PANDEF decries fate of Christians under Muslim-Muslim presidency as Oyibode warns of tough times for Nigeria Christians

National Deputy Youth Leader of the PAN Niger Delta Forum, Olorogun Vincent Oyibode, has expressed grave concern with the outcome of the 2023 presidential election which saw Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress declared winner, warning that with the Muslim-Muslim presidency which has no place for Christians, Christianity may be in for tough times ahead.

Addressing a world press conference in Warri on the topic: ‘’Outcome of 2023 Presidential elections: Implication for National Unity, fate of southern Nigeria and Christians’’, Olorogun Oyibode, Commissioner for DESOPADEC, Delta State expressed worries with the political and religious ‘’temperament of Kassim Shetima, the Vice President-elect, and his fanatical Islamic identity. This portends grave danger for Christians in Nigeria. We should be ready for what is coming’’, Oyibode said.

He disclosed that prior to the general election, ‘’We canvassed a position that was against the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC and drummed support for the PDP. However, our elders took a position to support Peter Obi of the Labour Party which we advised against because we believed it was not strategic enough for the political scenario of the country. Today, the Obi movement ended up dividing the votes of the PDP in the South-South and South Eastern Nigeria to give victory to the APC whose abysmal performance plunged Nigeria into untold hardship and pains.

‘’The outcome of the 2023 presidential election is cause for grave concern for all genuine sons and daughters of the Niger Delta area. The election has been won and lost and the greatest losers are the people of the south-south and Christians all over Nigeria. Ahead of the terribly rigged elections, the youths of the Niger Delta area under my leadership as the PAN NIGER DELTA FORUM YOUTH WING, took a stand on the need to vote Atiku Abubakar and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of the PDP as the best and most strategic pair to reset Nigeria and return her to the path of economic recovery.

‘’If the energy, time, support and goodwill invested in the Peter Obi movement were credited to Atiku Abubakar, the result would have been different. Today we have missed a golden opportunity to redeem the battered image of our dear country which has nosedive terribly in recent times.

‘’We were genuinely worried that our elders were not seeing the handwriting on the wall. Our worries were that inasmuch as Peter Obi was leading a popular movement across the country, Nigeria was not ready enough for an Igbo Presidency. They have truncated another opportunity of producing the Vice President of Nigeria in the person of Senator Dr Ifeanyi Authur Okowa after the demise of Alex Ekwueme.

‘’We knew Obi was coming to destroy the traditional support base of the PDP which is the south-south and south-east. The outcome of the polls confirmed our fears as Peter Obi dominated the two zones with little inroad into the northern part of Nigeria. The script craftily designed by enemies of Nigeria was perfectly executed and the southern and middle-belt leaders fell for the bait which has affected the chances of Atiku Abubakar and Okowa to secure the much needed victory to reset Nigeria.

‘’The vote we gave to the Muslim-Muslim ticket despite our objections portends grave danger for Christianity in Nigeria and there shall be dire consequences. The implication is that when matters relating to religious harmony are being discussed in the presidency, a Christian would most probably not be there. Decisions on taxes for Churches could easily scale through via executive order and our churches should brace up for hard times ahead as they would certainly be compelled to pay taxes in no distant time. The Islamic agenda is unfolding and Christians may face a bleak future in Nigeria. Total support for Atiku Abubakar would have saved the situation. Unfortunately, most Church leaders were agents and canvassers for the Peter Obi movement. Now things have fallen apart and the centre cannot hold’’, Oyibode added.

He disclosed that the Nigeria 1999 constitution mentioned Sharia 73 times, Grand Khandi 54 times, Islam 28 times, Muslim 10 times and no single mention of Christ, Christians, Christianity or Church at all.

‘’The constitution has already skewed the legal identity of Nigeria towards an Islamic state. With the Muslim-Muslim president and Vice President, a full blown Islamic identity for Nigeria is on the way. They will be riding roughshod on the pains of Christians with impunity. The power distribution in the APC presidential ticket does not factor Christians at all. This is a source of worry for us at the PANDEF youth wing’’, he said. 

The group also lambasted INEC for failing to deliver a credible election as promised, stressing that the manual collation of results against the transmission of same from the unit level was an aberration that could not guarantee the credibility of the process.

‘’However, we want to demand from Bola Ahmed Tinubu to recognize the secular identity of Nigeria as a nation. The president-elect must take the Niger Delta question as a cardinal agenda of his administration by taking the 16 point agenda raised by PANDEF before the FG in 2016 seriously. Any failure to attend to our queries can lead to unrest in the Niger Delta area. Our zone harbors the liquid gold which is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. We are watching as events continue to unfold. We pray and hope for the best for Nigeria’’ the group added.

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