Founder and head pastor of the Household of God
Church, Rev. Chris Okotie, has finally spoken on the postponed general
elections in Nigeria.
According to a statement posted on his Facebook page on Thursday, Okotie, a two-time presidential candidate, condemned those who threaten “to set the nation on fire” should their candidate lose the oncoming presidential poll.
The clergyman also added that the election “should never be regarded as a referendum on the corporate survival of Nigeria.”
He said the country’s oneness was settled during the Civil War; and that the upcoming election would not break the country, just as past critical political upheavals that challenged its unity in the past.
Okotie, who insisted that the country’s “unity was purchased at a
high price,” described the past ethnic crises, including the civil war,
as sibling rivalries. Hence, he said, they were resolved internally
without “violent separation.”
“The fact that no group tabled secession for discussion at last year’s National Conference, he argued, was an indication that Nigerians had agreed to put past differences behind them and forge ahead under the same national government.
“Clearly, it showed that the blood shed by our compatriots in Biafra was not in vain… But up till now, the wound has not fully healed. That is why we should not stir ethnic and religious hatred for cheap political advantage in these elections,” Okotie warned.
He, however, expressed concern at the degree of bitterness that marks the on-going campaigns, which, he said, “is polluting the political environment.”
The situation, according to him, is robbing the polity of the benefits of a maturing political system.
He likened the country’s politics to the Super Eagles that is perpetually “rebuilding.” If the country remained at a learning stage after 16 years of unbroken democracy, he asked, when would it catch up with Indonesia, Chile, India, Brazil and other developing countries that have “continued to transit seamlessly to the admiration of the world?”
Whereas the tumbling economy should have been the issue, the cleric lamented that the leading candidates had resorted to “repulsive, hate-driven advertisements that dehumanise opponents and assassinate character.”
He says, “Our sensibilities are assaulted, while our morality has been brought to a new level of denigration. This, certainly, is not the politics Nigeria deserves after going through a harrowing 24-year military rule and experiencing a 30-month civil war and the June 12 annulment crisis.”
Okotie called on politicians to take a cue from the America culture where, for instance, a winner hosts opponents to a post-election dinner. He regretted that Nigeria imported American political model but ignored the spirit of its democracy.
He wondered why the contestants had adopted a do-or-die tactics in an election of which the ultimate winner should be Nigeria.
“The first three democratic projects failed abysmally because of immaturity on the part of our key players and the refusal of an ambitious military to allow the democracy to grow at its pace.
“Although credit must be given to the armed forces for holding the country together after a terrible civil war, part of the sad legacy of that tragedy is the militarisation of our polity. But I dare say, that is not an excuse not to up the ante in the current process,” he insisted.
According to a statement posted on his Facebook page on Thursday, Okotie, a two-time presidential candidate, condemned those who threaten “to set the nation on fire” should their candidate lose the oncoming presidential poll.
The clergyman also added that the election “should never be regarded as a referendum on the corporate survival of Nigeria.”
He said the country’s oneness was settled during the Civil War; and that the upcoming election would not break the country, just as past critical political upheavals that challenged its unity in the past.
Pastor Chris Okotie
“The fact that no group tabled secession for discussion at last year’s National Conference, he argued, was an indication that Nigerians had agreed to put past differences behind them and forge ahead under the same national government.
“Clearly, it showed that the blood shed by our compatriots in Biafra was not in vain… But up till now, the wound has not fully healed. That is why we should not stir ethnic and religious hatred for cheap political advantage in these elections,” Okotie warned.
He, however, expressed concern at the degree of bitterness that marks the on-going campaigns, which, he said, “is polluting the political environment.”
The situation, according to him, is robbing the polity of the benefits of a maturing political system.
He likened the country’s politics to the Super Eagles that is perpetually “rebuilding.” If the country remained at a learning stage after 16 years of unbroken democracy, he asked, when would it catch up with Indonesia, Chile, India, Brazil and other developing countries that have “continued to transit seamlessly to the admiration of the world?”
Whereas the tumbling economy should have been the issue, the cleric lamented that the leading candidates had resorted to “repulsive, hate-driven advertisements that dehumanise opponents and assassinate character.”
He says, “Our sensibilities are assaulted, while our morality has been brought to a new level of denigration. This, certainly, is not the politics Nigeria deserves after going through a harrowing 24-year military rule and experiencing a 30-month civil war and the June 12 annulment crisis.”
Okotie called on politicians to take a cue from the America culture where, for instance, a winner hosts opponents to a post-election dinner. He regretted that Nigeria imported American political model but ignored the spirit of its democracy.
He wondered why the contestants had adopted a do-or-die tactics in an election of which the ultimate winner should be Nigeria.
“The first three democratic projects failed abysmally because of immaturity on the part of our key players and the refusal of an ambitious military to allow the democracy to grow at its pace.
“Although credit must be given to the armed forces for holding the country together after a terrible civil war, part of the sad legacy of that tragedy is the militarisation of our polity. But I dare say, that is not an excuse not to up the ante in the current process,” he insisted.
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