The Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah has said politicians will live with the consequences of whatever decisions they make.
Kukah stated this in Yola, Adamawa State at the 2022 Church Leaders Summit.
He also urged Christians to make wise decisions in electing a new crop of political leaders in 2023.
The catholic archbishop also asked the Christian community not to worry about the choices made by political parties in fielding their presidential candidates as power rests with the electorates.
“Whatever decision any politician makes, they will live with the consequences,” Kukah said.
“I don’t know what those people saw, maybe they saw something and they were trying to make a point. If that is the case, so be it.
“Nobody will be taken to court for voting or no voting for any party but the politicians have taken their decision and it’s left for them to deal with the consequences.
“We have to all make the right calculations and not be swayed by emotions.
“Because after all, we’ve been through in Nigeria, we must avoid a mentality of ‘us versus them’.
“Nobody’s going to force you as a Christian to vote one way or the other. And as I said, I’m moving away from this binary view of Christians and Muslims. That’s not who we are as Nigerians.”
“That’s not what happens in the marketplace. That’s not what happens across this country, there are no Christian roads. There are no Christian thieves or Muslim saints. For me, I don’t see why any Christian, I’m sorry to say, should be worried about a choice that a political party has made.”
According to Archbishop Kukah, “If you think the best thing is for you to look for a Christian party, and none of such things exists, then you take that decision
“I mean, if I put up a sign board that I’ve just opened a new restaurant, and everybody who comes into this restaurant must have a beard. I don’t have a beard so I won’t enter your restaurant. It’s not by force.
“So I don’t think that anybody should be flogging this issue about Christians. Christians will decide whether as Christians or whether as ethnic groups or communities, they have to decide and the point I am making is, to hold a mirror to yourself and ask yourself which of these people I believe I can entrust my future to. That’s what it comes down to.”
