Under the auspices of the Inter-Faith Alliance, thousands of bishops, primates, and imams on Saturday swore allegiance to Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who they claimed offered a balanced ticket.
The General Overseer of the World Harvest Ministry, Archbishop Leonard Kawaz, and an Imam from the Gwarinpa Central Mosque, Sheikh Murtala Muhammad, were among the clergy who showed up at the party’s secretariat.
They came to express their discontent over the plans of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party to divide the nation along ethno-religious lines, according to Kawaz, who is also the prelate of the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, who spoke to Newsmen.
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The leader of the Inter-Faith Alliance claimed that this was taken into consideration when deciding to urge their over 5,000 religious leaders—many of whom traveled from Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa, Niger, and Abuja to the event—to support Obi and Datti Yusuf, who is running as his running mate.
He said, “I stand here today to reject the Muslim-Muslim ticket just like I would have rejected a Christian-Christian ticket. It is not also okay to tell me and my team that while we rejected the Muslim-Muslim ticket, we should now turn around and vote for a politician of the same tribe as the outgoing president in this multi-lingual, tribal and racial nation.
“We know what is lacking in Nigeria is knowledge and understanding that a Muslim does not necessarily need to become a Christian for us to live in peace, neither does a Christian need to become a Muslim to live in peace.
What we need is an understanding of the two faiths. There are faiths aside from Islam and Christianity that we have also been interacting with. We need everybody.
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“Having examined all the candidates of political parties, we have come to the conclusion that the Labour Party has done the right thing for Nigeria by fielding His Excellency Peter Obi and Datti Yusuf. These are distinguished gentlemen who have proven themselves in leadership and management of resources in their previous endeavours.”
Kawaz, who has spent the past 24 years in Abuja, reaffirmed that Nigeria is at a turning point where the crucial presidential election that will take place in a few months would either make or mar the nation.
Muhammad appeared to agree with him when he said that Nigerians shouldn’t consider the offensive Muslim-Muslim ticket as a choice.
He stated, “We have also made up our mind not to support any party with a Muslim-Muslim ticket because it was borne out of the selfish interest of one person. We support the motion for harmony and peaceful co-existence with our Christian brothers.
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“That is why we are also willing to go all the way to vote party with a balanced ticket. May God continue to help Nigeria and his people.”
Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party, thanked the group of clerics and pleaded with them to keep praying for the freedom of movement and security of their supporters throughout the nation.
Abure bemoaned the fact that a sizable number of their supporters have recently been attacked in various regions of the nation.
“Since I became the national chairman of the LP, today is my best day. I said so because the prayers from clerics of these two faiths are coming in the nick of time. The party and its followers are seriously under attack. Just yesterday, we are telling ourselves to go public by appealing to Nigerians and religious leaders to pray for us.
“Three days ago, the presidential candidate and his running mate were in Kaduna to attend a function. Our followers who came from Zaria were involved in an accident and died. Others are hospitalised as we speak.
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“Since we started this movement, people thought it was a joke. Now they know. Today, they discuss no other things than LP in their closets. We are also receiving intelligence that they are going to fight us in some states where there are grand plans to attack our members. As I speak to you, they have invaded the homes of some members in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Enugu and several other states.
“We know for sure that the time of the people has come. Our presidential candidate has been forced to shift his campaign because of the flood that has ravaged several communities across the country. That’s why I said the coming of the clerics here today is a divine one,” he said.
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