No blood should be shed during elections, Oba Tejuosho warns politicians

A first class Yoruba monarch and the Osile Oke-Ona Eg­baland, in Ogun State, Oba Adedapo Tejuo­sho, yesterday in Lagos de­livered a divine message to Nigerian politicians to en­sure that blood was not shed during and after the coming elections.

Oba Tejuosho, who said the message was as directed by the Holy Spirit, reminded that, “human being is God’s im­age,” warning that, “shedding his blood amounts to destroy­ing the image of God.”

The monarch, during the presentation of his booklet ti­tled, “Handling Victory or De­feat in Elections,” emphatical­ly stated that, “nobody’s blood should be shed on the account of seeking for mundane posi­tion,” pointing out that, “any wealth accumulated in any po­sition attained through taking of human life is blood money.” Oba Tejuosho, who is also the initiator of ‘Project Peace’, said the book was meant to create awareness on the need for peace and tolerance dur­ing and after the elections. According to him: “This booklet is going to go far and wide. It is a piece of advice to politicians and government of­ficials to guide them in what­ever they do or think either to win or lose elections. This let will be a guide to what they should do or not do. “We appeal that there should not be shedding of blood. When a politician or a sup­porter kills someone in the process of electioneering, blood is spilled and blood has a voice that cries to God. “The problem with our so­ciety is that we have left un­done those things that need to be done. When I was in school our first motto was that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But do we still have the fear of God in this country? Our second motto was that your character must match your books. But in this country, does our charac­ter match our books? We can even lose our character over a plate of pottage. But if we go back to God’s original plan for us, things would be better. “I am presenting this booklet today as a royal father and a traditional ruler because we are assumed to be the fathers of the nation. A father would always want to maintain a good home.

“Nigeria is one large fam­ily and we do not need to kill ourselves to get posi­tions. God wants peace and a bloodless election. He cre­ated us for his purpose and pleasure and He did not cre­ate us to kill one another. “This booklet will go beyond the shores of Africa. It is not for today or tomorrow alone and it is a booklet for all citi­zens. It is free and would be distributed across the world so that we would know what God wants us to do and I ap­peal to everyone to respond positively and not to react to what is written. It would also be available on the Internet for everyone to download. We want peace for this nation and only God can bring peace. The President, Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Manag­ing Director of the Sun Pub­lishing Limited, Mr. Femi Adesina, who was pres­ent at the event applauded the Oba for the initiative. He appealed to whoever would win or lose the elections to do so graciously.

“All we want are a free and fair elections. As long as the elections are credible, there won’t be problems. After the last elections, many people lost their lives and we do not want it to happen again that is why we are preaching peace and tolerance,” Adesina ser­monised.