The General Overseer
of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye
visited Benue State on Friday, following the spate of attacks and
murders perpetuated on innocent villagers and farmers by rampaging
cattle herdsmen.
Speaking during at a prayer
session organized for the state at the Government House, Adeboye who
identified with the pain of the Benue people over the killings, said he
would have been in the state earlier but he was instructed by God not to
visit before the President had.
The man of God alongside his wife, Folu condoled with Governor
Samuel Ortom and prayed for the government and people of the state over
the killings by suspected herdsmen.
The cleric called for a halt to the killings. Speaking to the
gathering, Pastor Adeboye said he did not visit the state before the
President did so that politicians would not read meaning into his
action.
He said Benue State was very dear to his heart and that he had felt
every pain the people felt, saying he wept when he saw the people
weeping.
“Even if we are in pain,
hallelujah is a victorious sound. I am not here to make any political
statement because I’m not a politician. I’m here just to pray. The
governor is my son, his wife is my daughter, I can’t hear that my
children are in trouble and sit at home. I would have been here earlier
but I was praying at home and was instructed by God not to come before
the President.
“The Bible says the horse is
prepared for the day of battle but safety is of the Lord. Men can hide
from men but no one can hide from God. Men can be corrupted, they can
decide to do what is not hundred percent correct with the assistance of
others, but there is no way you can compromise the holiness of God. He
is a Holy God. He created us all. And I know when we call on Him to
intervene, what is impossible for man is possible for God,” the pastor
exhorted.
“We
have felt every pain you have felt. We have wept when we saw you
weeping. The fact is there is no way a man of God will not feel the pain
when he sees mass burial. When somebody is dead, you can’t convert that
person. That is why we want these killings to stop.
God can stop it. He
doesn’t play, He doesn’t compromise. We will call on him to fight this
battle that we cannot fight. I’m here to pray for the state that the
Helper of the helpless will fight our battle,” Adeboye said.
Earlier in a remark, Governor
Samuel Ortom, while welcoming Adeboye and his entourage to the state,
disclosed that enemies of the state have turned the state to an
internally displaced persons camp as a result of the mindless attacks.
“Your coming is like that of a
child who waits for his father to come back and beat whoever is
punishing him. I believe the enemies of this state who have turned Benue
to IDP camps after displacing people from 16 out of 23 local government
areas, a word from you will bring healing and salvation to the state,”
the Governor said.
Governor Ortom lamented that the incursions of herdsmen into
the state, apart from leading to the deaths of many, had created a huge
humanitarian crisis in the state.
He appealed to the church to sustain prayers for the government and people of the state, “given the enormous challenge the crisis posed to the well being of the people of the state.”