BREAKING: Leave the Church out of your dirty politics, Christian group warns Edeoga
… says creating fake Bishops worse than APC Bishops
By Kenneth Omeruo
Christian youth organisations under the aegis of Youth Evangelical Fellowship of Nigeria, YEFON, has issued a stern warning to the defeated candidate of Labour Party in the just concluded governorshop election in Enugu State, Barr. Chijioke Edeoga over his recent attempts to embroil the Church in his political activities and equally peddling falsehoods with its name.
The body which comprises youth wings from different Christian denominations, in a statement issued in Enugu today by its President, Pastor Emmanuel Odimkpa condemed what it called Edeoga’s “contrivance of names of non-existent Bishops for media propaganda and misinformation”.
The Christian group decried the recent fake news written by Edeoga’s media operatives captioned “Southeast Nigerian Bishops Decry Enugu Governorship Results, say Mbah’s victory Is Coup d’etat Against Residents”, saying the purported association and the Bishops named therein were spurious, deceptive and vexatious.
“We have searched everywhere for the names of the Bishops and the Christian body mentioned in the said press release and can confirm that they are all fake.
“The creation of fake Bishops by Edeoga in his bid to whip up sentiments and sway public opinion to his favour over the outcome of the election is reminiscent of the fake Bishops assembled by the APC to endorse its Muslim presidential and vice presidential candidates ahead of the elections.
“Edeoga should desist further from using the Church and the entire body of Christ for his dirty politics and media propaganda. We will not sit idly while he drags the Church into his divisive politics”, he said.
Pastor Odimkpa recalled how the same Labour Party gubernatorial candidate had during the build-up to the Enugu governorship election held meetings with some Anglican Priests of Nsukka extraction arguing that they should support his candidacy and make his aspiration their project, lamenting that an Anglican had never been the governor of the state since its creation.
He said that on another occasion, Edeoga was quoted to have vowed to remove the Blessed Sacrament from the Government House Enugu chapel once he became governor, insisting that the Government House chapel is not for any particular denomination.
Pastor Odimkpa wondered why the Enugu State Labour Party gubernatorial candidate would go all out to sow a seed of discord among the different denominations in the state, maintaining that a church is a place where believers come to worship the Lord and not for politicking.
He further advised that the gubernatorial candidate should stop ridiculing the image of God by the enemies of Christianity in making caricature of anointed men of God by pushing false narratives with clergymen, stating that such action would attract nothing but a curse on him.
He equally recorded his displeasure on the manner some priests allowed themselves to be used as stooges and puppets in the hands of desperate politicians, arguing that many have left their duty of soul-searching for Christ and have gone into searching for mundane desires.
“It is heart-rending reading fictitious articles and fake news every day written with the name of the anointed ones and the church. This is to show that desperate politicians in search of political powers are gradually infiltrating the church of Christ.
“The calling of the Bishops is not to be judges on political issues especially as it concerns the outcome of any election. The Bishops are aware that there is a Tribunal set up for any aggrieved candidate to pursue their petitions, and the Bishops are educated enough not to preempt the court as it will amount to contempt of court.
“Having been in this mission for so long, I am not aware that there is any group known as Network of Eastern Zone of Evangelical Bishops of Nigeria (NEBN), in fact, it doesn’t exist. It is just existing only in the minds of the fabricators of such fake news which advertently or inadvertently ridicules Bishops in the South East and creates disaffection between them and political leaders in the zone. Please, I urge the people of Enugu State and Nigerians not to believe in such fictitious tales as published by the discredited news blog, Sahara Reporters. Edeoga should take his grievances to the Tribunal and not the church. The law has made provision for a mechanism for any aggrieved contestant to seek justice if he is not satisfied with the outcome of the election. The decision of the court is what will prevail and not that of the church. Therefore, Edeoga should stop politicizing the church and heating up the polity by pushing false narratives with Christiandom.” Odimkpa stated.
