Says government should come hard on religious extremists
By Dayo Johnson Akure
The National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Bishop Wale Oke, has warned that the integrity of the nation hangs in the balance of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, remaining unbiased ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Speaking with newsmen at the 38th annual convention of Agape Christian Ministries in Akure, Ondo State, the cleric also urged the Federal Government to “come down hard” on religious extremists bent on transforming Nigeria into a caliphate state.
On the impartiality of the electoral body, Bishop Oke stressed the need for an INEC free from political influence.
“INEC is a government functionary. It is not part of any political party. INEC is to regulate all political parties and to conduct elections, not to take sides with any,” he said.
“We are demanding that for the exercise of our civil rights, INEC does not partake in partisan politics. The integrity of Nigeria’s democracy hangs in the balance.”
Ahead of the 2027 elections, the PFN President advised politicians to avoid ethnic and religious biases and focus instead on competence.
“Politicians should not play the ethnic card in choosing who leads us. They should not play the religious card,” he said.
“If the presidential candidate is a Muslim, is it not fair to have the vice-presidential candidate as a Christian so that both faiths will be represented in the Villa? If the presidential candidate is a Christian, the vice president should be a Muslim to balance it.
“Because Nigeria is a secular state, there is no need for it to be altogether Muslim or altogether Christian. Don’t favor a religion against another. Be neutral. Nigeria must recover equitably. Everybody should have what belongs to him, no matter the religion he practices.”
On insecurity, Bishop Oke condemned violence perpetrated in the name of religion and called for decisive government action.
“There are radicals who are bent on turning Nigeria into a caliphate state. But the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of worship,” he said.
“To use violence and kinetic means to unlawfully take lives in the name of religion — that is satanic, that is wrong. And the government should come hard on that.
“Kidnapping is criminal. Taking children from school is criminal. Beheading is criminal. If anybody is doing that in the name of religion, he is a criminal, whether he is from the Christian side or from the Islamic side.
“It is not the generality of Islam. It is the radicals among them. The Muslim community should identify those radicals and hand them over to law enforcement agencies.”
He added: “If you can persuade me to change from being a bishop into becoming a Muslim, and you succeed, God bless you. If I persuade you to convert to Christianity, God bless me. Let it be by persuasion. But if it is by violence, no. There is a difference between criminality and religion. The government must not tolerate criminality.”
The cleric also urged Nigerians to seek divine intervention for the country’s myriad challenges, including insecurity and economic hardship.
On his recent remarks regarding church titles, Bishop Oke clarified that while titles like “Senior Pastor” or “Archbishop” are not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, they are administrative necessities for organizational structure.
“The bishop is in the Bible. The evangelist is in the Bible. The archbishop is a senior bishop, or father of bishops. As the church grows and expands, structure is adjusted,” he explained.
“For administrative convenience in a growing organization, the fathers of the organization sit together and say, ‘God is not the author of confusion. All of us cannot be equal. There must be a leader. Let’s have the senior pastor.’
“That doesn’t mean it’s unbiblical. It is part of the wisdom that God gave them to cope with the growth rate that they were faced with.
“There is a difference between what is not mentioned in the Bible and what is unbiblical. It is not a sin. It evolves with growth and enlargement.”
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