Festus Keyamo, spokesman for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, said pastors should stop meddling in politics.
Keyamo said this in reaction to recent comments from the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN).
In an interview with TheCable, David Bakare, deputy national secretary of the NFP, said the group had no affiliation with members of the Forum of Pentecostal Bishops of Northern Nigeria who met with APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu on Friday.
The PFN also indicated that its opposition to the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket remains unchanged.
Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday, Keyamo said the PFN had no right to criticize ruling party decisions.
“The PFN is not a member of our party. They should go and vote that day,” he said.
“They should not come and publicly question our party’s decision. The purpose of pastors or their duty is to lead people to heaven and not to lead people to [presidential] Villa.
“If I go to church every Sunday, I want to hear the sermon of God and I don’t want to hear the sermon of politics or who should govern me.
“I want to hear God’s sermon and what will lead me to salvation and not what will lead me to the villa.”
Apart from the PFN, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) also condemned the selection of Kashim Shettima, a Muslim, as Tinubu’s running mate.
‘NIGERIANS ARE HUNGRY, THEY DO NOT THINK OF RELIGION‘
Commenting on the APC’s campaign strategy for the 2023 elections, Keyamo said the party will showcase to Nigerians Tinubu’s performance during his tenure as Governor of Lagos.
The Minister added that Nigerians are too hungry to be bothered with religious issues.
“Nigerians are hungry, they want to see how that hunger will be dealt with, not how their Christian or Muslim faiths will be dealt with,” he said.
“They want to see our policies on agriculture and what Asiwaju did before as Governor of Lagos State, how he has improved Lagos and how he will bring that kind of posterity to Nigeria as a whole.”
