By, Toyese Oyebode

A renowned Ibadan-based cleric, Prophet G.F David, formerly Adetuberu, has charged Nigerians to embrace spirituality rather than religiosity for the development of the country.

The General Overseer of the Faith and Miracle International Church, made the call at a press conference, Alalubosa Estate, Ibadan on Tuesday.

The Prophet noted that many Nigerians are more religious than being spiritual, explaining that humans can only live by the dictates of their faith through spirituality.

“Nigerians are religious and not really spiritual. Religion is a pattern of worship, on Sunday we go to church, we pray or go to mosque on Friday. But do we have the spiritual understanding of the faith we live by?

“When there is religious system and there is no spirituality in that system, that is why you find people going to church and end up being robbers at night, praying in the name of Jesus so that they will not be killed by the police.”

“It is because there is a religious spirit going on in that action and there is no spiritual understanding of love your neighbour, give to your community and be a better person to the people around you,” he said.

He stressed that this informs the church’s principle of teaching congregants to be agents of positive influence to the society through living by what the faith preaches and contributions to their environment.

Prophet David urged citizens to contribute their quota to the development of the country by being of good conduct, noting that there is the place of prayer and the place of work in nation building.

“We cannot change the system if we are the same. We are the system; instead of passing the blame to the church, passing it to the pastors, how are we as fathers? How are we as brothers? How are we as wives? How are we as sisters? How are we as husbands? If we are not loyal to our wife how are we expected to be loyal to the system?,” he added.

On the security situation in the country, Prophet David stated that  Nigerians more targetted irrespective of Religion.

However, the cleric maintained that the problem facing the country is not religion but wickedness, noting that wickedness can also hide behind religion.

“We have traditionalists who behead people, we have Christian’s who do it, we have Muslims who do it. So it is not about faith, we are hiding under faith to commit atrocities. We are to deal with the problem based on who the problem is. If we are saying Christians are targeted, Muslims are targeted, we are giving ourselves a form of hiding place based on faith. So our faith is not the problem it is the people.”

He revealed that the church’s vision for the year is to help the less privileged and raise people that are fair and just in their dealings in society.

He added that his ministry is also on a misssion to contribute to making Ibadan a place worthy of beauty, excellence and splendor.