{"id":7203,"date":"2018-01-13T20:41:03","date_gmt":"2018-01-13T20:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=7203"},"modified":"2018-01-13T20:41:03","modified_gmt":"2018-01-13T20:41:03","slug":"mark-onaiyekan-apochi-want-nigerians-to-unite-against-killings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=7203","title":{"rendered":"Mark, Onaiyekan, Apochi\u00a0want\u00a0Nigerians to unite against killings"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Paul Mumeh<\/strong>, Media Assistant to Senator David Mark.
\nFormer President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan and his Otukpo diocese counterpart, Michael Apochi were unanimous in their quest for Nigerians to unite against criminality and fight for the liberation of citizens from the grip of Boko Haram, violent herdsmen, kidnappers\u00a0and armed banditry in the land.
\nSenator Mark and the spiritual leaders\u00a0spoke\u00a0at the dedication of an ultra modern complex built and donated to St. Augustine\u00a0Catholic Church, Otukpo, Benue state by the immediate past President of the Senate and his family\u00a0on Saturday.
\nIn his remarks, Senator Mark expressed appreciation to God for the enablement to contribute to\u00a0the propagation of the gospel\u00a0needed to salvage mankind\u00a0and make the society a better place.
\nHe added that the church building was his family’s modest contribution towards spreading\u00a0the gospel of God hoping that\u00a0the worship centre will help curtail\u00a0evil in the society and transform perpetrators for good.
\nHe said: “I feel fulfilled that this church project is a reality. As long as I live, I will serve God and humanity. I am a ready\u00a0hand\u00a0for God to use to transform our society”.
\nSenator Mark prayed for a peaceful, united and progressive society where everyone is free to pursue his or her legitimate ambition in any part of the country without fear of attack or molestation.
\nIn his homily, Cardinal Onaiyekan thanked Senator Mark and his family for contributing to the work of evangelism promising that the church will continue to preach\u00a0peace, unity and harmonious relationship between and among Nigerians.
\nCardinal Onaiyekan bemoaned the unabating violent clashes particularly the recent Benue massacre that has claimed scores of lives saying “We must as a people of Nigeria unite against these forces of evil\u00a0to liberate ourselves.
\n“These carnage and bloodletting orchestrated by hatred and wickedness cannot be a way of life. We must all join hands to stop this spate of killings.
\n“As Christians, we pray for peace. Justice and love. We have no room for hatred or vengeance. Vengeance is for God. Let us do everything that promotes peace and harmonious relationship with our neighbors”.
\nOnaiyekan reminded the apex government to include rebuilding of churches destroyed by insurgents as it prepares to rebuild the crisis- ridden North Eastern States.
\nIn his remarks, host Bishop Apochi\u00a0expressed appreciation to Senator Mark and his family for the gesture believing\u00a0that the house of worship will help promote peace, unity and curtail the ills in the society.
\nFour other Catholic Bishops; Peter Adoboh (Katsina- Ala), Wilfred Anagbe (Makurdi), William Avenya (Gboko) and Michael Gokum (Pankshin) and about 50 Priests joined in the dedication of the new church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul Mumeh, Media Assistant to Senator David Mark. Former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan and his Otukpo diocese counterpart, Michael Apochi were unanimous in their quest for Nigerians to unite against criminality and fight for the liberation of citizens from the grip of Boko Haram, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}