The members, Parish Priest and priests of St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, Amukoko hosted the 3rd Carol Service / Concert organised by Mayor Olufemi Okanbi Okeowo, the Chairman of Ifelodun, Local Council Development Area, LCDA.
As it was captioned, an interdenominational Christmas Vigil and Concert, the attendance cut across Christianity based on the fact that Islamic clerics, captains of industries, Obas, Chiefs and Council of Islamic leaders came together to praise God.
The Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Innocent Opogah who participated well in the carol/concert spoke to The Unique Model magazine about the event, applauding the chairman, of Ifelodun, Mayor Olufemi Okanbi Okeowo for his vision and sustaining it. He described Okeowo as a man of God, based on his love for unity, peace and within his environment and the entire Lagos.
Excerpts:
Rev. Father, you really participated in the 3rd Carol Service /concert organised by Mayor Olufemi Akanbi Okeowo, the chairman of Ifelodun LCDA, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Rev. Fr. Innocent Opogah, the parish priest of St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, Amukoko, Lagos.
What happened today exceeded a mere carol / concert Service of different Christian denominations, what is your take?
When I look around, I see God at work, when I look around I see the will of God, that He is the one at work, if only we can continue in this manner, not seeing our other brothers as different from us, and not seeing ourselves better than them, but all of us appreciating God’s involvement in human history, then we all will come to terms with the presence of God whom himself is love.
From what happened today, what is your advice to some Christian denominations who are promoting segregation in Christendom?
Well, I think, when we think about segregation, we are just being self, the truth is that the expressions of faith are individual properties and individual properties cannot be forced on the entity of other persons. People are free to choose whatever faith they want to practice with, the most important thing is that our faith practice must be one that binds us together, the moment that faith doesn’t bind us together, honestly, I don’t think it’s worth practice.
How do you rate the performance of Ifelodun LCDA Chairman, Mayor Okeowo?
Honestly, I will just say Mayor Okeowo is a man of God, this is the definition of man of God, when one can bring people together, and it is not until he wears the attire, or have title as a Christian leader. But even outside the title as a chairman, he chooses that, indeed he is a man of God, who can bring people to God.
Your advice and wishes for him?
My advice and wishes firstly, the wishes is that all of us should see ourselves as brothers and sisters, and no segregation and I wish that living this kind of life, Nigerians as a whole will come to a stable condition with peace and love.