2023: Nigeria Needs 3rrd Force, APC, PDP Have Failed – Anglican Primate

The Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Reverend Dr. Henry Ndukuba has said that Nigeria needs a Third-Force to break the political quagmire in the country, that the major political parties have failed and taken Nigerians for granted, and there are other viable alternatives if proper and sincere negotiations are done. 

The Primate who made this known yesterday, at the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion Standing Committee Meeting, with the theme, ‘You Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done,’ held in Abuja, also said that the Muslim-Muslim Ticket is a recipe for Islamization of Nigeria, that if it is forced down on this Nation, the religious and social discrimination and open public enforcement of the Sharia Law will be done in some parts of the country.

Ndukuba further said that they posit that a political merger between Northern and Southern-based Parties across tribal, religious, and ideological divides, having good connectivity at the grassroots and the Youth will be a game changer, that no one party has all the solutions to the national challenges.

“The activities for the general Elections of 2023 are picking up. There is a need for strengthening and striating out the internal Democracy in the Political Parties. The more worrisome is the insensitivity and display of impunity by our Political leaders, especially in the two prominent big Parties. A situation where the ruling Party, the APC is not considerate of the religious sensitivities of the citizens of this Nation is to deliberately hurt a cross-section of our citizens. For the Christians, it is an affront that shows that what is most feared is being done.

“The Muslim-Muslim Ticket is a recipe for Islamization. If it is forced down on this Nation, religious and social discrimination and open public enforcement of the Sharia Law will be done in some parts of this country. Nigeria as we know it will cease to exist and those who say that it does not matter must be prepared to fight the Terrorists who will want to take it beyond their so-called civilized understanding.

“We must get it clear that because of religious and ideological differences, we may be using the same words and terminology, but our understanding and perceptions are never the same.

“On the other hand, the issues in the PDP should be resolved but where the fundamental Party arrangement is overruled by the powerful, it is not going to be for the good of the Party and our Nation. There are viable alternatives but the long-existing acrimony, tribal chauvinism and selfish Political calculations will hamper the needed progress that would have been made,” he said.

The Primate said that citizens’ political action and engagement will deliver Nigeria from the present political ineptitude and that they have encouraged all their Archbishops and Bishops to mobilize their citizens to get their PVCs because the 2023 election is a very crucial opportunity for the Citizens to change the current narrative of woes.

He also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for demonstrating enough evidence to inspire confidence in the electorate through the conduct of the registration of the Permanent Voters Card, PVC, though not without some challenges in some places.

“We also commend Nigerians for demonstrating maturity and political awareness through the massive turnout at different PVC registration Centres across the country for the registration of their PVCs, next is operation collect your PVC and beyond getting the PVC, we must prepare to vote however sacrificial this may demand.

“As it is commonly said, ‘your Vote is your Right, we encourage all the Nigerian electorate to come out en masse and vote for the right candidates. Vote for Leaders and not Rulers, vote for integrity and character, and vote for those who have records of godly leadership and concern for the ordinary citizens of this country.

“Vote for Persons and not Parties. Any Politician who has been insensitive to the plight and sufferings, oppression, and death of the ordinary Nigerians must not be voted to lead this Nation. Enough is enough. We desire a new Nigeria where every part and person belongs to this commonwealth. Everyone must be part of the political process to birth a New Nigeria.

“Once again, ‘don’t sell your vote and mortgage your future and the future of your children for a ‘pot of red stew’ like Esau. Say no to money politics, vote wisely, vote rightly, and always remember what we have suffered in this country. Vote to change our sad story, vote for the birth of a New Nigeria. The Church is not apolitical nor partisan but a godly conscience for the nation as light and salt of the world,” he said.

The Primate also lamented that the collapse of Nigeria’s Educational system is becoming almost irreversible, that the federal government seems to be lost as to the way out, and that a case where a University student sits at home for a whole year is grossly unacceptable.

“A complete waste of life and future of these young people. The reality is that the future of our young people is now being jeopardized. This is what we get when the wrong people are placed in authority. The declining standard in the educational sector demands a holistic solution particularly the funding interventions in our Tertiary Institutions must be revisited. Tertiary Institutions’ infrastructural development must be sustained and allowed to deteriorate,” the Primate said.