The APC Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket will make the party record an election loss in the upcoming presidential election, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has said.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned Dogara said this while giving his keynote address during a summit held in Abuja called ‘Meet The Church’, which was organized by the Nigeria National Christian Coalition.
It had as its theme: ‘The role of the church in nation-building’.
‘In their convoluted posturing, they have placed state-building ahead of nation-building; a task never before achieved in history and we need no seer to tell us that such an endeavor is guaranteed to end in spectacular failure. No divided people have ever built any civilization
I am so elated that today’s church in Nigeria has shaken off the beast of the complacency of the past into fire by speaking up and resisting measures adopted by some political platforms that will hamper nation building.
In a manner that negated the fundamentals of nation building, such as shared identity, values and visions, the APC adopted a same faith presidential ticket in a country that has never attained nationhood’ he said.
He noted that long before the adoption of the same faith presidential ticket, the church had warned against it through the Christian Association of Nigeria, Catholic Secretariat, ECWA and so many other Christian organizations.
‘These warnings were not only ignored but dismissed in one fell swoop by the APC presidential candidate, who strangely believes that he can build a strong, secure and viable nation-state without first forging a shared identity, vision and values for our people thereby enabling us transit from citizens of a country into a nation of people with strong shared identity and values.
To demonstrate that the church is right, it is not alone in condemning the same faith ticket. Other prominent Islamic clerics and Muslim leaders have also spoken in the same light.
It is a good omen that both Christian and Muslim elites are not complacent over this matter. To this end, it will be easy to generate the needed elite consensus that is key to nation-building. All nations are built by elite consensus while all countries that failed in nation-building were destroyed by elite complacency’ he submitted.
Dogara also urged Christians in the country not to waste their votes in the 2023 general election.
‘Every Christian knows that our God does not tolerate waste. It is unchristian for the church to waste anything given to us from above as we own nothing except what is given to us from above.
I have gone to great lengths to demonstrate that the church must not waste its votes or sow same on unproductive grounds.
Every Christian must see his vote as talents given to him by God to trade with and as seeds that must not be wasted.
The only way we can build a nation out of Nigeria is by doing the right things. A united, inclusive, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria is possible if we go to work. We can start building that Nigeria of our dreams if we don’t waste our votes in the next election circle’ he said
The convener of NNCC, Apostle Titilope Oluwadare, who also spoke at the event, said it was unfortunate that the church currently plays a mere reactionary part in Nigeria’s political process.
She said Christians should understand that until the church engages and brings forth her interests and drives them into ideas and fashions out political strategies, the system will not be sanitized.
‘Therefore, we may continue in the circle retrogression in the nation and the situation continues to deteriorate even further’ she said.
PDP Vice-presidential candidate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who was represented by Senator Uche Ekwunife, urged religious organizations and groups to show interest in engaging not just the political class, but the three arms of government as major stakeholders in Nigeria project, especially on sensitive national issues- Team@orientactualmags.com
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