2023: Christian Leaders Plan Parley With Atiku, Tinubu, Others

Ahead of the 2023 elections, plans for a meeting between presidential candidates of various political parties and Christian leaders under the aegis of the Nigerian National Christian Coalition have reached an advanced stage, our correspondent learnt.

The leaders said the discussion with presidential candidates, especially those of the major political parties, would top the agenda of their “Meet The Church Summit”, scheduled for September 20 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

In a press conference on Friday, the convener of NNCC, Titi Oluwadare, said Christians could no longer be spectators in the country, warning that any politician who failed to meet the church would fail in 2023.

Oluwadare, in an apparent reference to the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted by the All Progressives Congress despite national outcry, said the imbalance must be corrected before the country would fall over the precipice.

She stressed the need for national interests to be above parochial ones such as religion and ethnicity.

Oluwadare said, “The church is now awake and we are ready to constructively engage with other stakeholders in the Nigeria project. We are discussing with people of all faiths, tribes, and tongues in a bid for peace, national healing, and national rebirth.

“The reality is that interests need to be harmonised, pursued, and transplanted or transformed into politics, ideas, and ideologies before strategic engagement and policies can evolve positively from there. Muslims have done this effectively Christians have not even started.

“The tribal interests have also been harmonised across Nigeria. We have Biafra, the Arewa, and the Oduduwa interests politically. These interests have erroneously buried National interest and identity.

“We are also saying we will no longer be ignored, used and dumped, manipulated, enslaved, and disregarded.”