The Catholic Church says it has accepted the apology of Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong over his blasphemous utterances.
The Catholic Archbishop of Jos Most Rev. Dr. Matthew Ishaya Audu stated this at the 19th General Assembly of the Archdiocese of Jos held at the St. Louis Parish Jos.
Speaking on the apology tendered to the Catholic Church by Governor Lalong, the Archbishop said,
“Your apology is accepted. As you know from our President of the Catholic Bishops Conference, has already accepted your apology and so it goes for all of us. We have accepted it and let be sincere”.
He said since the Church encourages its members to go into politics, the intention is for him to work at making a difference in his political endeavour in line with the mandate of the church to its members who are in politics.
While assuring him that the church will not disgrace him or allow him to fail, Archbishop Audu asked the Governor to advise the ruling party on the need for unity, national integration and carrying all segments of the country along which is the major concern being expressed by Christians on the Choice of the President and Vice Presidential Candidate.
“We need this more than before in view of our elections coming up in 2023. I urge the Church to continue to pray for the success of the elections and also encourage the people to participate actively and peacefully. Staying away will only give room for the emergence of bad leaders that may not be suitable for the challenges of nation-building”.
Earlier in his remarks the Governor reaffirmed his loyalty, commitment and faith in the Catholic Church as well as the desire to always be a good ambassador wherever he finds himself.
He therefore said the events of the past week relating to his utterance which generated controversy should not be used to judge his love, respect and loyalty to the Catholic Church which strongly teaches forgiveness, tolerance, compassion and repentance.
