The Labour Party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has stated that his opinion on church vigils has been widely misunderstood following his recent interview stating that Nigeria needs to convert night vigils to night shifts so that individuals can be more productive
A trending part of the interview on The Honest Bunch podcast where Obi said, “We live largely in a very unproductive society, that’s why the only thing that is attractive here is politics and church. We need to dismantle it and we’re gonna turn night vigil into night shifts so people can be productive
I go to church, I believe in God but we cannot have people Monday to Friday be in church morning and night, no. If I go from here now to my house, the only signboard you will see is sign board of churches, you to the East it’s burials. That’s not a country, if you go to any other country you will see products.
While some praised his plan as a way to boost productivity among religious individuals who are unskilled and, others criticized it as an infringement on religious values.
However, in reaction to the wide misconception the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR) rejected accusations that he campaigned for the church’s dismantling adding that the interpretation of the recent media interview was misleading.
Obi’s position on the alleged ‘dismantling of churches’ clarified through his media aide, Ibrahim Umar, highlighted that there was “a huge twist” in his remarks during the interview.
“The Labour Party leader is well known as a man of strong faith who has enormous respect and love for every religion and tried in the referenced interview to bring to Nigerians how religion can be more effective in their lives. Obi, in the interview, was merely underscoring what Apostle James said in ‘Faith without Works is unhelpful.
