By Chris Ajaero
Monday, July 18, 2005

Chris Okotie, presidential candidate of the Justice Party, JP, in the 2003 elections is not leaving anything to chance in his bid to secure the mandate to rule Nigeria in 2007.

In the past few weeks, he has been criss-crossing the length and breadth of the country to sensitise Nigerians on the need to vote for a man of integrity like him. He recently attended a meeting of the South-South in Port Harcourt and later took his campaign to Jos, Plateau State where he addressed the North Central delegates of the Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN.

Okotie told Newswatch that he decided to start his campaigns for the 2007 presidential elections early because politics involves a certain consciousness that must be brought to the people. He described the on-going alliance between South-South and Middle-Belt geo-political zones as a step in the right direction since it would create an avenue for the people of these areas to have a better bargaining power.

He believes that now that the two zones are working together to produce the next president of the country, he stands a good chance of securing the highest office in the land. According to him, his experience as a presidential candidate in 2003 during which he got a lot of support gives him an edge over any other candidate from the zone.

Okotie who is also the pastor of Household of God Church, said that as a religious leader, he has the compassion to effect desired changes and rebuild Nigeria if given the mandate. "Being a church minister gives you the necessary compassion, the emotion and psychological connectivity between you and the people, which is needed at that level of governance", he said.

He noted that the some of his fellow pastors, who did not support him in 2003 because they believed that politics was a dirty game, have since realised from the scriptures that it was actually the will of God for a priest to lead. "Solomon was a king and yet a prophet, David was a prophet and yet he was a king. The bedrock of my support is the Nigerian people and good governance is something that affects everybody", he said.

Okotie told Newswatch that time was ripe for generational change in the nation's polity because the destiny of the country now lies with the younger generation. According to him, the cabals who had ruled Nigeria over the years have shown that they are incapable of providing good governance and so should not be allowed to further marginalise the psyche of Nigerians.

He, however, said that he was yet to decide on the platform under which he would vie for the presidential race in 2007 because he believes that emphasis should be taken away from the political party to the individual.

Presently, House of Nigeria FRESH is the political machinery with which he is reaching out to the grassroots. He explained that his vision is to evolve a new Nigeria where there will be unity in diversity, collective will, accountability, compassionate leadership and non-negotiated practice of true federalism.

Okotie said that Nigerians, who have suffered because of bad governance have cried for God's intervention and that the time for the desired change has come. "We must inject righteousness into our system because of its potency. And because of the power of light in eradicating darkness in time and intensity, I believe that victory will surely be ours," Okotie told Newswatch.