Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
The Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba, has condemned what he described as the hypocrisy of politicians who shield their own children from electoral violence while recruiting children from poor families with money, drugs, and other inducements to intimidate political opponents and undermine the democratic process.
He said no politician who genuinely values human life would assign another person’s child to carry out tasks they would never entrust to their own sons or daughters.
He therefore urged Nigerian youths to resist every attempt by desperate politicians to use them as instruments of electoral violence, emphasizing that their lives and futures are far too valuable to be sacrificed for political ambition.
Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the 15th Anglican Chancellors, Registrars and Legal Officers Conference (ACRLOC) in Abuja, yesterday, Ndukuba lamented that widespread poverty and hunger had become convenient weapons in the hands of desperate politicians seeking to buy votes and recruit vulnerable young people for electoral thuggery.
“None of these politicians send their own children to carry out violence. Their children are in London, Europe and America.
“What they will not send their own children to do, they are sending our young people to do. Our youths must shun every thuggery and act of violence,” he said
The Anglican leader warned that no political ambition was worth the bloodshed and destruction often associated with elections and appealed to politicians to conduct their campaigns with restraint, decency and respect for human life.
“We want to plead with our politicians that this is not a do-or-die affair. Let us play politics with a human face and campaign on issues, so that when elected, citizens will know what to hold them responsible for.”
Ndukuba noted that although poverty had made many young Nigerians vulnerable to manipulation, they must refuse to mortgage their future for temporary financial inducements or become instruments in the hands of desperate politicians.
He also urged Nigerians, particularly Christians, to participate actively in politics by joining political parties, engaging in internal party democracy and demanding accountability from electoral and security agencies.
