From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has reviewed their planned nationwide peaceful protest earlier scheduled for Sunday, May 22, 2022, in response to the recent murder of Deborah Samuel, a 200 level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto.

It asked members to rather engage in protest of “placard carrying” within the premises of their local churches or CAN Secretariat as against the initial plan of going beyond but not on the street.

CAN, in a statement by its President, Dr. Samson Ayokunle Olasupo, explained that the review was due to intelligence information that indicated that some non-Christians have planned to counter the peaceful protest on Sunday with the intention to cause chaos and attribute it to Christians.

It had in a statement last week, asked all bloc leaders, zonal chairmen, state chairmen, local coordinators, denominational and church leaders to prepare their members for nationwide peaceful protest scheduled to hold on 22 May, 2022, by 3:00 prompt.

It directed that the peaceful action should not take place on the streets as usual in order to avoid further losses, but should take place at every secretariat of CAN nationwide, and those without CAN secretariat should use any church with big premises.

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The church leaders and their members were, however, asked to hold placards with some succinct messages like “we demand justice for Deborah, no more killing in God’s name, enough is enough, police stop unprovoked killings in Nigeria, Christians are not second class citizens, killers of Deborah must be prosecuted, we condemn religious killings, we say no to Islamic extremists.”

Meanwhile, the CAN President, Dr. Samson Ayokunle Olasupo, in a statement on Saturday, urged the all CAN members to do the protest of placard carrying within the premises of their local churches or CAN Secretariat.

“However, where it is unsafe to do the protest in church premises or CAN Secretariat, you may carry the placards inside your church and pray for justice for Deborah Samuel who was wickedly and extra judicially murdered,” he advised.

He asked Christians to use the opportunity to pray as well for a change of heart for the wicked who find it convenient for them to kill their fellow human beings under religious guise.

He advised them to use conventional and social media to ensure adequate coverage and reportage of the event.