By CALEB AYANSINA
The Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh on Sunday called on religious leaders across the country, to preach gospel of unity, and dwell less on tribal issues capable of destroying the Church and the nation in general.
The Primate said absence of unity in the Church was affecting the progress of the nation; urging religious leaders to always promote national unity.
Okoh made the call at the official flag-off of activities, marking the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Diocese of Abuja, Anglican Communion, with the theme; ‘Celebrating the Faithfulness of God’, held at the All Saints’ Church, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.
The Diocese created from Kaduna Diocese on November 26, 1989 now has eight arch-deaconries, and it had produced two dioceses, namely, Diocese of Kubwa and Diocese of Gwagwalada.
Okoh maintained that the Church and the nation were suffering from same type of ailment, and the Church had what it takes to help the country back to its stand, noting that the country made slow progress due to drums of disunity and disintegration being beaten by some people.
“The challenge facing the nation, which is also affecting the Church, is the issue of tribalism, the absence of unity. You will agree with me that, today we have a country but we are not united, if we are united, our country would have made much progress,” he said.
According to the Primate, the Anglican Church wants to unite the people in the Church and make the issue of tribalism less attractive, and “hopefully by the grace of God, we lend that also to the nation.
“In the Church, we want to teach it, emphasise it, make everybody accept it, and give it as a gift to the nation, so that anybody who has gone through teaching of the Church will have no difficulty in relating with people from any part of the country.”
The former Executive Secretary, National Human Right Commission, Barr. Kehinde Ajoni, said the Church in 25 years had recorded a lot of achievements especially in the area of youth and women development.