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Wrongdoing in
society must be identified and punished to avoid the development of a
culture of impunity, President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday during
a meeting with the leadership of the Evangelical Church Winning All
(ECWA).

Responding to a
call on government to take radical steps to ensure that individual
votes count in 2011, Mr. Jonathan said perpetrators of electoral
offences such as “changing figures of votes cast”, which is forgery,
would face the full wrath of the law, since “any crime that goes
unpunished leads to a culture of impunity, which does not augur well
for law and order.”

He also re-stated
his commitment to the conduct of free and fair elections in 2011,
adding that, “until people can elect those they want as their leaders,
democracy will not take root in Nigeria.”

Clarifying his
position on the militants and anti-social conduct in the Niger Delta,
the president said genuine militants who had embraced the amnesty were
being taken care of, but all those who have engaged in criminality
would be treated as criminals. The president further commended ECWA for
their role in partnering with government in educational, health and
rural development and congratulated them for celebrating their
centenary this year.

Laws on electoral offence

The president of
ECWA, Anthony Farinto, who led a delegation of the church to the State
House, called for laws to criminalise electoral malpractices.

“The current situation whereby some state governors,

federal and state
lawmakers occupy office for about three and a half years only to be
rooted out of office by competent courts is definitely not good for our
democracy,” he said.

He commended Mr.
Jonathan’s commitment to free and fair elections in 2011, his
determination to improve power supply and the establishment of six new
federal universities.

The ECWA president expressed concern at the incessant religious
crises in the North andcalled for a serious check on electoral
malpractices, as well as for a return of mission schools taken over by
government to their original owners.