CAN Election: Northern Bloc Heads For Fresh Battle With Oritsejafor, Dr. Ebenezer Olusola

Yakubu Busari

Leadership tussle is said to be rocking the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), as Northern bloc berates  Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor for conducting kangaroo election in favour of family member.

A Coalition of Nigerian Christian Elders and Youth have accused the former CAN president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of conspiracy calling on other officials body to disregard the leadership of CAN  in Nigeria under  the new president.

The group which gave the warning on Thursday in a press release signed by its Public Relation officer, Peter Jacob and made available to journalists in Jos said “the proponents and allies of evil, corruption and manipulation need not to take Christians or Nigerians for granted, concerning their use of media to associate government with arrest of C.A.N officials on trump up charges over C.A.N elections.

“The truth is no Nigerian whether C.A.N officials or otherwise are beyond the law and whoever is culpable of any crime most face the consequences of their actions or in-actions, ” it added.

While calling on the former CAN president and his loyalists to stop linking Rev. Gado’s candidacy with government, it noted that “We have been informed about the continuous perpetuation of evil by the C.A.N Leadership and some of their allies.

“Also, the silence of prominent Christian leaders, both lay and laity should not be taken for granted by the likes of Dr. Ebenezer Olusola Abednego the coordinator of the erstwhile and sponsored Christian Redeemers Union (C.R.U) as well as Evangelist Timothy Nassau of Patriotic Christian Youths of Nigeria and other like-minded sponsored groups and has not been useful to the churches in Nigeria.

“We are aware that the plot of the allies of Oritsejafor, Asake and Rev. Supo Ayokunle is to castigate and ridicule the TEKAN/ECWA Bloc candidate, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Gado, as a government/Northern candidate, then, give credit to the illegal election of Ayokunle to succeed Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and to finally discredit and malign every effort by Church Leaders to ensure transparency of the C.A.N. process.

The questions we ask is” how can C.R.U brazenly without shame claim that C.A.N National Executive Council (NEC) had validly and constitutionally elected a successor to Oritsejafor? Why the impatience and rush in the election process? The shifting of date from 15th June to 14th June, 2016 and further, the hurry to inaugurate a new C.A.N. President to succeed Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and the change of the C.A.N. Constitution despite all the discrepancies and irregularities observed by different observers?”

The release further alleged that “It is true that Ayo Oritsejafor has nothing to lose especially after mortgaging the tail end of his leadership by allowing too many unanswered questions concerning his integrity and sincerity.”