A Human Right Activist, Chief Patrick Eholor, has challenged religious bodies to rise up and regulate the proliferation of Churches in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria ((NAN), reports that the activist and founder of One Love Foundation stated this in a chat with newsmen in Benin on Sunday.

He said the action would help preserve the sanity of the Church in Nigeria.

He said the call became necessary against the background of incessant immoral activities of some faith-based organisations in the country.

“We also have the problem of explosion of mushroom churches across the country,” he said.

Eholor specifically called on the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to ensure that only trained and qualified clergymen are allowed to establish worship centres in the country.

He said many citizens have fallen victims of fake pastors, Bishops, Prophets and Apostles in the country.

He advised the Federal Government to take a cue from the reform embarked upon by the Rwanda Government to halt the proliferation of worship centres in that country.

“The government of Rwanda woke up and says what is happening in Nigeria and Uganda cannot happen in Rwanda.

“The government shut down over 8,000 churches in one day and said before you can be a pastor you must be educated and acquire the prerequisite training.

“It went further to say that such a person must have a PhD as the minimum requirement, and people must attest to your character before you can be allowed to found a church and nothing happened because he is a responsible leader.

“It is only in Nigeria that people promote themselves to Bishops and Apostles. How many Bishops do we have in Rome,” he said.

He added: “If all the Nigerian churches were to be in Rome everybody will have been a Pope, but there is only one Pope in Rome. Today, you wake up and see all kinds of Bishops and Apostles. The people that founded the Church how many Bishops do they have?

“It is preposterous, this whole idea of big names, must be discouraged. We must have a responsible government without fear of favour to close down all these mushroom churches.

“İ am not saying they are not good churches or real men of God because that would amount to blasphemy, there is God but a lot of people are using the name of God to defraud people, we must stop this.

“It is only in Nigeria we hear stories of some so-called pastors that will bury people in the church for miracles. it is only in Nigeria you see religious leaders dabbling into politics and making all kind of election predictions.

“We must re-echo it again for government to come and save our people. When the colonial masters came with religion they enslaved us differently but the black race now enslaving themselves through churches, women are now leaving their husbands because of quest for miracle, government must take action,” he said. (NAN)

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