KUKAH TO POLITICIANS: Stop running to religious leaders during elections

The Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Mathew Kukah has called on politicians to stop seeking the endorsements of religious leaders during elections.

Bishop Kukah who made the call on Tuesday morning while featuring on Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, rather charged such politicians to engage the people they intend to serve and sell their objectives to them to make the decision.

According to the cleric who was reacting to the outcome of the just concluded governorship election in Edo State, the people of the state conducted themselves very well during the poll, adding that they left a legacy of electoral efficiency for the country.

On the forthcoming election in Ondo State, Kukah said that the people of Ondo State should take a cue from the Edo situation and seek to do better in the forthcoming October 10, 2020 election by ensuring their votes counted in a violent-free process.

He said, “Our commendation also goes to the people of Edo State. I have received quite a lot of messages from old friends that I haven’t spoken to in a long time, commending the work of the National Peace Committee but really this is not an honour that one individual should take.

“It is the people of Edo State, the way they conducted themselves and I think in every sense of the word, they left us a legacy of efficiency.

“It is incumbent on the people of Ondo to now ask themselves, why can we not do better than the people in Edo State.”

Speaking on the decline in the percentage of votes witnessed in Edo State in the last couple of years, Kukah said, “Rather than politicians running around Pastors and Imams seeking endorsements, they should be out there engaging the people and encouraging people to go out and vote.

“I think that the churches and civil societies have also done very well in terms of mobilising people but this is something that must continue as a process of engagement, not something that happens in the month of election because people need to be sufficiently convinced about the power of their votes and how significant and how important it is,” he added.