The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has asked the Supreme Court not to bend the law as the candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, and other parties prepare to challenge the outcome of the 2023 general elections at the apex court.
President of CBCN, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, said this on Sunday in Abuja, at the opening of the 2023 second plenary assembly of the CBCN.
The five-member Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) led by Justice Simon Haruna Tsamani had last Wednesday dismissed their petitions and validated the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ugorji said that many Nigerians desired and prayed for a day when all election results would be finally decided at the polling units and not at the court.
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He noted that despite the reassurances by the INEC to deliver credible general elections in 2023, the elections fell short of the people’s legitimate expectations as well as moral and legal standards.
Also, the President Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Daniel Okoh, who was represented by the General Secretary, Prof Samson Fatokun, lamented that prices of basic necessities had skyrocketed beyond the reach of the masses with no respite in sight.
At the event, Pope Francis’s representative in Nigeria also known as the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, said that Nigeria was having greater problems and difficulties than six years ago.
Filipazzi, who has just been redeployed to Poland by Pope Francis, lamented that the happy and solemn assembly event was overshadowed by the news of the barbaric murder of a seminarian of Kafanchan Diocese.
In his Homily, during the opening mass, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, noted that the Nigerian society was still grappling with divisions fueled by ethnic tensions, economic disparities and very sadly, the abuse of religious loyalties.
He also said that it was wise that Nigeria did not embark on a war in neighbouring Niger because war is worse than HIV, Ebola, COVID-19 and Malaria put together.
“ECOWAS should realize that the people of this region have seen endless bloodshed. It would be unwise to add to the stories of guns, bombs, and human casualties. We should be able to win peace through dialogue without firing a shot,” Kaigama said.
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