A Catholic Priest of the Order of Sons of Mary, Rev. FR. Anthony Ikechukwu, has called for increased respect for the sanctity and sacredness of oath taking by public officers, especially politicians.
The priest made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday.
According to Ikechukwu, there is a correlation between woes that befall a man and the non-committal to vows and oaths freely taken.
“Reproach will befall anybody that is not honourable to an oath that he or she enters into,” he said.
The priest said that vows and oaths were not to be treated with levity, adding that national prosperity would flourish in a society that took oaths seriously.
“The sense of commitment to oath of public office will tell us the quality of leadership of our nation,” he said.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to pray for those in public offices to prevent their dishonourable acts from bringing calamity upon the country.
The priest also urged Nigerians to desist from accumulating material things, saying that such tendency sustained greed, avarice and wickedness against fellow countrymen.
“We must encourage ourselves to avoid amassing material things that distract us from pursuing pro-people and nationalistic projects,” he said. (NAN)