ACC secretary general warns of corruption in Christian institutions

The General Secretary of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Rt. Rev. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, has urged Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to extend his war against corruption to the country’s religious institutions. Speaking in Kano at a one-day national conference in Nigeria organized by the Unites States Embassy in Nigeria and the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training, Dr. Idowu-Fearon was quoted by local newspapers as saying some “men of God have lost all because of their love for material value. Men of God want to live the extravagant lifestyle of the politicians. Corruption is endemic in places of worship because our pastors and other leaders want to ride big cars, live in big houses and in the process they lost the prophetic value of the church and compromise their position as spiritual guides.” Nigeria has seen a sharp rise in the popularity of “prosperity gospel” preachers, who teach that a mark of God’s love is wealth and the faithful Christian can expect to be showered with money.  Dr. Idowu-Fearon denounced the prosperity gospel as being a perversion of the Christian faith, but went on to say the leaders of traditional denominations were not free of the taint of corruption. “Yes, I do believe there is corruption in the places of worship and I have seen it. I have been a bishop for 25 years before I took up the position I hold presently and I know corruption contributes to our national burden. But the belief is if the head is rotten, the whole body is not spared and so the move to start from clergymen is a good development,” he told the meeting on 18 Oct 2016.