In a bid to make politics clean and free from corruption, former President Olusegun Obasanjo urged Christians on Saturday to “rise up” and participate fully in politics.
Obasanjo made the remark at the 57th annual convention and 67th anniversary of The Gospel Faith Mission International held at the Gospel City, Ogunmakin, on the Lagos/Ibadan motorway in Ogun State.
Speaking on the theme, ‘The Roles of the Church in Nation Building at a Time Like This’, Obasanjo stated that when there is insecurity, hopelessness, poverty, and depression, a time that is not conducive to living, the church must rise to the occasion as the salt of the world.
“The foundation of elections in Nigeria is corruption, and you cannot make corruption the foundation of anything for it to be good,” he said.
Speaking on the need to stop monetizing elections, he recalled the 1999 elections, where he said the two first sad and bad experiences he had were during the local government election, where the PDP was totally rejected.
“‘The two first sad and bad experiences that I had were local government elections in 1999.”
The former Nigerian leader noted that he did not make money available because he believed all government agencies should have been paid towards discharging their duties.
“A few days before the election, they asked me Where is the money for the police? Money for INEC, I said No money, money for DSS”.
Speaking earlier, E. O. Abina, the General-Overseer of GOFAMINT, recalled that during a visit to Aso Rock Chapel when Obasanjo was the President, he met the Nigerian leader teaching Sunday School, adding that when they both spoke on his arrival at the convention ground, the former President told him to his astonishment that he was still teaching Sunday School.
