*Cites sexual immorality
The General Superintendent of the Holy Spirit Mission, Ikeja, Lagos State, Bishop Charles Ighele, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to ban Valentine’s Day celebrations in Nigeria.
Ighele made the call during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, highlighting the illicit sexual abuse associated with the day by some young people.
He argued that, the day has been misconstrued to the promotion of romantic relationships, rather than its original promotion of aid to the needy and humanitarian works.
According to him, a lot of people have discard the agape love described in the Bible, as the devil, through deception, imposed a universal day of immorality on planet Earth.
“The day is associated with a romantic demon known as Cupid. This demon is one of the rulers of the darkness of this world as found in Ephesians 6 verses 11 and 12.
“Cupid is the Roman name for the Greek god of love known as Eros. The English word erotic has its roots in Eros.
“The dictionary defines the word erotic as relating to or tendency to arouse sexual desire or excitement.
“The celebration of the day inspires sexual feelings in people and spreads sexual entertainment to further institutionalise sex.”
The cleric added that “Cupid” influenced humans to set aside February 14, as a special day for people to do whatever they want to do with sex and the perversion of true love.
“The Bible tells us that ‘God is love’, and it is very certain that God will not want His type of love celebrated this way,” he said.
Ighele, therefore, urged the authorities to ban the celebration, citing its bad influence on youths.
He noted that it is the duty of the government and other non-state actors, such as the churches, schools and families to unite to promote cultures of social redeeming values.
He added that the ban on the celebration would redeem people from destruction.