The national leadership of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria has decried the high cost of expression of interest and nomination forms by the two main political parties ahead of the 2023 general election.
The body said it made no sense for parties to peg the sale of forms between N50 million and N100 million respectively.
PFN National President, Bishop Wale Oke, stated this while briefing newsmen shortly after the inauguration of the fellowship’s South-South Zonal Executive Council in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Friday.
Oke, who was represented at the event by PFN National Secretary-General, Rev. Cosmos Ilechukwu, said the church must be awake and get involved in politics, by voting and being voted for.
He said the inauguration was imperative to drive the 10-point agenda of the PFN President, which includes the directorate of politics and governance, as well as to drive evangelism.
“The body of Jesus Christ should be involved in politics and help to determine who becomes the leader of this country. Not just to vote, but to be among the delegates who would vote and be voted for.
“PFN is non-partisan, we are not championing any particular candidate and we will not do so because that is not what the church is supposed to be doing. All we are saying is that the church should be awake and step up their political involvement.”
On the sale of nomination forms by parties between the sum of N50 million to N100million, the PFN leader said, “It is immoral as far as I am concerned, it doesn’t make sense.
“The salary of a Nigerian President is is less than N2 million per month. How much would that amount to in a year? That’s about N24 million per annum.
“If a President doesn’t touch a dime from his salary for four years, his salary cannot be enough to buy the form. So, does that make any sense?
“Nigeria and Nigerians must stand with one voice to condemn the absurdity of N100 million and the immorality that it connotes,” Oke stated.
Also speaking, the National Vice President of PFN, Apostle Zilly Aggrey, frowned on the planned adoption of consensus candidates by some political parties, saying it was inimical to the ethics of democracy.
“PFN is not for any particular candidate or political party, but our people should be involved in determining who becomes leader.
“People enjoy democracy for the freedom to choose who leads them, even at the party levels.
“Consensus is a new word in our political lexicon and if care is not taken, it would lead to a very subtle dictatorship.
“People should be allowed to decide who leads them from grassroots, the party levels and all levels of politics. This is my personal opinion, I am not a politician,” Aggrey said.