The inability of the Abia Indians to return home for Christmas was primarily due to insecurity and not hardship, said the Methodist Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Umuahia, the Rt. said Reverend Dr. Chibuzo Raphael Opoko.

He said this in Umuahia on Monday while interacting with journalists who claimed that insecurity fueled hardship for people.

The clergyman said: “People were not returning home because of hardship as such. If there are difficulties and there is security, people would come. But there is insecurity, there is hardship and people are suffering, people are dying.

“Look at the fuel in Umuahia, it’s four hundred naira per litre. How many people can buy this? People haven’t even seen food on their table for them to come. So where is the governance when the fuel is between N400.00 and N450.00 per litre?

“Look at a bag of rice, now it costs N40,000.00 per bag when you heard that in the north they are selling N28,000.00 per bag. So what kind of thing is this? Aren’t we in the same Nigeria?

“We should be able to make up our minds to say Nigeria will be fine.

“This is because we are all contributors to the problem Nigeria is facing. We are silent, even the press that can build or use its pen to destroy society. The clerics have a lot to blame because some of them have chosen to keep silent because they side with the forces that want to keep this place in the dark.”

Therefore, he urged voters in the state in particular and Nigeria in general to enthrone credible leaders through their votes, stating: “What I am telling people is they need to stand up and just not look at no party, but should look at people who are credible and vote for those people. If you vote, now we will have a change”.

He further advised: “If people give you money, eat it, anoint it with anointing oil, and eat the money. It belongs to you.

“Are we not seeing what is happening? Rotten cartons and money bags, that have been scattered, people hoarded when poverty ravaged the land.

“So my message to them (leaders) is to let them know that at the end of the day, you are accountable to God and require of us what we did.”

He counseled: “We are in a time when Jesus Christ came, where the prophet Isaiah prophesied that those who walked in darkness saw a great light and those who were in the superficial darkness, a light came to them, and that light is. Jesus Christ.”