…Set to meet with Tinubu, other presidential candidates Wednesday

By Luminous Jannamike, Abuja

THE President, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, His Eminence Archbishop Daniel Okoh, says the country is facing a crisis of development and governance despite efforts to achieve unity, peace, and prosperity for all.

He blamed the challenges still faced by Nigerians on what he described as the “incoherent constitutional and institutional framework” of the country.

The CAN President said this during the first leg of an interactive session with 2023 presidential candidates organised by the apex Christian body in Abuja on Tuesday.

The theme of the presidential dialogue is ‘A Prosperous and Peaceful Nigeria Founded on Justice and Freedom for All’

He explained that CAN had spent time to review the problems that hinder peace and progress in the country and have articulated suggestions on how best to improve them.

Okoh said, “We have consulted with Nigerians of diverse religious, ethnic and social identities on the problems of the country and the solutions to them have been articulated in the strategic document we call, the Charter for Future Nigeria.

“The Charter for Future Nigeria begins with a diagnosis of Nigeria’s problem and locates it primarily in an incoherent constitutional and institutional framework that defines governance and social and economic interactions in Nigeria.

“This incoherence is the main reason that the country today is almost submerged in the chaos of insecurity, instability, and economic stagnation.

“The document considers this incoherence in political, social, and economic dimensions. It makes genuine recommendations for resolving Nigeria’s recurrent crises that borders on justice and fairness, equality of all ethnic and religious groups, equal access to basic economic and social rights, political freedom and an egalitarian and just social order.”

According to him, the essence of the dialogue was to ensure that all the presidential candidates clearly understand the concerns of Nigerian Christians and propose policy and programme to address them.

“We believe that with this kind of respectful and sincere conversation we will find lasting solutions to these crises.

“The overriding concept in this transformation is ‘democratic citizenship’, which should be the focus of governance at all levels in Nigeria in promoting the socioeconomic well-being of every Nigerian citizen irrespective of religion, ethnicity or social pedigree,” he added.

Speaking at the meeting, the presidential candidate of the Action Alliance, AA, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, who identified insecurity and economic sabotage as major teething challenges that will confront the next administration, said Nigeria does not need an unreliable leader who has a fragile grip on reality come 2023 and beyond.

“You don’t need fragile leadership. You don’t need a leadership that will compromise all of your country.

“That leadership must join the international community’s ambition in returning the country to the mainstream of the attainment of security and economic prosperity,” Al-Mustapha said.

The second leg of the interactive session between CAN and all the 2023 presidential candidates is billed to hold in the nation’s on tomorrow (Wednesday) with the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, expected to take the centre stage.

Tinubu had selected former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate. However, his decision to run alongside a Muslim like himself was met with stark criticisms from CAN and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria led by Bishop Francis Wale Oke.