By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

A Senior Pastor in the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Ilorin District Headquarters, Kwara state, Pastor Moses Ademola Popoola, has thrown his weight behind the establishment of State Police to stem the ravaging insecurity across the country, particularly the unwarranted killings of innocent Nigerians.

Fielding questions from journalists on the sideline of the 2024 Praise and Prophetic Service of the Church on Sunday, the Cleric, who expressed grave concern about
the daily shedding of innocent blood across the country, which he described as monumental, wondered why it has been that difficult for the federal government to secure the people and rein in the bandits.

He said: “The problem has to do with insincerity or nonchalant attitude of the government or some of them are involved in the killings. The number of police men we have in the country is grossly inadequate. I think they should employ more police or the federal government should allow the state governments to have their own police. For me, I’m worried, Mr. President should take responsibility because one of the things he swore as the nation’s President to is to secure the country and the lives of the people. He must do that.

“The state governments also should take responsibility. The security vote they are taking every month, what are they doing with it? If they think that it doesn’t matter today, it will matter tomorrow.

“However, whether it’s good or bad, we can’t but praise God, both Christians and Muslims will also have to praise God because He intervenes in critical matters when praising Him. Our nation is a nation that believes so much in prayers, but unfortunately we don’t walk the talk. When you pray the prayer you need to walk the talk and that is the issue the nation is facing. When you say God change our economy and God gives you wisdom, He won’t come down to do it.

“We can’t sing praises to stamp out corruption. It is the individual that will determine in their heart that I don’t want to be corrupt again. So, we have to go beyond praising God. And one of the things we have to do in this nation is to be truthful to ourselves. There is no value again, the family value is eroded, the town value is eroded, the name value is eroded. We should come back to value system, we should also ask ourselves why I’m doing what I’m doing and what will be the end result of what I’m doing knowing full well that there is a judgement day. Anybody can escape human judgement, but no one can escape God’s judgement.”

On the sum of N585m said to have been paid into a private account, Pastor Popoola said the issue should be thoroughly investigated and the culprits brought to book to serve as deterrent to others. He said: “There should be no any cover up or sacred cow as we like to always cover things up in this country. Both the Minister and Accountant General and all others involved should be thoroughly investigated and punished if found guilty for doing what is not correct. Somebody must pay for it. Imagine the level of corruption in this country and because people are not punished, corruption is escalating.

In his sermon at the Sunday Service, Pastor Popoola stressed the need for the people, especially Christians, to always praise God, saying for one “to experience His unlimited goodness, the display of His endless majestic blessings, one needs to wholeheartedly praise this unlimited and awesome God”.

He said: ” It is wonderful to know, marvellous to behold and awesome to experience the immeasurable, boundless, infinite and the unconditional love of the Almighty God. So, we have every reason to praise God as an acknowledgement of His goodwill towards us all for sparing and preserving us to witness the beginning of another year.

“When we praise God, like Paul and Silas did in the Bible when they were imprisoned, chains will be broken, barriers will be removed coupled with divine blessings, provision and protection.”