The Anglican Communion of Calabar, Cross River State, has likened governance of Nigeria under the All Progressives Congress (APC) to witchcraft, as it called for the immediate resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari and his government.
This is even as the Borno State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Naga Mohammed, has described as untrue, reports on social media that he supported the choice of a former governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim Shettima by the APC as the running mate to its presidential standard-bearer in the 2023 election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Meanwhile, the Anglican church also expressed deep disappointment at and outrightly rejected the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket for next year’s election, insisting that the secularity of Nigeria must be respected.
The church’s position was expressed by the Bishop of Calabar Diocese, Rev Professor Nneoyi Egbe during the Second Session of the Eleventh Synod of the diocese.
“President Muhammadu Buhari and his government is deceitful, and insensitive to the plight of Nigerians and the heightened insecurity and should resign immediately even though it is not in the spirit of Nigerian politicians to do so.
“The government has no moral rectitude. They have disappointed Nigerians. How can they be so insensitive and comfortable with the way things are going in Nigeria in recent times. They are a complete failure and their governance is likened to witchcraft,” he said.
“This government thrives on lies. They said Nigeria is very safe. What a fat lie. There’s security yet people cannot travel freely, sleep, people are kidnapped and outrageous ransoms are paid and people are killed wantonly and government merely sends condolence messages.”
He noted that the country has progressively fallen and currently appears to be rolling downhill under very high acceleration.
“Nigerians have acclimatised to the lies told us for so long that every further step we take is a comedy. Our institutions are built on these lies which is why we cannot fight corruption,” he added.
Speaking on the APC running mate, Rev Egbe said, “We do not, will not, and cannot accept a Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket.
“Nigeria’s secularity must be respected by our leaders. No one has more rights than the others.”
On his part, Bishop Naga Mohammed said he neither granted any interview to any journalist nor issued any press statement to that effect.
He said the story which had gone viral was taken from what he said in 2017 when Boko Haram was devastating Borno State at a time when Shettima was the governor.
He said, “I have not granted an interview to anybody and never issued any statement. Was it not yesterday (Sunday) that they said they had appointed him (Shettima)? How come I granted an interview at the APC secretariat?
“Nobody called me. No journalist called me, except when this thing happened, when the papers were carrying it viral, then people were calling me.
“Right now, I’m somehow angry and not even composed to talk very well. The story they are carrying was in 2017 when Boko Haram was devastating Borno when Kashim Shettima was the governor.
“They picked that story and I, being CAN chairman, they now levelled it against me. I am just framed up and I don’t even have trust speaking with journalists, including you, because I don’t know what else you will write.”