Centre Charges FG On Nation’s Survival

The Igbo Hebrew Centre and the National Association of Sabbath Youths have called on the Federal Government to take steps to ensure peaceful co-existence among Nigerians to ensure the survival of the country.

The two bodies made the call in Awka on Saturday at a conference on peace in Nigeria, Israel and the rest of the world.

The Chief Executive Officer of the centre, Chief Amaechi Okolie, said that the prevailing security problem in Nigeria would adversely affect Africa while the lingering violence in Israel would have ripple effect on the world.

According to him, Nigeria and Israel occupy unique positions in ensuring global peace “and nothing should be done to jeopardise peace in the two countries”.

Okolie recalled that he was born during the Nigerian civil war, when many people lost their lives while survival was difficult for many people, urging Nigerian leaders to ensure that war never occurred again.

“We have suffered so much that we do not want to go through the horrors of war and other forms of violence in Nigeria again and in Israel, where six million citizens were slaughtered during the reign of Adolf Hitler in Germany,” he said.

In his contribution,the Traditional Ruler of Enugwu Aguleri, Igwe Eze Chukwuemeka, lamented the rising criminality and violence in Nigeria.

Chukwuemeka attributed the negative developments in the country to lack of fear of God and loss of moral values, calling for change of attitude among all Nigerians.

“We are trying to create awareness that God is the ultimate and people should do away with sin and negative tendencies and return to God.

“The people who are killing their fellow human beings do so out of ignorance because they do not know God and His judgment,” he noted.

In a keynote address, Prof. Okoye Alaezi, of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike in Abia, urged well-meaning Nigerians to say no to violence and pursue global peace.

“God is love and love is synonymous with peace, not violence, God’s plan for mankind is peace.

God hates evil and has nothing whatsoever to do with it. He is not the author of confusion, not to talk of violence,” Alaezi said.