Protocol The Vice President
All former Presidents
All former Vice Presidents
General Secretary
TEKAN Denominational Leaders
His Excellences Rt. Hon Ahamadu Umaru Fintiri, the Executive Governor Adamawa State, Prof Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State,
Honourable Minister of Education Prof Mamman Tahir,
Distinguished Senator Amos Yohanna, Senator Ishaku Abbo
Honourable Members House of Representatives, Hon Adamu Kamale, Hon Zakariya Dauda Nyampa, Dr. Midala Usman Balami
Honourable Members Houses of Assemblies, Hon Wesley Bathia Speaker Adamawa State House of Assembly representing all Present and Former House of Assembly Members.
Spiritual Adviser: Rev Ezra Dawui
The Legal Adviser: Barr Richard Balami
Chairman of the BoT and all members of BoT
NEC Members
All Directors here present
All DCC Secretaries
All Pastors
All Elders here present
All Church Committee Members here present
All members of EYN here present
Media Crew
Security Agents here present. The Vice President
All former Presidents
All former Vice Presidents
General Secretary
TEKAN Denominational Leaders
His Excellences Rt. Hon Ahamadu Umaru Fintiri the Executive Governor Adamawa State, Prof Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State
Honourable Minister of Education Prof Mamman Tahir
Distinguished Senators Amos Yohanna, Senator Ishaku Abbo
Honourable Members House of Representatives, Hon Adamu Kamale, Hon Zakariya Dauda Nyampa, Dr Midala Usman Balami
Honourable Members Houses of Assemblies, Hon Wesley Bathia Speaker Adamawa State House of Assembly representing all Present and Former House of Assembly Members.
Spiritual Adviser: Rev Ezra Dawui
The Legal Adviser: Barr Richard Balami
Chairman of the BoT and all members of BoT
NEC Members
All Directors here present
All DCC Secretaries
All Pastors
All Elders here present
All Church Committee Members here present
All members of EYN here present
Media Crew
Security Agents here present
Greetings
On behalf of my wife and all of us your servants and servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, I bring you all greetings of love and Peace from the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ the King of kings and the Head of the Church.
Looking at the gathering here today reminds me of the same event that took place here some eight years back, precisely in 2016 where we gathered here for the same Inauguration Service of the Principal Officers to which at that time I was the General Secretary.
God is truly awesome and a miracle working God. Eight years down the line and behold we are here for another Inauguration Service with an insignificant person like me being inaugurated today as the President of this great fellowship EYN. This could only be God and none other, to Him and Him alone be all glory, majesty and dominion. On behalf of all of us new leaders and all of the new leaders have stories to tell of God’s faithfulness, mercy and love.
As we embark on this journey, we all know that life is played as a stage in a movie or drama, one has a stage at a time to play or act, now God has given us the stage to play or act our part, I pledge that we shall be mindful of so many factors.
1. We commend the immediate past administration and by extension all previous administrations for infrastructural development, the introduction of Central Payment System of Staff and many other wonderful achievements to which we shall continue to build on. From my reports while as General Secretary since 2019, I had always challenged all Pastors, Staff and EYN members to guard the Central Payment jealously, I remain committed to this and call on all of us to be vanguard of this noble achievement.
2. I want to especially appreciate our Mission Partners, Church of the Brethren (CoB) USA and Mission 21 Switzerland, Bethany Theological Seminary, Bread for the World Germany, Kiek en Actie Netherlands and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). The first two have been the pillar of our support without them EYN wouldn’t have been able to stand on its feet. I call on you all for a better and growing partnership.
3. I call on Pastors of EYN and members alike, avoid such terms as placing Pastors under some “bigger pastors” as ‘yaran wane’ or ‘ya’yan wane.” I plead with us all. From this inauguration service, can we all see ourselves as Ýa’yan Yesu, Ya’yan Ekklesiya ne ba Ya’yan wani ba.
4. I charge Local Church Pastors to work towards building a bridge of trust between your LCCs and the Headquarters. I have witnessed over time the growing mistrust between some LCC, DCC and the GCC, please Pastors, is your responsibility to bridge that gap, I rely on you for results. Please as we make every effort at the Headquarters through the Pension Unit to address some of the plights of our Retirees, Pastors, extend every help to them.
5. We should all work towards defeating this concept, ‘Yan Adawa, opposition’ because in my understanding, there are no opposition or ‘Yan adawa in the Church. Because my opinion or idea differs with yours or yours differs with mine, it doesn’t mean am an opposition or you are to me. Please Church, we shouldn’t use this term anymore.
6. We are to work towards respecting people of other faiths and ensure our peace heritage is upheld as the Nigerian Political landscape belongs to all of us. Pastors, wherever you are, be in a good relationship with Traditional Rulers, Religious Leaders of other faiths and all the communities.
7. I see our emergence as a defeat to tribalism and a win for unity of EYN, we shall not take this for granted. The New President from Bura extraction, the New Vice President from the Chibok extraction, the New General Secretary from the Kamwe extraction and the New Administrative Secretary is from the Bayan Dutse of Gwoza extraction.
8. I charge Pastors and preachers of the Gospel to respect the sanctity of the Pulpit. You all know that the pulpit isn’t a place of abuses and insults but of edification, of preaching the word of God.
9. I beg of you all my dear colleagues, let us do away with statements like, “Yanzu namu ne a ciki,” to be translated literally, “Now our own is in charge.” Brothers and Sisters, we are for all, you are all for us and we are all yours.
10. I do remember very well when Rev. Bitrus Kwajiwhi took over from Rev. David Malafa, we heard nothing wrong between them. Rev. Dr. Toma H. Ragnjiya took over from Baba Rev. Bitrus Kwajiwhi of blessed memory, nothing evil happened. Baba Rev. Filibus K. Gwama took over from Rev. Dr. Toma H. Ragnjiya, neither him who handed over nor him who took over said anything negative on each other. Likewise when Rev. Dr Samuel D Dali took over from Rev Filibus K. Gwama, we heard nothing to the contrary. When Rev. Joel S. Billi took over from Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Dali, Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Dali said nothing negative about Rev. Joel S. Billi. These great men of God put the Church and its unity first. I pray the same spirit that guided them would be seen at work as we continue to perform our duties.
11. While we respect everybody and follow the Scriptural teaching that we should give honour to whom honour is due, however, the terminology of No One Citizen in EYN or 1st Lady of EYN or number 2 or number 3 or number 4 should be expunged from our vocabulary. We are all servants of God, Christ is the Head of the Church, we are to place Jesus Christ in His rightful place in the Church.
12. We should delete His Excellency from our vocabulary as a Church when addressing the President or Vice President. We are called to serve one another.
13. I call on all Pastors and workers in active service to stop regarding transfer as punishment or act of hatred but to see it as a call to service. How I pray to receive many pastors and workers who will come and say, “I am not fit where I am posted or transferred to.”
14. I make a pledge that Staff welfare will be a major priority. We shall soon lift the ban on Staff Promotion and ensure capacity building of Staff. However, we call on you all to be transparent in your remittances to the Headquarters.
Our Vision
No one knows how long we shall serve God in this capacity only God. However, on the day of the elections, the 19th day of April, 2024 precisely, this was the vision God gave us for the Church, “A United Living Church, Deeply Rooted in the Word of God, Spiritually, Numerically and Materially Prosperous.”
During our acceptance speech, we unveiled briefly how we are going to achieve that by the special grace of God. We said and we mean every word spoken that we shall aggressively engage in reconciliation. This we had since embarked upon by visiting Garkida and met with DCC Secretaries, Pastors, Church Committee members and interested members from the 9 Western Districts where the reconciliation service and round table dialogue ended peacefully to the glory of God. We all departed the venue with a renewed commitment and dedication to the service of God and humanity through His Church.
We also met with the DCC officials and Committee of EYN LCC Sangere FUTY, a meeting which was rewarding and a blessing to God’s Church with far reaching resolutions. At that meeting, we made it emphatically clear that we were not finding fault or apportioning blame, we are finding a solution towards restoring peace and unity to God’s Church, a task we are committed to.
We shall soon engage in such interface and interaction with elders from across all ethnic nationalities in EYN to ensure we defeat any trace of tribalism or god-fatherism if any, God by our side.
We have spoken and made commitment to the establishment of
a. Brethren University. This is of course not a new vision; it had been there since the time of President Samuel D. Dali. Unfortunately, we couldn’t move beyond the drawing board. I call on EYN Sons, Daughters, members from other denominations, our Muslim Friends who are willing to help us achieve this laudable vision. Fortunately, we are blessed to have His Excellency our Amiable Governor Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri and His Excellency Prof Babagana Umara Zulum whom we shall soon contact for support in this regard. But so lucky we are to have the Hon Minister of Education in person of Hon. Prof. Mamman Tahir coming from this area, a lover of God, education and humanity, as we knock on your door, please Sir, do not hesitate to assist us.
b. We plan to reactivate the Brethren Legacy Foundation that had a Committee and bank account. When we call on you to serve on that committee to be reconstituted, please do not turn us down.
c. The Brethren Investment Committee will also be reactivated. This we believe will help us realize the vision of being materially prosperous as a Church.
d. We shall work towards establishing the Brethren Teaching Hospital. This we believe is achievable as we lay the foundation for another hundred years.
e. We are going to vigorously pursue the establishment of Brethren Radio and Brethren Television. Can we all catch this vision?
f. Am making a recommendation to the Ministers’ Council towards having Brethren Annual Convention where all EYN members and other brethren would converge for spiritual building. This when done will grant us the avenue to teach on the Brethren heritage and engage in other spiritual matters.
g.The Widows Ministry would be created as well. As we are all aware, the devastating impact of Boko Haram and other security challenges have left EYN with so many widows aside from those who lost their husbands through natural deaths; such a ministry when put in place would be helpful on many fronts.
h. We shall do all to engage our youths in activities that would not only promote the discovery of their potentials and skills but grow them to be great citizens. We shall work hard to establish EYN Football Club as we share the Gospel through Sports.
i.We are committed to the establishment of the Sunday School Department to help address some of the numerous challenges facing the Sunday School. As the Children Church called in some denominations, we wouldn’t treat this unit with kids gloves.
j. We shall work hard to establish the Prayer and Deliverance Unit at the Headquarters to further improve the spiritual life of the Church.
k. This we are doing not to slight anyone or to prove a point, we are doing what Christ commanded, that is following in His Steps.
My Pledge. I pledge to you all that we shall work towards amending some section of the Constitution as it had just been reviewed in 2021. This would help us address some of the issues that have the tendency of retarding growth and development and ending up breading hatred and mistrust.
For Other Church Leaders
I pledge on behalf of the new leaders to continue in our ecumenical engagement as we as a Church believe in this one fact, “when you want to go fast, go alone, but when you want to go far, go together.” We want to go far as a Church, as such we have to continue our partnership towards the Great Commission, towards our collective struggle for Justice and Equity for all regardless of our religious, political or tribal affiliations.
For our Political and Traditional Leaders
EYN is one of the Historic Peace Churches world over, while we shall continue to pursue the ways of peace and support our governments at all levels to achieve their mandates.
We are all aware that this is not the best of times for the citizens of our nation. The economic situation is harsh and challenging to most people. While we call on our members and all citizens to keep hope in Project Nigeria, we challenge our leaders to address some of the anti-masses policies with immediate effect.
While we call on them to appreciate Nigerians for their resilience and patience, they should address their plight with urgency.
We commend some State Governors for their initiative in reducing the pains of the citizenry by deploying some CNG vehicles Adamawa and Borno States are amongst those who did that post subsidy removal. We encourage that more of such vehicles be deployed and other measures to be taken.
We reject the plans to hike electricity tariffs. We expect that some services provided by the government to be subsidized amongst which are agricultural inputs, health systems and education to mention some few.
Workers welfare is a priority as the minimum wage cannot buy enough fuel to fill a car tank no matter how small the car is.
We shall never stop calling governments at all levels to address the lingering security challenge in our nation, however, we are afraid that with the worsening economic situation, it has the tendency to affect the security situation.
Let me make a bold call on the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to rescue the remaining 91 abducted Chibok School girls and return them to their parents, Leah Sharibu, Alice Loksha and all those in abduction.
I make a special appeal to His Excellency the Borno State Governor Prof Babagana Umara Zulum to do all he can to return home the over 40,000 of Borno State indigenes mostly of Gwoza extraction from Minawao Camp in Cameroon back home.
The free fall of the Naira to the USD (United States Dollar) to be checked as this had threatened our economy.
Sometimes when we think over these things, knowing how Nigerians in the diaspora are making impacts in their host countries, we ask ourselves, can we bring in our knowledge and wealth of experiences to salvage our nation?
We call on all Nigerians the leaders and the followers to be more patriotic and lets all live together in tolerance as we have no other country to run to.
I pledge to be fair to all and respect all of you where I remain transparent and accountable to God and to you all.
Our administration shall be open to wise counsel and constructive criticisms for the growth of EYN. Our doors would be wide open for all EYN sons, daughters and all others and be rest assured that we open our channels of communication wide and well.
This and many more shall be our driving force if we remain united.
My Prayer
For all of us that are gathered here, I pray that God will bless all of us and all our communities in Jesus Mighty name.
May God grant us a bumper harvest this rainy season and that all rainfall will be filled with nutrients and will not bring disaster IJMN.
For those sick, may you receive healing for being here IJMN.
For those trusting God for marriage partners, because you are here, may God visit you IJMN.
For those trusting God for blessings of the fruit of the womb, may God open your wombs so that the cry of children would be heard in your homes IJMN.
Our Youths in Schools, God bless your studies.
We pray and declare peace in our nation, peace in our communities, peace in our Churches, peace in our homes and peace in our hearts.
Conclusion
We have a better present together and a far better future together if we put the past behind us. Baba na, Mama ta, Yan’uwa na, can we put the past behind us?
I assure you, the future is brighter for EYN when we are together than we are separated. Can you make a renewed commitment to serving Christ through His
Church EYN?
God Bless EYN.
Long live EYN.
God Bless Nigeria.
Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria.
