Bishops present at Wednesday's unveiling of Shettimain Abuja
CAN to APC: ‘Name clergymen in attendance at Shetima’s unveiling’
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has returned with another poser to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) which had paraded a group of bishops and pastors in attendance at the official unveiling of Senator Kashim Ibrahim Shettima as the Vice Presidential candidate of the party, Wednesday, at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.
CAN had earlier dissociated itself from the planned event in line while reacting to the Muslim-Muslim ticket presented by the APC’s Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but has followed up by challenging the ruling party to mention the names of its Christian clergy guests at the Shettima unveiling.
Speaking, earlier Wednesday, immediately after the ceremony, in a chat with newsmen in reaction to the official unveiling of Senator Shettima as the running mate of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, the Vice President of CAN (19 Northern States and Abuja) and chairman in Kaduna State, Rev. Joseph John Hayab, described the Christian clerics who attended the event as ‘people who did not have enough time to learn how to wear Bishop garments.’
“The people we saw at the unveiling of Shettima paraded as Bishops are people who did not have enough time to learn how to wear Bishop garments. Take a closer look at their photo and you will see another Nollywood movie.
“CAN wonders why the desperation. First, a story was out claiming to have come from the Chairman of CAN Borno state only to be refuted.
“Secondly, there was another lie that BAT (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) and his running mate were on their way to meet CAN President one night. A meeting that was not true and was on a night that the CAN President was in Alabama USA attending Baptist World Alliance Conference of which he is the Vice President.
“Another desperation story was that they met Papa Adeboye which the RCCG later refuted. If Christians are not important why the desperation?
“BAT is free to hire mechanics and other artisans and sew clerical garments for them. An effort that will only add to their many ropes when the political exercise is over but will not change the need for fairness and justice that CAN is calling for.
“CAN appreciate that we are in a democracy, no need to do funny and dubious things just to prove a point because it will in the end bounce back. BAT team should simply do what is right and stop the drama,” the CAN leader said.
However, continuing in the diatribe with the APC over the presence of Christian clerics at the unveiling, Adebayo Oladeji, the Special Assistant on Media and Communication to the President of CAN, Samson Ayokunle, followed up with a challenge to the ruling party to mention the names of the clerics its invited.
The latest challenge comes barely hours after the initial CAN response through its Vice President (North).
Oladeji said: “Let them name the CAN officials at the programme and their offices. If they could use 2017 photos to claim that some Pastors visited Shettima and lied that Pastor E. A Adeboye has endorsed them, they could do anything.
“Our position on Muslim-Muslim ticket is irreversible. Anybody can claim anything but one thing is clear, CAN was not part of the unveiling programme of Shettima.”
Ealier this July, CAN while reacting to the decision by the APC Presidential candidate, Tinubu to settle for a fellow Muslim as running mate in the 2023 General Elections, said ‘the situation in the country now is not suitable for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.’
“It is up to Nigerians to accept or reject. Today’s Nigeria is not the same when Nigerians voted Abiola-Kingibe ticket which was eventually annulled.
“Our prayers are with Nigeria and Nigerians,” read the official statement by CAN signed by the Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the CAN President, Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, while reacting to the Tinubu and Shettima ticket.
