Northern Bishops attack Babachir Lawal over Tinubu/Shettima
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal has come under verbal attacks from Northern Pentecostal Bishops who visited the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu last week. Archbishop John Praise had led the visit to Asiwaju Tinubu last Thursday.
The clerics wondered when the former SGF became the mouthpiece of Christians in Nigeria. The former SGF had rebuked the Bishops over the visit. In their response, the Bishops recalled how Lawal, when he was in office, was unwilling to put his position to risk and speak out despite the “unimaginable marginalization in appointments into offices by the government.”
Speaking on Lawal’s condemnation of the visit, Bishop Jonas Katung, the President and founder of Living Stone Church Assembly Jos, said that the Bishops should be applauded for discussing the worries of Northern Christians with the APC presidential candidate instead of being vilified out of mischief by the likes of Lawal. “My attention has been drawn to a press statement issued by Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation in which he made disparaging remarks against Pentecostal Bishops from Northern Nigeria who held an interactive meeting with Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in FCT Abuja.
“As Church leaders and concerned citizens, a group of Pentecostal Bishops from Northern Nigeria- the region which is most aggrieved by the same faith ticket decision of the APC, decided to engage with Senator Bola Tinubu – the person who is at the centre of the controversy to express the concerns and fears of the Christian community and to allow him to explain his decision. The Christian leaders also emphasized that the interface was not in any way an endorsement of the same faith ticket of the APC. The Church consists of members belonging to different political parties and not being partisan, it must not portray a posture of antagonism to any political party without first having a full appreciation of their decisions and actions.
“The efforts of the Church leaders ought to be commended by all people of goodwill. It, therefore, came to me as a shock that Babachir Lawal, an eleventh-hour Christian champion had the effrontery to describe these Church leaders as fake Bishops in his ill-motivated press statement. The question Babachir Lawal must answer is why is it now that he suddenly found his voice to speak for Christians in Nigeria? It is on record that Babachir Lawal was Secretary to the Government of the Federation under the Buhari Administration for about three years before he was unceremoniously relieved of the position for conduct not in accord with Christian teachings. In that time, Christians have suffered unimaginable marginalization in appointments into offices by the government and while many concerned Christians voiced their displeasure at the glaring injustice on adherents of the faith, Babachir Lawal recoiled to his cocoon not wanting to put his position to risk.
