By Alaba-Olusola Oke
The Catholic Action Nigeria (CAN), a Civil Society Organisation, has tasked Nigerians not to give up in despair even as the days draw near to the polls.
Mrs Funmilayo Ogbaji, the President of CAN, stated this on Wednesday in Akure at a town hall meeting on the role of the church in the forthcoming general elections and urged the people to be involved in pragmatic moves to transform the polity.
The theme of the meeting is “The Role of the Church in Mobilising the General Public toward Successful General Elections.”
Ogbaji said that Nigerians and Christians must trust in divine providence to direct all our affairs as the forthcoming elections draw near.
“We are confident that God will take us successfully through electioneering period.
“It is my utmost hope that the outcome of our deliberations will help our social political order for responsible leadership and redirecting our economic development drive for optimal performance,” she said.
The CAN president said that the electorate must say no to vote-buying, adding that vote buying was an anathema to the country’s development.
“Christians and ditto everybody, should not allow money or other forms of inducements to influence how they cast their votes, but instead follow the dictate of their conscience.
“Candidates are free to canvass for votes not by inducing the electorate with money or putting them under undue pressure.
“Within our society, how will people refer to you? Are you a generational thinker? Therefore, wherever we find ourselves, we should always be patriotic Nigerians and be ready to say no to what is wrong,” she said.
Ogbaji explained that the country could not afford a replay of the constant threat, wanton destruction of lives and properties by proponent of sectional politics and foot soldiers.
She tasked all eligible voters to cast their votes, saying that not voting would amount to choosing poor leadership by few Nigerians.
In his words, Bishop Jude Arogundade of Ondo Catholic Diocese, said that there was hope for Nigeria as a nation to experience all round development, if right things were done.
Arogundade said that Nigerians with their PVCs could say no to bad leadership and correct the past wrongs and brighten the future of the country.
“Your PVC is your citizenship right and your integrity with your worth is embedded in it.
“Do not sell your birthright like Esau. Vote for somebody who has a sense of decency. Look at their past antecedents,” he advised.
Also, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, the immediate past governor of Ondo State, berated the system for being compromised.
Mimiko, represented by Mr Eniola Akinsola, said that all policy makers in positions of authority should do their best to make the society right.
He explained that positions of authority were not eternal but ephemeral, saying that such positions should be employed to make the society better.
The former governor asked the electorate to vote for right people to correct the structural imbalance in the country. In his lecture, Dr Gbenga Abimbola said that it was biblical for the church to be involved in arrangements that would ensure good governance.
Abimbola of the Department of Mass Communication, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA), said the church was mandated to pray for government and also contribute their quota of participating in political exercise.
He explained that it might be wrong for church leadership to ask its congregation to join a particular political party, adding that withdrawal of the church from governance would bring incompetent and incapable people to be leaders. (NAN)
