A Christian group, Northern Christian Leaders Eagle Eyes Forum, which recently endorsed the candidacy of the All Progressives Congress’ presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), has cried out that its members now live under threat as a result of the endorsement.
Sounding the alarm that its leaders’ lives were particularly under serious threat following the Forum’s endorsement of Buhari, Chairman of the Christian leaders, Pastor Aminchi Habu, who addressed journalists in Kaduna on Friday, described the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan as a disappointment.
Recalling that the Christian community overwhelmingly voted for Jonathan in 2011, Habu regretted that the President had failed the entire nation, adding that Jonathan’s “poor performance” necessitated the religious body’s decision to support Buhari.
The Forum, which held that it could not be intimidated in any way to vote for Jonathan on the basis of religion or ethnicity, argued that they believed that Buhari has what it takes to rid the nation of insecurity and underdevelopment.
According to Habu, “Our decision to endorse Buhari was informed by our patriotic commitment to build a free, fair and a secular society, where the inheritance should be justice to all.
“After the endorsement, our members, especially the Chairman of this Forum, have continued to receive threats through phone calls and text messages, labelling them a sell-out, who have abandoned a Christian candidate in the person of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We supported the present government in 2003, 2007 and 2011. However, after critical analysis, the Forum decided to endorse General Muhammadu Buhari, based on the abysmal performance, the security challenges, outrageous corruption in public places, coupled with economic downturn in the country today.
“Our enemies accused us of collecting N500m from General Buhari. This accusation is not only wrong, but a blatant lie from the pit of hell. We charged anybody with concrete evidence of any money, collected by anybody on behalf of the Forum, to come forward with such evidence.
“The endorsement of Buhari was done publicly, and not secretly like our accusers will do; yet a segment of corrupt minds is employed to water down the good intention of the Forum, which is to build bridges and promote peaceful co-existence within our complex diversity.
“We shall not betray our trust as religious leaders for any monetary consideration. We shall do everything humanly possible, within our calling, to protect the interest of our image,” he stated.
The Forum ended by advising Christians in the country against letting themselves to be deceived by religious fanatics and bigots, calling on them to ignore sentiment by voting the right candidate in the forthcoming presidential election without respect to the faith such candidate professes.
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