‘How Catholic church handled vote buying in 1979’
Few weeks to the General Elections, the Catholic faithful and other Nigerians have been urged to shun ‘see and buy’ which was used as vote buying method in the 1979 elections. The President, Catholic Theological Association of Nigeria (CTAN), Dr. Raymond Olusesan Aina, who made the call on Friday in Abuja said Catholic Bishops, then […]
Few weeks to the General Elections, the Catholic faithful and other Nigerians have been urged to shun ‘see and buy’ which was used as vote buying method in the 1979 elections.
The President, Catholic Theological Association of Nigeria (CTAN), Dr. Raymond Olusesan Aina, who made the call on Friday in Abuja said Catholic Bishops, then sensitized the people and that the efforts yielded some positive results.
He was speaking at the one-day coaching session and presentation of an election manual organised the Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (CCFN) an organ of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) an the Kukah Centre.
The 80-page book was titled, “Vademecum for Electors in Nigeria: Manual for Responsible Citizenship According to Catholic Social Teaching”.
He said the Catholic Bishops then had warned Nigerians against a major electoral malpractice when politicians induced voters to vote for them and that the failure to tackle the menace till now led to the present vote buying in the country.
“The issue of vote buying did not start today, the Church warned against it when it was known as see and buy. It has continued till today because the voters did not reject it. So it is very important for Catholics and Nigerians to reject vote buying. Nigerians should rather engage in vote bargaining and not vote buying,” Aina said.
He said this is to ensure that voters take up the contestants and showed them their promises and commitments to act upon and to also recall them if they failed to delivered on their mandates.
Also, the Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna and Chairman of Caritas Nigeria, Most Rev Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, urged all Catholics faithfuls to hold their consciences and become involved in the political process.
“We encourage Catholics to inform their conscience and participate in the political process,” He enjoined catholic faithful. In the Catholic tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue; and participation in political life is a moral obligation.
“Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria has published a manual for responsible citizenship according to catholic social teaching which has been realized before the forthcoming General Elections.
On his part, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, urged Catholic faithfuls, not to despair about the present conditions, but to sustain the efforts at correcting the social ills and working assiduously for the future.