2019: Enugu residents caution clerics, monarchs on endorsement of candidates

Some residents of Enugu State have cautioned against endorsements of political candidates by some traditional rulers and clerics ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Catholic Bishops Conference on Tuesday banned their priests from such endorsements.

The ban followed public outcry against incidents during the harvest thanksgiving of the Adoration Ministries, Enugu on Dec. 2, where politicians were coerced to make donations.

Reacting to the ban, the President of the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, Mr Olu Omotayo described the move as a `step in the right direction’.

Omotayo said that it was imperative to separate religion from politics, adding that a fusion of the two would breed crisis.

He said that both Muslim and Christian clerics needed not to use their positions to influence the political decisions of their adherents.

“You are bound to see this in a society like ours that is still developing but I believe we shall soon get it right.

“The move by the Bishop Conference is in the right direction because priests should concern themselves with the preaching of salvation and not secular politics,” he said.

Omotayo said that traditional rulers also needed to be cautioned against taking sides in politics through endorsements to avoid clashes among their subjects who belong to different political parties.

In his reaction a professor of law, Osita Ogbu commended the Bishop Conference for taking the step, which he said, would bring sanity among their adherents and priests.

Ogbu said that though the priests had the right to discharge their civic responsibilities, “but they should not influence others with their positions.

“People should be made to freely choose their leaders,” Ogbu said.

Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (NAN) says it does not fall within their mandate to direct how member religious denominations behave in the secular political space.

A CAN executive member, who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity, said that the Christian body was only concerned with unity among churches and the relationship of government with Christians.

The source said that each denomination had the right to choose how they relate with politicians adding that sanctions against any misbehaviour by priests were denomination based.