- Panam Percy Paul, 22 others to feature at festival
Alex Enumah in Abuja
The Middle Belt region is to hold a praise festival aimed at liberating people of the region from ethnic division and other crisis in the region, said to be responsible for the loss of thousands of lives and properties worth billions of naira in the last few years.
The festival which will feature renowned gospel artist, Panam Percy Paul and 22 others would serve as a platform for people of the region to come together irrespective of political, cultural, ethnic and economic differences.
Other gospel singers to feature include Solomon Lange, Prospa Ochimana, Chris Morgan, David G, Steve Crown, Ruben Okala, Helen Kokoruwe, among others.
The festival slated for October 18 to 20, would hold in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
According to the convener of the festival, Panam Percy Paul, the Almighty God has planned to use the festival as an incubator through which God will birth other visions and ideas for the region.
” For years, so many people saw the middle belt as tribe which is to come together, but the middle belt alone is made up of over 600 different tribes so when you try to unite such a people, it becomes very difficult because so many parameters divides us.
“I think the Lord just raised us right from the very beginning to emancipate this region.
“The main vision is bringing the people together because nothing works unless the people are one, and so the middle belt praise festival happens to be the most reasonable platform that brings the people together.
“We are Christians, we can’t deny that and we can never downplay our faith and I discovered that it is not possible for the middle belt region to come together under politics, tradition or economy but under one single denominators that binds us together.
” We therefore want to use this medium to invoke the power of God to unite us as one,” he said.
He disclosed that over 300 Christian traditional rulers had been reached to get to the over 600 tribes in the region on the need to bring them under one umbrella to promote unity in the region.
He added that the festival which would henceforth be an annual programme would also be taken to other states within the region.
Also, Rev. John Ornguze of the Christian Centre Ministries said the enemies was bent at destroying the call of God in the middle belt urging Christians in the region to rise up and ensure unity of purpose to move forward.
“The enemy is trying to kill the call of the gospel in the middle belt. End time gospels have come upon the middle belt and God is trying to bring out Elijah out from the region.
” It is now left for us to come together to see to it that the dream of God upon the region did not go unfulfilled.
” The festival will therefore be a forum where Christians can come together and propagate the ideas that will hold us stronger and united.”
Mr Jonathan Tsaku, Liaison Officer, Middle Belt Forum, said there was need for the people of the region to go back to God for reconciliation so that He could eliminate the problems that divides the region.
