We won’t endorse any candidate for 2023 – Catholic Church

The leadership of the Catholic Church in Nigeria says it would not get involved in politics by endorsing any candidate as the 2023 general elections draw near.

At a press conference in Abuja on Saturday organized by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), the church said it would not be involved in partisan politics or endorse candidates seeking elective positions so as not to be seen as taking sides.

Speaking on behalf of the church, the priest in charge of Church and Society, Rev. Father Uche Obiechina, said politics was about governance, but “it is about people coming together to volunteer their rights to established institutes.

“The church as an institution, ought not play party politics. Party politics means politics of APC, PDP, PRP and others.

“The church cannot play such politics because there are members of the church that are in the political parties, and the church cannot identify with any political party, but identifies with its members in the various political parties.

“That is why the church cannot bring a candidate and tell its members to vote; the church does not do that and will not do that, but the church will encourage its members to join politics and vote for any person of their choice provided that such a candidate represents your conscience”, the priest explained.

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He added that though the Catholic Church supports politics and encourages members to participate in politics, the church, however, does not play partisan politics, but the members of the church are expected to play party politics.

“Ahead of the 2023 elections, the church is mobilising Christians and non-Christians to rise to the reality of politics; it is through politics of governance that we can bring about the common good, that our country needs”, Obiechina added.

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