Dogged Fighter: Controversial Pastor Chris Okotie To Run Again In 2015 Presidential Elections

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”.