Adeboye, Oritsejafor, Okogie urge Nigerians to turn out en masse

Posted by admin Elections 2011, Latest Politics Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

CHRISTIAN leaders including General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogie have urged Nigerians to troup out en masse today to cast their votes in the National Assembly elections, saying that the ongoing polls are very crucial for the consolidation of democratic exercise in the country.

Despite discordant tunes from different governmental officials over whether voters should stay behind to witness vote counting, the clerics emphasised the need for the Nigerian electorate to cast their ballots for any candidate of their choice and exercise the right to stay behind to defend their votes by ensuring that their ballots counted.

There have been so much hoopla over whether voters have the right to stay in the voting area to await the result of the polls and capture the details on GSM phones, but the men of God appear to be unanimous in their resolve that Nigerians should be allowed to observe the electoral process to the ultimate end and be free to communicate results to their parties.

Pastor Adeboye went the extra mile to caution the umpire body, INEC against any form of manipulation of the electoral process, warning that the Christian Community in the country might be tempted to go the streets to protest any form of imposition this time around.

While urging Nigerians to troup out enmasse,Pastor Adeboye said: “INEC, we love you, but no mago mago this time. I will lead the fight, if we suspect any mago mago. Give us a free and fair election, whatever the result is, just give us a free and fair election.”

In a telephone interview, the CAN President lamented the spate of violence across the country, saying “it is a shame that our politicians appear not to have learnt anything over the years. All over the world, political office is seen as an opportunity to make sacrifice to serve the people and that is why it is surprising that Nigerians kill themselves for political office.

“If your desire is to serve the people, you will allow the will of the people to prevail and not go all out to attack political opponents and create the impression that you are on a mission to enrich yourself,” Oritsejafor argued, adding however, that Nigerians must undermine such distractions and go out and vote for candidates of their choice.

Asked what would be the role of CAN during the entire electoral process, he said the umbrella body had perfected plans to deploy observers to different parts of the country to observe the process and give feedback to the parent body.

Speaking through the Lagos Archdiocesan Director of Social Communications, Cardinal Okogie said the Catholic Church alone through its JDPC is deploying over 1,000 election monitors to different parts of the country to serve as observers, saying that Nigerians must come out en masse to exercise their civic responsibility.

“They should come and vote their conscience and must be prepared to defend their votes. No Nigerian should allow any politician to influence their conscience because if they give money today, as soon as they assume power, they would forget about your contribution and they would not be accountable to you,” Okogie argued.

The clerics in unison also decried several politically-motivated violence across the states of the federation, saying that such acts of barbarism in this 21st Century portray the nation in very bad light in the comity of nations, stating that politicians ought to have learnt that political contest, all over the world, is not a do-or-die affair.

-Vanguardwp_posts