We’re living in time of suffocating anxiety – Anglican Bishop

The Bishop of Ihiala Diocese of the Anglican Communion, Anambra State, Rt Rev Professor Isreal Okoye, asserted that the controversy over open grazing in Nigeria had served as a distraction from fundamental issues on the economy, education, justice, equity, leadership, among other things. He characterized the country as being agonizingly enmeshed in insecurity.

The Bishop while presenting his charge at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Ihiala to mark the fourth synod of the Diocese with the theme: “Worship Acceptable to God” described insecurity in the country as a pandemic that had caused Nigerians to live in a time of suffocating anxiety.

He said that a situation where people felt insecure within and outside their homes was unacceptable. Bishop Okoye blamed the security challenges on government’s’ failure to care for the citizens.

“We are living in a time of suffocating anxiety and steady increase in threats to life, dehumanization and murderous conflicts. No country is spared. The situation is, however, worse in countries whose populations are vulnerable to manipulations premised on parochial sentiments, ignorance, poverty, religion, etc.

“Unfortunately, the aftermaths bite hard on people irrespective of their socio-economic and political positions and faith persuasions.

“We have a generation of frustrated and angry youths who suffer unemployment and underemployment. To worsen the situation, the education system and the economy do not take care of the young ones. Society has paved the way for criminalities.

“Politicians have contributed greatly to insecurity today in society. Governments have failed in their primary responsibility of ensuring that the security of lives and property is guaranteed and jobs provided as well as other dividends of democracy.

“Time was when the privileged few thought that insecurity was for the poor. But the situation has changed. Nobody is now spared.

“Societies that fail to develop their human and material resources in the interest of all their members are bound to reap the fruit of their frustration and anger. Many cases of crime unleashed on governments or sections of the society are launched by some individuals who were not enabled to develop their potentialities and spiritual life, ” the Bishop said.

He expressed displeasure to the Fulani herdsmen’s rejection of the anti- open grazing laws being promulgated in Southern and other parts of Nigeria.

He said by that rejection the Fulani herders had violated the law of the land to claim ownership of and unhindered access to every land “including our ancestral homes.”

He cited several portions of the Constitution that did not support the claims of the Fulani herders and wondered why they must go ahead to confront farmers, “killing, maiming and raping them in order to allow their cows to feed on the farmers’ crops.”

On Anambra election, the Bishop noted that the desperate struggle for the November 6 governorship ticket in Anambra State had engendered conflicts and castigations that reinforced an earlier remark that many politicians in Anambra State, like in other States in Nigeria, according to him, had not availed themselves of the lessons of political history.

He said that a look at the way the election was being prepared by the contestants would make one to wonder whether they were preparing for war other than a normal election.

He also criticized what transpired during the party primaries that produced candidates for the November 6 governorship election. He described Anambra State gubernatorial election, in some instances, battles for the survival of the fittest.

“Politicians now win elections based on the technicalities of the law and not the people’s mandate, ” the Bishop said.

On the theme of the synod, the Bishop said: “If, in accordance with the word of God, people who profess that God is the object of their worship, engage in worship in a manner that pleases them, but displeases God, they would most likely be worshipping in vain. Such a worship is not expected to elicit God’s blessings. That’s not the desire of any true disciple of Jesus Christ.”