Candidates for president, including Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who chose to run on a Muslim-Mulsim platform, would attend a meeting with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
CAN President Archbishop Daniel Okoh said that during the first leg of an interactive session with 2023 presidential candidates held by the leading Christian organisation in Abuja on Tuesday, his group had reviewed the problems preventing peace and progress in the country and had articulated suggestions on how to best improve them.
He attributed the difficulties Nigerians continue to confront to the “incoherent constitutional and institutional framework” of the nation.
The theme of the presidential dialogue is ”A Prosperous and Peaceful Nigeria Founded on Justice and Freedom for All”.
Speaking on the plans, Okoh said: “We have consulted with Nigerians of diverse religious, ethnic and social identities on the problems of the country and the solutions to them have been articulated in the strategic document we call, the ‘Charter for Future Nigeria.’
“The Charter for Future Nigeria begins with a diagnosis of Nigeria’s problem and locates it primarily in an incoherent constitutional and institutional framework that defines governance and social and economic interactions in Nigeria.
“This incoherence is the main reason the country today is almost submerged in the chaos of insecurity, instability, and economic stagnation.
“The document considers this incoherence in political, social, and economic dimensions. It makes genuine recommendations for resolving Nigeria’s recurrent crises that border on justice and fairness, equality of all ethnic and religious groups, equal access to basic economic and social rights, political freedom and an egalitarian and just social order.”
He further asserted that the dialogue’s main goal is to make sure that each presidential contender fully comprehends the issues affecting Nigerian Christians and offers solutions in the form of programs and policies.
“We believe that with this kind of respectful and sincere conversation, we will find lasting solutions to these crises.
“The overriding concept in this transformation is ‘democratic citizenship’, which should be the focus of governance at all levels in Nigeria in promoting the socioeconomic well-being of every Nigerian citizen, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or social pedigree,” the CAN President added.
