives that we see and hear, even from very prominent Nigerians are issues that relate to hate speech and the proclamation of artificial fault lines like Ethnicity and Religious Intolerance.
“We recognize the place of evangelism in every religion and the rights of believers to seek converts to their own sect or mission. What causes odium is not the genuine acts of winning converts but the deliberate denigration of a people or the use of vile language to describe their faith.
“At interpersonal levels, Nigerians of all Faith and Ethnicity love each other. We intermarry with each other, work in each other’s Company and belong to similar social organisations. Nobody buys stuff from the market from only his faith group or ethnic group. Nobody goes to check the faith or ethnic Origin of 3 bus driver before we hop into the bus.
“However, from time to time especially during the period of general elections, the colours of our fault lines become more prominent than ever. Mr Chairman, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is the problem of these fault lines and the hardships that they have brought to our Country Nigeria, that Legacy is determined with your support to address in a comprehensive manner, once and for all.
“We are not naive to think that what we are undertaking is a simple task that could be solved overnight, but in the words of the Former American President, Barak Obama, we have the “Audacity of Hope” that we shall soon overcome the problem with the support of all that are gathered here today and the millions of Nigerians who are sick and tired of these unnecessary stumbling blocks to National development.
“We must here salute the industry of our Religious and Opinion Leaders in Nigeria for their Leadership and service in the area of opening and running some of the best schools and Tertiary institutions in Nigeria, Housing Estates and Medical facilities of distinction.
“We call on them to turn their attention with the same grace and vigour to the election process in Nigeria in a coordinated effort by the Leaders of the two faith groups in Nigeria, the Christians and the Muslims. There is a saying in some parts of Nigeria that when two persons urinate together, they generate a larger foam. We believe that if our Religious Leaders can quickly overcome their interdenominational and interfaith differences, they will emerge as the most potent force for the choice of Political Leaders in our Country and ultimately bring about the rise of ethical governance in Nigeria without turning the Country into a Theocracy, which is an entirely different form of government from our system of democracy which we cherish.
“It is not difficult to imagine what will be the outcome if the top hierarchy of our Christian and Muslim leaders, with all their wisdom and spiritual disposal, will narrow their choice to a single candidate in a Presidential or gubernatorial election. Such candidate will win easily without having to break any Bank, and when he or she is in office there will be no doubt that the person will be the appropriate agency to allow diaspora voting, constantly conscious of the divine route through which he or she got into office and the consequences of not governing in the best way possible. With time such a practice can become the norm and apply to both the local Government and other elections. We have the audacity to hope that this will come to pass.
“Some of the best sermons in the world are preached on the Nigerian soil on Church altars and different Mosques. Although the Muslim elite faithful tend to listen more to their own clerics, the rate of influence the Christian Clergy have on their own faithful in public offices is to say the least abysmally low, and will continue to be so unless the Christian politicians know that they will pay a political price unless they listen to their resurgent clergy as they galvanise themselves with their current trend of assertiveness.
“Apart from the divisive twin issues of ethnicity and Religious intolerance, there are other equally pressing issues in Nigerian politics that must be addressed urgently and objectively. The first in my own opinion is the Security problems around the country with different brand names ranging from; Farmer-Herdsmen clashes to Bandits-Citizens clashes; Militancy, and deliberate destruction of our economic infrastructure in some regions of the Country.
“With the gallantry of our Armed Forces, the Boko Haram insurgency have now been defeated and degraded. However, from time to time we hear the news of the sizeable numbers of insurgents that have been neutralised. Unfortunately, the Boko Haram insurgency in whatever shape or fashion that they currently exist, still consist a major security threat that must be addressed by the Federal Government. We hear of current changes in the chains of command at the operation theatres. We hope that the changes will bring the much needed succour for the long suffering citizens of Nigeria in the North East zone of our Country.
“Also worthy of mention is the issue of official corruption. Our current score card in the corruption index is nothing for anybody to be happy about. Whether corruption is fighting back or not, we urge the Federal Government to double its effort to make sure that our Country is not overwhelmed by the evil of official corruption.
“The resurgence of kidnapping and other violent crimes like armed robbery along our major highways are very serious security issues the Law Enforcement agencies must quickly address. We know about their constraints in manpower and budgetary issues, but we urge them to maximise their response to these violent crimes with the current resources available to them.
“This is an election year and the election fever is on. We urge all the players to play by the rules and the umpire to acquit itself creditably. The eyes of the whole world are now on Nigeria and will be so until the elections are concluded early next year. We believe that by this time next year after the elections have come and gone that our Country will be even stronger and our economy even more robust.
“The aim of our organisation is to sustain this campaign for peaceful coexistence among our people in every part of the country. As such, we plan to establish viable local wings in all states of the Federation and even in Local Government Areas where we have members. Currently we have functional offices in Lagos and Abuja and many more will come on stream in the near future.
“The task of funding the organisation is enormous. Our funding for now has been through the contributions of our members. This is not sustainable in the long run. We therefore call for the support for our organisation as it struggles to meet these lofty aims and objectives in the interest of peace and development of our Country with very lean resources at its disposal. We welcome donations from well-meaning Nigerians and assure all of you that all such donations will be well utilised and very well accounted for.
“We thank you for attending this Maiden Press Conference. We assure you that we shall continue our nationwide consultations even more vigorously to get the buy in of as many Leaders of the strata of our communities as possible on the need for the foregoing changes that we advocate in the interest of our National development and peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians in all parts of Nigeria.”
0