The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has issued a subtle warning to candidates who have recently emerged as their party’s presidential flagbearers to abandon the idea of picking running mates with similar religious affiliations.
While speaking at this year’s Democracy Day event to mark Nigeria’s return to democracy, CAN President Samson Ayokunle specifically warned the presidential flagbearers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying “Muslim-Muslim tickets will lead to chaos.”
Before the 2023 general elections, Ayokunle urged politicians to run issue-based campaigns, saying that “you can only rule if there is a nation.”
Even as he prayed for peace in Nigeria, the CAN president stated that the political class should work toward building a united and prosperous nation.
“We pray for a nation where justice, fairness, and equity unite us,” he said.
In his message, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo urged Nigerians to embrace democracy in order to strengthen national unity and social cohesion.
“Democracy works because the values of justice, equality, fairness, and inclusion, which underpin democratic governance, are also at the heart of our Christian faith,” Osinbajo said during a church service in Abuja to commemorate this year’s Democracy Day.
“Democracy works, especially in a heterogeneous union like ours, through negotiations and compromises carried out in good faith,” he claims. Every year, we get closer to a more perfect union, a more mature democracy.”
The commemoration, according to Osinbajo, who was represented by Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), provides “opportunity to reflect on how far we have come as a people.” It encourages a state of sobriety and gratitude.
“It allows us to reflect on decades marked by a lack of freedom, suspicion, and uncertainty, as well as the prayers, faith, and courageous actions that led us to a turning point in 1999, marked by hope and promise.”
According to Deuteronomy chapter 16, “God commanded the people through Moses to observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night,” the vice president says.
“Following the great deliverance of the Jews from Haman’s devious plots, it says in Esther 9:20-22, ‘Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout King Xerxes’ provinces, near and far, to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as the time when the Jews were delivered from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into
“Andso, as we commemorate Democracy Day in accordance with biblical and historical traditions, we can rest assured that God’s hands are never too short to deliver and that His grace will always prevail for our good.”
“At the same time, we must assure ourselves that no matter how difficult the situation or moment may be, there is always enough God-given strength within us, as a people, to overcome it.”
Nigerians, he said, have always risen to the occasion when it counted the most.
“When colonial powers subjugated our people and ruled over our resources, we rose to the occasion.”
“Following the ravages of a civil war, we rose to the challenge of rebuilding a united country, no matter how flawed.”
“When enduring military dictatorships pushed us to the brink of extinction, we rose to the occasion and negotiated our way into a democracy that gives us a platform to build a country we can all be proud of.”
“And it is because of all of us, from the North to the South, that we have come this far.”
“From the trenches of the six geopolitical zones, Nigerians fought for our democracy. Our fight for a better country has always been a detribalized struggle.”
He also recalled how, in honour of a political leader from the South, Democracy Day was moved from May 29 to June 12 by a president from the North.
“Party primaries have been held by political parties large and small across the country in the last few weeks, without the violence, rancour, or prevalence of bitter court cases that have characterised the process in the past.” “We’re progressing.”
He stated that “the combined effort of government, people, and civil society across the federation are bringing us closer to our highest democratic ideals and aspirations,” adding that “the social contract between the government and the people with the ballot as arbiter is daily being strengthened.”
