A coalition of Christians under the aegis of Patriotic Christian Youths of Nigeria has labelled as ‘enemies’ some persons who purportedly want to pull out of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
The group urged all Christians in Nigeria to rise in support and defend the unity of the church “in these perilous times.”
The group said, “CAN has not divided and will not be divided because the efforts by Dr. Jeremiah Gado of the TEKAN/ECWA bloc of CAN to become President failed.”
Recently, two other groups, Concern Christians of Nigeria and Northern Nigerian Christians, led by Shehu Luka and Peter Luka respectively, had announced their decision to pull out of CAN because of the fall out of the last election which produced Dr. Supo Ayokunle as President.
Among reasons given by CCN and NNC was that their candidate, Dr. Jeremiah Gado was allegedly denied contesting for the Presidency of CAN during the association’s election held on June 14, 2016.
But the PCYN challenged the CCN and NNC to show evidence that, besides their desperation for CAN leadership; they have also visited the North East with any form of support, if they were truly passionate about the plight of Northern Christians.
The President of PCYN, Evang. Simon Nasso, told journalists in Abuja on Saturday that Gado’s supporters were unhappy because he could not become the National President of CAN after his disqualification.
When contacted, Gado denied sponsoring the CCN and NNC groups behind the purported pull out.
While dismissing the allegations, Gado claimed that it was CAN that has instead been sponsoring surrogates.
He said, “Let them provide the evidence. They have the money and they are the people sponsoring the PCYN. I don’t have the money to sponsor anybody. It is nonsense. It shows the kind of leadership that is being provided by CAN. They have been hiring surrogates to try and give good people a bad name.”
Reacting, Nasso said, “He (Gado) forgot that God Almighty has the final say with regards to who becomes the President of CAN. It is surprising that Gado is not contented that God has given him the rare privilege of becoming the President of ECWA.
“There is no group known to CAN and Nigerian Christians as Concern Christians of Nigeria and Northern Nigeria Christians. They are one and same group with the same founder.
“For the avoidance of doubt, CAN is a registered umbrella body of Christians in Nigeria whose members are drawn from church groups and constituted into blocs forming the body of CAN.
“CAN as a body does not register individuals or organisations unless they come under one of the five blocs. Hence, the propaganda that a group in CAN has broken up is complete falsehood, misrepresentation and mischievous.”
PUNCH NG
