On Monday, July 25, 2022, the Most Rev. Daniel Okoh, who is the General Superintendent of Christ Holy Church, also known as the Nation Builders (Odozi-Obodo) emerged as the new President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) to spearhead a new leadership.
Most Rev. Okoh’s election as the new CAN President was announced by Mr. Joseph Daramola, the association’s General Secretary, on Tuesday, July 26, 2022.
The Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), was formed in 1976, exactly 46 years ago by a five bloc of Christian bodies. They are Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN), the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), The Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), the Organization of African Instituted Churches (GAIC), the (TEKAN and ECWA Fellowship).
A new era of the Christian body is expected to begin with the handing over ceremony to Most Rev. Okoh and his new executive members on Friday, July 29, 2022. Can Rev. Okoh and his executive give CAN a new lease of life, and a proper direction as a Christian body? These and many more questions are begging for answers.
Also of paramount concern to Christians of faiths and denominations is how to rescue CAN from active partisan politics, which the body has unfortunately enmeshed itself in. Can the Rev. Okoh’s administration be able to redirect the affairs of CAN, to reflect its core values?
Only time will tell. But how did the Christian body abandon its core values and delved into partisan politics full time that it is now finding it very difficult to separate it from?
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In an attempt to answer these questions, Trumpet Religion Desk looked at how CAN derailed and became partisan.
CAN as a body, became actively involved in partisan politics during the leadership of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as chairman of the association.
As expected, after the Catholic Bishop’s subtle warning that the body be redirected to face its core values and the reluctance by the Pastor Oritsejafor-led administration to heed its warning, the then President of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, (CBCN), in a letter dated September 24, 2012, personally signed by Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama addressed to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, one of the associations most influential blocs, informed CAN that it was pulling out of the organization.
Given reasons as at the time of this action, according to the CBCN “CAN most recent attitudes, utterances and actions of the body’s national leadership, which the Catholic Bishops said, negated the concept of the foundation of the association and the desire of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This letter went on to say, “the CBCN has suspended its participation in CAN meetings until such a time the leadership of CAN reverses back to the original vision, mission and objectives of CAN.”
Expatiating further on its grouse with the then Oritsejafor-led leadership of the association, the Catholic Bishops lamented that CAN had been politicized and was no longer being used to promote peace and unity in the country.
The CBCN continued, “CAN is being dragged into partisan politics thereby compromising the ability to play its true role as conscience of the nation and the voice of the voiceless.”
Pastor Oritsejafor, the then CAN President was repeatedly accused by Nigerians of being divisive in the way he ran the association, often making comments in support of the People’s Democratic Party-led Federal Government and President Goodluck Jonathan. Many Nigerian Christians believe till now that Pastor Oritsejafor pushed CAN into ignominy with his utterances and actions making Nigerians to regard the association as an arm of the PDP.
Pastor Oritsejafor became even more unpopular among his colleagues and around the country in late 2012 when he got a new Jet as a gift from unknown donors.
Till date, he is yet to disclose the names of those who gave him the Jet, which was once seized in South Africa and loaded with millions of dollars. In the same breath, CAN has not been able to account for the 7 billion Naira, the ex-President Jonathan administration allegedly gave to CAN to run its affairs up till 2015 elections, which PDP lost to the ruling party, APC.
It is important to note, that the number eight item in the Catholic Bishop’s letter to CAN then, is the fact they pointedly made, that “CAN is not a Mega Church but an association of different Churches.” Stressing that, “therefore, any claim by the President of CAN to the leader of all Christians in Nigeria must take this into account.”
In other words, CAN is not in a position to speak for all Christians in Nigeria especially having so soiled itself with partisan politics and having become a tool of divisiveness and destabilization and persecution of Christians satanic propaganda from hell and bringing the body of Christ into ridicule, disrepute and disgrace with the level of greed the CAN leadership exhibited then.
Superior Evangelist Kayode Ajala, the spokesperson for Celestial Church of Christ, (CCC) Worldwide, said, “If the new leadership of CAN led by Most Rev. Daniel Okoh and his executive want to be taken seriously, it must immediately excuse itself from any form of partisan political activities and concentrate on the vision of CAN when the body was formed 46 years ago.
The vision of CAN is to be among other things, a watch-dog of the spiritual and moral welfare of the nation. As expected, this body is to propagate the Gospel, to promote understanding among the various people and strata of society in Nigeria.”
Pastor John Kuforiji of CK-REGLOM said the Most Rev, Okoh leadership of CAN should immediately revert to the aims of CAN as an association with a lot of values in biblical studies.
The association should immediately create a platform that will provide the Nigerian Society with mutual support, academic and research collaboration, intellectual growth, career development, research dissemination, and global exposure for its members.
