Nyok|25 June 2018
On Friday 22nd of June, His Lordship Bishop Josef Bassey, the President of Christian Leaders Forum (CROSSCLEF) and presiding bishop of God's Heritage Center Worldwide addressed a press conference in Calabar, excerpt of which has sparked a controversy already in Cross River.
In this publication, I have published excerpt of of what His Lordship said particularly highlighting the rationale for addressing the press briefing. Bassey has observed that while prayer alone can't solve problems in society, whereas society are wont to urge the Church to pray, he has decided to speak truth to power.
What follows are the exact statements he made at the press conference:
'Good afternoon esteemed gentlemen and ladies of the press, fellow stakeholder in Cross River destiny realisation project, brothers and sisters, all protocols observed.
'My name is Bishop Joseph Bassey, privileged spiritual leader in this nation and Cross River State in particular, and by the special grace of God, president of Cross River State Christian Leaders Forum (CROSSCLEF) and also the Bishop of God's Heritage Center Worldwide, with headquarters here in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.
'We have been privileged to be a part and parcel of diverse efforts at realising the prophetic destiny of Cross River State for the past 30 years. It has also been a privilege to contribute our quota at all time and season, selflessly toward the progress of the state, and therefore for us, Cross River State and her total success is part of what we live for and have sacrificed over 80 per cent of our adult lives for, to see Cross River State progress, to see things go forward.
'You know, some of you may not know before even we answer the call into full-time ministry many years back, when Akwa Ibom State was created from Cross River, some of us were part of the team of people that got into public service to help render services toward stabilising the state, at a time when that shift and transition took place. So, what am I saying in essence is that we have the privilege of having been the key players as far as the state is concerned. And so, when we are talking about Cross River State, we are not talking about Cross River State as a geographical location; we are not talking about Cross River State as a government in the nation, Nigeria; we are talking about Cross River State as part of what we live for, and which makes whatever happens to the state and in the state very crucial and critical to us.
'Let me establish something we need to understand as we take off: Number one is that just as human beings have their destinies, even so lands, nations, states, communities have their own corporate destinies. And just like you an individual works to pursue the actualisation of your destiny, even so it is concerning a state, concerning a land. So, Cross River State has a prophetic destiny.
'And your destiny is not your decision, it's your discovery. This is where the church comes in, because in determining what the prophetic destiny of Cross River State is, it's not the business of the government, it is the business of the church; and which is also why it is important that for progress to be achieved, there must be a synergy between the government and the church at all times.
'And not just that, every other structure and institution must work together if the overall good must be achieved. So with this in mind, for those of us at Christian Leaders Forum, our business is about seeing to the realization of the prophetic destiny of Cross River State. And the things that happen in the state are critical to us.
'I want to tell you few things about CROSSCLEF, which I'm sure many of you already know. CROSSCLEF for the past 14 years organises meetings every month. These meetings are not funded by anybody or anything, but we gather to pray and intercede for the state. But not only do we do that every month, strategically, we organise seminars, conferences, workshops targeted at empowering leadership in the state in engaging government at different times.
'What is it all about? The actualisation of the prophetic destiny of Cross River State, because there is a Cross River dream, and it doesn't matter who comes on the saddle. If we are in a car and we are all headed for Lagos, and somebody takes over the driver seat and begins to go a different direction. Then there is a problem. All who know the Lagos route from Calabar should be able to say: wait a minute, What's going on? Because it looks like we are not heading in the direction we should be going. We are going somewhere else.
'Now, I'm saying all of these, talking about what we have done 14 years plus in the state to help you know that if you are making investment, you should definitely be interested in the dividend of that investment.
'We at CROSSCLEF have made investment in Cross River State over the years and so it borders on us at every point in time —what is happening? What are the results? We have to look at our balance sheet per time to know whether we are actually getting the result we should want.
'And all too often, all people ask the church to do is to pray, to pray, to pray, to pray… Prayer alone doesn't get anything done. If you want your child to go to school and be a graduate and all that you do for that child to be a graduate is to pray. You and I know it will never happen. If you are hungry and you want food and all you are doing is to sit down and pray. You know you will die of hunger. So prayer alone can't get it done.'
BLOGGERTORIAL
Subsequent publications will feature specific areas His Lordship picked on.
Nyok
Is the Blogger-in-Chief, Editor-in-Chief & Publisher of NegroidHaven