Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned religious leaders against allowing unscrupulous politicians to destroy Nigeria.

He gave the warning when the new president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Most Reverend Daniel Okoh, paid him a courtesy visit in Abeokuta.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo requested Nigerian politicians to be more responsible.

While eulogising the new CAN helmsman, Obasanjo said the Sultan of Sokoto had spoken about Okoh, stating: “And, I must say, I am impressed. With you and Sultan (who is already singing your praises), you can both make a turn-around. You can work together.

“If you stand on the truth, you stand for justice and equity. Then the politicians will not be able to mess us around. I will say it with all sense of responsibility that if we do not watch it, the politicians will wreck this country and we will all regret it.”

He continued: “And where can we look for salvation, that is where you religious leaders have a significant role to play. I think it is the mistake of the past (particularly in Christendom) that we say politics is not for the righteous. Now, if we take the righteous away from politics, and we leave politics to the unrighteous, the unrighteous will smear the righteous with the unrighteousness that they will carry into politics and we will have nowhere to go.

“And in the next election, if we do not watch it, it may make or break Nigeria. And I pray that it will make Nigeria.”

He said for having both Sultan of Sokoto and the CAN leader already on the same page, “maybe our politicians will listen, and if our politicians do not listen, maybe our people will listen.”

The visiting religious leader had earlier commended the ex-President for his role in turning around the Christian faith in the country, asserting that he had made valid contributions to Christianity in Nigeria.

According to him, “in 1976, he (Obasanjo) started with the establishment of this association, CAN and in September 1999, he formed the Inter-Religious Faith Council. In the political sector, you set up the National Political Reform Conference, to which I am privileged to be a delegate, representing the Christian faith. These were the few I could remember as I was planning for this visit.”

He added: “Baba, you have played important roles in the political history of Nigeria and Africa, particularly your current role in the Horn of Africa, where the task is to ensure peace in the region.”