Ndoma Egba, a former leader of the Senate has decried the increasing involvement of clergymen in partisan politics and turning their altars to political campaign platforms.
Ndoma Egba raised the concern on Wednesday during a breakfast prayer session organised by Bassey Otu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State.
According to Ndoma-Egba, religious houses are fast becoming political parties. He recalled the extremely partisan role of some prominent religious leaders in the build-up to the recently concluded presidential election. He further referred to the recent purported endorsement of a gubernatorial candidate of one of the parties in Cross River State by a faction of the State chapter of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) as another untoward development.
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The senator reminded the audience that all men were equal before God and that should translate to equality of political aspirations. He then wondered why the clergymen, who should be God’s messengers, were the ones actively promoting division and disunity among God’s people by using religious houses as campaign platforms for a select few.
Ndoma-Egba further bemoaned that opposition candidates have resorted to the destructive politics of ethnicity and religion as the anchor points of their campaigns.
Also speaking at the event which was attended by many clerics in the state, the APC candidate, Otu said he was running on his established record of service to the people.
He thanked the clergymen for their overwhelming presence in the event as well as their godly admonitions as custodians of the state’s spiritual wellbeing. He promised to be a servant leader to all Cross Riverians no matter their tribe or religion.
Emmah Isong, the general overseer of the Christian Central Chapel International and national publicity secretary of PFN, preached on the need for clerics to be circumspect in getting too involved in partisan politics.
