The Parish Priest, St. Kizito Catholic Church, Iju, Lagos and Dean of Agege Deanery, Revd Father Sebastian Ngene, has urged Nigerians to be guided by objectivity as next year’s general elections draw near.
He gave the advice in a message at this year’s three-day second quarter Grand Board of Trustees (GBOT) organised by the Lagos Grand Commandery of the Knights of St John International at his Parish. The event with the theme, ‘Fight the good fight of faith and keep the faith’ (2 Timothy 6:12), was attended by over 350 elements, comprising knights of St John International (KSJI) and Ladies Auxiliary (LAUX) from across the various Commanderies and Auxiliaries in the Archdiocese of Lagos and parts of Ogun states.
The priest said: Let people vote according to their conscience. Let us not sell our vote by mere gifts that people will give us.’
He urged the participants to imbibe the lessons from their meetings, deliberations, the pieces of advice that the priests gave to them, and their priest spiritual advisers; they should struggle to put them into practice, so that the youth would keep on being a light unto other people.
The Grand President, Knights of St. John International (KSJI), Lagos Grand Commandery. Brig.-Gen Paulinus Nwankwo explained that the meeting comprises the 28 commanderies in Lagos, and 25 LAUX who were delegates from each commandery.
At the ceremony, he added, 19 members and two priests were initiated into the first degree in their order. ‘At this point, they are brother knights. Five: two priests and three brothers who were invested, exemplified into second and third degrees of our order. They have been initiated for two years, or a year and six months ago. So, they were invested. It was reduced to 27. But those ones that have been exemplified, they are qualified to answer sir knights.
On the significance of the event, he said they took records of their activities in the past three months, taking reports from local commanderies and preparing for the next quarter. He said some projects had been approved, and indigent to be assisted, adding that these would be executed.
On what to expect in the next quarter, he said there would be no initiation and exemplification until the last quarter – December precisely.
He said every Catholic looks forward to the knighthood. ‘We are defenders of faith. But before you join knighthood, you must have gotten to a certain spiritual level, not financially. You must be grounded in the church. As Defenders of Faith, you must know the faith you defend, and you must have been assessed, yes, that you can, at least, if not anything, the grassroots of faith, that you can defend the church, if there is need for it
President of Commandery 727, St. Kizito Parish, Iju, the host Commandery of the meeting, Sir Barnabas Bem Vangerwua, expressed satisfaction for hosting his colleagues for the second time after some years, adding that the number of their elements had increased, as well as the level of development of the Commandery and Laux.
On lessons from the meeting, Vangerwua said: ‘The whole concept is to enhance the spiritual growth of all the elements and development of the parish. Basically, the core essence of the Knights of St. John International is to use all our three Ts-Time, Talent, and Treasure-to serve the church and humanity by extension. So, in a gathering like this, it’s always a good opportunity to showcase our values and those three Ts so that it will enhance our spiritual growth and the development of the church as well.’
Noble Sister Dorothy Remy-Eluyefa (first Vice President), who represented the Grand Respected President, said the work of the women at the meeting was to collaborate with the men ‘We’re collaborating and working with each other. We have the same goals- spirituality, helping the church, helping the needy and much more. So, we do it jointly. Yes, we are together in anything we’re doing. We don’t just do anything. We consult each other before we do anything,’ she added.
The event ended with a delightful parade by the Knights and Ladies at the nearby St Kizito College.