Christian elders fault CAN visit to Buhari, say it’s ‘morally, spiritually reprehensible’

The recent visit of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to President Muhammadu Buhari has been frowned at by the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF).

CAN leadership led by its president, Sampson Ayokunle, had last week visited Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to congratulate him for his 2019 general election victory.

But in a statement on Monday entitled, “Not on our behalf, CAN President, Not on our behalf,”  Christian Elders led by a former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.) and Solomon Asemota (its chairman), faulted the visit saying it was “morally and spiritually reprehensible.

According to the forum, “the ill-advised congratulatory visit to President Buhari,” amounted to “subjudice” as the determination of who won the 2019 general election “is still in court.”

NCEF then called on Christians of good conscience to know the president of CAN, Ayokunle “is running CAN as an appendage of the All Progressives Congress.”

The forum also said that the action of Ayokunle further confirmed all their protests and petitions in 2018, querying his faithfulness to Christ and to His Church.

“It is therefore premature and presumptuous for anyone to congratulate President Buhari for “winning” an election that is contested in court. The NCEF wishes to state that the congratulatory visit to Aso Villa by CAN could not be in the interest of Nigerian Christians who daily bear the agony of thousands of their brethren being killed, maimed, displaced and marginalised in the jihad launched in the northern parts of the country.

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“It is well known the indifference of the Buhari administration to the murder of Christians all over the country. This indifference has led many, including foreign observers, to conclude that the Buhari administration is complicit in the genocide that is taking place in Nigeria,” the statement read in part.

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