Governor David Nweze Umahi of Ebonyi State has felicitated with Christians, the good people of Ebonyi and all Nigerians, wishing them Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, Igbere TV reports.
In his message made available to IGBERE TV, Governor Umahi called on all Ebonyians to be prayerful because this is indeed a critical time.
Governor Umahi noted that God in his infinite mercy, despite the challenges of 2020 has been kind to Ebonyi State.
According to him, “indeed we have really developed and this we must thank God almighty and thank each of you, my destiny helpers and those at home, our destiny helpers, we believe strongly that with prayers and commitment to God and with a clean and open heart, we will enter 2021 with faith and with love and so I want Ebonyians to be very positive in their thoughts.”
He further said that “all the challenges that are happening are the signs of the end time, it is not peculiar to Nigeria, it is all over the world, so let us be very watchful, let us be very prayerful, let us be very forgiving, let us also work very hard so that by the time our Lord Jesus Christ will come which nobody knows when, we will not be found wanting but we will be with him, celebrating with him. “
Read the full text below,
TEXT OF GOVERNOR DAVID NWEZE UMAHI’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE TO EBONYI PEOPLE
My good people of Ebonyi State, those living in Ebonyi State and outside the State and even those in diaspora, I count it as a privilege to stand today as your Governor to thank God almighty on your behalf. It is by God’s mercy that we are still alive from January 2020 to 24th December, 2020 and by his grace, we will see the end of the year 2020, 2020 will not see our end in Jesus name, Amen.
The year 2020 started on a promising note, everything was moving on very well until the first index of COVID-19 was discovered in February in Nigeria and it was a devastating moment from the onset and we thought it was going to abate but towards October, the COVID-19 curve began to flatten all over the Country and we were very happy again.
Just as the nation was rejoicing over the success against COVID-19 and the devastating effects it gave to the world, then the #Endsars came. The #endsars was a new phenomenon that our country could not properly define but it allowed the good endsars protesters to peacefully make their demands. The EndSARS protest also created an opportunity for the evil ones to cause havoc and mayhem in the country such as, killing, looting and destroying both private, government property.
We thank God as a nation, we thank God as a State that the endsars did not consume us.
In total, we have lost 32 people to COVID-19 for now in Ebonyi State, I must thank the Deputy Governor, the Speaker, my dear wife, the Medical team, Exco members, the Judiciary, the Legislature, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, the CMD of our Teaching Hospital, and all the people who worked so hard, day and night in ensuring that the COVID-19 did not spread in different parts of Ebonyi State.
We thank God so much because we came to the altar and we made a request in the altar and we made a declaration that no man or woman of Ebonyi State will die of COVID-19 again, it was a proclamation of faith that the Bible says that faith without work is dead.
Unfortunately, we are beginning to witness another phase of COVID-19 and it is so terrible in Lagos, in Abuja, we are recording daily COVID-19 cases and so, I plead with my people to avoid large crowd, I plead with my people to embrace social distancing, I plead with my people to use nose masks, and use hand sanitizers.
Traditionally, I also implore you to steam at least twice a day, take natural foods, take supplements, this COVID-19 will still go the way the first one went in Jesus name, Amen.
We are aware of the spate of insecurities in many states of our nation, Nigeria, Ebonyi State was not spared in the past few weeks, we as a people, have declared war against cultism and banditry in Ebonyi State and we have offered a reward to anybody that will lead us to anywhere anybody is training to cause havoc on our people or where any cultist and their members are camping, we will give a handsome reward to any informant and the source of our information will be well protected and reward will also be done in secret.
I ask our people to go about their normal businesses to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and to put their hope positively for 2021.
Let us be very vigilant, let us also be prayerful. It is my prayer for you and your families that 2021 will be a very fruitful and rewarding year. My prayer to Ebonyi people is that all of us will make 1st January, 2021, my prayer is that as we all make it to 1st of January, that we will all make it to 1st January, 2022, in Jesus’ name Amen.
I implore you to celebrate in peace and show kindness to your neighbours, to the downtrodden, to the widows, to the the sick.
We have demonstrated this yesterday and today, it will continue till the new year by visiting hospitals, discharging sick people, releasing them from the hospitals where they received medical services and could not pay and were detained, we directed and made money available that all such people’s hospital bills should be paid and they should be released. They should also be released with the gifts of Christmas with some bags of rice and with money and wrapper, this we demonstrated yesterday.
God in his infinite mercy, despite the challenges of 2020 has been kind to us as a State, indeed we have really developed and this we must thank God almighty and thank each of you, my destiny helpers and those at home, our destiny helpers, we believe strongly that with prayers and commitment to God and with a clean and open heart, we will enter 2021 with faith and with love and so I want Ebonyians to be very positive in their thoughts.
All the challenges that are happening are the signs of the end time, it is not peculiar to Nigeria, it is all over the world, so let us be very watchful, let us be very prayerful, let us be very forgiving, let us also work very hard so that by the time our Lord Jesus Christ will come which nobody knows when, we will not be found wanting but we will be with him, celebrating with him.
Again, I say happy Christmas and a very joyous and prosperous 2021.
God bless you.
Engr. David Nweze Umahi, FNSE, FNATE
Governor of Ebonyi State
December 25, 2020
