2027: Rivers PFN To Mobilise 600,000 Votes

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Rivers State chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) says it is planning to produce 600 000 votes.
State Chairman of the Fellowship, Rev. Minaibi Dagogo-Jack, who said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt also said the group will look at the activities of the various political parties and their candidates with a view to directing its members on whom to vote for.
“We will critically look at the candidates we have time to discuss with and we shall decide, as leaders, on who to direct our members to vote”, he said.
The state PFN chairman also stressed the need for the Christian community to rise up and enthrone good governance in the country.
He said Christians cannot continue to stay away from politics and allow undeserving men take control of the country, adding that time had come for the church to rise up and enthrone righteous governance in the country.
Speaking on the just concluded June 12 Democracy Day celebration, the PFN chairman said the the celebration meant nothing as far of Nigerians are concerned.
He particularly said the insecurity in the country had defeated the very essence of the celebration.
According to him, “I say so because June 12 represents quite a lot of things for us as a people and as a church.
“You would recall that June 12 is a public holiday and the activities that led and influenced the government to declare public holiday today we are all aware.
“June 12, ordinarily, should represent political freedom, freedom for the oppressed, freedom for Nigeria as a people.
“But from a close look at the political activities in Nigeria and particularly River State, it is not in doubt that the essence of June 12, the reason for which the government declared public holiday for June 12, is defeated”, he said.
Rev. Dagogo-Jack decried the lack of internal party democracy in the country, while also condemning the alleged infiltration into the opposition political parties by some agents of the state.
“We are in a situation where Internal democracy is no longer practiced.
We are in a situation where opposition political parties allege that those politicians in government are (filtrating) in their internal part affairs.
“A situation where opposition political parties will produce two, three, four candidates, representing one political party, this is not democracy, it is confusion; a situation where politicians will jump from one political party to another just because they are being forced to do so, so as to win or to be declared candidates of winning parties; a situation where common political ideals are being thrown out into the trash bin just because people want to identify themselves with the bourgeois…It’s really dark for us as a people. It’s a dark day for us. A day that should represent freedom”, he said.
He also said the PFN also concluded a three day seminar for members in the state, to sensitise the youth against involvevment in violence during the elections.
“And this seminar was to teach those youths that they were created by God as change agents and to reset their minds towards growth in business.
“This seminar handled the very many issues concerning the politics of Nigeria, particularly Rivers State and the call of God in the lives of our people.
“We, the Pentecostals in River State, are not joking. We decided to hold this program to create awareness, to seek the face of God, in order to chat the way forward through a peaceful electioneering process and also to tell our people to prepare the minds of our people that we are looking at producing more than sixty thousand votes to cut across twenty one local government areas and three thousand votes for the remaining two local government areas because River State has twenty three local government areas.
“We are mobilizing in order to have more than six hundred thousand votes because having taken critical look at the last results, River State was able to produce about two hundred thousand votes for the present president. That to us is not enough.
“The Pentecostal churches in particular are large enough. We have the numerical strength, to tell these politicians that there is balm in Gilead, to tell these politicians who could ordinarily give two hundred thousand plus votes alone out of 3.5 plus million registered voters in River State.
“The church cannot continue to sleep and allow our children to die.
May I use this opportunity to appreciate our gallant soldiers, the police and the DSS, recently that they freed some children and captives from the hands of terrorists”
Rev. Dagogo-Jack further said the PFN in Rivers State is also in support of state police and commended the National Assembly for passing a bill for the creation of state police.

By: John Bibor