Concerned Christians Forum of Nigeria (CCFN) has warned the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) against dabbling into politics, which has been causing disunity in the body of Christ.
CCFN, which gave the warning, noted that CAN constant comments and statements on political issues do no conform to the vision of its founding fathers.
James Amedu, National Coordinator, at a press conference on Monday, stressed that divisiveness must not emanate from Christendom.
The group said it was particularly worried over a recent statement credited to the leadership of CAN where it subtly pushes for a Christian Senate President.
It said: “The street logic offered by that statement was that the President and the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) are Muslims hence a Senate President of the Christian faith will “give all Nigerians a sense of belonging.”
“Note that this ludicrous demand came just days after CAN initially confounded even its own ranks by giving reason for not visiting the Presidential Villa to congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari on his victory at the recently held Presidential Election.
“It turned out that this story was flown as a strategy for scoring an invite to the Villa since the association’s leadership was aware that such invitation will not be willingly extended to it after identifying as the “Christian Chapter of the Opposition” in clear violation the neutrality expected of an organization whose membership straddles the political divide.
“Our thinking is that the founding principles of CAN did not envisage the body becoming enmeshed in politics to a point where its leadership become political lobbyists that have joined the campaign for sharing the loots of election victory especially now that CAN leadership is now hiding under a new found nationalism to influence a party it vehemently opposed during the elections.
“It had shown such error of judgement when it revealed that rather than seek the face of the Almighty and take direction from the spirit it would rather watch the trend of the election petition tribunal blow before deciding to visit a president-elect and bestow prayers upon him.
“This their latest call for making a Christian the President of the Senate follows the same pattern. They have merely surfaced from a shame induced retreat to make demands that tallies with the wishes of one political party, in this case the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“If the CAN leaders were this good with dispensing counsel on how to give Nigerians a sense of belonging we are left wondering why they never used the privileges God has given us as clergymen and carriers of the Good News to prevail on successive PDP governments to treat citizens right in accordance with God’s Word and expectations of leaders. Instead, these gods of men commercialized Christendom and willingly sold absolution for fees.
“Rather than tasking those that will emerge through democratically recognized processes on the need to fight corruption and provide a safer country for the vulnerable poor, the CAN leadership is interested in promoting sectarian strife by highlighting differences that Nigerians are willing to forgo in exchange for good leadership.
“It would have made sense had the CAN supremo organized a retreat for the Christians among the lawmakers-elect to impress on them the need to conduct themselves with the fear of God for the duration of their tenure in parliament.
“That would have signpost an association that is committed to producing a desirable Nigeria. The lawmakers that would have attended such event would automatically become beholding to the people and be seen as eminently qualify to lead in the National Assembly.
“We at this point demand that the CAN leadership should have been sincere enough to admit that it has fundamentally strayed from its calling.”
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