Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna, Most Rev. Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, has urged Nigerians to vote for a candidate who values Nigeria’s religious and cultural differences.
Archbishop Ndagoso stated this in Kaduna during an interview with journalists at the celebration of the ‘Christ The King’ by the Catholic faithful.
“Nigeria is a very diverse country, we all come from different cultural and religious backgrounds and our diversity are not a curse but a blessing from God.
“We need leaders who can be able to manage this our diversity very well. Therefore if our cultural and religious backgrounds should be properly managed, it will enrich our country,” he said.
Ndagoso reiterated that Nigeria needed leaders who can manage both its people’s religious and cultural differences very well in order to give everyone a sense of belonging.
“We have leaders who doesn’t value our cultural and religious differences and that is why there is agitation for self-determination. Our leaders are so nepotistic.
“What we have gone through for the past seven years in this country is unimaginable. We have never suffered in this country the way we are suffering in the last 7 years, we have leaders who are not able to manage our diversity very well, they are so nepotistic. The damage they have done to this country, I don’t know how many years it will take to fix it.
“If any candidate or political party dismiss other people’s sensitivity, I think they are sending a message to them. Any candidate who does not care about our religious sensitivity, why should we vote the person into power? It is a waste of votes. Anybody who aspire to lead this country must give every Nigerian a sense of belonging and what is happening now is not giving every Nigerian a sense of belonging,” the cleric added.
He lamented the economic hardship in the country, saying that many Nigerians barely eat two square meal a day.
Ndagoso also called on the government to tackle the insecurity bedevilling the country, saying that some of his Priests were still in kidnappers’ den.
