Chris Okotie backs Buhari for 2019 elections saying his worth against corruption is worthy of support

HOUSE of God International Ministry founder Pastor Chris Okotie has thrown his weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari's re-election campaign saying that the ongoing anti-corruption campaign is enough reason to re-elect him.

Pastor Okotie who ran for the presidency thrice in 2003, 2007 and 2011, did not stand at the last elections and looks unlikely to run next year. He has instead urged his supporters to back President Buhari should he opt to seek re-election in 2019, pointing out that the president has been able to take the battle to clean the Aegean stable to the corridors of corrupt cabals that have held Nigeria hostage for years.

According to the former presidential candidate, if the ongoing anti-graft war is allowed to get to a logical conclusion, it would free the country from the labyrinth of a deeply entrenched tribe of Machiavellian politicians whose sole purpose for seeking power is to loot our common patrimony. He added that these are certainly are not the best of times for the venal crowd popularly known by ordinary Nigerians as treasury looters.

Pastor Okotie said: “The ongoing battle by President Muhammadu Buhari against this corrupt cabal who have held this nation hostage for years leaves no one in doubt that it is no longer business as usual for politicians of fortune. It is a mistake to assume, that this is President Buhari’s private battle to clean the Aegean stable.

“Rather, it should be seen as a determined effort to right the wrongs of the bad leadership which has been the bane of Nigeria’s development for decades. Previous attempts to fight corruption were somehow symptomatic but the present government has adopted a strong, pathological approach that aims to get to the root of the matter, which is why every Nigerian should give the president total support."

He added that when former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan emerged on the scene, he came across as a power-shy, harmless politician on whose shoulders providence placed the leadership of this great nation at a critical period in our political evolution. According to Pastor Okotie, Dr Jonathan's moving story of grass to grace, with the memorable line that he went to school like many Nigerians without shoes, caught the attention of the electorate who gave him the mandate in his first-ever quest to seek elective office in 2011.

However, he stressed: “Once on the presidential seat in that enclave called Aso Rock, we saw a different Jonathan altogether. Never has a president in this country come to power with such level of goodwill and blew it just as fast as Dr Jonathan.

“Perhaps, overwhelmed by the demands of office, or ill-prepared for its challenges, the first president from a southern minority exhibited poor governing capacity and inherent weakness unbecoming of the leader of a huge country like ours. He had to be goaded to act with firmness when occasion demanded, which was why he virtually lost control of his presidency to his cronies."

Pastor Okotie added that President Jonathan's appointees and associates went about looting the public treasury with unprecedented impunity and not even the intermittent public outrage moved the president to sanction them. He stressed than when he did, it was either too little or too late as corrupt ministers were relieved of their posts with slaps on the wrist, while nothing was done about their loot.