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Christian Apathy in Governance, a Recipe for Doom

By Anne Bassey

Over the years, Christians have exhibited apathy concerning the affairs of government, terming politics as a dirty game yet, complain when the method of governance adopted is wrong.

President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Samson Olasupo Ayokunle in his bid to mobilize Christians to partake in 2019 elections, is admonishing Christians not to leave the helms of affairs of government with unbelievers as it may spell doom for the country.

Next year’s general election is crucial to the unity of the country and the participation of Christians will go a long way in putting the right people in public offices. Ayokunle’s agitation is borne out of the fact that majority of those vying for electoral positions in the upcoming election are non-Christians and he is right.

A close look at the contesting candidates registered for the 2019 presidential election along with numbers of registered Christians voters will unveil reasons for concerns, yet in recent times, Christians are most time, the major casualties of the unfortunate outcome of choosing wrong leaders.

CAN president has revealed in times past that his motive for advocating for Christians’ participation is that if the will of God must be established in the affairs of men, then those who know the will of God must be ready to bring it to the fore.

Ayokunle, who is of the opinion that God-fearing leaders are rare, explains that, “there is one thing that the Christian Association of Nigeria is saying, leadership with integrity, both in politics and religion is rare on the street, even in high and low levels of our economy,” as published in a 2017 article of Daily Sun.

However, we have Christian group leaders and the likes casting tantrums at the CAN leadership, alleging that the cleric is mobilizing Christians with the intentions of politicizing and polarizing them as recently exhibited by the leader of Concerned Christian Forum of Nigeria (CCFN), James Amedu who called out the CAN president over the accusation.

On the contrary, Ayokunle’s intentions are far misunderstood and misinterpreted. He has restated that his aim for mobilizing Christians is to ensure that civic duties are also performed by believers in order to bring about the will of God, the much needed change and the impact required for growth in Nigeria.

True Christianity is seen in a man’s grace and strength to resist temptation, as the word of God in James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Men with the fear of God are what Nigerians need to govern the country.