The Department of State Services, DSS,
has invited members of the Board of
Trustees of the Christian Association of
Nigeria, CAN, over a video showing the
destruction of some churches in the
north east. The video was allegedly being used by Christian leaders to raise
funds for the reconstruction of worship
centers destroyed by Boko Haram
insurgents in the North East. According to the Punch, four key
members of CAN’s BoT, who are also
leaders of the National Christian Elders
Forum, NCEF, were questioned for four
hours on Tuesday evening at the DSS
headquarters in Abuja. Those that were interrogated by the
DSS included a former Chief of General
Staff, Lt. Gen. Joshua Dogonyaro (retd.),
representing TEKAN/ECWA bloc of CAN;
a retired High Court Judge, Justice
Kalajine Anigbogu, representing the Christian Council of Nigeria bloc; Mrs.
Osaretin Demuren, representing the
Organisation of African Instituted
Churches and a former Deputy
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
Mr. Tunde Lemo, representing the Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria and Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria. Sources told the newspaper that a
former President of the Nigerian Bar
Association, Dame Priscilla Kuye (SAN),
representing the Catholic bloc;
President of the National Christian
Elders’ Forum, Solomon Asemota, its General Secretary, Bosun Emmanuel
and many others would be invited for
questioning by the DSS soon. Also to be interrogated include the
President of CAN, Dr. Samson Supo
Ayokunle and its General Secretary, Dr.
Musa Asake. One of the personalities interrogated
by the security service disclosed that
they were asked to explain why they
appeared in the video which showed
footages of the carnage and
destruction unleashed on churches in the North-East by the members of the
Boko Haram Islamic sect, alleging that
it was an inciting video. He said, “We spent over four hours at the
DSS headquarters on Tuesday evening
and they were asking us the motive
behind the video. The grouse of the
DSS was that we appeared in the video
soliciting for funds to rebuild churches destroyed by Boko Haram. They
specifically told us that the video
which showed burnt churches was
inciting. “They asked us why we produced a
video like that having blood and
demolished buildings. We are just
members of the BoT of CAN Trust Fund.
I suspect that they will cajole us to
remove the video but that is not possible because we are for Christ,” the
source stated. The Director of Legal and Public Affairs
in CAN, Kwamkur Samuel, while
confirming the invitation said, “I
accompanied them to the DSS
headquarters; CAN would be watching
as the situation unfolds. “When the Christian elders were
invited, they wondered why all of
them, particularly those who appeared
in the video. They drew the attention
of the CAN President who directed me
to write a letter to the DSS to tell them that those they invited are members of
the CAN Trust Fund Board of Trustees.