CAN, PFN Tasked on Churches Proliferation

A Human Right Activist, Chief Patrick Eholor, has on Sunday urged the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to control the proliferation of Churches in Nigeria.

The activist who is the founder of One Love Foundation disclosed this to newsmen in Benin, and explained that the action would help preserve the sanity of Churches in the country.

Vanguard reports that Eholor revealed that the corrupt practices of some faith-based organizations in Nigerian necessitated the call, as he pointed out that, “We also have the problem of the explosion of mushroom churches across the country.”

He called on these religious groups to ensure that only trained clerics with qualifications are allowed to establish worship centres, adding that many innocent citizens had fallen prey to fake pastors, Bishops, Prophets and Apostles.

Citing Rwanda, He advised the Federal Government to take a clue from the reform embarked upon by the country’s government to halt spread of worship centres in Rwanda.

“The government of Rwanda woke up, and said what is happening in Nigeria and Uganda cannot happen in Rwanda.

“The government shut down over 8,000 churches in one day and said before you can be a pastor you must be educated and acquire the prerequisite training. İt went further to say that such a person must have a PhD as the minimum requirement, and people must attest to your character before you can be allowed to found a church and nothing happened because he is a responsible leader.

“It is only in Nigeria that people promote themselves to Bishops and Apostles. How many Bishops do we have in Rome?” He said.

He added, “İ am not saying they are not good churches or real men of God because that would amount to blasphemy, there is God but a lot of people are using the name of God to defraud people, we must stop this.

“We must re-echo it again for the government to come and save our people. When the colonial masters came with the religion they enslaved us differently but the black race now enslaving themselves through churches. Women are now leaving their husbands because of the quest for a miracle, the government must take action.” He admonished.