Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party, explains why he would reject a pastor's suggestion that he accept his election loss as God's will.
On an interview on Monday's episode of Arise TV's "The Morning Show," Peter Obi said that God wants people to act morally.
Obi said that while he respects prominent Nigerians like priests and traditional chiefs, he cannot accept the defeat.
“I disagree with them. What they’re actually preaching is the problem of Nigeria. The problem in Nigeria is accepting wrongdoing, accepting what is unacceptable…that is using God’s name in vain. That’s not what God says.”
He continued, “What they’re saying is not God’s wish. It is not God’s plan for Nigeria. Why don’t we accept that the 133 million Nigerians who are poor is God’s wish? Why don’t we accept that 95 million Nigerians living in poverty is God’s wish?
"Is it God’s will that we don’t have electricity? Is it God’s will that our children be kidnapped? Is it God’s will that we have collapsed primary healthcare, leading us to be the country with the highest rate of infant mortality? … That’s not what God says. God’s wish is that you do the right thing.”
The election procedures, according to Obi, had clear rules that, if followed, would eliminate any need to question the process.
He continued, “it would have been concluded in a matter of hours without anybody arguing about it. But it is not God’s wish that you do the wrong thing.”
“It is not God’s wish that you go and rob a train and make money and start sharing it… This is what is killing the country. People come here, take public money and then go and give it to people in the Church…and they say it’s God’s wish…that is what we’re fighting. That’s what we want to stop.
“We want God’s wish to be truly God’s wish. And that is when we do the right things and God gives His blessings.
“What do you tell the young ones growing up? That it’s God’s wish that you steal? That is God’s wish that you conduct a wrong election? So, tell me the difference between those of us who are doing this and the armed robbers,” Obi said.
Obi noted that he wants “God to allow us to do the right things so we can start building a better country for our children.”
