National
Christian Elders Forum, NCEF, has said the Nigerian Church is unfortunate with
its current group of officials leading the Christian Association of Nigeria,
CAN.
The group,
made of 27 Christians above 70 years, said this is a statement entitled:
“Rejoinder: CAN has no supervisor” by its Chairman, Elder Solomon Asemota (SAN)
in Abuja yesterday.
CAN had
earlier described the National Christian Elders Forum, (NCEF) and the Congress
of Northern Nigeria Christians (CNNC) as para-Church organisations not
recognised by CAN Constitution, saying they had no right to interfere or
question its leadership.
In a
response, Asemota expressed shock at the statement credited to CAN’s Director
of National Issues and Mobilization, Bishop Stephen Adegbite.
He explained
that NCEF was a stakeholder in CAN and had the right to demand accountability
from its representatives.
The NCEF
chairman wondered why anybody would make an issue of a constitutional
recognition, arguing: “It is not possible for NCEF that was inaugurated on
January 15, 2015 to be in the current CAN Constitution which was signed into
effect in 2004. The statement that because NCEF is not in the CAN Constitution
and therefore not qualified to make comments on CAN issues is trite and
irrelevant.
“NCEF does
not agree that it is trying to ‘supervise’ CAN; far from it. The National
Christian Elders Forum is stakeholder in CAN and has the right to demand
accountability from its representatives. The “immunity clause” that the current
CAN officials wish to accord themselves is non-existent”.
According to
the Christian Elders group, “the Nigerian Church is very unfortunate with its current
group of CAN officials.”
It said the intransigence
and unwillingness to accept correction is un-Christian, stressing that even if
crime was committed or mistakes were made, the Christian response is to repent
and seek forgiveness.
The group added that it is inconceivable that
accomplished elders would seek to malign or slander a younger man occupying the
office of the President of CAN.
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