Vatican official urges Nigerians to pray for success of elections

Published: 2006-07-06

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNS) -- A top Vatican official has called on fellow Nigerians to pray for the success of the 2007 general elections. "The 2007 elections portend ominous signs," Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, told journalists, church and state officials July 1 upon his arrival in Enugu, Nigeria. The Nigerian-born cardinal said the inability of his homeland's leadership to enforce the constitution may jeopardize the forthcoming elections. "Such laxity is responsible for the recurring breakdown of law and order in this country," Cardinal Arinze said. The Independent National Electoral Commission has scheduled elections for April 7-28; incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo, elected in 1999, will end his second term in May.

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