From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), the umbrella body of all the youth groups in the Southeast geopolitical zone, has called on the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi, to ignore the warning of the spokesman of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Emma Powerful, urging him to cancel his crusade in Southeast based on security issues.
The IPOB spokesman had in a statement at the weekend advised Kumuyi to listen to the voice of reasoning and avoid his church’s planned Aba crusade, sighting unconfirmed security issues as his reason.
But COSEYL in a statement signed by its President General, Goodluck Ibem, argued that if politicians could consider the zone safe for their political campaigns, why should it not be safe as prayer ground?
“In Southeast, politicians, political parties are organising their campaigns, people are doing burial ceremonies to bury their love ones, white wedding and traditional weddings are going on and Emma Powerful did not tell them not to do their programmes and the same person is warning the General Overseer of Deeper Life Bible Church not to go ahead with his crusade. Something is really fishy in his statement.
“We are really surprised how Emma Powerful became so concerned about Pastor Kumuyi’s security. Kumuyi is a man of God protected by the most high God. It is not the business of anyone to worry about how Almighty God protects his servants. For Emma Powerful to suddenly ask the Man of God to call off his scheduled crusade leaves much to be desired.
“Emma may not understand the import of his statement by asking Kumuyi not to come to Southeast. Asking the highly revered Man of God not to come to Southeast will cause serious fruition between the Southeast and the Southwest.
“We call on Pastor William Kumuyi to disregard the statement by Emma Powerful and come to Southeast to preach the gospel of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ to our people.
“Southeast is very safe. Businessmen and women have been coming to do their businesses without any molestation whatsoever,” Ibem stated.
But, Powerful had stuck to his advice as he said: “We maintain our sincere advice to Pastor William Kumuyi of Deeper Life Ministry on his planned crusade in Aba. This advice must be taken seriously and not ignored because if anything untoward happens to anyone in the said crusade we will hold him responsible.
“They should, however, understand that IPOB will not fold its hands and watch our people deliberately put in harms way to be slaughtered because of crusade, when they know that politicians will employ their local thugs to slaughter people and tag it that IPOB was responsible for such attack.
“The Christian Association of Nigeria should rather appreciate the genuine advice from IPOB and ESN members for giving Pastor Kumuyi a security intel because we are here on the ground in Biafra land.
“Is CAN saying that insecurity cannot only be curbed with prayers? Security intel and strategy are what is required in a situation as this, which is what we are applying now by advising Kumuyi and his Deeper Life Ministry. The CAN must understand that IPOB has Judeo-Christians also as family members and it’s our responsibility to protect it from political thugs and criminal elements.
“IPOB does not have any issues with Kumuyi or other pastors or men and women of God for that matter, what we are talking about is the security of Biafrans.
“CAN should know that all politicians in Nigeria territory have criminal thugs they use to pursue a particular political interest and these people are not minding the repercussions or outcome, therefore, we still advise Kumuyi and Deeper Life Ministry to think twice and stop this crusade.”
