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Chat 212 - Nig - Newsmail Report
Chat 212 - Nig - Newsmail Report
THE outgoing Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Makinde, has told the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to fulfil its electoral promises to Nigerians, rather than continue to fight over who leads the country in 2015.
Makinde expressed worry that the PDP had been engaged in the fight for who would be in charge of the country’s affairs in the next political dispensation without fulfilling its electoral promises to Nigerians.
Speaking on Thursday at the dedication of the MCN Tailoring Factory Limited branch in Umuahia, Abia State, Makinde observed that PDP had ignored the problems of unemployment, insecurity, poor power supply and poverty in the country.
Makinde, who noted that public university lecturers had been on strike while doctors and other medical professionals were already threatening to join them, added that Nigerians were in a helpless situation.
Makinde said, “The ruling party (PDP) should shelve the idea of who rules in 2015. Who knows who will leave to see tomorrow? Let them (ruling party) concentrate on the welfare of the people.
“Poverty, unemployment, lack of power supply and lack of security are affecting the country negatively. I am sad that in all these, people are fighting for 2015. But the question is that who knows tomorrow?
“What they are struggling for now is who will lead in 2015. They have left us helpless. Members of the ruling PDP are like elephants that fight one another and Nigerians are like the grass that suffers. Nobody thinks about the poor again.
“The Academic Staff Union of Universities is on strike and they are doing nothing about it. The students are all at home and you know that the devil provides work for the idle hands. They (government) are not doing anything about it. The medical people say they are going on strike. Like the book authored by late Prof. Chinua Achebe, everything has fallen apart. This is the time in Nigeria that Achebe’s book is relevant because things have fallen apart in the country.”
The cleric decried the increasing level of insecurity in the country and also expressed surprise that security agents were helpless when a bishop was kidnapped in the country last week.
Makinde pointed out that government could solve the problem of kidnapping and armed robbery by tackling unemployment.
“The security in the nation is porous and I am saying that security does not even exist because lives and properties of Nigerians are not safe, even to the extent that a bishop – a man of God – was kidnapped and security operatives are helpless about it.
“I think Nigeria is rolling down the hill and we have to pray to God to redeem this country. The way to arrest it is for the government to have the political will to deal decisively with unemployment,” he added.
Makinde called on Nigerians to always pray to God for the solutions to the problems affecting the country since political and economic solutions had failed the country.
He said, “The solution is that we have to go spiritual. We have to take everything to God in prayer. We have failed in our previous solutions; political solution, economic solution and so on. Let’s embrace spiritual solution and God will redeem us.”
The man of God also called on those who engaged in criminal activities to desist from such acts, explaining that the absence of employment should not be an excuse for anybody to embrace crime.
“Unemployment does not justify going into kidnapping or any form of crime. I was unemployed for more than three years and I did not go into crime. Unemployment is no excuse, but government should reduce it,” he added.
Makinde, however, expressed the need for politicians to give President Goodluck Jonathan a rest of mind in order for him to concentrate on the challenges of governance.
Before he unveiled and dedicated the Umuahia branch of MCN Tailoring Factory to God, Makinde urged members of the church to always patronise the organisation.
