The Catholic and Anglican dioceses of Nsukka have disowned a story by an online medium claiming that both denominations were shopping for alternative candidates outside the Peoples Democratic Party for the governorship position of Enugu State.
In separate disclaimers, both dioceses described as false the news story by Southeast post that they were shopping for candidates other than PDP.
In a release by the Diocese of Nsukka, Anglican Communion dated July 13, 2022, the church said the publication by Southeast post was “false, insidious and unfounded”, pointing out that such an idea was never raised or discussed in any meeting of the diocese or with their Catholic counterpart.
The release further reiterated that the Anglican church is non partisan and has been playing its role of educating her members on good governance and responsible citizenship.
The church therefore advised the public to disregard the “insinuation contained in the malicious publications and also called on the publishers of the said story to retract the said article “.
Recall that the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka first issued a disclaimer to the said publication which it described as “totally false, malicious and tendentious and aimed at gaining political mileage by dragging the church into the vortex of partisan political contestation.”
According to the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka, there was no such coordination with the Anglican Communion and there is no contemplation of such.
According to the release, “the church helps to raise the moral tone of political behaviour by offering advice to politicians and enlightening the electorate on its civic rights and duties”.
Members of the public were therefore advised to disregard the insinuations contained in the said publication and the publishers advised to retract the “offensive publication in their own interests “.
Southeast post, an online paper had reported that the Catholic and Anglican churches in Nsukka were coordinating efforts aimed at electing more credible leaders in other parties outside the peoples democratic party, PDP in the 2023 elections.
According to the report, the two “most popular churches are miffed that Governor Ugwuanyi was not leaving landmark achievements after governing the state for eight years and was leaving Nsukka more divided than he met it following alleged divisive politics that characterized his tenure.”
Both churches denied ever meeting or collaborating to discuss any such issues describing the report as a figment of the imagination of the writer.
