Nnaya Eziyi, Umuahia
Against the backdrop of security challenges across the country, the Umuahia Provincial Chairman of the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim (ESOCS), Snr Apostle Okpe Arum Okpe has enjoined the citizenry to always be security conscious.
Arum Okpe stated this while speaking to our correspondent after an inaugural lecture organised by the province in honour of one of its founding members, the late Leader Gabriel Onyenze at its headquarters in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
“We don’t have to rely solely on the security agencies for our protection from their perpetrators by not giving them a foothold to operate. We must make sure that our environment is safe. We should not for any reasons drop our guard,” he maintained.
He said by so doing the citizenry would be able to control the increasing cases of religious crises, kidnapping, armed robbery, child/human trafficking, and herdsmen/farmers clashes among others, describing the perpetrators as enemies of the country.
“We have had enough of them and their devilish activities which have cost the country loss of many lives and property. So the time to challenge them headlong has come before they over run the country and take us all hostage,” he noted.
He traced the root causes of majority of the societal ills in the country to lack of spiritual and moral trainings in both at home and in schools, calling on parents and guardians to be role models for their children and wards to create a better society.
The leader, who stressed that the citizenry should be prayerful over the matter and not to take the laws into their hands when provoked, appealed to them to always report the presence or activities of suspected persons within their vicinities to the security agencies.
He said the topic of the lecture, “Leadership in holiness,” was derived from the 2018 theme of the church, which is, “Year of my flourishing in righteousness,” because without holiness one can neither be called a child of God nor make heaven.
The chairman said, the members decided to honour the late leader because of his contributions to the propagation of the gospel in the province which covers Abia Central and part of Abia North Senatorial Districts.
“As a founding member of the province, the late leader was also very instrumental to the building of this magnificent edifice as well as planting of churches across the state and beyond,” he further said.
