The Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh has described the recent call by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan over the church building donated to his Otuoke community by an Italian construction firm, as” Satanic”, saying the act was capable of causing religious bigotry in the country.
Most Reverend Okoh, who spoke with newsmen in Enugu yesterday through the South East chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria {CAN} and Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rt Rev Emmanuel Chukwuma, demanded an apology from ACN and its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohamed for the call.
Okoh regretted that ACN, instead of dissipating its energy on burning national issues in the country, decided to distract the attention of the President with a call for his impeachment.
The primate insisted that anybody who was against the building of a church in any part of the country should be properly examined to ascertain his mental status.
He said there was nothing wrong for a contractor who has worked and continues to work in the President’s home town of Otuoke in Bayelsa State to build a church in the community, in fulfillment of its corporate social responsibility.
The head of the Anglican Church in Nigeria explained that the church was built before Jonathan became the President, explaining that the foreign firm only renovated it.
He therefore called on the National Assembly to disregard the call for the impeachment of the President, insisting that the call was irrelevant and does not deserve the attention of the lawmakers.Okoh assured the President that the Anglican Church was solidly behind him and advised him not to be distracted over the call.
“The call for the impeachment of the president over the renovation of the church in his home town is satanic and it is capable of causing religious bigotry which we don’t want. ACN should apologize and retract the statement, we call on the National Assembly to disregard the call,” he stated.