Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) in Niger State has called on the governorship candidates of all political parties in the state to ensure they pick a Muslim/Christian tag team partnership for the 2019 governorship election in the interest of fairness and ensure respect to balance in polarity between the two major religions in the country.
Niger state Chairman of the association, Reverend Mathias Echioda said all persons who had won their party’s primaries as flag bearers for the governorship election in the state must reflect equity in the choice of running mates to give sense of belonging to the two major religions in the state.
Rev. Echioda made the association’s stance known in his congratulatory message to winners of primary elections of the political parties in the state.
He emphasized the need for all the candidates to respect the heterogeneous composition of Nigeria and ensure balance was maintained so that absolute power was not made an undue advantage to any of the faith over the other.
The CAN Chairman commended the maturity in the way the respective primaries were conducted, describing the smooth and peaceful exercise as ‘highly commendable’.
Rev. Echioda noted that though CAN was not a political association nor was it partisan, the demand for a joint Muslim/Christian ticket as a tag team in the governorship contest in the state was a legitimate demand for equity and fairness sake to all.
“This sense of maturity exhibited by political parties in the and state and by politicians is worthy of commendation especially when one considers the violence that characterized similar exercises in other states across the country”.
He lamented the wanton destructions of lives and properties in some states as wasteful, avoidable carnage stressing that politics should be noble, decent and undertaken without bitterness and rancor.
“It should be done with a high spirit of sportsmanship where both winners and losers must emerge friendly after the contest”, he said.
The Clergy appealed that none Muslims who emerged winners should not be denied of the mandate. “For Christians who participated and won in the recent primaries, we strongly ask such political parties in the state to declare such winners and urgently give them their mandates without further let”.
Rev. Echioda noted that as the 2019 general elections approaches, the association, (CAN) in the state consider it pertinent to call on all political players, (both politicians and the electorate) across the country to play politics with decency and give peace a chance.
He emphasised the need for all to play politics by the rules of the game. Avoid hate speeches, campaign of calumny and character assassination of opponents to heat up the polity.
Echooda, a Minister of the gospel, reminded politicians that electioneering campaigns should be issue based to avoid fiss cuffs and chaos that could lead to bloodshed and needless destruction of properties.
He cautioned political vanguard groups who are usually used as cannon fodders by self seeking politicians and money bags in the vuild up to electiobs to shun sponsors of violence and preserve their lives or risk the unavoidable wrath of God.
He said there were ample Christians in partisan politics in Niger state even as he disagreed with claims by some politicians that there were no active Christian politicians in the state.
“We have responsible and highly intelligent, upright, technocrats and sincere Christians who are ready to serve and contribute positively to the rapid development of the state. The claim that there are no Christians in partisan politics in the state is a myopic and one sided assertion” he said.
