The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has warned against initiating a do-or-die affair mindset as the election of a new National Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, draws nearer.
The speaker made the charge in a statement issued through his spokesman, Turaki Hassan.
The statement delivered at a ceremony to declare the Second Christian Pilgrim Stakeholders Summit organised by the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission in Abuja open yesterday, urged and tasked Christian leaders to build unity of purpose amongst themselves and other fellow believers in accordance with the teachings of the master, Jesus Christ.
“The body of Christ is not divided, and leadership in the kingdom is not about what you desire to do to God. Election into leadership of the church should never be a do-or-die affair at all. Let it be that we are yielding our output for God,” he said.
The speaker encouraged a brotherhood spirit amongst Christians, urging them to ensure that the aftermath of the election makes them stronger and united more than ever before.
He continued that the country needed more ways of wealth creation to achieve aspired dreams of becoming one of the developed countries in the world.
He commended the efforts of the NCPC in generating funds to sustain its activities following the Federal Government’s withdrawal of citizens’ sponsorship to pilgrimage.
“I also urge other leaders to key into this because the future of our country and our youths lies with wealth creation through skills acquisition,
“The benefits of prayers and spiritual exercises such as pilgrimage cannot be overemphasized but sometimes the resources for such exercises are simply not there for a lot of our people.
“In this regard, when we pool resources together and apportion the limited resources to sponsor certain number of pilgrims at each of the four pilgrimages in a year through the “WIN A TRIP TO ISREAL” promo, we encourage more Christians to participate.
“When a portion of the pooled resources go to the government Trust Fund to pay for special /intervention projects, we perform a civic duty that gives us an advantage; to suggest special/intervention projects that would benefit our people,” he stressed.