INNOCENT ANORUO, 08050745335 (sms only) innocuouscribbles@yahoo.com
When the then Roman Catholic Church decided to hoard the bible from lay people – the priests only read and interpreted to the congregation – those who thought that they know attacked the Church, asserting that it was hiding something. But when the bible was given to everybody to read, what was the result? Proliferation of churches: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Now, you even have Church of Satan, Church for Gays (even in Nigeria), Church for Nudists, etc. Another consequence is that the new Christian ‘intellectuals’ discarded the books they do not like in the original bible and tagged them apocrypha, accusing those who use them of “adding” to the word of God. Well, only God knows those who added or removed from his Word.
Why is it that whenever the new generation churches touch anything the orthodox churches started or are doing, they taint it, even with their holier-than-thou posture? And each time they are allowed, in the spirit of that-they-may-be-one, to sit at the table of men, they still won’t drop their childish acts. No apologies for calling the new churches ‘childish’ because gray hairs are honourable (experience comes with age). Even the Church of England, which is closest to the Catholic Church, gave the new churches a long generational gap.
According to online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), an umbrella organisation containing numerous Christian denominations in Nigeria, was founded in 1976, and originally only contained the Catholic Church and mainline protestant groups. However, it later expanded to include Pentecostal churches as well.
The current president is Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of Word of Life Bible Church, and Archbishop Daniel Okoh, president of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches, is Vice President. Former presidents include Catholic Archbishop of Abuja John Onaiyekan; former Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubumni Okogie; Prelate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Peter Akinola; Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Sunday Mbang, among others.
The organisation is made up of five blocs: Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN), Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), and the Evangelical Fellowship of West Africa (EFWA).
The CAN has women and youth wings, a National Executive Council (NEC) consisting of 105 members (which elects the president), and a General Assembly of 304 members (which ratifies the president’s election).
In 2000, the CAN protested the adoption of Sharia law in Northern states. In February 2006, while president of the organisation, Akinola issued a statement in response to Muslim violence against Christians, telling Muslims that they did not have a “monopoly on violence”. The following day, Christians rioted in retaliation against Muslims, leading to more than 70 deaths. Akinola later claimed his statements had been misinterpreted in the western media. He even threatened to resign in case the riots continued.
On May 2, 2004, more than 630 Muslims were killed in Yelwa, Nigeria. The dead were pinned white name tags identifying them as members of the CAN. The massacre is known as the Yelwa massacre.
In September 2007, the organisation endorsed a social security plan put forth by Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido.
I went this whole hog to intimate the uninitiated, even those who claim to be present leaders of CAN, how this body came about. This is owing to the comment of one CAN-ignorant that the Catholic Church does not know the vision of CAN founding fathers.
During the past week, the Catholic Church reportedly withdrew its membership of CAN, because the organisation it started has derailed. After the news, there were other stories.
Following rumours in some quarters that the Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has pulled out of CAN, the Director Communication, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Ralph Madu, in an interview with The Guardian, maintained that the CBCN did not pull out of CAN, and that the body was only trying to sort out some issues with the national Christian body.
He said the body only withdrew temporarily from CAN, which will only last for few weeks, adding that there was no squabble between the two religious bodies.
Madu, who did not disclose the issues, said: “How can we pull out of CAN? We are just trying to iron out some issues with them, which are not palatable to us and it’s only going to last for few weeks. We will always be in support of the national body; some of our bishops are heading CAN in some states.”
The Catholic Church in another letter explained that it withdraw its membership of CAN, to promote Christian unity and peaceful coexistence among Christians and non-Christians alike.
When this piece of news reached me, I started wondering what becomes of CAN without the Catholic Church. Can CAN survive it, or will it turn to an empty vessel, which makes the most noise?
But in display of crass ignorance, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the 19 Northern States of CAN and Abuja, Sunny Oibe, having reportedly said that CAN would do without Catholic Church, described CBCN as an appendage of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which double-speaks.
His words: “There is no division in CAN, and we are all speaking with one language. There are some certain elements in the leadership of CBCN led by Cardinal John Onaiyekan because he lost PFN presidency to Oritsejafor who has a lot of achievements.
“There is no need for anybody to lose sleep over the threat by Catholics to pull out of CAN because without them CAN will still continue. The constitution of CAN makes provision that membership can be terminated by any group that is misbehaving or any group can also terminate its membership.
“Why is it that when Catholics were in the leadership of CAN, every bloc supported them but now because power has changed hands, they are threatening to pull out and causing confusion?
“They have been agitating that the presidency of CAN must come from the South. They are appendage of PDP and PDP themselves. They are known for double standards. A man of God should not be double-speaking.”
According to Oibe, who is also the spokesperson of the President of Tarayar Ekklisiyar Kristi A Nijeriya, a conglomeration of 13 church groups in CAN, Catholics should not mislead the public even if they want to pull out.
Oibe stressed that the body was borne out of great passion to fight the cause of Christians in the North who were being marginalised.
“CAN was formed because of the marginalisation of Christians in the North. The Christians in the North, particularly those of them from the TEKAN extraction, came together and formed Northern Christian Association. It was that body that metamorphosed to CAN,” he was quoted to have said.
Oibe ignorantly wanted to ‘correct the impression’ Catholics are the founding fathers of CAN.
His exact words: “Catholics have accused the current CAN leadership led by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of being pro-government. But if you look at the whole scenario, you will be able to find out who between Oritsejafor and Onaiyekan is more close (sic) to government.
“The problem of Catholics is that they always display arrogance of knowledge. They don’t want to be under anybody; but they want everybody to be under them. It doesn’t work like that because there is no seniority in CAN.”
I purposely did not edit that italicised “more close” for readers to know the sort of people the present CAN have as their leaders – people who could not express themselves in simple correct English. If someone cannot speak simple English… Kyrie eleison! I don’t blame anybody. What does one expect? In CAN are some people, who, out of hunger, called themselves into the vineyard, after just three months in a ‘bible school’.
Come to think of it, if the orthodox churches had denied the mushroom churches membership of CAN, they would have been accused of discrimination in the body of Christ. But see how messed up CAN is now.
Another grudge of the Catholic Church is that CAN is now run – as it happens in some ‘husband and wife’ ecclesia communities – like a personal estate, and how the current president carries himself.
A Catholic cleric added: “Christian Association of Nigeria should not be run as a one-man show. Personally, I feel it is even an aberration for CAN’s president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, to say that he is ‘the number one Christian in Nigeria’. It is unbecoming of the leader of such a sacred institution to say that; so for now, we would retain our membership at state and local government level while we review our stand, provided things change for the better,” he added.
My take is that if the Nigerian Christian body did not retrace its steps, and Catholic Church pulls out completely, it will just become an empty CAN. And if salt loses its taste, according to the bible, it will be discarded and trampled afoot.
I pray against that, anyway.