President and founder of the Living Faith Church, aka Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, has enjoined church leaders to mobilise their members across the country for the 2015 general election.
Oyedepo said such mobilisation would enhance the process of electing credible candidates.
The cleric spoke when a delegation of the Lagos Chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria led by its chairman, Bishop Sola Ore, paid him a courtesy visit during the week in his Ota, Ogun State office.
He urged the church leaders to persuade their members to take part in the voter registration exercise, describing the process as an important starting point for Nigerians to have credible leaders.
According to him, “The PFN is a very large constituency and the mobilisation of this large number of worshippers calls for wisdom. There is need for wisdom to harness the large population of the church. The starting point is to ensure that our members register to vote.
“The church is a strong body in Lagos and across the country. Lagos, for instance, has many mega churches. We need to harness our human resources to create a platform for the church to have a voice.
“There are groups that are building imaginary names, but we have the population and we can build real names. The Lagos city must have a feel of our impact. We are not going to vote for nonsense this time around. There is no political party in this world that will see the population of the church and ignore it”.
Oyedepo also urged Christians to support credible people in the next political dispensation.
He said, “We believe that Christian culture promotes values that make for good government. I always advocate that a leader must have character, capability and courage to be able to make impact. Christians should look for such traits before voting anybody into power”.
While acknowledging that there are forces that contend with political office holders, Oyedepo said, “We need prayers and Christians must be ready to pray while not ignoring the ability and the power of choice they have.
“We are in trouble because there are too many people in positions of authority who don’t have capacity to confront the issues facing us as a country”.
He noted that there were many good and competent people in Nigeria who failed to present themselves for elective office because of the fear that the political terrain is both rough and diabolical.
He, however, said, “I think we have passed that stage. Now, democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. It is time for the good people to come out and participate in the political process”.
Responding to Oyedepo’s comment, Bishop Ore expressed appreciation for the opportunity to meet with him.
He said, “We appreciate your leadership role in the body of Christ and we crave your indulgence to continue to strengthen our hands with your prayers and support for this new administration”.