By Praise Necherem
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, has advised governorship candidates in the Anambra State November 6 gubernatorial election to ensure free, fair and credible poll.
The Christian body warned all the political parties in the governorship race against all forms of rigging in the poll, as any attempt by any of the candidates to rig the election would result to generational curse on them.
The President of PFN in the State, Bishop Moses Ezedebego who gave the warning on Tuesday at press conference in Awka, the state capital, said that although PFN had not endorsed any candidate for the election, the Pentecostals all over the state had been put on notice to vote for the best candidate.
Bishop Ezedebego said, “We are calling on all the voters to guard their votes after voting and resist any form of rigging in the coming election. Any money gotten to rig election is blood money and will bring generational curses to the people involved.
“Let the candidates engage in issue-based campaigns since election is not a do or die affair. We also ask our youths not to allow any candidate to use them during the campaign and elections day proper to ferment trouble.
“We have mobilized our teeming members in the state to arm themselves with voters’ card to vote the candidate of their choice on November 6. We have also emphasized that Anambra State needs a God-fearing man, a good manager of resources, a man of impeccable character and humanity.
“We need a governor for everybody; someone that will carry everybody along and we are praying for the right candidate to take over Anambra state on November 6, 2021.”
The PFN leader urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be an impartial umpire by giving all the candidates equal and level- playing ground during the exercise.
He said the PFN had set up a good governance committee headed by Dr. Amaechi Nwachukwu to help galvanize and ensure good representation of the people in governance, describing PFN as an organized body of different mega churches with one central leadership in the state that encourages good governance, religious tolerance and the unity of the body of Christ.
Bishop Ezedebego said that PFN would organize prayer rally in the State next month to showcase and strengthen the unity of the body of Christ, pray for the nation and the coming election in the state.
According to him, the national president of PFN, Bishop Francis Waleoke, would attend the prayer session with top leaders of PFN to pray specially for the success of the Anambra election, adding that all Pentecostals from the 179 communities in the state would participate at the session.
Referring to the cases of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and Sunday Adeyemi, alias Sunday Igboho, leader of the Yoruba Nation agitators, who are currently under incarceration, the Bishop urged the federal government to stop bullying justified agitatorsand advised President Muhammedu Buhari to “humbly listen and dialogue with such agitators where necessary.”
He opined that settlement of issues arising from different parts of the country would ensure peaceful coexistence.
The Bishop said, “The federal government should address purposefully the issues of agitations and insecurity in the country. The government should not bully and suppress justified agitations but to dialogue where it is necessary.
“We believe that the greatest challenge we have in the country is the monumental corruption in the system which the government has failed woefully to address properly.”