We Are Here For Peace, Nicholas Okoh Tells El-Rufai

The Primate of the Anglican Communion, Most Rev, Nicholas Okoh, has reinstated the support of the Church of Nigeria to the Kaduna State Government On Peace Co-existence.

Nicholas Okoh, the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, stated this Wednesday (yesterday) in Kaduna when he visited Governor Nasir El-Rufai. The primate assured the governor that the Church of Nigeria shares and supports this commitment to peace.

Mr. Okoh, an archbishop who led a nine-man delegation of the Church of Nigeria, thanked the governor for receiving his team. He also expressed gratitude for the audience Governor El-Rufai granted in November 2019 to a team of bishops led by Ali Buba Lamido, the archbishop of Kaduna Province.

The Primate recalled that he mandated the visit of the Archbishop Lamido team and said that the Church of Nigeria is grateful that the team was received with goodwill in a meeting that clarified the status of St. George’s Cathedral, Zaria.

Mr. Okoh revealed to the governor that the attention of the Church was drawn to the unguarded and unacceptable writings of one of their Bishops, the Right Reverend Abiodun Ogunyemi, the Bishop of Zaria Diocese.  Mr. Okoh assured Mr. El-Rufai that the Church of Nigeria is not partisan in the politics of the nation and that the position of Bishop Ogunyemi is not the position of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).

He added that  Bishop Ogunyemi has been cautioned and warned to desist from making utterances and writings that are tantamount to threatening the peace of Kaduna State and the nation at large.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting with the Governor, Mr Okoh said he came to Kaduna to discuss peace in Nigeria and Kaduna State, stressing that Nigerians must build bridges of peace for the nation to move forward

“We have to come to Kaduna to discuss peace in Nigeria and Kaduna state. We must build bridges and not to create problems in the country because it will consume everyone. We must work together and build Nigeria.”

On the Primate’s team were former Foreign Minister, Odein Ajumogobia, who is the Chancellor of the Church of Nigeria, and bishops from Lokoja, Kubwa, Kaduna and Dutse, and Abraham Yisa, the registrar of the Church of Nigeria.