Bauchi CAN Rebukes Christian Youths On Indecent Dressing, Drug Abuse

• Demands drastic measures by church leaders, parents

BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – Bauchi State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has frowned at the indecent mode of dressing among female youths, warning that the practice is fast bringing disrepute to Christianity.

The Christian body is also worried that most youths are engaging in drug abuse and slowly destroying themselves and their future with the parents and leaders at all levels in the country looking on helplessly.

A clearly disturbed State Chairman of CAN, Rev Abraham Damina Dimeus said urgent steps must be taken by all concerned because the debasing practice is fast infiltrating the Church with preachers and parents at a loss on what to do.

According to Rev Dimeus; “Indecent dressing has become a serious challenge in our contemporary church; Pastors should as a matter of urgency correct that system because it has thrown the Church off-track in its drive at evangelism.

“Note that the church is The Light of the world; such dressing does not portray Christ at all and we must not condone it.”

Speaking at the 2021 edition of Christmas Carol of 9 Lessons held on Sunday at the COCIN Church auditorium, Millennium Quarters, Bauchi, the CAN Chairman lamented that “Our youths are engaging themselves in taking illicit drugs which are dangerous to their health.”

“Please, I beg you to stop taking dangerous drugs for it kills gradually. We would not like you to die prematurely as a result of engaging yourselves in these drugs”, the cleric admonished in his sermon.

The Clergy, who urged the youths to fully imbibe Christian virtues as tomorrow’s leaders, also charged each adult Christian to ensure they have functional voters card, adding; “That is our power to decide those who will rule us. Politics is not a dirty game as some people have asserted. We are living in a world of politics and we should try to be deeply involved”.

Similarly, he also pleaded with the Christian community to embrace peace in their affairs saying; “We should preach peace and live peacefully wherever we find ourselves. His Excellency, the Executive Governor is peace-loving, therefore we should compliment him on his drive for peaceful coexistence.”

“Pastors should use this period to draw the attention of our adherents to be peace ambassadors”, Rev Dimeus said, noting that anything to the contrary is against the ethos of Christmas.

“Jesus is the prince of peace therefore, Christians must imbibe the culture of peaceful coexistence. We should live in peace with all people irrespective of their races, religion, and ethnic inclinations”, he said

On Unity of the church, the CAN boss said; “While appreciating our spiritual fathers for their relentless efforts in projecting unity among Christians, we as a body should maintain the tempo. When we are united, we will achieve our goal, and heaven will rejoice with Christian politicians.

“I wish to use this opportunity to call on all Christian politicians to make a difference in their politicking. The game should be played without character assassination, it should be played based on ideology. Christians should see it in all you should do. Our youths should not be used as political thugs. We should decide against the idea of do-or-die politics. The syndrome negates the sanity that the church is known for”.

Also drawing attention to the deteriorating condition of the Christian Cemetery, the CAN Chairman said; “Our cemetery had been in a bad shape. We take the responsibility of that, but we shall see what happens next raining season as the Lord tarries. We shall do everything humanly possible to see that our cemetery is decent and bushless. We need the cooperation of all pastors and heads of churches to do that so that our cemetery is good looking all through the year”.

“We are hoping that by the end of the year, we will have good news in respect of the new graveyard from His Excellency the executive governor of our state who doesn’t fail in fulfilling promises. The CAN Secretariat project is still waiting on His Excellency as he has promised to finish the project and we are praying along with him for that dream to come true”.

On this year’s Christmas Celebration, the CAN Chairman said; “We are appealing to every Christian to beware of how to celebrate the Christmas; things are very hard therefore, we should be mindful of how we celebrate Christmas.

“Do not spend extravagantly on the Christmas. Those who are well-to-do should share with those who do not have as a show of love. For Christ is love, we should extend our benevolence to the less privileged persons among us anyway and that attract blessings of God”.

The annual Christmas Carol was organized by CAN in collaboration with Bauchi Station of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).