THE Christian Association of Nigeria says it doesn’t have a preferred presidential aspirant.
CAN President, Revd. Samson Ayokunle, said this on Tuesday night when a delegation of the European Union led by the EU Chief Election Observer, Ms. Maria Arena, met with the leadership of the apex Christian body in Abuja.
The EU team sought to know CAN’s position concerning the preparation of all the stakeholders – the Independent National Electoral Commission, the security agencies, and the political parties – towards the forthcoming elections next year.
“We call on the Federal Government and the security agencies to wake up to the security challenges in the country where the terrorists, bandits and kidnappers are operating with impunity and nowhere is safe and secure again. If the trend continues, many voters may not participate and the outcome of the election may not be credible. We have been struggling with this situation now for the past thirteen years, yet, we are still where we are,” the CAN President said.
“Although Nigeria is practising democracy because of our peculiarities which include multicultural, multi-tribal, and multi-religious nature, ours should be a ‘homegrown democracy’ where every divide should be given a sense of belonging.
“Even if the constitution is silent on the six geopolitical zones rotational representation, the political parties should be wise enough to make use of it in sharing the leadership positions.
“We have warned all political parties against fielding either Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian Presidential candidates. Since President Muhammadu Buhari is a Muslim from the North, in the interest of equity, fairness, social justice and cohesion, the next President should be a Christian from the South.”
Ayokunle also advised all churches in Nigeria to make the first week of March a week of “soul-winning”.
