From: Lucky Ighomuaye, Benin
President, Citizens for Righteousness and Social Justice (CRJ), Pastor John Adekoya Adesanya, has called on Nigerians to embark on moral revolution to halt the spread of corruption in the country if the nation must retain its pride of place as the giant of Africa.
He made the call in Benin while speaking on the theme “Righteousness and Social Justice, Divine Word Changes Lives” at the event to mark the 15 years anniversary of Church of God In Christ (COGIC), one year anniversary of Citizen for Righteousness and Social Justice and 17 years anniversary of Divine Word International.
Pastor Adesanya said the name of the country has been so bastardized so much so that if a Nigerian introduces himself in some western countries, they tend to pay a critical attention to him than the person from other West Africa countries.
Adesanya said the situation was not so in the past but that it has become so bad now.
He said the reason why corruption has become so rampant is because the country lacks those who will sincerely fight it.
“I will rate the fight against corruption to be very poor and the reason we are not fighting corruption in Nigeria is because there are no genuine warriors against corruption.
“You can’t fight corruption when you yourself are corrupt.
“I belong to LACC of the national anti corruption coalition formed by the ICPC but since we started, I wrote an article about it. It is a joke.
“Government cannot say they are fighting corruption but that is what CRJ is up to do. Government cannot fight corruption. It is only the citizens that can fight corruption”, he said.
The CRJ president stressed that though ending corruption in the country is not going to be a tea party, Nigerians must take a bold step to end it and until that is done, nothing would happen.
“Nigerians must wake up to say enough is enough. Those who have stolen our money, they should refund what they have stolen and they should stop stealing and they will not stop stealing until Nigerians get up to say we can’t accept this any longer.
“A time will come when Nigerians will say no, we can’t accept this any longer, and it is then it will change easily.
“There must be moral revolution in Nigeria, yes, what we do not talk about, we don’t want bloody revolution but there must be moral revolution in Nigeria where the upright people will get up to say wait a minute, leaders, president, senators, governors we cannot allow this to continue any longer. It is then we have a change”, he said.
On his part, Prelate, Church of God In Christ (COGIC, Bishop Ken Obi, decried the lopsidedness in the fight against corruption in the country, maintaining that those who stole in billions are roaming the streets freely while the petty thieves are languishing behind prison bars.
“The fight against corruption in Nigeria is lopsided and I cannot be scared to say that. What we need to understand is either we are fighting corruption or we are not fighting corruption. As a matter of fact the way and manner we are fighting corruption in Nigeria is nothing to write home about.
“What I mean by lopsidedness is the fact that corruption fight in Nigeria is not equilibrium. I live in America and in America, it doesn’t matter who you are, in America, nobody is above the law but in Nigeria, we have men that think that they are above the law. That is what I mean by lopsidedness.
“In Nigeria, we have so many men that should be in prison but rather than be in prison, they are parading themselves in the parliament”, he said.