Following the threat by the Catholic Church to pull out of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Christian body has reacted to the threat, saying their action is as a result of the loss of the Presidency of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
The Public Relations Officer of the 19 Northern States of CAN and Abuja, Mr. Sunny Oibe, in an interview with Journalists on Wednesday night, also accused Catholics of arrogance. According to him, “There is no division in CAN and we are all speaking with one language. There are some certain elements in the leadership of PFN led by Cardinal John Onaiyekan because he lost PFN Presidency to Oritsejafor, who has a lot of achievements,” he said.
“There is no need for anybody to lose sleep over the threat by Catholics to pull out of CAN because without them CAN will still continue. The constitution of CAN makes provision that membership can be terminated by any group that is misbehaving or any group can also terminate their membership.
“Why is it that when Catholics were in the leadership of CAN, every bloc supported them but now because power has changed hands, they are threatening to pull out and causing confusion? They have been agitating that the Presidency of CAN must one from the South. They are appendage of PDP and PDP themselves. They are known for double standards. A man of God should not be double-speaking.”
Oibe who is also the spokesperson of the President of “Tarayar Ekklisiyar Kristi A Nijeriya,” a conglomeration of 13 church groups in CAN, said Catholics should not mislead the public even if they want to pull out: “The Catholics are claiming that the current CAN leadership has deviated from the vision of the founding fathers when they don’t even know how CAN came about. What did the Catholics know about the vision of the founding fathers? CAN was formed because of the marginalisation of Christians in the North. The Christians in the North, particularly those of them from the TEKAN extraction, came together and formed Northern Christian Association. It was that body that metamorphosed to CAN.”
Pastor Ayo Was Sent To Represent Christians, But Went There To Fight For Oil Money To Buy Private Jet, And He Is Talking Of PFN President. Nigeria Pastors No Shame As Far As Money Is Concern. God Help Us.
The truth is that people are more concerned abt self (ethical egoism) and have forgotten the utilitarianism theory of ethics
Shut d fuck up jare,u cnt deceive us again dis days,gone r thos days when u al do dat,pst ayo was snt 2represent christians,we went ther 2acquire jet n fight 4oil moni when christians r suffering/dying,its a pity bt I’m nt astonishd abt it,dats 2show u his level of selfishness,so stp rantin n sayin dat catholics pull out of can cos deyre no longer in charge,dats totaly unacceptable,we r solidly bhind d catholic cos dey alwys do d right thing unlik u pentecostal dat only knws hw 2fight 4moni
Here u r,so called men of God,fighting over domination n power,u all r responsible for d division amongst Christain..same on all of u…
Here u r,so called men of God,fighting over domination n power,u all r responsible for d division amongst Christain..shame on all of u…
“i think y u shld b a christian is bcos u wnt 2 go heaven” dnt let pple deceive of being catholic or penticoster….
CAN was supposed to be for all Christians, however, in excercising God’s given right of CHOICE, any member who feels not satisfied with the conduct of the body, can pull out. This is what the Catholic faithfuls have chosen to do. Mr Oibe, should talk CHRIST LIKE, and not put up unnecessary fight that is not called for. The time spent on his unfriendly and unChristian attacks on his supposed bethren would have been used to win souls for Christ and better our nation. CAN LEADERSHIP please rise up and nip this now.
Na wa for these our pastors sef. When Jesus Christ preached he fed multitudes without asking for a penny but these days pastors will go as far as telling you if you do not give all your salary God will not bless you. They just quote from the bible and relate it to how they can collect money from their congregation then the next thing you see is them buying very expensive cars, private jets, opening schools that even the church members cannot afford. If we are to be honest it was this pastor orijefor that has destroyed CAN! Now he dines and wines with the presidency for money and failing to tell them what people are goin tru. God is watching you all!
I blame Catholics for being so careless in the first place by associating with these so called pentacostal pastors knowing they re, wolfs in sheep’s skin , and rebels in the christaindom. There re sharp contrasts b/w pentacostal n catholic aproach to christain life. Catholic must disentangle permanently from this unholy union called CAN n learn from thier mistake never to fall prey again or be messed up by greedy n harmful infitrates into the christaindom under any disguise. Christ made it clear that whaet n weed re free to grow in his divine field.
. I want to quote from the statement Bishop John Onaiyekan of Ilorin: “The name CAN came about when when the Catholic Bishops insisted that if there has to be one body for all Christians in the country then it had to have another name in order not to give the false impression that this organization or association joined the other” (Fr. Bauna Peter Tanko’s book; The Christian Association of Nigeria and the challenge of the Ecumenical Imperative. p.126). This is to tell us, that there were some of associations in the country from the north, East, West etc, of Christians that were in existence. So Catholics, I believe were part of it. Whatever, CAN was formed in 1976 in kaduna, know this, that the meeting started in Lagos in the Catholic secretariat after the issues was raised by Shehu Musa Yaradua then Brigadier. Well at the end of the meeting of the Christian leaders, Cardinal Dominic Ekandem was elected as President of CAN while Mr. C. O. Williams the was elected secretary of CAN, he was a member of the CCN. So there is a strong Catholic impact in CAN Mr. Oibe. You can not clean or clear the influence of the Catholic Church in Nigeria just because, you want to eat public money or stolen money from politicians. Do you know that the Catholic Church in Nigeria can comfortably handled issues with any government in Nigeria? we are all over, and we contribute more in human development not only in Nigeria but in the whole world? who knows, may be you are a product of Catholic given education and civilization and you are now talking with your mouth open. It is a matter of time you and your so called political CAN officials will pay for it.