ANGLICAN COMMUNION EXPRESSES WORRY OVER POCKETS OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE AHEAD OF POLL
The clergyman also alerted the Federal Government that “there is widespread fear in the land” stressing that, “fear of violence, people taking laws into their own hands, fear of the unknown among others “, adding that, pockets of unprovoked attacks being reported constantly especially in some of the North-Eastern States are becoming worrisome
Penpushing further reports that, the Primate noted that, “never in the past history of our country has election time been greeted with such widespread anxiety”, and therefore counseled politicians not to see contest for political offices as do or die affair saying “in every election, there are winners and there are losers.”
The Primate of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion said every election result should reflect the will of the electorates; otherwise, it becomes a mockery of the whole exercise, and also appealed to eligible voters to resist every inducement tended towards buying votes “as this will spell doom for all of us in the coming years “.
He called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not only to maintain the posture of an unbiased umpire in the forthcoming elections, “but to be certifiably seen to be doing so in every part of the country throughout this poll.”
“If we must have free, fair and credible elections, all security agencies must remain neutral in this exercise; the military, the police and others must be there to protect the interest of Nigeria as a nation, not individuals or particular political parties”.
The Primate said in spite of the foreboding fear of chaos in the forthcoming elections we should not despair for “as a nation, church and individuals, we can make the Lord our Shepherd. He will be there to protect us even in the valley of the shadow of death”.
