By SAM EYOBOKA

WORRIED by the level of acrimonious campaign ahead of the crucial February 2015 general elect-ions, politicians have been admonished to refrain from inciting comments that would further heat up the polity and instead run campaigns based on the values they intend to add to the lives of the Nigerian people.

The warning was made by the General Overseer of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Rev. Felix Meduoye at a media briefing announ-cing activities heralding the 60th anniversary of the church in Nigeria, stressing that campaigns should be issue-based because the unity of the nation is non-negotiable.

He maintained that politics should not be seen as a do-or-die affair.

The cleric, who was flanked by several senior church members, also used the occasion to sensitize Christ-ians and Nigerians as a whole to make every effort to collect their Permanent Voters Cards, (PVCs) to enable them vote candidates of their choice, as part of efforts to ensure peace-ful elections in the country.

Meduoye also expressed concern about the security situation in the country occasioned by the Boko Haram menace along with the various kidnapping, which he said, are gravely affecting the psyche of the nation’s citizens, noting that there is palpable fear all around which gives an impression that the security apparatus is not adequate to deal with the challenge despite the enormous resources that the Federal and state govern-ments are deploying.

“It is important to stress that security issues cannot be left in their entirety for the security agencies alone to handle,” the Foursquare General Overseer said, add-ing “all Nigerians must collaborate with government through information sharing as well as being security conscious.”

He debunked predictions of doom, saying that Nigeria will come out stronger and better in the years ahead, “our confidence comes from the fact that our God answers prayers and we have prayed as a church for the peace of this nation.”

On activities marking the 60th anniversary, Meduoye said the church had proposed a diamond jubilee lecture series to x-ray topical national issues on the myriad of pro-blems and would embark on nationwide safety awareness programme, as part of its corporate social responsibility, CSR, signaling the commen-cement of a nationwide traffic control on all major Nigerian roads, by some of the church members.

According to him, some the topics to be addressed by the lecture series include “The Church and the Nigerian nation: Impact, challenge and the way forward”, scheduled for March and “Expectations from next generation of leaders.” He maintained that the month of October will be devoted to prayers including an anointing service for all our leaders in government, captains of industry as well as other professionals in the country, in addition to a dinner to honour past leaders of the church.