Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria has warned political parties against attempts to foist Muslim President and Muslim vice president on the country.
The President of PFN, Wale Oke, said this on Monday night at the grand finale of a five-day Zoe World Congress tagged, ‘Zoe Worship Extravaganza’, at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.
Oke insisted that any political arrangement short of producing a Christian President for the nation at the election would be unacceptable to the Christian populace.
He said any political party desirous of winning should not use the Muslim/Muslim ticket, saying Christians would go against such.
He said, “It is disturbing that with the 2023 general election fast approaching, some politicians who are hell-bent in further scuttling the fragile peace in the country, are desperately seeking to foist a Muslim/Muslim political agenda on us, a development that will further throw an unsavory spanner into the works, fiber and the tenuous peace of the nation.
“Nigeria is a nation predominantly populated by Christians and Muslims. The PFN, which by the grace of God I head, has a membership strength of over 65 million adherents of Jesus Christ. So we vehemently say no to Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket; we say no to arrangements that will relegate the Christians to obscurity.
“We urge that we follow the routes already taken by the previous administrations of Obasanjo, Yar’adua, Jonathan, and Buhari, to avoid the pitiable paths some are trying to tread for selfish reasons.
“Anyone who is flying a Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket is satanic and from the pit of hell. The Lord, God of hosts, will crush that satanic agenda. Any party that flies a Muslim/Muslim Presidential ticket has failed completely. In fact, it will not only fail, but it will also scatter.”
The renowned clergyman further stressed that Nigeria would only thrive when there was fairness, equity and justice.
“If the two major political parties in the country field Muslim/Muslim candidates, they will both fail. What we want is a Christian President. Buhari must hand over to a Christian. Let everybody know that any arrangement short of that will be totally unacceptable to us. The 65 million-strong members of PFN are vehemently opposed to any arrangement of that nature.”
Northern Christians oppose Muslim-Muslim ticket
In the same vein, Christian elders in the 19 Northern States and Abuja under the aegis of the Northern States Christian Elders Forum, have warned against fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket for presidency in the 2023 general elections.
The group described such a move as insensitive and selfish.
The NOSCEF’s Chairman, Ejoga Inalegwu, in a statement in Kaduna on Tuesday, said the group was concerned about the dangerous kite being flown.
The statement said, “The Northern States Christian Elders Forum read with concerns the reported meeting of a frontline politician with some Northern Elders, advocating a Muslim/Muslim ticket if, given the Presidential ticket and many days after, the report has not been refuted.
“We wonder which Northern Elders were in the said meeting. Let us recall the Chief Abiola Alhaji Kingibe Muslim-Muslim ticket that won the election in a military-imposed two-party system in 1993. The majority of Nigerians, including myself, voted for that ticket because, a vote for that ticket was a vote for fairness, equity, justice, and power rotation between North and South, South East and North East.”
The group condemned any move that would further aggravate the lines of the divide “for selfish political gains at the expense of a peaceful and united Nigeria.”
They said, “We appeal to all Nigerians across party, regional, ethnic and religious divides to rise up and mobilise the citizenship against any inconsiderate politician or political grouping, seeking to promote exclusion and marginalisation of any section of our country.”
Copyright PUNCH.
