The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, the Rev. Peter Odetoyinbo, urged Nigerians to exercise their civic right to vote for credible leaders in the 2023 general election.
Odetoyinbo made the remarks on Thursday while speaking to reporters during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Abeokuta Catholic Diocese, held at the Catholic Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Itesi, Adatan, Abeokuta.
He prayed for peaceful elections that would transform the country into a better position.
His words, “We pray that the state of the country will be better. Choosing the right person for the right position will make Nigeria better.
“I encourage our members to go out and exercise their civic duties and rightly vote according to their conscience for good leaders who better guide Nigeria and give us what we want and do the will of God.”
Delivering the message, the bishop of the diocese, the Most Reverend Jude Arogundade, lamented the deviation of believers from a healthy Christian life to seek wealth and prosperity.
Arogundade also attributed the country’s current stagnation to bad leadership, and advised citizens to revive the dying nation by electing (people with) truth and integrity.
He stressed the need to beware of the imminent dangers posed by antichrists, saying: “There is a pressing need to remind us of the dangers posed by forces working against the true identity of Christianity in our time.
“The ongoing war to dominate and control the minds and hearts of our people must be waged with abiding faith in God and a sincere pursuit of justice.
“A generation of our people, both young and old, is becoming too impatient to follow the basic ethical and moral truth that should guide a healthy Christian life. Many of our young people have left the church that preaches sacrifice, hard work, and integrity to pitch their tents with those that promise prosperity and worldly glory.
“Those who continue to alienate our youth from the church have made material wealth their subject of attraction and their object of worship.
“Let our religiousness impact the quality of our lives. We all agree that the problem in our country is that of leadership. Our people must begin to look up to the best and most patriotic among us for leadership to run the country and provide the leadership that will right the wrongs of the past decades.
“We must not stand idly by and watch this great nation destroy itself under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to another, eroding our national will and purpose. We must sacrifice this to change and gain the freedom to worship God in an atmosphere of justice, love and peace.”
