Ahead of the 2023 General Elections, the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign the amended Electoral Act into law until the National Assembly include provision for e-transmission of results.
The Prelate and Moderator of Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Nzie Nsi Eke, made the appeal on Friday in Abuja on the occasion marking the Synod of the North Edition of the 175th (Dodransbicentennial) Anniversary Celebration of the church.
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While saying that the church also called for the convening of a national roundtable to deliberate on the structure of the country as being clamoured by various groups, he added that hunger, poverty and protracted insecurity is driving the country into a failed state.
“We support e-transmission of election results because it will go a long way to mitigate electoral malpractices. We are living witnesses to what happened in the last Edo election. It gave us hope for the possibility of freer and fairer elections in Nigeria.
“We believe it is not too late for the National Assembly to amend their decision this otherwise, the President should not sign the new electoral bill until the e-transmission is included. We pray our President will write his name in the sands of time, as one of those leaders in our nation’s history who significantly improved our electoral process,” Eke said.
He said that the 2023 election will be a turning point in the history of Nigeria, thus the church will mobilize prayers ahead of the election.
On insecurity, Prelate Eke said, “The level of banditry, kidnapping, and herdsmen attack, robbery, cult crisis and likes has been driving Nigeria into a failed state.
“We urged the government to get aggressive with terrorists, bandits and killer herdsmen, else the 2023 election may be a mirage. We hereby declare 30 days of special prayers from Sunday, August 15th 2021, for the release of those who are in captivity across the country.”
On ethnic and sectional agitations and separatists’ movements, he urged the government to take the situation seriously and should not be taken for granted or approached with force.
He said, “We suggest a constructive engagement of all agitators. Without equity, justice, inclusiveness and fair play, unity is difficult. We must not pretend to be a united country. We must truly unite or agree to go our separate ways to avoid implosion.”
On poverty and hunger, he said, “The way food prices have skyrocketed, an emergency program should be declared to increase food supply in the country. Arising from the combined impact of COVID-19 pandemic, insecurity and our weak currency, hunger and starvation is staring Nigerians in the face. Lots of people are finding it difficult to feed.”
He also said that the church is poised to embark on a future of increase in breadth, depth and presence, thus the 2020-2030 has been declared a decade of aggressive church planting, discipleship and church growth.
