IBADAN, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Popular Nigerian preacher, Reverend Chris Okotie has given reasons why smaller parties cannot win the presidential election in Nigeria.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC Pidgin, last weekend, the Reverend told the anchor, Helen Oyibo, that unless Nigeria was restructured to make its political participation all-inclusive, fringe parties would not be able to win the all-important Presidential election, even if they had the best candidate.
He was reacting to a question on the chances of the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, who is viewed as the third force behind the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.
Okotie said the fact that only the bigger parties had ruled the country since the return to democracy in 1999 showed clearly how powerful they were.
“Only the PDP and the APC have the national spread and network required to win the Presidency. No small party has such capacity.
“Until the political system is restructured to shift the emphasis away from parties to the people, the dominant parties would continue to hold sway,” Okotie said.
On why he set up FRESH after running for president on the Justice Party, and the NDP, Okotie said it was a deliberate effort to promote his agenda for a paradigm shift.
He said he knew he would never be able to defeat the two dominant parties in a presidential election.
The 64-year-old explained why he did not join either the APC or the PDP: “If I join any of these parties, I would become part of the problem. Most of the big men go to these parties because all they want is power for personal aggrandizement.”
Asked if he ever considered the option of relocating abroad because of the complex problems facing the nation, Okotie said he would not leave Nigeria.
“I don’t want anyone to take from me the land that God gave to me,” he said.
He said he would continue to promote restructuring and its interim government component, ruling out the option of giving up.
“I am already successful in my area of calling. I don’t need to run away. A time will come when people will depend on what I have said in this restructuring campaign,” Okotie explained.
He also expressed grief on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, saying his prayers were with the British people and others around the world at this moment.
The stylish preacher and founder of the Household of God Church also said that the issue of marriage is a closed chapter in his life as he did not intend to marry again.
The former presidential aspirant said it was because Jesus told him he was done with that issue (marriage).
“God told me that He didn’t call me to get married. He said “He called me to be like Paul, but He tried to stop me, and I didn’t listen at the time”.
“The life He called me to live is to be dedicated to Him and the work He called me for. So marriage is not on the menu again,” Pastor Okotie said.
Pastor Okotie, a former Nigerian pop star who quit music in 1987 to go into full-time ministry, married Tina, his first wife, a year earlier.
The union lasted for 15 years and ended in 2001.
In 2008, he married a mum-of-three, Stephanie Henshaw, a union which ended in 2012 when he asked her for a separation.
In the interview, which was conducted in Pidgin, Pastor Okotie said that he constantly desired his own family and so tended to walk outside of the will of God.
But when it didn’t work out twice, he had to seek the face of God to know what the problem was.
The 64-year-old cleric said that he was in university when he became born again and did not understand the will of God in his life.
He also said that he considers himself to be one of the best husbands ever on this earth, and people who know him can testify.