‘Don’t Incur Debt for Incoming Leaders’ - Akinde

Mary Ekah
The Archbishop of the Province of Lagos and Bishop of the Diocese of Lagos Mainland, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Adebayo Akinde, has charged the incumbent political office

holders not to incur debt for the incoming leaders as they prepare to hand over power to those concerned.

Speaking recently during a special Easter service in Lagos, Akinde said, “Do not leave a legacy of debt for the coming generation.”
“Let every body make sacrifice right from the leadership. When the leadership makes sacrifice, the ordinary Nigeria will be able to make sacrifice easily. Love one another and let every Nigerian be a harbinger of good news”, he noted further.

He stressed further that the only agenda that the nation needs right now is that of God. “What we want is God’s own agenda as in Leviticus 11:44.  Please write it out and give it out to every incoming leader: ‘Be holy because God is holy’. When our leaders are holy, they would seek to please God. So let them live holy lives for the interest of Nigerians, secure the present and prepare for the future.”

On the message he had for the nation at this particular time, he said, “My message as I have always said is the message of the Bible, I don’t have a personal message, I am megaphone for God and so what I have is the message of God and God’s message for the nation is that, God is set to do a new thing in this country.”

Speaking on the significance of Easter, he said,  “Easter depicts the victory of God over Satan, Easter the resurrection of Jesus, which is the foundation on which Christians’ faith rest. Eater implies the victory of good over evil. So for every Christian, Leviticus 11: 44 demands that we live holy lives.”

Speaking further he said,  “Jesus is our scapegoat by the shedding of his blood on the cross of cavalry, he has paid a ransom for our sins and every believer who confesses and put his trust in Christ has his sins forgiven. So by His resurrection, he is offering us a new victory. So the Christians should not be in doubt because the story of the resurrection of Christ is an inconvertible historical fact and that power that God used to roll away the big stone which was a concern to the women while they were going to the grave, is still available today to roll away    whatever problems and difficulties that may be facing our country.”

The cleric who also tasked Nigerians on the need to show love to one another noted, “God wants us to love one another, this is no time for I am Igbo and I am Yoruba or Hausa. We are Nigerians and there should be unity. God is love and Christians must show love to one another. We must be prepared to make sacrifice, Jesus Christ made sacrifice and without his sacrificial death none of us will have salvation. We must be able to make sacrifice for the coming generations of Nigeria. We are not to leave debt for generation to come. So political leaders must listen to the people and what we want now is good life for now and for the future.”