Christian elders under the aegis of The National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) have urged Christians in the country to organize a political party.
Punch reports that the call was contained in a document titled, ‘Testimony of hope in democracy: The secularized residue of Church doctrine of the people of God’ by the forum’s Chairman, Asemota, stating that a Christian party would help promote democracy in the country.
The chairman stated, “The major player in politics in Nigeria is a minority ethnic group that co-opted the majority Hausa to form Hausa/Fulani that has since being described as an ideology – a system of rule and of society.
“All it has done is to include Christians as part of this ideology that produced (Muhammadu) Buhari and (Atiku) Abubakar.
“I would like to stress that reducing the salience of ethnic associations in politics would depend, to a considerable extent, on progress in two areas: establishing a strong party system and achieving robust economic growth and reduced poverty.”
“It is in the interest of Nigeria that Christians should have a political party of their own to promote democracy in the face of Sharia onslaught. The NCEF is of the firm view that ethnic associations have been rendered ineffective by the militant jihadists. The only sensible alternative open to Christians in Nigeria is a political party that has liberal democracy as its ideology.” He added.
Asemota stated that the persecution of Christians in Nigeria are of diverse form, which included limiting access to education by introducing cut-off marks, bombing of churches and kidnapping Chibok and Dapchi schoolgirls and the likes.
