ENUGU—The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN,
in the 17 Southern States have faulted a northern-
based cleric over his claims that the election of the
new CAN President, Rev. Sampson Supo Ayokunle
was flawed.
CAN President, Rev Ayokunle
Secretary of CAN in the Southern region, Dr. Joseph
Ajujungwa, who spoke yesterday, said that there
was no crisis in CAN over the election.
In a statement in Enugu, Ajujungwa described the
statement credited to one Rev Maina Joshua, who
claimed to be speaking for the CAN in the 19
northern states as not only “a great fallacy but
falsehood personified.”
He further said that the claim was “a big deception,”
aimed at deceiving the public.
According to him, “CAN is not built on regions,
zones, states or ethnicity,” but on blocks like the
CSN, CCN, CPFN/PFN, OAIC and TEKAN/ECWA.
“The constitution of CAN does not say presidency
should rotate between North and South. For Rev.
Maina to be saying this is a sign of just how
ignorant he is of what CAN is.
“Let me state here that no chairman, region, zone or
bloc was marginalized during the just concluded
transition of CAN and no chairman or region was
asked not to vote or participate in the election.
“Let people be aware, anyone that did not
participate did so willingly or was not around to
vote or participate.”
“Therefore, it is not correct to call people names for
any personal interest especially our leader – Pastor
Ayo Oritsejafor who has done well for the church in
the north in particular and Nigeria as a whole.
“We must learn not to use our selfish interests to
destroy the church or its leaders for any reason.
“The southern CAN and the leaders are not happy
to be reading nonsense articles from disgruntled
persons who have been paid to discredit our
sacred body which our fathers have done much to
uphold its tenets and prospects.
“All the leaders that have ruled CAN were elected
from their church groups and we know that very
soon it will go round to all other blocs who have
not tested the highly elevated office of president of
CAN.”
He then advised TEKAN/ECWA to join forces
together with OAIC to get the position, since they
started a fight that favoured the CCN.
“We all know that no one bloc can clique the
position all alone without others working with it.
Let us be sincere to ourselves, let us tell the truth to
the public as leaders who understand the CAN
constitution. This politics of calumny should stop.
“I want to state here that: There is no crisis in CAN.
There was never a time Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor
influenced the election of his vice as the new
president of CAN.
“There was never a time that the 19 northern states
were marginalized or deprived, the opportunity of
producing CAN president.
“Anyone paid to destroy, castigate or tell lies
against the Christian body should for his own
interest desist. We cannot compromise the unity we
have.
“The unity of Nigerian Christians is not in doubt and
should not be mortgaged for any filthy lucre.
“Finally, we call on all Christians to pray for Nigeria
and the government of President Buhari that God
will help him to succeed, and to do the right thing.
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