Ronke Kehinde/
Religious leaders in Nigeria and their followers have been identified as the key to a peaceful and credible elections in 2019.
Presenting what could be a winning formula to Nigerians on Tuesday during a review of its activities in Lagos, Legacy Initiative International (LII), a group working with religious leaders nationwide vowed to work tirelessly to make the forthcoming election a peaceful one whereby credible leaders are elected in public offices.
The grand patron of LII, Dr Kenny Martins said, “We believe that if the leaders of these faith groups can find a common ground on national issues, it will be easier for them to communicate same to the adherents of their faith, who place a lot of trust on them. This will in turn reduce incidence of mutual suspicion and frequent needless bloodletting and wanton destruction of properties in many states of the Federation fuelled by religious differences and incitements from the religious fundamentalists.”
LII is a non – governmental agency in Lagos whose focus is to bring leaders of the two principal faith groups in Nigeria, the Christians and Muslims together through constant interactive sessions, inter-faith prayers and co-ordinated positions on burning national issues.
Martins revealed that the group had held very extensive consultations with the top hierarchy of the Christian faith as well as the Muslim faith.
“Even leaders of the third religion came to us; they didn’t want to be left out,” hesaid.
On how to achieve a peaceful and credible election in 2019, Martins said, “We encouraged religious leaders to intervene in a non-partisan manner to educate their followers on the evils of monetization of elections across the Country, whereby wrong candidates who are unfit for public office are imposed on the people through vote buying and other corrupt devises. This will give rise to the emergence of credible leaders in elective offices.
“To achieve this, we encourage the Religious Leaders to close ranks with each other and allow God to use them to identify the right candidates across Party lines, ethnic lines, gender, and age for as long as they are qualified to contest for the elective offices.
“If such people are identified and supported in their locality by such leaders, the candidates can be easily elected without the need for them to sell houses or take Bank Loans to contest elections. If elected, they will become more responsive to the needs of their communities and will be conscious that if they failed to fulfil their election promises, the people will not choose them in subsequent elections. We believe that this solution can be effected from the highest office in the land to the very lowest.
“We are also advocating for the right of our men and women living in the diaspora to have the right to vote during General Elections in Nigeria. The Direct Home Remittances (DHR) from the Nigerian diaspora constitutes the second largest source of foreign exchange inflow into our National Economy. It is therefore not right that we should deny our Nationals living abroad the right to vote during elections while many Countries of the world recognise the right of their citizens living abroad to vote during their own elections.”
Speaking on those they have consulted with, he said: “We have met with the Heads of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Methodist Church, the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, the Apostolic Church, the Apostolic faith and practically allthe senior Church Leaders in the Pentecostal churches; including The Arch Bishop of the Catholic Arch-Diocese Lagos, His Eminence, Most Rev. Dr Alfred Adewale Martins, the Arch Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, His Eminence, John Cardinal Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, his Eminence the Sultan ofSokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Etsu Nupe (Emir of Bida),Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, and the Emir of Kazaure, Alhaji Dr. Najib Hussaini Adamu.
Others are the Prelate of Methodist Church, Nigeria, His Eminence,Dr. Samuel Uche; the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, HisEminence, Dr Nicholas Okoh; the leader of the Christ Apostolic Church, Pastor A. O. Akinosun; the leadersof the Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel; the Leader of NASFAT Lagos State, Alhaji Mohammed-Kamil Yomi Bolarinwa; the President of CAN, Rev Samson Olasupo Adeniyi Ayokunle; the Vice President of CAN, Prof. Otubu; the leader of the Nigeria Baptist Convention and President of CAN, His Eminence, Rev. Dr. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle; the leader of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare; the President of the Pentecostal fellowship ofNigeria, Rev Dr Felix Omobhude;the leader of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet TB Joshua; thepresident of National Christian Elders Forum, Mr Solomon Asemota, SAN; the President of Christian Council of Nigeria; the Prelate, Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Dr. David D.L. Bob-Manuel; the leader of the Celestial Church of Christ, Pastor Emmanuel Oshoffa; theSenior Pastor of the Trinity Church, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo; the Leader of theMountain of Fire and Miracles Church, Dr D.K Olukoya; the leader of Goodnews Miracle Church, Bishop Amu; the leader of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, Bishop Mike Okonkwo; the Minister-in-Charge of the Presbyterian Churchof Nigeria, Lekki, Lagos, Rev. Dr Benebo Fubara-Manuel, and the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina.
He also mensioned three former Presidents of Nigeria, many former and serving governors in Nigeria, and many Senior Legislators, to mention but a few.
Martins added, “We were invited and participated very actively during the events organised by the Leadership of CAN Northern States in Jos and Abuja recently and our contributions were well received.
“We have also held extensive consultations with the Muslim Leadership starting with his Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, the Etsu Nupe, the Emir of Kazaure, the Leadership of NASFAT, and numerous clerics.
“We made our first public appearance with a World Press Conference at the Lagos Sheraton, Ikeja on 1st August, 2018 and the event was a huge success.
“On the 23rd of August, 2018, we held a well-attended Stakeholders meeting at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, chaired by Gen. Ike Nwachukwu. The Sultan of Sokoto, The Ooni of Ife,The Alaafin of Oyo, CAN Executives, Christian Elders Forum, Chief (Mrs) OpralBenson, and former Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon. Titi Oseni Gomezattended the function.
“Subsequently, we held a meeting with the Leadership of CAN at Ilupeju Lagos on 1st October, 2018 during which both sides signed a Communiqué in pursuance of the above objectives.
“Since then, we have organised a Presidential debate in conjunction with CAN on the 10th of December, 2018 at the International Christian Centre, Abuja in which all the 10 leading Presidential Candidates and their deputies attended with the exception of the President who was represented at the debate by the Minister of Transportation.”By the Grace of God, we shall hold a National Day of Prayers in conjunction with the Christian Association of Nigeria at the International Christian Centre, Abuja on 10th January 2019 to seek God’s Intervention for peaceful conduct of the General Elections and for the progress of our Nation.”
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