The President Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Daniel Okoh, has said that democracy which has proven to be the best form of governance in other countries, is fast becoming a nightmare for Nigerians.
Archbishop Okoh said ordinary citizens of Nigeria have lost hope in a democratic system of government.
Presenting his keynote address at the Church and Mission Leaders’ Summit on Peace Building and Christian Mission on Monday, organized by Gideon and Para-Mallam Peace Foundation, the CAN President said the February and March 2023 elections were characterized by manifest irregularities which has led to a lot of ordinary people losing hope in the democratic system of government in Nigeria.
He said, “This in itself is a major conflict that will require peace-building efforts to persuade the different political parties that participated in that election to embrace peace for the good of the nation.
“If this is not done, it may take a long time to restore the confidence of the majority of Nigerians to keep faith in government institutions again, particularly the electoral body.”
Okoh said so many organizations, both local and international, are involved in peace-building efforts in the country. Their collective efforts have culminated in the fragile peace Nigeria has today.
“Peacebuilding is actually an endless project as issues likely to trigger conflict continue to confront the nation on a daily basis. Ability to douse these tensions and persuade the aggrieved parties to seek a peaceful solution to their contention is the hallmark of peace-building efforts”, he noted.
“In a country where power means everything to the political class and there is little or no checks and balances among the three arms of government, the rule of law will be undermined and the confidence in the constitution and the judiciary as the last hope of the common man will be eroded,” he added.
He said there is a need to build reliable democratic structures to accommodate diverse ethnic, religious, and multi-cultural interests that best straddle the country’s polity, and this would raise the confidence of the people in the Union called Nigeria.
“Further, there must be a commitment to transparency in elections that bring people to political leadership positions in order to ensure full participation in the election and eliminate voter apathy.
“The last election tested the resilience of the Nigerian spirit and pushed it to its very limits. A country that is delicately polarized along ethnic and religious lines must tread cautiously and always make concerted efforts to build, nurture and sustain peace.
“We need to make use of available ethnic and Interreligious platforms – like NIREC and ethnic Cultural groups to come closer to each other, talk about our differences, and apologize to one another for persecuting one another.
“This hopefully will lead to reconciliation and will help to build trust and friendship among the various ethnic and religious communities in Nigeria. Some may say that we have tried this process in the past, and it did not work. However, peacebuilding is not a one-off process. It is a lifetime engagement”, the CAN President added.
Gideon and Para-Mallam Peace Foundation is
a Non-Governmental Faith-Based Organisation Committee to the national building through the promotion of peaceful coexistence, leadership development, and social justice for all in Nigeria and Africa, regardless of culture, ethnicity, religion, or class.
