By Sam Eyoboka

A LITTLE over two weeks to the elections that will produce Past-or Ayo Oritsejafor’s successor, indications emerged during the week that the alleged covert governmental interest in the leadership process of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, is already threatening the electoral process to elect a new presi-dent for the apex body of Christians in the country.

Feelers reaching Sunday Vanguard indicate that some members of the Electoral College may have been com-promised and are threaten-ing that if the ECWA candi-date is not allowed to parti-cipate in the elections they will frustrate the process and create a lacuna to give the impression that the outgoing CAN president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, wants to prolong his stay.

Sources close to the Electoral College, told our reporter that a meeting in Kaduna with some members of the Elector-al College in attendance last weekend came up with the strategy that the group would frustrate the Electoral Colle-ge from fulfilling its consti-tutional mandate of choos-ing two candidates for the National Executive Council, who will in turn pick the next CAN president, if the ECWA president was prevented from participating in the process.

The APC government at the centre has been fingered to be behind covert moves to compromise the leadership process of the CAN and sponsor a pro-Buhari clergy from the North so as to avoid any radical opposition to his administration from the Christian Community.

Based on such fears, two groups under the aegis of the Patriotic Christian Youths of Nigeria (PCYN) and the Northern Christian Youth Solidarity Movement for Emancipation, Develop-ment, Justice and Self-determination have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to warn their officials, perceived to be neck deep in ensuring that the Church in Nigeria is divided and destroyed, to desist from that endeavour to avoid a po-ssible setback in government’s quest for a change in the country.

In a statement signed by Evangelist Simon Timothy Nasso, PCYN urged the president to be mindful that the good intention of his Government to effect genuine change in Nigeria does not suffer a setback if the top officials of his Government are not ready to leave the Church alone.

Continuing, PCYN noted that Nigeria is passing through an excruciating period as a result of the current insecurity, economic depreciation and mismanag-ement of resources, stating “while we pray for President Muhammadu Buhari to have the wisdom and courage to sail through these challen-ges, we urge the Federal Government to hands off from enforcing its favored candidate for the office of the National CAN President.

“The deliberate exhibition and expression of vested Gov-ernment interest in the forthcoming CAN election and the attempt to impose a desperate candidate who lacks people-oriented leader-ship style inform our writing. As Christian Youths of Niger-ia, we are interested in know-ing the caliber of persons that will lead the Church in this trying period. Any attempt by any person or persons in authority to anoint and sponsor a leader based on parochial interest to lead the Church must be resisted by Nigerian Christian youths,” the statement cautioned.

According to the evangelist, false messages have been going out that Dr. Jeremiah Gado, who recently address-ed a Press conference to announce his candidature, is the Northern interest in the CAN election and he is the only qualified candidate who has won his primaries.

The PCYN debunked such speculators, describing them as unfounded news aimed at deceiving the public that the CAN leaders are fighting against Northern interest just to earn the favor and sym-pathy of President Muha-mmadu Buhari who they perceived as Northern bias.

“The sponsors of the false-hood did not tell their pay masters that unlike Nigerian political office zoning, the Church has a different leader-ship selection process not based on region, tribe and denomination and that Dr. Jeremiah Gado has not gotten any nomination from his church; ECWA not to talk of scaling through his bloc TEKAN/ECWA hence he is not a nominated candidate for the elections,” the state-ment contended.

According to PCYN, Dr. Gado, out of desperation, arranged a kangaroo bloc meeting, appointed an acting Chairman and Secretary to ensure his nomination even when the leader of the bloc, Dr. Emmanuel Dziggau was kidnapped and was still being searched for, as if the contest was much more than life to him.

“While Dr. Gado and his team want the public to believe that the contest is between him and the OAIC candidate, Prof. Joseph Otubu, it’s on record that Rev. Supo Ayo-kunle, outgoing CAN Vice President who is the head of Baptist Churches in Nigeria and member of Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) bloc, is also a nominee for the office of the president,” the statement added.

Dr. Gado, according to the group, is using government machinery and the media as medium for his campaign rather than mobilizing the church groups and the dele-gates, stressing “he is a cand-idate that speaks of his select-ion process and that of other contenders on the media even when the Electoral College, saddled with the responsibili-ty of screening the candidates from various blocs, has not made any statement on the number of the aspirants from the various blocs.”

On its part, the Northern Christian Youth Solidarity Movement for Emancipat-ion, Development, Justice and Self-Determination is con-cerned about the desperation of the so-called Northern candidate, noting that such ambition has adversely affected the TEKAN/ECWA Bloc.

“We have therefore resolved, as critical stakeholders, that we will no longer fold our hands and watch the body of Christ in Nigeria destroyed just because of an individual’s aspiration. We therefore call on eminent Christian individ-uals and groups especially the leaders of the Five Blocs of CAN to resist any form of intimidation by enemies of the Church to install a leader for the Church,” the statement signed by the group’s PRO, Rev. James Gani stated