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2023: Nigerians won’t vote based on party lines – CAN
• “Gone are those days when people vote based on the political party fielding the candidate”
The President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), His Eminence Most Rev. Daniel Okoh, has said Nigerians will not use political party as a deciding factor in the choice of candidate to succeed the President Muhammadu Buhari after his tenure in 2023.
According to him, Nigerians have gone beyond casting their votes based on the political party fielding candidates.
The Archbishop, who stated this while delivering the sermon at the 2022 International Men’s Conference of Christ Holy Church International in Abuja on Sunday, insisted that the electorate, particularly the Christians will vote for candidates in the next general elections using their current capacities and antecedents as criteria.
The sermon was entitled, ‘By Faith, Give Leadership’.
According to him, “It is important that people of God at this time should have their eyes open. Before casting your votes, make sure you know the people you are giving your votes.
“In Nigeria, things are beginning to change. Gone are those days when people vote based on the political party fielding the candidate; when once you have the ticket of a particular party, you are covered.
“Today, people are looking at individuals, their credibility, character, experience, capacities and antecedents in relation to the positions they want to occupy.”
The CAN President decried the menace of vote-buying in the country’s electoral system, saying the people must begin to interrogate the plans and programmes of politicians before deciding who will get their mandate for the next four years.
He, however, cautioned politicians against making false promises to amass the people’s vote.
He said, “Nigerians have come to a point where they feel that they need to sit down and negotiate with the presidential and governorship candidates.
“We must ask them: ‘What is our portion in your administration (if elected)?’ They should be able to convince you before you can cast their votes for them. Nobody should take away your future from you. Don’t let anyone give you money to buy your conscience and four years of joy.
“To the people who are in politics, when you are making promises, make sure you are telling the people what you can fulfil.
“There’s no need promising us you can give us heaven on earth when you know that given the realities on the ground you cannot be able to fulfill it.”
Okoh, who doubles as the General Superintendent of Christ Holy Church International, also raised the alarm over the use of youths for political thuggery, noting that the development portended danger for the nation’s democracy.
He said, “Our youths should not allow themselves to be used as political thugs. The era of thuggery in our electoral system is over. They must positively participate in the political process. I am saying with a sense of duty that our youths must not give in to electoral violence.
“We must expand the space to inject new ideas into the systems. The world is moving on, and Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind.”
The CAN President described Nigeria as one of the best places to live in, because of the liberties the people enjoy compared to the citizens of other nations.
“Nigeria, for me, is one of the best places to live in. I love Nigeria, and we must put our collective freedom to good use,” he said.
The cleric noted that the problems facing Christians were not peculiar to Nigeria, but tasked the body of Christ to demonstrate leadership by providing hope to the rest of the country by faith in God.
He explained, “The Church is under attack, but not only in Nigeria. Globally, the truth is under attack.
“There’s no generation that had not had its own challenges. We are facing ours and must find a way to wriggle ourselves out of it.
“Some many things polarise the people at this time, but as Christians, we need to always stand together, knowing that we serve the same Lord and share in the same heritage.
“It is our unity and oneness that gives us the force to contend with whatever that opposes our very existence. When we are together, as people of God, there’s nothing we cannot conquer. Together, we can give a sense of security to our nation.
“In this (election) season, the Christians are going to provide leadership by faith, but with our two eyes opened.
“There is a miracle waiting to happen in this country and it will surely become a reality.
We should not put our trust in man.”
Three children of the same parents and two others whose ages ranged from five to 10 years died in an abandoned Honda Civic with Registration No. GO 778 ABC in Niger State following suffocation after they locked themselves inside the car for hours.
It is a common sight to find children in large numbers throwing caution to the wind and playing on the streets of Minna, the state capital.
The incident happened on Sunday in the Gurara Albishir area located on Bida Road when the children mistakenly entered the vehicle which had been abandoned for two years before the incident and locked themselves inside for over five hours.
An eyewitness in the neighbourhood who gave his name as Bala Usman said the children were playing in a large compound when they hopped into the abandoned car which refused to open.
“They tried to open the car and it refused to open and so they gave up trying. The car had been parked there for about two years by the owner.
“They might have mistakenly locked themselves up from around 11 am while the parents were searching for them only to discover their dead bodies in the car around 4 pm after fruitlessly looking everywhere around the vicinity,” Usman said.
The victims, which included four females and a male, comprised three siblings and two victims of different parents including the owner of the car. Their names and ages were given as Zahra, 10; Aisha, seven; Fati, five, and Isah, seven.
Our correspondent could not ascertain the identity of the fifth victim.
In his reaction, the chairman of Chanchaga Local Government Area, Aminu Ladan, confirmed the incident, describing it as unfortunate.
“This is a very unfortunate incident, I must tell you. We pray for the families to be comforted at a time like this,” he said.
Aminu, whose residence is located around the neighbourhood where the incident occurred, immediately visited the scene and condoled with the bereaved families.
The Niger State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, who also reacted to the incident said the owner of the vehicle had been invited for questioning while the matter was under investigation.
“On 21/4/2024 at about 6.30 pm, based on information received at Kpakungu Division, five children of about five to 13 years of age were found trapped in a Honda Civic vehicle with Reg No. GO 778 ABC at Albishiri area of Minna.
“They were found to have suffocated in the vehicle, while their bodies were later removed by the various parents, as the police visited the scene.
“However, the owner of the vehicle was invited for questioning, as the unfortunate incident is under investigation,” he stated in a WhatsApp message sent to our correspondent. (Punch)
Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu state on Wednesday offered scholarship up to university level to 11-year-old domestic worker, Happiness Nwafor, who was allegedly abused and brutalised by her employer.
The governor also ordered the rehabilitation of the victim.
The State Commissioner for Children, Gender and Social Development, Mrs Ngozi Enih, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Enugu.
The Advocate reports that Nwafor, who hails from Enugu state, was allegedly molested by her “madam”, an Anambra based Lawyer, Adachukwu Okafor, who resides in Onitsha.
Okafor had brought her into her home in January, after contacting her parents to help her get a child who would assist her with house chores.
She had battered the little Nwafor with hot iron and knife, inflicting injuries on her after accusing her of touching her child’s private part while bathing the child.
In a letter to the Scholarship Board, Enih said Mbah had graciously approved the rehabilitation and offer of scholarship up to university level for Nwafor.
She stated that the governor’s action was in line with the resolution of the Enugu State House of Assembly.
“Today we are here to to handover little Happiness Nwafor to the Enugu State Scholarship Board. Recall that on Feb. 1, a video went viral about a child that was physically abused by a lawyer in Anambra.
“The little girl in question was from Enugu state and we have to rush down to Anambra to ascertain the level of injury and make sure she is healed.
“I appreciate Mbah and his wife, Mrs Nkechinyere Mbah, Gov. Charles Soludo of Anambra and his wife, Dr Nonyelum Soludo, for their rapid response and quick intervention and making sure that Nwafor was rescued and got the adequate medical treatment.
“It shows us the type of government we are all witnessing, a government that cares for his people they have been taking care of her even as she go through rehabilitation.
“I equally thank the Ministry of Gender Affairs, Anambra and Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy for placing a bounty on the perpetrator who was nowhere to be found.
“We all collaborated to make sure that the Okafor was arrested,” Enih said.
She maintained that the Enugu state would not condone or accept any form of child abuse, in state or outside the state as it has zero to child abuse.
The commissioner added that little Nwafor would be handed over to the Director in charge of Enugu State School Board for proper documentation.
Receiving the victim, Mr Peter Nkwuo, the Head of Administration, Enugu Scholarship and Education Loan Board, said the board would provide her with school uniform, bag, books and others as pupils in the state do not pay school fees.
He stressed that in future when she would gain admission into secondary school, the state would pay her school fees and provide her with other materials.
While thanking Anambra and Enugu governments, the mother of the victim, Nwanneka Anioke, said Nwafor’s father abandoned her with four kids, prompting her to give out Nwafor as a maid.
The arraignment of former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello before a Federal High Court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC was stalled on Thursday due to his absence in court.
Bello is to be arraigned by the anti-graft commission for looting of over ₦80bn belonging to the Kogi State government when he served as governor.
However, when the matter came up today, his lawyer said there is an exparte order restraining EFCC from arresting and prosecuting the former Governor which EFCC appealed against at the Court of Appeal.
It will be recalled that the EFCC failed to arrest Mr. Bello on Wednesday after laying siege on his Abuja home for over 8 hours.
The incumbent, Usman Ododo came to the rescue of his predecessor preventing the commission from leaving with him.
Ododo and security operatives attached to the former governor succeeded in taking Bello away from his Abuja residence on Wednesday thus preventing his areest by EFCC.
Bello’s whereabouts is unknown by press time.
Meanwhile, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja has adjourned the case to April 23rd.
The adjournment is for substituted service and possible arraignment of the former governor.
The EFCC has vowed to break all barriers to find where the former governor is and make him face his arraignment, citing section 12 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
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