By Sam Eyoboka

THE 719-word letter by the president of the Voice of His Word Ministries, Apostle (Dr.) Bolaji Akinyemi reacting to the recent visit of a 30-delegation of Christian leaders to Aso Rock has again exposed the schism within the umbrella body of Christians in the country, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN undoubtedly regarded as the largest ecumenical outfit in Africa.

CAN

CAN, established in 1976 and currently made up of five blocs: Christian Council of Nigeria, CCN; the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, CSN, the Pentecostal Fellow-ship of Nigeria, PFN; the Organisation of African Instituted Churches, OAIC, and the Evangelical Fellowship of West Afri-ca, TEKAN/ECWA has been embroiled in credibility crisis dividing the august body in two dinstinct lines with each not will-ing to relent.

The letter made available to Sunday  Vanguard shortly after the congratu-latory visit to Aso Rock and titled: CAN President sell out and his divisive betrayal of the Church reads: “My push for a better and greater Nigeria, has given me the privilege of meeting some eminent Niger-ians, from the platform of Project Victory Call Initiatives a.k.a. PVC-NAIJA, to Legacy Initiatives International which was a product of the union of PVC-NAIJA and Christian Ministers United Forums brokered by an individual perceived to be of the same mind on the Nigerian pro-ject but who in all intent was not, that will be a story for another day.”

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The apostle continue: “I savour the pri-vilege to meet the CAN president, Dr. Samson Ayokunle, the savour of this per-ceive fine personality at our first meeting has turned sour, given the event leading to the 2019 general elections, which cli-maxed in his congratulatory messages to President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on their re-election.

“The testimonies of Pastor Yemi Osinbayo and his serial thanksgiving that have followed, when put side by side the maca-bre dance of CAN President, calls for the need to prick the conscience of the Church. We are being stripped naked by those who should cloth us. Truth, the hallmark of Christian faith has been traded by one for personal ambition and by the other possibly for a morsel of bread.

“Dr. Ayokunle is the official head of the Church in Nigeria, being the president of CAN, and Pastor Yemi Osinbajo is the number one official “representative” of the Church in the affairs of the Nigerian State. The action and inaction of the duo has put the Church in bad light, and her image is at the lowest ebb ever in the history of Nigeria. We have become a piece of mockery. They must therefore be called to order. This I have expected from our fathers in the faith, but it is not forthcoming.

“As a partaker of the faith in God through Christ Jesus, I am compelled to do this. No political meanings must be made out of this sincere expression of concern. The persecution of the Church, though those who share the sentiment of the unfound-ed integrity of this government are al-ways quick to deny is no longer hidden from the world. New Zealand mosque killing was barely concluded when the condemnation of it by our President greet-ed the world, same man who has found it difficult to call the herdsmen killers by their name; TERRORISTS, when the world has confirmed them to be one of the most dreaded and deadliest.

Raging Conflict

“The President that has been silent over the killings of majorly Christians will be congratulated by the leader of the people so gruesome under his watch. Given the swimming in blood by the baboons and the monkeys in 2019 elections, I can’t understand where our CAN President found the liver to write on behalf of the oppressed and persecuted Christians.

“CAN premised her reason for rejoicing with the power that be, on the issuance of certificate of return by INEC to Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo, but why waited for so long? The raging conflict of interest between the flesh and the spirit was won by the flesh, and Dr. Ayokunle yielded to it.

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“When I earlier saw the publication by Vanguard that CAN was under pressure to congratulate President Buhari, I knew mischief was brewing, and that the leadership of CAN was set for another bite of the sour grapes that have set the teeth of the Church at edge. So when the congrat-ulatory message of CAN President hit the news stand, I was not surprised.

“Those who have sold the faith for cheap and rubbish the Church have yielded to the imaginative pressure they created for the soft landing of a congratulatory mess-age that was neither made in the interest of the Church or for her security and welfare.

“A government that lost her last strand of credibility in the last election has found CAN a partner in her conspiracy against the Nigerian people. The council of CAN compromising all the body must disso-ciate itself from Dr. Ayokunle’s congratu-latory message. He must be made to know that he can do so in his capacity, as Samson Ayokunle; but not in his capacity as CAN president without due consultations,” Apostle Akinyemi who is also the presid-ent of PVC-Naija stated.

Politics within Church

Our findings indicate that the above open letter represent the feelings of several Christians from different blocs of CAN, with several declining to be part of the victory delegation to congratulate Presi-dent Buhari for his re-election. All the Christian leaders spoken to responded as though they would rather stay away from the politics playing out within the Church, arguing that the current leader-ship is just a few months away to hand over to  a fresh leadership with fresh ideas on how to unite the Church which is so divided now.

While several chose to remain silent, many wondered why the CAN president left out his vice president and represent-atives of the Catholic Church from such a mission? The Catholic Bishops Confer-ence of Nigeria, CBCN, had earlier taken paid newspaper advertorials to denounce the process that produced the new crop of political leaders, demanding that “the government to acknowledge the inadeq-uacies that characterized the 2019 elect-ions and embark on a course for redress. We urge her to enact, endorse and imple-ment laws and policies that will ensure free, fair and credible elections in the future.”

The CBCN communiqué signed the presi-dent, Most Rev. Augustine Akabueze, archbishop of Benin City and the Secret-ary, Most Rev. Raymond Umoh, bishop of Ikot Ekpene, acknowledged that the apathy that attended the second round of 2019 elections can only be as a result of the violence, malpractice and the unne-cessary militarization of the process.

“We have taken note of those who have been declared winners, and commend the civility of those who rejected the results but have chosen to express their grievan-ces through legitimate means under the law rather than through violence. What-ever the outcome, justice must must be seen to have been done. We admonish whoever holds power at the end of the day to remember that power belongs to God and to Him alone. God demands strict accountability for how anyone takes power and uses it, for God cannot be deceived or challenged. (Luke 16:2)”

Out of curiosity, our correspondent called the CAN vice president, Prof. Joseph Otubu to find out why he was not part of the delegation and his immediate respon-se was: “I didn’t go. How can I go for such a mission? How shameful can we be? Integrity should be the watchword of every Christian desirous of making it to heaven. Everybody who knows me well will tell you that I cannot be part of such a delegation.”

Amalgamation is fallacy

When reminded that he remains CAN vice president, he said he was indeed the second in command of the umbrella body of Christians but that’s only on paper “and by the grace of God it will soon be over and I can get some sleep.”

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In the same vein, the national chairman of Nigeria Christian Elders Forum, NCEF, Elder Solomon Asemota, SAN, would not want to discuss anything relating CAN but merely volunteered that some day Nigerians particularly those in the South will come to the realization that the event that took place on January 1, 1914 was actually annexation of the South to the North and not an amalgamation as some people erroneously describe it.

“In 1914, they say there was an amalga-mation. That’s not correct! It was not an amalgamation. It was annexation. We were annexed to the North and that is all that has been playing out since then!” the senior advocate of Nigeria who is a staunt Catholic, said.

The motto of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN is derived from John 17:21: “That they may be one,” but the question on several lips, now is: When will the foremost ecumenical continental body unite as a formidable force to address its common challenges?