By Philomina Attah
The Founder of Unity Worship Centre, Abuja, Pastor Tayo Olutayo, has warned that election cycles have further divided Nigeria along religious and tribal lines instead of uniting the country.
Olutayo gave the warning on Sunday in Abuja at the grand finale of Maranatha 2026, the annual programme of the church with the theme, “Our God Reigns”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event, which focuses on the second coming of Christ, attracted clerics and worshippers who prayed for national unity.
Speaking on Nigeria’s current political atmosphere ahead of 2027, Olutayo said since his involvement in elections from 1979, every election cycle has divided the country further on two platforms: religion and tribe.
He said instead of elections bringing development, they have fuelled suspicion, tribal wars and disunity, with political campaigns now framed as North versus South, East versus South-South.
“We do not hear that from other countries that grow. Everybody is first of all a Nigerian and must practise like that,” he said.
“What the country needs first is unity, not polls.
“I rather prefer that all the resources we are spending and deploying for voter cards and registration, with all the confusion, we deploy our energy first to unite.
“Unity and faith is what our fathers told us. Our old national anthem preached unity and faith.
“Soldiers came and added peace and progress, but there can be no peace and progress without unity and faith,” he said.
Olutayo said the call for unity had become urgent due to insecurity that had displaced entire communities.
He urged the Federal Government to sit down and find a solution to disunity before pushing for elections, saying it is the task of the current government to correct past wrongs.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Elders Council of the church, Jide Adeniji, said the body of Christ must be united and rise above denominational differences, tribalism and religious bigotry..
“Nigerians must understand that God is God of all flesh and not for Christians or Muslims alone, hence no one should carry cutlasses to fight for God,” he said.
Similarly, a pastor in the church, Pastor Casmir Igwe, said Nigerians were desperate for survival due to economic hardship and insecurity.
According to Igwe, desperation should not be a license to commit crime or sin.
“As long as there is God and life, there is hope. Nigerians should allow God to reign in their lives, polity and economy,” he said.
Chairman of the Organising Committee, Pastor Okey Udoh, said anything of God was about unity, noting that members willingly contributed to make Maranatha 2026 a success.
Udoh said the essence of the church was to make better communities for social good and to encourage people to be better citizens.(NAN)