By Julius Alabi, Akure
The Regional Overseer of The Apostolic Faith Church, Ondo & Ekiti States, Rev. Akinwumi Ajayi has expressed gratitude to God over the ministry which was expanded across the length and breadth of Nigeria since it was founded in 1944 in Lagos and 1963 in Ondo State.
Rev. Ajayi stated this at a press conference held at the NUJ Press Centre, Akure on the occasion of the 60th anniversary celebration of the church in Ondo and Ekiti States just as he acknowledged the founding fathers of the church for obeying God’s call and mandate.
While reeling out some of the proposed plans of celebration, Rev. Akinwumi said despite all the challenges the ministry had gone through, God remained faithful to his people and to the church.
Describing the ministry as a Trinitarian church which believes in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the cleric further identified the core mandate of the church to include preaching the Gospel of Christ, teaching the doctrine of salvation and as well as transforming lives to meet God’s standard.
“Whatever we do in the Church, the central theme is salvation. We thank God that we made it through thick and thin, we that are old are handing over to the youths”.
The church engages in serious evangelism, we are on air for people to get the messages of the gospel, and we visit hospitals, prison yards and other homes to reach out to more people”, he added.
On the current challenges faced by Nigerians, Rev. Akinwumi admonished them to accept the removal of the subsidy on Petroleum products as a painful surgical procedure necessary to deal with the cancerous cell in the life of the nation.
Ajayi added that every government usually comes with its policies and that prayers have been offered particularly for the present administration.
“We have prayed for this nation and we have prayed for this government, now that they are engaging in a particular exercise that may be pinching us, my advice to Nigerians is that way should wait and see”.
“All over the place now, the economy is generally affected because of this petrol, whenever the issue of petrol is talked about, it’s as good as touching the soul of everybody, the market will rise up, house rent will rise up and do many other things but my advice is that let us wait and see what will be the result, but then, as a church organization, by the special grace of God, we will continue to pray for this government. We should be prayerfully patient for this government”.
“On the N400 billion saved on fuel subsidy, it is my humble belief that the money is not saved for a particular family, I think the money is saved for the benefit of the masses of this country.
“Although, corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of this nation. That’s one of our centres of prayers. If that corruption does not affect the N400 billion that they have saved, within a few weeks, I think that we can breathe a sigh of relief that this money will be used to rehabilitate the Akure-Ado road. If the money is judiciously used, we shall all be okay”.
He, however, called on the media to keep uncovering corruption that has eaten deep in the system which has halted the growth of the country for too long.
Also on the team include the General Overseer for Ondo District, Rev Joseph Aro, the secretary of the planning committee, Bro Harrison Adesemoye and the director of Music for Ondo District, Bro. Mayokun Akinrotimi among others.
