The Outgoing Catholic Bishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan has urged Nigerians to look forward to a glorious future despite the failure of the younger generation of the political rulers to make a difference with the opportunity they got to make a difference.

He also regretted that several hopes about the dreams of Nigerians at independence fifty years ago have been dashed at one point or the other.

Cardinal Onaiyekan told journalists after he led a procession of Parishioners of the Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Pro-Cathedral Garki, Abuja to mark Christ The King (Copus Christie) on Sunday, he regretted that the hole for a better Nigeria maybe after his generation has passed on. According to him, “When I see the sample of the governor in my state, who is supposed to be the youngest among the governors, I’ve not seen anything in him that shows that we have something new coming. “But we cannot lose hope.

“I will soon leave this world, and I hope by the time I leave this world, we will begin to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. We can’t deceive ourselves,” he insisted.

When asked if there are any hopes and aspiration for the country that was dashed as the countdown to his replacement as the Head of the Catholic Church begins, he responds emotionally.

In his words, “I think everybody can answer that immediately, that Nigeria hasn’t reached where we thought it should have reached fifty years ago.

“We started Independence with great hopes for this country, the hopes one after the other dashed and when we thought we’ve finished with military rule, another soldier came and drove away from the civilians.

“And the irony of it is that that same man is still ruling us today. It’s an irony I would say because of it’s a complete total disgrace on the nation.

“We cannot move, simply repeating the same thing and hoping that we will succeed. “We have to…we hope that…well, time solves a lot of problems.

“Those people who have been ruling us and misruling us, their own time will come and they will go.

“If they will not go happily, well, they will go in other ways. We look forward to a new generation of rulers, unfortunately, the signpost we are getting now, they are not inspiring confidence,” he regretted.

Earlier during the celebration of a mass ahead of the procession, he appealed to Parishioners to continue to pray for him in his future endeavours and uphold his successor, Bishop Ignatius Kaigama who will be inaugurated on December 5th, 2019.

In his words, “Every Bishop and indeed, every Priest is like the role of Jesus, to teach, to preach and to rule.

“I will not continue to rule in retirement, but I will continue to teach the word of God until I am not able to do it anymore.

“If you come to Garki, you will not see me, but I am still around.

“Extend your prayers and cooperation to Bishop Ignatius Kaigama who will be the Bishop of Abuja and Jos.

“He will be officially inaugurated on December 5th, 2019,” he submitted. Meanwhile, the Women Affairs Minister, Dame Pauline Tallen expressed the belief that the yearly event was a veritable avenue to present Nigeria to God.

According to her, “we strongly believe that this yearly event where we surrender Nigeria into the hands of Christ the King.

“We believe that God will do something to heal the land.

“We offer and present Nigeria into the hands of the King of kings and the Lord of lords and we believe that God will do something. (Vanguard)

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