PDP Chief Canvasses Peace, Tolerance

Worried over the recent political developments in Nigeria, politicians in the country have been charged to develop the ability to accommodate, tolerate, endure and forgive one another in order to live together in peace as people of one indivisible nation.

In a chat with newsmen in Enugu, the deputy chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Bishop Samuel Friday Akpan, advised politicians to endeavour at all times to work towards sustaining very enduring relationship with one another as a means of ensuring continuous peace and stability in the country.

Bishop Akpan who is also the deputy dean, College of Bishops, Brother hood of the Cross and Star, stated that already they had been working very hard in the Brother hood of the Cross and Star towards consolidating to ensure that they have the ability to tolerate one another, live together in a peaceful nature for which the country has been known to be.

Describing politics as a game of strong provocation, Akpan who is the adviser to, Abak Ishiet Traditional Council, Onna, Akwa Ibom State, said: “I have a doctrine that is very strong in my character, by my faith and by my teachings. We accommodate all manners of people, all quality of beliefs .Therefore, since love does not ignore the creation of God in every individual, no person that is not being created by God”.

According to him, what simply separates one group or the other are the doctrines and the ways they worship and believe, pointing out that the extremism of groups of people holding strongly to the faith, like Christians holding “ordinarily to Christianity and Muslims extremely holding extra ordinarily to Islam is an issue that has created disaffection with one another in the country”, he regretted.

On the roles of Christians in politics, Bishop Akpan said: “Christians if they really take after the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ ,it will be very clear that the cardinal objective of the death of Jesus that was killed on the cross was to cleanse one of ones sinfulness. And that means tolerating one another and forgiving as many times as often that one is offended”, he stressed.

The Uyo PDP deputy chairman, recalled his earlier days in politics advised politicians in Nigeria to strive at all times to develop the ability to tolerate, forgive and live peacefully with one another, which is a cardinal point for overall supremacy of God’s creation”.