A former President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, (PFN) and General Superintendent of the New Covenant Gospel Church, Rev. Felix Omobude, on Sunday cautioned the Nigerian government against taking the restraint by the Church for weakness, stressing that “our restraint is because we believe that a united Nigeria will be the best for us”.
Dr. Omobude said despite the deliberate targeting of Christians by terrorist groups for killings and abductions, the situation would become chaotic and more complicated if Christians chose to carry arms against the criminals.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that the former PFN leader, speaking in an interview with journalists on the state of the nation, however said that there was nothing wrong in churches and Christians organising protection through appropriate channels during services and activities.
Weighing in on the debate about the threat by the United States’ President Donald Trump to come in and take out the terrorists, Omobude also insisted that there was nothing wrong in the Nigerian government calling for external help to stop terrorism.
The cleric noted that Nigeria had already been taken over by foreigners and that the argument that external forces coming in would impinge on the sovereignty of the country did not hold water.
He said if anybody had prophesied that the country would be in this situation about15 years ago, people would not have believed it, lamenting that “but here we are, it is very worrisome”.
He said it would be “irresponsible for a leader at certain levels for example to call for arms, to call for violence”, arguing that “Violence will give birth to violence; we don’t have another nation. So, our restraint is because we believe that a united Nigeria will be the best for us and I hope that those in leadership don’t take our restraint for weakness.
“The church under the situation cannot call for arms unless you want to scatter things. We will continue to pray, we continue to advocate. We will continue to also educate our people appropriately.”
Underscoring the need for state police, he said as president of the PFN, he had consistently advocated for it and commended President Bola Tinubu’s position on that.
“As president of PFN for eight years, we advocated the formation of state police policy. I was happy to hear recently that the president has ordered that that be done. The centralisation of the policing system in this country is anti-development. Society has gone beyond that.
“I was growing up, we had a local government authority police. They had their duties – tax collection, environmental issues and all the rest. So, I don’t see any reason why we should not encourage state policing.
“I heard that American people want to come and help us. Some people are saying it violates our sovereignty. I don’t think that is right. Already, our sovereignty has been violated by these insurgents who came from another country and have taken us over. It is like the military itself is infiltrated. So, I don’t see what is wrong in asking for help; for external help.”