• Maintain stance against same faith ticket
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) have distanced themselves from an alleged financial donation by the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, for support and mobilisation of votes ahead of the coming presidential election.
A petition purportedly written by Frank Onwumere of Dominion Centre International, Owerri, Imo State, and addressed to CAN President, Daniel Okoh, alleging that N2 billion was provided by Obi during the yuletide season to CAN, PFN and Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) for disbursement to churches and some popular pastors and Catholic bishops for the purposes of support, but was hijacked and shared by some people leaving others had surfaced on social media at the weekend.
The petition, which generated several reactions on social media, added that some churches were asking for a visiting fee of about N50 million and above from politicians, particularly Obi, so as to ask their congregation to vote for him during the presidential elections.
PFN Vice President, John Praise, in a telephone interview with Daily Sun, asked Nigerians to disregard the petition as it’s nothing close to truth.
“Besides, the man whose name was used to sign the petition, Onwumere, has come out to disown the petition and had distanced himself from the petition,” he said.
CAN Director of National Issues, Stephen Adegbite, also told Daily Sun that he wasn’t aware of the petition, but there’s nothing close to truth regarding the petition.
He said: “We held a meeting of national officers of CAN last Thursday and nothing of such was neither mentioned nor discussed at the meeting. So, Nigerians should disregard the said petition. It’s possibly the work of mischief.”
John Hayab, a senior official of northern CAN, also confirmed that such engagement or discussion with Obi, never happened.
“This is totally a mischief and effort of some might want to heat up the polity unnecessarily ahead of the fast approaching elections. Whoever is making this allegation need his or her head checked properly,” he said.
He maintained that CAN has remained apolitical and has not pitched tent nor asked Christians to vote for any candidate. CAN has only maintained its stand against Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket as presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“We have informed Christians that 17 political parties have presented presidential candidates. So, everybody is at liberty to choose any candidate that he or she is convinced that has good intentions for Nigeria,” he said.
Meanwhile, Okoh said he’s not aware of such money given to churches to mobilise votes for any presidential candidate nor received the said petition dated, December 22, 2022.
He said: “As a faith-based entity, CAN non-partisan and will neither endorse nor mobilise support for any candidate in the coming elections as against the social media post being circulated by some elements.”
He urged Nigerians to disregard the purported petition as its content is untrue and malicious, and warned those peddling the falsehood to desist from such acts because they are capable of defaming innocent people and revered religious institutions as well as breaching public peace.
Okoh, who was a guest at the opening ceremony of the first plenary of CBCN in Abuja, yesterday, however, confirmed there was pressure on CAN to openly endorse a presidential candidate in the coming election but it refused because CAN has members in all the political parties and cannot endorse one against the other.
“In order to provide a guide for Nigerian voters, who constantly ask the leadership of CAN to endorse a candidate so that all Christians would vote in one direction, the Committee on Politics and Strategy of CAN provided some guidelines to help voters in making informed choices.
“These guidelines include factors like competence, character and capability. This guide has been captured in a pamphlet made available to all Christians through the various offices of CAN in the states and Federal Capital Territory long before the primary. It’s explicit and sufficient.
“CAN had, in October 2022, invited all the political parties and their presidential flag-bearers for an interface with church leaders. All the leading political parties attended the meeting and laid out their plans for Nigerians and entertained questions from CAN leadership on their areas of priority and their plans for the Nigerian people.
“Its wasn’t intended to be a debate session or for endorsement, but an opportunity to gauge the priority of the candidates and closely scrutinise their thoughts for a better Nigeria.
“It’s important to note that this kind of interface will continue with whoever wins the election. CAN intends to hold whoever emerges as president accountable for the promises made during electioneering,” he said.
He further disclosed that CAN has registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission to participate in the observation of the general election.
“We have concluded training of 1,200 accredited observers at the zonal and state levels. Among the 1,200 are 280 Trainers of Trainers (TOTS) who would cascade the training down to the states and local government levels.
“There are also some international observers from All African Conference of Churches that would join our local observers team. This will be our modest contribution in ensuring a free, fair and credible election in Nigeria this year.”