The Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, the Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba, has called on political and religious leaders to imbibe the character of Jesus Christ, by learning to serve the people and not be served.
Ndukuba who made the call yesterday in his Christmas message at the Church of Advent Cathedral in Abuja, said statesmanship is not an award, but an earning from positive impacts a leader had on the followers.
The primate while making reference to the likes of late Sadauna of Sokoto, Obafemi Awolowo and late Nnamdi Azikwe, called on leaders to follow example of Jesus which the world celebrates on the occasion of Christmas following his service to mankind, reminding them that only leaders that make positive impacts that people remembered.
“We want to encourage our leaders to think about the citizens of this nation to think about how to care and meet the needs of the people. Leadership is about service.
“And today we are celebrating the birth of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The humility we have seen in him, the love we have seen him demonstrated, should be the characteristics of leadership.
“And indeed, he said, ‘The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ We want to encourage the leadership both religious community and political, to learn from Jesus to serve the people.
“And if it will mean sacrifice, let them sacrifice for the good of the society. Leadership is not about what we will get. It is about giving to the people and it is only those who have served sacrificially and given to the people that the people will always remember,” he said.
He said that those who live for themselves, especially in leadership will very soon be forgotten as soon as they get out of office, but men and women who sacrificed in the place of duty are never forgotten.
“Just as Jesus did they are always remembered. Statesmanship is not an award, statesmanship is earned. When you mention Sadauna of Sokoto, when you mentioned Nnamdi Azikiwe, these were statesmen.
“So we call on the political leadership of our nation to learn the way of Christ, the way of service. We also call on the people to devote themselves to God and to do their duties as citizens so that Nigeria will grow from strength to strength.
“And with everyone around us and we want to thank God, that God has preserved us in this nation, Nigeria, that we are celebrating the Christmas of 2023, our prayer is that God will come among us dwell among us.
“For his name is Emmanuel, God with us. And we are trusting that the presence of God will be with our nation, Nigeria, and touching the hearts of men and women, leaders and our citizens,” he said.
