Since the discovery of oil in the country, Ghanaians have been cautioned not to follow the path of some African nations, which out of greed and mismanagement, have turned the blessing of the 'black gold' into a curse. Francis Ofori Yeboah, La Area District Head of the Church of Pentecost, is the latest to join those who are not too enthused about the recent oil find on the premise that just like other natural resources have failed to yield maximum benefits for the populace. He observed that everywhere across the country the citizens were talking about the oil discovery as if the God-given diamond, gold, timber, among other resources, which the nation had been tapping over the years, were not good. "Everywhere you hear people talking about the oil, we should not be overjoyed because I believe that the oil can also fail us,” he cautioned. Pastor Ofori Yeboah stated this yesterday when he delivered a sermon at a send-off service organised by the Church of Pentecost in honour of Pastor Anthony Yaw Kumi, who retired after over thirty years of pastoral service. The colourful event was held at the Accra Technical Training Centre, Kokomlemle, Accra, where the congregation from the various districts within the Accra Metropolis and outside, converged to bid farewell to one of their leaders. Arthur Kobina Kennedy, Communication Director of the 2008 New Patriotic Party Campaign, who attended the service, told The Statesman that oil was an important commodity and tended to agree with the man of God in the sense that without proper management of the resource, the nation might not derive maximum benefits from it. He, however, was quick to point out that Ghana has the opportunity to learn lots of lessons from the experience of other oil-rich countries in order to ensure that “ours becomes a blessing instead of a curse.” He entreated all and sundry to pray for peaceful elections in December so that the electorate could freely elect their leaders for the nation to move forward in development in all spheres of life. Preaching from the book of Habakuk in the Bible, Pastor Yeboah told a story of a soldier who took delight in going to war, killed people, conquerd and captured opponents whilst the women wailed and warned, “If there is anybody whose desire is to see that the country turns upside down so that it will bring happiness to him, in the name of Jesus, may the person be brought down.” Source: Statesmen