The 2023 Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi has clarified his controversial remark that church vigils should be turned into ‘night shifts’ where Christians engaged to improve the production capacity of the country.
The politician reportedly made the comment during his interview on the Honest Bunch podcast released on Saturday.
The remark has generated serious controversy in the country, particularly among the Christians who have slammed the former governor of Anambra state for making such a careless statement.
Reacting, Obi in a statement on Sunday by his spokesperson, Ibrahim Umar said his comment been twisted and misconstrued.
According to Obi, as a dedicated Catholic he holds the Christian faith in high regard, and would not do anything to attack or undermine it.
The former governor said there was no place in the interview where he said he was going to dismantle the churches in the country, stressing that his “message has been greatly overturned and grossly distorted to serve a mischievous end.”
The LP leader stated further that he “is well known as a man of strong faith who has enormous respect and love for every religion,’ therefore, would not do anything to undermine any religion in the country.
He said he only stressed what is written in the Bible on why Christians should combine their faith with hard work.
When Obi said he “would turn night vigil into production night, he was only stressing the importance of worshipping God through work,” the statement said.
Part of the statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to a huge twist in his recent media interview, saying erroneously that he called for the dismantling of churches in Nigeria.
“By the headline given to the interview, the import of Obi’s message has been greatly overturned and grossly distorted to serve a mischievous end.
“The Labour Party leader is well known as a man of strong faith who has enormous respect and love for every religion and tried in the referenced interview to bring to Nigerians how religion can be more effective in their lives.
“Obi, in the interview, was merely underscoring what Apostle James said in ‘Faith without Works is unhelpful.’ When Obi said that he would turn night vigil into production night, he was only stressing the importance of worshipping God through work.
“Even Jesus Christ never picked any of his 12 disciples where they were praying but where they were working as fishermen and tax collectors, among others.
“What we are doing in Nigeria, which Obi’s interview is highlighting as wrong and should be discontinued, is exchanging work for prayer when the two should go together.
“There is no evidence in the scripture that Jesus blessed an idle person. The problem In some of Nigeria’s worship communities is that they are not following St James advisory that we should be doers of the words.”
Meanwhile, the supporters of the former Anambra helmsman said as one of the biggest donors to the Christian faith, Obi will not do anything to attack the religion or any other religions whatsoever.
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