Youths from the 36 states of the federation have warned against any attempt to arrest the senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Paul Enenche, over his recent comments on the presidential election.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, had called for Enenche’s arrest over his utterances claimed to be inflammatory.
The APC PCC accused Pastor Enenche of making inciting comments over the collation of the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections results in his message.
However, the Nigeria Youths Frontiers and Peace Advocates said Enenche expressed concern over the outcome of Saturday’s elections while addressing his congregation.
The group explained that the clergyman advised INEC to ensure the will of the people prevails.
A statement signed by the president of the group, Innocent Egwu, said: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement by Dele Alake, spokesman of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council and a shadowy and sponsored group under the nomenclature of Civil Society Organization, Centre for Social and Economic Rights (CSER) calling for the arrest of the Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, DIGC, Pastor Paul Enenche.
“We find such posturing very worrisome and lacking in any form of objectivity as the claim by the group is false.
“The Nigeria Youths Frontiers and Peace Advocates is in receipt of the full transcript of the message of Pastor Enenche on Sunday, February 26, 2023, and can state unequivocally that at no point did Pastor Enenche utter an inciting comment.
“This was vindicated when several foreign observer groups including, the International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Joint Election Observation Mission (IEOM), in their joint preliminary statement issued on Monday, 27 February 2023, declared that the conduct of the Presidential and National Nigeria election was below expectations and that INEC lacks transparency in the entire process.
“We do not hold brief for Pastor Enenche, neither have we been mandated to do such, however, as a body that has been in the vanguard of the entrenchment of the tenets of democracy in Nigeria for several years, we find the call for the arrest of Enenche as an insult on the sensibility of Nigerians.
“It is our view that well-meaning Nigerians should not entertain such anomalies because of the larger consequences on the democratic journey in Nigeria, which is in serious jeopardy.
“It is also instructive to state that the calls for the arrest and prosecution of Pastor Enenche are out of turn as the issues canvassed cannot be substantiated, coupled with the fact that the choice of words is poor and the delivery puerile.
“We, therefore, call on Pastor Enenche not to be distracted by the few voices but continue to stand for the truth which he is known for as any attempt to infringe on his right as a Nigerian will be highly resisted.”