From Cyriacus Nnaji, Lagos
Governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency, Douye Diri, has urged Christians in Nigeria to join active politics.
He also revealed that the challenges besieging Nigeria is as a result of loss of family values.
Douye took the positions while answering questions from Journalists when he attended the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Movement’s International crusade titled ‘What God Has Determined Shall Be Done’ which took place at Ijesha, Lagos State on Saturday, January 6, 2023.
Diri speaking on how to improve on the nation’s electoral process said “The problem is not actually with the laws, we have the laws, but it still boils down to the character of the people who are engaged in politics, and that is the reason for my clarion call that Christians should come into politics. Why are they staying away? Look apart from the power of God, the next power on earth is that of government.
“And so if you stay away, you are encouraging those who do not know God to come into politics and become your rulers or your leaders and you would be subservient to them,” Diri stated.
He said Nigerians have good laws but people break the laws with impunity with no fear of any punishment. “It all boils down to the people and the operators. You see we have good laws governing our electoral process, beginning from party elections, primaries, but we are not, as a people, as politicians, we do not obey our own party rules and regulations, even when they are broken there are no sanctions; people break it with impunity because of the positions they find themselves, who they are or the kind of resources they have, that they can buy over a party or buy over the legal system.”
The Governor also stated that the problem with Nigeria is traceable to loss of family and national values. “The basic challenge in Nigeria is in character, how are you bringing up your own children, that your children will not be tempted by money and fall in for money? How are Nigerians bringing up their children? How is the church also impacting the members of the church because these are the basic key institutions when we were growing up; those of us that are Christians, on the other hand and those of them that are Moslems.”
He maintained that with the right values, issues of terrorism, kidnaping and people being liabilities to societies would be over. “So the moment we are able to get it right in our families, to bring up our children the way that they should grow, and when you teach them, and you give them that knowledge of God and they grow up in Him, certainly our society would be a better society. We would not have these issues of terrorists; we would not have the issue of people who are groping in the dark, who don’t understand why we are human beings, why they must be assets to the society rather than being liabilities.”
Earlier, Governor Diri told journalists the reason he attended the crusade tagged Mgbidi 2024: Lagos Experience. He said “It is an annual attendance, not just because of election or that I secured victory in the governorship election last year; I was here last year and the year before last year, I was here. It is my usual way of coming to acknowledge the presence of God in my life and my state.”
