{"id":65135,"date":"2025-04-30T15:34:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T15:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=65135"},"modified":"2025-04-30T15:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T15:42:09","slug":"okoh-calls-for-trust-revolution-to-heal-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/04\/30\/okoh-calls-for-trust-revolution-to-heal-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Archbishop Okoh Calls for Trust Revolution to Heal Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and Co-Chairman of the Nigeria Interreligious Council (NIREC), Archbishop Daniel Okoh, has issued a passionate call for a nationwide shift from suspicion to mutual trust as the bedrock of national unity.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the opening ceremony of NIREC\u2019s first tri-annual meeting for 2025 held in Owerri, Imo State, Archbishop Okoh stressed that Nigeria\u2019s survival and prosperity depend on sincere efforts to build bridges across religious, ethnic, and political divides.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout mutual trust, unity becomes an illusion,\u201d he declared, warning that years of mutual suspicion, stereotypes, and painful histories have weakened the nation\u2019s social fabric. \u201cWe must begin to see one another not through the distorted lens of prejudice, but through the dignified lens of shared humanity under one God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Themed \u201cBuilding Mutual Trust for National Unity,\u201d the gathering drew religious leaders, policymakers, and traditional rulers.<\/p>\n<p>Archbishop Okoh praised Governor Hope Uzodinma for hosting the event and commended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, for his consistent support for NIREC.<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on NIREC\u2019s founding mission in 1999, Okoh described the council as a moral compass and a symbol of what is possible when Nigerians of goodwill unite for peace.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized that healing from national wounds requires honesty, forgiveness, inclusive policies, and reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>He also inaugurated interreligious councils in the five states of the South East, describing them as \u201csacred spaces for sincere dialogue and community building,\u201d not platforms for fame or political gain.<\/p>\n<p>Archbishop Okoh challenged faith communities, families, schools, and the media to become \u201claboratories of trust, tolerance, and truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He urged leaders to equip grassroots religious figures with peace-building tools and promote responsible media messaging.<\/p>\n<p>With a firm appeal to shared values, he quoted Romans 12:18: \u201cIf it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He concluded with a hopeful vision of a Nigeria where mutual trust becomes the national identity and unity the enduring legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0 The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and Co-Chairman of the Nigeria Interreligious Council (NIREC), Archbishop Daniel Okoh, has issued a passionate call for a nationwide shift from suspicion to mutual trust as the bedrock of national unity. Speaking at the opening ceremony of NIREC\u2019s first tri-annual meeting for 2025 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":65136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-65135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65135"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65139,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65135\/revisions\/65139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}