Nigeria must be redeemed with immediacy - Eminent Nigerians commence action plan

- The Legacy Initiative International, according to Kenny Martins, has some mandates geared at the unity of the country

- Kenny Martins laments concerning how some supposed leaders in the country make hate speeches in the face of the challenges facing the country

- Martins also lists those who have been contacted and who have given their endorsements

Eminent Nigerians across the country have decided to lay aside their political, ethnic and religious differences with a primary mandate of rescuing the country from sliding into anarchy.

Revealing this at a press conference, statesman Kenny Martins said it was time to redeem Nigeria and bring God into the equation, especially concerning the various challenges facing the country currently.

“There’s something missing in our equation. Why don’t we bring God into our equation? It’s redemption time," he told journalists in Lagos.

Unveiling the state Legacy Initiative International, an organisation through which the mission is to be accomplished, the eminent Nigerians believe Nigeria's unity must be sacrosanct.

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While Chief Martins is the grand patron of the organisation, Bolaji Akinyemi, a respected Nigerian and co-chairman of the last constitutional conference, is its president.

Martins revealed that the leadership of the organisation had met with religious and opinion leaders including: Prophet TB Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, The Archbishop of the Catholic archdiocese of Lagos and that of Abuja; the Sultan of Sokoto; the Etsu Nupe; emir of Bida; the Prelate of the Methodist Church, Nigeria; the Primate of the Church Of Nigeria, Anglican Communion; the leader of the Christ Apostolic Church and that of the Living Faith Church, David Oyedepo.

Others include the leader of NASFAT; the president Of CAN and its leadership, the head of the National Christian Elders Council; the president of the Christian Counsel of Nigeria; the leader Cherubim and Seraphim Church; the leader of the Celestial Church of Christ; the leader of the Trinity Church; the leader of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry; the leader of Goodnews Miracle Church; the leader of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); the senior special adviser to the president on media and publicity; three former presidents; many former and serving governors and senior legislators.

Legit.ng reports that members of the group also include seasoned professionals from different backgrounds, top Nigerian women and some youths from all parts of the country.

“We also have members who are Nigerians living in the diaspora. Our diaspora members contribute to our debates through the social media. We also have functional offices in the United Kingdom and other European countries, while the United States and Canadian wings are fast coming up,” he said.

“Apart from peaceful co-existence among Nigerians in the diaspora, our diaspora members have asked us to advocate that they should be allowed to vote during elections as many other countries allow their citizens in the diaspora to vote during general elections.

"In the case of the Nigerians diaspora vote, we understand that there is, in fact, a subsisting judgement of a Nigerian high court directing the appropriate agency to allow diaspora voting, which judgement is yet to be executed or complied with.

“The twin issues that Legacy has decided to focus its advocacy upon are not in the least exotic. These are hardcore issues that have prevented our country from developing as fast as it could have developed over the years.

"The good news is that with the work of Legacy and the organisations that have pledged their support to it, the twin evils of ethnicity and religious intolerance will be drastically defeated and degraded in Nigeria, if l may use that contemporary terminology.

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"Our population of Muslims in Nigeria is more than the population of any other country in Africa. Also, our population of Christians in Nigeria is more than the population of any other country in Africa. Only Nigeria has the capacity to feed 200,000,000 people per year and still remain the largest economy in our continent.

“It is, therefore, a thing of regret that often times the narratives that we see and hear, even from very prominent Nigerians are issues that relate to hate speech and the proclamation of artificial fault lines like ethnicity and religious intolerance.

“We recognise the place of evangelism in every religion and the rights of believers to seek converts to their own sect or mission. What causes odium is not the genuine acts of winning converts but the deliberate denigration of a people or the use of vile language to describe their faith.

“At interpersonal levels, Nigerians of all faith and ethnicity love each other. We intermarry with each other, work in each other’s company and belong to similar social organisations. Nobody buys stuff from the market from only his faith group or ethnic group. Nobody goes to check the faith or ethnic origin of a bus driver before we hop into the bus.

“However, from time to time especially during the period of general elections, the colours of our fault lines become more prominent than ever. It is the problem of these fault lines and the hardships that they have brought to our country Nigeria that Legacy is determined with your support to address in a comprehensive manner, once and for all," he added while noting that the organisation understands the enormity of the task before it.

He urged leaders in the country to channel their attention to the forthcoming election and ensuring a peaceful process that would bring about the right leadership.

He also listed security problems around the country with different brand names ranging from; farmer-herdsmen clashes, bandits-citizens clashes; militancy, and deliberate destruction of the country's economic infrastructure in some regions of the country.

In his own address, Akinyemi revealed that Christianity teaches love and Islam teaches peace, yet both ideals are elusive in Nigeria.

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“Legacy International Initiative is much concerned about high scale of insecurity and lawlessness in the nation, which has led to wanton bloodletting and huge number of internally displaced persons.

“It is saddenning and disheartening that with the global reputation of the Nigerian nation as a highly religious country, the great percentage of our citizens alluded to the Islam and Christian faiths, yet the expected effect of the teachings of these religions is far-fetched,” he said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) reportedly tabled a seven-point demand before the British government for the peaceful resolution of the entire sectarian crises threatening the stability and unity of Nigeria.

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Source: Legit.ng