The call on the electorates to elect credible leaders in the forth-coming General elections in 2019 is becoming louder, as the Legacy Initiative International has once again brought together leaders of the two religious groups in the country to discuss the sustenance of the country’s nascent democracy.
At the first stakeholders Dinner and Interactive session in Lagos with the theme: Inter-Faith Collaboration in Nation Building, patron of the Legacy Initiative International,LII, Chief Kenny Martins stressed the need for the leaders of the two greet Faith group to come to a Roundtable to discuss and choose a leader regardless of religion or ethnicity, party, region from the president down to the level of the councillor that would govern the country.
He said what the organization seek was to enlist the support of the leaders of the two dominant faith groups in Nigeria, “the Christian leaders, the muslim leaders to work together and lend their experience, integrity and organizational prowess to the development of our nascent democracy”.
Dr. Martins explained that democracy was considered the best system of government but no two democracies were the same.
According to him,” the advantage of democracy over other systems of government is that it has a term and tenure for elected officials. However, democracy in itself neither guarantees good governance, peace, not rapid development in the countries that practice it. It is organizations such as ours that seek to moderate the inter-play of political forces and interests that make democracy the ideal system of government”.
Former speaker, Ogun state House of Assembly, Mrs. Titi Oseni Gomez emphasized the need for the electorates to get their permanent voter cards and elect leaders that would cater for their needs and show concern for their well being.
She urged the electorates to vote their conscience and not to sell their votes, adding that any nigerian who trade their votes for money would be selling their next 4 four years.
Oseni urged the Legacy initiative International to continue to create awareness about what their organization stands and the reason why their work was important at this level of National development.
Representative of the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed Abubakar Sa’ad ll, Alhaji Mu’azu Abubakar Sa’ad also urged the electorates to register for the forthcoming elections and use their PVC’s to vote credible candidates.
Dr. Ike Nwachukwu, former external affairs minister, said this was the time for Nigerians to wake up and choose leaders what have the interest of the people at heart.
Earlier in his opening address the chairman, organizing committee, Bishop Adebayo Babalola said Legacy Initiative International was a coalition of several groups with same ideology , aimed at affecting the much desired quest by Nigerians for credible and sustainable leadership.
According to him, “after a long time of research and consultation from various concerned stakeholders in the Nation’s Leadership elite, traditional leaders, spiritual leaders and the General populace, we discovered that the best way to address this leadership question is to bring God into the solution process. This is because Nigeria, even though in theory, is a secular state, in practice, it is in fact a multi-religious country”.
” Nigerian citizens listen to and respect their religious leaders more than they trust their political and other leaders”.
Highlight of the event was donations toward the sustenance of the organization to be used only for the advancement of the objects of the organization.
Those also present at the event are the representative of the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunnwusi, the Yeye Oge of Lagos, Mrs. Oprah Benson, religious leaders both Christians and Muslims, politicians among others.
