Vanguard, Onitsha — The Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha has denied the news making the rounds in some quarters that Archbishop Valerian Okeke has endorsed a certain candidate for Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra state.
In a statement, Thursday by the Director for Communications, Onitsha Archdiocese Rev. Fr. Pius Ukor, the church said it is apolitical and does not support any particular candidate, adding, “it is one of our duties as the church not to meddle into the affairs of the political class, because the church is for all and does not discriminate against any person or groups”.
The Archdiocese stated that Reverend Fathers in the entire clergy in the Onitsha Archdiocese are not partisan and if anybody is saying or supporting a particular candidate, is doing that on his own personal capacity and not the stand of the entire priests.
“The Archbishop has warned all the priests to remain focused and distance themselves from partisan politics but if anybody is doing it, I don’t know of it and the Archbishop is not aware”, said Ukor.
It will be recalled that Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the South East, Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma had at the wake of Uke Adoration tragedy, where 28 people died, banned political campaigns in all churches in the zone.
Bishop Chukwuma said CAN was compelled to place the ban because of the commotion and tragedies it was causing in the churches, particularly in the Anambra election.
