By SAM EYOBOKA, OLAYINKA LATONA & DAVID OSO
LAGOS— CHRISTIANS in the 19 northern states have dissociated themselves from the purported vote of no confidence on the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, saying that the said Concerned Christians in the North is a faceless group of individuals being used by enemies of the Church.

A group, describing itself as Concerned Christians in the North, had in a statement in Kadoka, Monday accused CAN leadership of betraying the adherents of the religion by his alleged support for a planned removal of fuel subsidy.

The statement signed by one Yahuda Marsa did not, however, say how the group came by the information that the CAN leadership was in support of oil subsidy removal, despite reports in the media quoting the CAN helmsman, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, as saying that he was neither for, nor against the government move.

In two telephone interviews, yesterday, spokesman of CAN in the 19 Northern States, Rev. Sunday Oibe and Chairman of CAN in North-Central Zone, Rev. Yakubu Pam, disowned the group, asking how concerned was the group when fellow Christians were being killed and their places of worship torched by Islamic fundamentalists in different parts of the North.

According to the northern CAN image maker: “As far as CAN in the North is concerned, there has not been any reason why this group of persons who parade themselves as Concerned Christians in the North exist and we, therefore, call on security agencies to fish out those behind the masquerade for possible prosecution.”

Oibe alleged a plot by certain eminent northern elements outside the Church who are not comfortable with the audacity of the CAN president and had voted huge money to fight him from within and from without.

Rev. Oibe said: “I am the spokesman for Northern Christians and I can tell you categorically that we do not know the group and it does not exist”

We, the leaders of CAN in the North totally identify with the leadership of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor because for the first time in the history of Nigeria Christians in the North now have a voice.

“Where were these faceless people who are currently masquerading themselves as Concerned Christians when defenseless Christians were daily being mauled and their places of worship burnt by Islamic fundamentalists in different parts of the North in what has become apparent as attempts to annihilate Christians in the area?

“This is the first time that the Church in the North is having a voice. What no other Christian leaders have not been able to accomplish since independence in 1960, Pastor Oritsejafor has achieved for the Northern Christians,” he stated, adding that Christians in that part of the country had been under ceaseless attack without anybody speaking for them.

The CAN spokesman used the opportunity to debunk the group’s claim that the CAN helmsman has endorsed the removal of oil subsidy, saying; “Papa Oritsejafor had never taken such a position. Those people are only acting a script which is part of a grand design by enemies to use some disgruntled elements within the Church to fight the CAN president.

“If the group has no hidden agenda, the members should have verified their claim to find out that this man has been dogged in his crusade on the side of the nation’s masses. He has said at several fora and in different publications that Nigeria is not ripe for the removal of oil subsidy because there has not been sufficient consultation and the environment is not conducive.”

Speaking in a similar vein, the chairman of CAN North Central, Rev. Yakubu Pam also dismissed the group as persons with unclear mission which is not in consonance with current realities in the country, especially the North.

According to Pam, any group attempting to discredit the noble objectives of the current CAN leadership definitely cannot be said to represent the interest of the North, because “the Northern Church has not have any better since the emergence of Pastor Oritsejafor as CAN president.”