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Ashimolowo, Abiara challenge goverment on citizens’ welfare as clergyman fetes 17,000 widows

By Florence Utor and Eniola
11 January 2018   |   2:50 am
The 12th edition of the widows’ new year party hosted by the founder of Kings International Christian Centre, Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo and his wife, Yemisi, took place at the weekend in Odeomu, Osun State, where 17,000 widows took home wrappers, money and food items.

Ashimolowo with some of the 17,000 widows

**Politicians are the only people enjoying the wealth of the nation, says Abiara

The 12th edition of the widows’ new year party hosted by the founder of Kings International Christian Centre, Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo and his wife, Yemisi, took place at the weekend in Odeomu, Osun State, where 17,000 widows took home wrappers, money and food items.

Speaking with The Guardian on the project, which is in its 12th year, Ashimolowo said, “It’s a great privilege and honour to organise widows event in Odeomu in the last 12 year. It started twelve years ago, humbly with just about 380 widows, it blossomed to a thousand in the third year of the programmed and 1,500 in the fourth year, and since then it grew so much. This year we had an astronomic number of 17,000.

This is not an initiative of KICC, it’s my personal project along with my wife and some of our friends who have seen what we are doing and decided to support us. We have a good number of our member from London, Zimbakwe, Sierra Leone, and the Caribbean who came to serve, help in distribution of cloths and other items and it’s been a honour to be able to serve. God has laid it on our heart that this should metamorphose into something that is bigger than just giving the widows; we want to start a ministry called Christ compassion to the rural and we want to heal the rural with six levels of needs which one of them is ‘we are going to bring hospital on wheels where up to five surgeries can be performed at a time, that is going to cost a lot of money.

There is a lot of need in Nigeria; what we are doing is not much; food, drink, new cloth for each one of them and some money, I believe every Nigerian whom God have blessed in one way or the other can do something, it will really to bring relief to our people.

On the feedback from the empowerment programmed so far, he said “The feedback so far on the widows event has been astronomical; it’s very interesting to know that 60 percent of the people that came are Muslims, we have not discriminated and we don’t discriminate, of course we play gospel music and also preach the word but we do not want to know whether you are a Muslim or Christian when collecting the cloth and the money. Need does not know religion and the interesting thing is when we do this on Saturday, the mosques in Odeomu and other towns go on their speakers to announce that everybody in the mosques should pray for me on Monday, that God should continue to help me to make it happen every year, and I guess the prayer has been answered because it has ballooned every year and some of the widows have testified to the goodness and grace of God.

There is poverty in the country. I believe that the nation can do more; let those who have some amount of reprieve for themselves remember the needy, don’t just give them little relieve. We are doing this today in Kings University premises which is the initiative of KICC; every student was on scholarship in the first year of our takeoff, and my family was responsible for paying for 40 percent and we are now in our third year, my family still get involve in paying some of the tuition and we are still giving some degree of reprieve to people so, there is need in the land but I can only challenge the government to look into the five E’s, which are Economy, Electricity, Environment as in agriculture, Engineering as in mechanised industrialise nation and Electronics, let us become a smart nation and let us delve into information system.

On whether the economy of the country is working, he said, “I’ll say its working, it depend on how a car works, there are times where you have a car with eight stroke and firing on six stroke and some with 12 cylinder and firing nine but I think it could fire on other levels, if you ask my opinion on what should the country do, I will say, North East Development Commission (NEDC) which has just be formed and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) are good commissions but what Nigeria need is not one commission in the North-east and another one in the S’s, we need a macho plan; when Europe collapse during the second world war, America declared the macho plan, rolled out money and help build Europe; we need our leaders to put aside politics, culture and look at the nation holistically, we need a master macho plan that looks at the whole of Nigeria not from who is a terrorist that can get the attention of the government

In his view, Senator Iyiola Omisore, while commending the pastor, said, “I want to congratulate Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo for this empowerment programme; it’s certainly the way to go. You don’t have to be a rich man or woman before you can assist somebody. No matter how small, you can still assist your neighbour.

There is nowhere in the world where government does everything, that is why we have philanthropists; giving to the less privilege and widows is one of the major thing the people appreciate so, whatever individual does should be to compliment the government efforts but of course, government can learn from it, and adopt some of the policies of philanthropist.

I’ve been doing this in the last 20 years; about fifty thousand people benefitted from my programme but you don’t need to be a senator or anything before you can give to people. Philanthropism is not by wealth but by the willingness to help others so, I want to implore all Nigerians that the little you give go a long way in meeting somebody’s need.God is working well in Osun State and we will have a change in 2018 by God’s grace.

On his part, former General Evangelist of the Christ Apostolic Church Samuel Kayode Abiara while praying that the God should turn the heart of governments to the people and challenging the widows to talk to their well-to-do children to adopt same philanthropy work, said, “The only people who are enjoying the wealth of the nation are the politicians and high class people but I am challenging all states in the federation to also do this every year.

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