Anglican Church cautions politicians against empty promises, votes buying
• Taraba aspirant vows to end farmer, herders crisis, others
The Diocese of Ekiti West, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has warned politicians against making unrealistic promises to the electorate as the 2019 general elections draw nearer.It noted that empty promises have dampened the interest of Nigerians in the electoral system, politics and governance in the country.
It also cautioned Nigerians against votes buying, which has been gaining ground in the country in recent elections, saying the practice was aimed at stifling the people from freely choosing credible candidates.
These are some of the resolutions reached at the First Session of the Seventh Synod, which ended on Saturday and presided over by the Bishop of the Diocese, Reverend Rufus Ajileye Adepoju. The four-day Synod, which held at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Idagba, Efon Alaaye, had as its theme: Be Ye Steadfast, taken from 1 Corinthians 15: 58.
A communiqué issued at the end of the Synod, stressed that vote buying could end up giving bad candidates, who are moneybags undeserved advantage to the detriment of the people in the long term.The Synod urged eligible Nigerians to ensure that they register with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to enable them vote for candidates of their choice in next year’s elections.
Meanwhile, failure of the Taraba State Governor, Darius Dickson Ishaku to address the security challenges in the state has become a source of concern to a governorship aspirant, Kabiru Umar Dodo.
Dodo, who hopes to actualise his dreams on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said if given the mandate in the next political dispensation, the crisis between farmers and herdsmen, kidnappings and other vices in the state would be a thing of the past.Briefing journalists yesterday in Jalingo, he stressed that his decision to join the governorship race was necessitated by the insecurity, lack of infrastructure, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, among others.
Expressing optimism that he will clinch the APC ticket at the party’s governorship primary, he said: “Some people are in Government House because they have godfathers. Such people are not prepared to provide quality leadership.”He lamented that if Ishaku had meant well for the Taraba people, the state’s scarce finances would have been used to harness the abundant natural resources in all parts of the state.
