*Says equity, Justice, good conscience and Peace demands that
*Warns against use of inflammatory languages by politicians, clerics
With barely 36 days to the February 25 presidential election, the clamour for a Nigerian President of South-East extraction gathered greater momentum as the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF), on Thursday added verve to it, declaring that equity, justice and good conscience demands that the zone should be supported to produce the nation’s next president
The elders, who made the demand through a statement by its secretary, Pastor Bosun Emmanjuel, also warned against thr use of inflammatory statements by the political class and religious leaders, as the campaigns for the elections hot up, stressing that such statements are capable of threatening the corporate existence of the nation.
The NCEF, which included Chief Solomon Asemota, SAN, as chairman, also has Gen. Zamani Lekwot (rtd); Elder Moses Ihonde, Elder Nat Okoro, Gen. T. Y. Danjuma (rtd); Elder Matthew Owojaiye, Hon. Justice Kalajine Anigbogu (rtd); , Elder Shyngle Wigwe, DIG P. L. Dabup (rtd), Sir John W. Bagu, Dr. Saleh Hussaini; and Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife.
Others are Dame Priscilla Kuye, Dr. S. D. Gani, Mrs. Osaretin Demuren, Prof. Yussuf Turaki, Lady Mariam Yunusa; and Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, among others.
According to the statement, “we make bold to say that in order to complete and show good faith to the post-civil war 3Rs ( Rehabilitation; Reconstruction; and Reintegration) and the “No Victor No Vanquished” policies of the Federal Government, which are still relevant, it is only right that the South east zone be given the opportunity to produce the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
”All the other zones have had representation at the Presidency and if there are to be no second-class citizens and if there are genuine desires to eliminate separatist agitations nationwide, then, a credible candidate from the geopolitical South-East zone should be voted into the seat.
“The unfortunate statements credited to some presidential aspirants that they will lay the foundation for the Presidency for the South-East, after their turn, is not only an insult to the general Nigerian electorate but also a humiliating and derogatory attack akin to that of the religious clerics making inflammatory statements, which is detrimental to the overall peaceful co-existence and equity in the Nigerian project. We speak as Christian elders.”
On inflammatory statements by some political and religious leaders, the Forum stated: ”NCEF has observed, with keen interest, the unfolding events as Nigeria prepares for another election year in 2023.
”The intrigues, utterances, the horse trading, and outright violent postures by the political class are uncomfortable indications that those who rule Nigeria, and those who are aspiring to political positions in the coming elections 2023, have not learnt any lesson from the errors of the past and have determined to jettison the cherished values of our nationhood for purely sectional interests.
”The country cannot continue doing the same negative things repeatedly and expect different positive results. The recent inflammatory, derogatory, seditious, and inciting statements/ declarations credited to Governor Ganduje of Kano State and one Dr. Abdulmutallab Mohammed give the clear impression that some evil-minded persons are laying the foundation for more acrimony, dissention, violence and eventual disintegration of our beloved country, Nigeria.
”As Christian elders, our concern here is not only for the Christians and other non-Muslims, but also for the corporate existence of Nigeria, a country of diverse peoples, nationalities, and religions.
”We cannot as Christian Elders stand idly by and fail to warn Nigerians on the dangers implicit in the vile statements referred to above. We have a constitution, as a nation, and until it is set aside, repealed or amended, it remains the binding instrument of our nationhood.
”There is a ‘firm resolve’, among other uniting provisions in the Constitution, for Nigerians to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God.”
