Despite the hardship Nigerians are facing this time and the attendant struggle for survival, the country is still on the path of progress and prosperity.
Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr. Oliver Ali Aba, said this in Okai Item in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State as Item community honours one of their own, Bishop Dr. Sunday Onuoha, on the occasion of Onuiha’s Diamond Jubilee celebration.
Aba stated that whatever problems or challenges confronting the country now, “Nigeria is on the track of progress until we finally settle down.”
He added, “Nigeria as a country is full of blessings from God and humanity. Every part of the nation called Nigeria you go to, God must have deposited one resource or the other, both human and natural and we are happy about that. We believe that as we keep on bringing them together, we would have started from somewhere.
“Nigeria today is going through a level of struggling, but with a population of over 200 million, the country meant much to the wider world, both the African continent and the world at large, in the area of economy and what it takes to be great.
“The whole world believes in us because of our population, but we still have teething problems. As the problems continue manifesting, we will continue to trash them one by one until we reach out destination.”
Earlier in his homily, the Prelate urged Nigerians to imbibe the virtue of gratitude and thanksgivings always, to receive greater blessings from God, even as he congratulated Bishop Onuoha on his 60th birthday.
Prelate Aba described the celebrant as an icon, not only in his home state, Abia, but also in Nigeria as whole, adding that his humble and exemplary leadership with remarkable achievements challenges everyone.
A former governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, described Bishop Onuoha as an upright human being and urged Nigerians to listen to men of God “so that we cannot suffer here and go to heaven to suffer again.”
Yuguda said, “Men of God should look into the books of faith; the Bible and the Quran for someone who is qualified to be a leader, not because one has money and influence and think that he can be a leader.”
He asked religious leaders, “Why should you allow us to be electing people who will go into the treasury and start looting it? It is your responsibility then to tell our people to ensure that a person who is to be a leader is profiled, look at his past, how he is going on and if he conforms to what we have in the Bible as a leader.
“I appeal that we should take a cue from the Bible and that is the only way Nigeria can be good. The kind of leaders we have today and yesterday, 90 per cent of them, even though I was one of them, are crooks.
“With what we read every day in the newspapers, it is almost like we want to commit suicide. You can see in our rural areas, the same poverty all over Nigeria.
“Look at the Senate, they are talking about people who are appropriating billions to themselves, yet, we hardly have good drinking water in the country.”
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was a special guest at the event, eulogized Bishop Onuoha on his 60th birthday and for building hospital for his Okai Item people, saying that it would save the lives of the rural populace.
Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti thanked Bishop Onuoha for supporting his government and for accepting to serve God, noting that 60 years mark the beginning of his greatness and prayed God that Bishop Onuoha would live beyond 100 years.
The celebrant, Bishop Onuoha, said he sees the world as his parish and has devoted himself to work with different kinds of people, including non-Christians, disclosing that the challenges of life made him and his family to touch and transform lives.
He enthused that challenges of life, teach people how to go to the next level, maintaining that the Agnes Memorial Hospital he built was to immortalize his late daughter, Agnes Onuoha, for the passion she had for people while alive and urged Nigerians to have faith in God, adding that God has a purpose of calling everyone on earth.