Festus Akanbi in Lagos and Francis Sardauna in Katsina
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has spoken against the high rate of insecurity in the country and told the members of his Church to defend themselves against attackers.
Adeboye stressed that there is nowhere in the Bible that God said His children should not defend themselves.
This is coming as the Chairman of the Katsina State Traditional Council of Chiefs and Emir of Katsina, Dr Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, has raised the alarm over what he described as the multifaceted worsening security challenges facing the residents of the state
Speaking during the church’s July 2022 Holy Ghost Service in a viral video, Adeboye said enough is enough, adding that henceforth, “it’s fire for fire.”
“I don’t want to say much because I know whatever I say, some people may want to twist it. I have searched the Bible from cover to cover and there is nowhere where God said a child of God cannot defend himself. If you find the place, let me know. He said that if they slap you on the right cheek turn left; He said that one. If they now slap the left what did he say? When God is silent, do you know the meaning of that, it simply means over to you.
“I am only talking to my children. Only my children come to the Holy Ghost Service,” Adeboye explained.
In his sermon, the preacher said the church would hold its 2022 convention in the second week of August.
He said that would be the 40th at the Redemption Camp on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Adeboye said people all over the world would attend the event and encouraged “lazy members” to be part of it, urging them not to sit back to watch from the comfort of their homes.
“This programme is going to be different from the one you have known. Some people out of laziness have decided ‘Oh! I can watch everything on television.’ It’s good to watch on television; the programme will be televised throughout the world. But, as I told you if you are watching television and fire is burning, do you feel the heat. If you are watching television and the rain is falling, does your dress get wet?
“There are certain things television cannot transmit. Not at all. Glory be to God for television that can transmit across the world. Glory be to God. But when the Almighty God knows that it is out of laziness that you sat back at home, you will be hearing the testimonies of those who were present. There’s something called corporate anointing. The Bible says fire begets fire. There are certain things you get because you are there… Oh! Some jokers said churches should not open for three months. Who is your commander? God of Boko Haram? Let the devil try any nonsense, from now on, it is going to be fire for fire!
“I understand that one funny fellow said some people were calling on Ogun because Jesus didn’t answer them. Well, for the one who said that, there’s a saying that the mouth that the snail used to blaspheme God, that mouth will kiss the ground. From now on, anybody who dares blaspheme Jesus Christ will taste the fire of the Almighty God. Every enemy of the church, as far as Jesus is a consuming fire, if they don’t repent, the fire of God will consume them.
In 2020, Adeboye led his church members on a protest over insecurity and killings in Nigeria.
Adeboye, who instructed his church members all over Nigeria to observe the walk, commenced the walk from Ebute Meta to Atan Cemetery in Yaba metropolis in Lagos State.
Katsina Emir Laments Worsening Insecurity
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Katsina State Traditional Council of Chiefs and Emir of Katsina, Dr Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, has raised the alarm over what he described as the multifaceted worsening security in the state.
The traditional ruler said the spate of insecurity in the state is at the moment deteriorating and degenerating the state of affairs, particularly in farming communities across the state.
This is even as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the state berated President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly for their failure to tackle and investigate prevailing security challenges in the North-west despite the huge resources spent to curb the scourge in the region.
Usman, who spoke in Hausa in two minutes viral video, said some traditional rulers in the state have forfeited their salaries to enable the state government to ward off banditry in the state to no avail.
He added that the state has been overrun by terrorists, kidnappers, armed robbers, rapists, and other sundry armed criminal gangs who terrorise, kill, abduct and rape innocent citizens indiscriminately in the state.
He said: “You will see two or four persons (terrorists) on a bike with live ammunition out to kill anyone they could lay hands on; we all have to stand on our feet. It’s not as if we don’t have the money.
“We have the money and weapons to fight these people (terrorists). We have even forfeited our salaries so that they can fight insurgency but they don’t. Many emirs have been abducted.
“It has gotten to the extent that everywhere you go, you will be in constant fear of not knowing what may happen. It was just yesterday that I came back from Kaduna, l had to be escorted front and back,” he said.
He added: “Imagine we and our country living in such fear because of those irresponsible drug addicts. We can tackle them; we have the money and weapons to fight them. Are we afraid of them?
“We can’t fold our hands and be killed and have our wives abducted and raped in our presence; it is not fair, so this is my answer.”
Corroborating the emir’s frustration, the Chairman of the CSOs in the state, AbdulRahman Abdullahi, said with the escalating security challenges in the North-west, the monarch had spoken the minds of his subjects.
He said the federal and state governments should devise more proactive and revolving security measures to tackle banditry and other heinous crimes orchestrated by the hoodlums than the current reactive actions.
“It is unfortunate that despite huge spending on security operations in the North-west, the rate of crime is increasing by the day and neither the president nor the legislature cares to probe it,” he added.
