Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has raised the alarm that the 2023 elections will either make or break Nigeria.
This is just as the elder statesman warned that politicians may wreck the country if religious leaders are not watchful.
He, therefore, appealed to religious leaders in the country to stop those he described as bad politicians from destroying the country.
Obasanjo spoke on Wednesday when the new President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Daniel Okoh, paid him a courtesy visit at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Penthouse residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
He warned that if politicians who do not fear God are allowed to have their way, the entire country will regret it.
According to a statement made available to journalists by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, the former president requested that Nigerian politicians be made more responsible by the country’s religious leaders.
The statement quoted him as saying, “The next election, if we do not watch it, it may make or break Nigeria. I pray that it will make Nigeria.
“For having both the Sultan of Sokoto and the CAN leader already on the same page, maybe our politicians will listen, and if our politicians don’t listen, maybe our people will listen.”
Obasanjo said Nigerians must watch it so politicians do not wreck the country.
He added, “If you stand on the truth, you stand for justice and equity, it is then the politicians will not be able to mess us around and I will say it with all sense of responsibility now if we do not watch it, the politicians will wreck this country and we will all regret it.
“Where can we look for salvation? That is where you, religious leaders, have a significant role to play.
“I think it’s the mistake of the past that we say politics is not for the righteous. Now, if we take the righteous away from politics and leave politics to the unrighteous, the unrighteous will smear the righteous with the unrighteousness that they will carry into politics and have nowhere to go.”
Okoh told Obasanjo that at its recent meeting in Lagos, the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council resolved not to give politicians political space.
He said, “The council has resolved not to leave the political space to the politicians, that the religious leaders must get involved, not to be partisan, but must give leadership to make sure that the values of our religion are brought to the space to help us to live in peace and work for the unity of the nation, including fighting for justice.”
