Archbishop Martins used the opportunity offered by his celebration to urge the federal government of Nigeria to take the right steps to ensure mass oriented policies that would have far reaching positive impacts on the Nigerian masses.
The event which took place at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos Island, Lagos State, on Saturday, September 16, 2023, attracted the crème de la crème in the catholic circle including the Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie; Peter Cardinal Ebere Okpalaeke, Catholic Bishop of Ekwulobia, Anambra State; Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese, Archbishop Iwejuru Ugorji, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, among other eminent high ranking bishops, priests, religious, laity and friends and well- wishers. The church was filled to the brim.
Speaking on his journey in God’s vineyard which engendered the 40th anniversary as a priest and 25 years of Episcopal Ordination, Archbishop Adewale Martin said “Well I can only say the grace of God has been abundant, because no one by his own power by his own knowledge would have been able to do it, so the grace of God has been abundant and we are truly grateful for all the enablement and the inspiration that he has given to us over the years.”
He also spoke on what he intended to do more in God's vineyard, saying "The work of evangelization is never ever completed, more grounds are ever there for us to explore and to take advantage of, for the greater glory of God. So it is an effort to strive and find ways to making people to be more committed with their faith and to live that faith from day to day, and to proclaim that faith to others. So these are the things that are there primarily on one's mind.”
Speaking on the difficulties and sufferings in the land and the masses’ expected from the government, Archbishop Martins said, “There are lots of expectations of this government that is in place at this point in time, because Nigerians have had such a terrible number of years and it is the hope that whoever takes up from the previous government would have to do better, if he doesn't do better, then we can expect that whatever that is the pent up emotions that are there now, we will hope that they do not burst out into something that will create a lot of problems for this our country.
“And therefore, the first line of action is that the government will do everything within its power to restore security in this nation, because we have new leaders of the different security agencies at this point in time, and we expect that the government will leverage on this newness of experience to ensure we get a better secured nation than we had before this point in time,” Archbishop Martins stated,
The Arch bishop further disclosed that there is hunger and anger in the land “There is a lot of hunger, there is a lot of anger as well; the only thing that can assuage all of these is government taking its responsible seriously, coming out with policies that will truly truly impact upon ordinary Nigerians. I understand that a new Central Bank Governor has been appointed awaiting the confirmation by the National Assembly; there is a lot of expectations, that he will use his office to turn around the bad economy that we are experiencing at this point in time. And more than any other thing, we expect that the kind of corruption that was experienced in the previous years, he will find some ways of dealing with and ensuring that Nigerians get a better deal.”
Archbishop Martins called on leaders to show example in making sacrifices for a better Nigeria, “We are all being asked to make sacrifices in order that our nation might be better, and I am sure that Nigerians as a people we have no choice than to make sacrifices, we only expect that government, government officials and all those that are either in the executive and legislative, particularly, that they will begin to make the sacrifices for everybody to see that sacrifices are being made, and then people's interest will be inspired to make the sacrifices required of them.”
In his response to a question if the natural disasters ravaging Africa, especially the Northern Africa, were caused by offence against God, Martins said "Well I don't know about offending God but I know about offending nature. We have abused nature and we have abused environment, we have done all kinds of violence to the environment, and so naturally, as they say, water will find its level, the environment will, in its own way, take back what we have taken out of it. And therefore one can only ask that at this point in time we begin to act differently than we have been doing before in terms of managing the ecosystem, in terms of ensuring that our actions do not leave carbon footprints that will leave the whole world in the future to be completely, not to become a desert or even be wiped out.
“So I think, first of all, let us change our attitude towards the use of the things of nature. I am sure God will not wipe out his people, and even if anything is going to happen we are going to cause it ourselves,” Martin stated.
From the Catholic Conference of Nigeria to which Archbishop Martins belongs, delivered a good will message through its President, Most Reverend Lucius Iwechukwu Ugorji, the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese and Administrator of Ahiara Catholic Diocese. He said “My brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the day the Lord has made. We your friends, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria have gathered here today in the spirit of Episcopal fraternity to felicitate and thank God with you for welcoming you to the holy priesthood 40 years ago, and to the episcopates, 25 years ago.”
Archbishop Ugorji described him as a priest with sterling qualities with which he has constituted himself as a humble, gentle, committed and compassionate priest with a heart that goes for the poor and the less privileged. “Through your dedicated and exemplary life and ministry you have impacted and lifted many lives in Abeokuta Diocese, Archdiocese of Lagos and across the country. As priest, a bishop and metropolitan archbishop, this auspicious occasion offers me the much desired opportunity to commend you for your outstanding selfless service to the Catholic Bishops conference of Nigeria over the years.” They wished him many more years of joy, good health and fulfillment in God's vineyard.
Souvenir from Pope Francis to the celebrants was presented by Peter Cardinal Ebere Okpalaeke, the Catholic Bishop of Ekwulobia, Anambra State.
It was indeed a double celebration for the Archbishop; for apart from marking the 25th anniversary of his Episcopacy, it was also his 40th Priestly Ordination Anniversary.
It is also important
to know that Archbishop Martins was not alone in the day’s celebration, he had
as his co-celebrants his classmates at Saints Peter and Paul Major Seminary,
Bodija, Ibadan, and were ordained on the same day, 18th September, 1983 at the Holy
Cross Cathedral, Lagos by the former Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal
Olubunmi Okogie, Archbishop Emeritus, who was also present at the 40th
priestly anniversary event. The classmates are famously known as The Class of
‘83’, even though they later changed their name to Class of Charity. They
include Very Rev. Fr. Msgr. Edmond Babashay Akpala, Very Rev. Msgr. Jerome
Gbenga Oduntan, Very Rev. Fr. Michael Femi Akintolu and Very Rev. Fr. Alphonsus
Iweanya Ania.
No comments:
Post a Comment