Kaduna State chapter of the Pentecostal Bishops Forum has congratulated the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and other winners in the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections.
This is even as the clerics averred that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) needs to redeem its image of being an unbiased umpire by leaving up to expectations, sequel to concerns raised on the February 25 elections.
Addressing a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, chairman of the forum, Bishop Ademola Idowu Tinuoye who read the text of the briefing flanked by 15 bishops, called for peace in the face of the various concerns raised.
“We acknowledge that the just concluded elections could be conducted and managed better by INEC as there were avoidable errors and failed promises on the procedures. Imperfection is in nature of mortals, yet basic standards are expected to be met and surpassed in other for losers to be gallant in vanquish and winners to be humble in victory,” they said.
The bishops said the uproar that followed the collation and announcement of the final result called for deep concern.
“It is evident and crystal clear that tension has built or is rather building and emotion stirred for imaginable and unpredictable consequences and revolt–a situation if not tamed and properly managed can easily split over to national chaos and calamity, God forbid.
“It is for this reason therefore, that we the leaders of this forum as spiritual fathers and mothers of the land deemed it necessary and fit to issue a communiqué to make our position known under the prevailing circumstances, especially considering the fact that Kaduna State is always pivotal and usually known to be a hot spot of crisis in Nigeria, in the distance and recent past,” they added.
After extensive deliberations on the political state of the nation, the forum resolved as contained in the communiqué signed by the chairman of the forum, Bishop Tinuoye, to appeal to the citizens particularly the body of Christ to exercise restraint considering the delicate peace in the state.
“This is necessitated by the peculiarities of our dear state, Kaduna; a situation where protests no matter how intended to be peaceful were easily hijacked and mis-presented as sectarian and religious. We cannot afford to breach the peace we currently albeit delicately enjoy under any circumstance.
“That if peace has not brought about any good, violence can definitely not be the solution, violence is never a conquering virtue. The solution to a bad marriage is not a new marriage. In the wake of this reality therefore, we’re strongly appealing to the body of Christ in Kaduna State, all our followers and teeming Christian youths across denominational barriers not to take laws into their hands, but to tow the path of wisdom and give peace a chance.
“We should not engage in any act of violence that will infringe on the fundamental rights of other citizens, thereby hampering the fortune and development of the state. That in the face of the present heat and perceived dissatisfaction of the outcome of the general elections, we are of the position that legal redress should rather be sought in the court of competent jurisdiction, while we congratulate the president-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu as declared by INEC.
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