Controversial pastor of the Household of God Church International Ministries, Chris Okotie, has declared his intention to contest for the umpteenth time, the 2015 presidential elections.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH in Lagos, Okotie said he would contest for the highest seat in the land under the platform of the FRESH Democratic Party, although, he refused to disclose the strategy being put in place to ensure his victory at the polls.
He said, “I don’t want to talk about our strategy for now, we have learnt from our past experience, we don’t want to talk about it for now”.
It would be recalled that FRESH party was last year deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, but the party won a court victory against its proscription that same year.
FRESH, which is an acronym for Faith, Responsibility, Equality, Security and Hope, according to the flamboyant clergyman, can salvage the country from its present situation. He added that all the cosmetic and superficial solutions provided by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, were a journey in futility.
A catalogue of Okotie’s unsuccessful runs at the presidency, include his first attempt against former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 under the banner of Justice Party. He ran again in 2007 as a member of the Fresh Democratic Party and lost to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
Asked if he would contest in 2015, Okotie said, “I will run in 2015, God willing.
“God spoke to me about my participation in the political process, which was why I took the step in the first place. He has not said anything contrary”.
When reminded that he had lost in previous attempts and that people might actually doubt if his claim that he was instructed by God to contest in the elections was genuine, he said as a servant of God, his duty was to follow divine instructions.
He summed up the blame for his failure in past elections on the prevalence of election malpractices especially by the PDP.
He said, “I can sum it up in one word-rigging by the PDP. Even one of the party’s stalwarts, Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe, told The PUNCH recently that all elections have always been rigged. So that answers the question.
“These election questions are inter-related. If they didn’t rig, then I could have won. Apart from election malpractices, the duty of a servant of God is to obey his master when he gives him instructions, irrespective of whether he fails or succeeds. Like Moses in the Bible, who kept fighting until Pharaoh released the Israelites”.
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