Posted by By Bisi Deji-Folutile on
The Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo, has said that the church will be actively involved in the process of selecting and electing the next leaders for Nigeria next year.
The Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo, has said that the church will be actively involved in the process of selecting and electing the next leaders for Nigeria next year.
Speaking on the topic, 'Towards a greater Nigeria,'' on Sunday in Ota, Ogun State, Oyedepo said the church would prove to the nation that it was the representative of God on earth.
At the service to commemorate Nigeria's independence, he said, 'Any political aspirant that has not received God's permission is wasting his time. You are wasting your money for nothing.''
He added, 'The church shall determine the next thing that happens in Nigeria."
The cleric identified the problem of 'lack of capacity of our leaders'' as one of the problems besetting the country and hindering its development.
According to him, it takes capacity to perform in any endeavour.
'In Nigeria, there is no standard. Democracy here is like a traditional institution. Capacity is the number one requirement for able leadership,'' he said.
Oyedepo said most people occupying public offices in the country knew nothing about governance. He noted that 'their understanding is shallow, so weak.''
He said some of Nigerian leaders were worse than armed robbers. The cleric added that to stop this trend, the body of Christ would be in the frontline of ensuring the emergence of good leaders in the country.
He said, 'We will go as far as announcing the names of candidates to vote for from our altar. We will decide who occupies public office. The candidates can come from any part of the country, but we must make sure they are trustworthy people.''
Oyedepo said nobody could announce the results of any election if the church absconded from election. 'And if you think the power lies in traditional rulers, you are wasting your time, that is Old Testament,'' he added.
The bishop said the Independent National Electoral Commission had not made enough preparations that could guarantee a successful conduct of next year's election.
'The men of God have the power to build and to root out, so you can't afford to ignore them,'' he told the INEC.