The Plateau State Governor and Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, Simon Lalong, on Wednesday, said he was yet to receive any directive from Pope Francis to reject his recent appointment to lead the campaign for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“As Catholics, everything we do, we send the advice to the Pope. The Pope has not told me that what I’m doing is bad to accept as the Director-General. As a Catholic, we take that direction,” Lalong said.
The governor said this in an interview with State House correspondents shortly after a meeting he had with the President, Major General Muhammadu (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“I came back home and CAN welcomed me at the airport. The next day, I addressed stakeholders in Plateau state. I told them why I was accepting it and then there was jubilation, and all of them accepted.
“So if you see people talking about me rejecting it, I have accepted already. It’s not an option. I’m a Christian. I went through missionary schools. I respect myself as a Christian. I have been given the highest award by the Pope, the Knight of St. Gregory the Great,” he said.
In describing his role as purely political and not religious, Lalong criticised some Christian leaders asking him to reject the appointment.
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