All is not well within the umbrella body for Christians in Nigeria, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), as the Catholic Church has withdrawn its membership of the body.
The Diocesan Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Monsignor Christopher Ajala, stated this at a news conference organised as part of the activities to mark the 15th anniversary of the creation of the diocese.
Monsignor Ajala stated that the Catholic church suspended its activities in CAN because it was too close to government.
He alleged that the Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor-led CAN had derailed from the objectives of the body, adding that the Catholic Bishops Conference was not comfortable with the development, hence its decision to pull out.
His words: “The Catholic Church took their stand before the purchase or the aircraft was donated to him. But what the Catholic Bishops Conference is complaining about is about the way they are running the national CAN now that is not meeting the objectives and the goals of CAN and the forefathers of CAN.
“CAN is now being run as part of the government and we said no.
“Because they (government) will dictate to us what to do and they will not take our advice seriously. The Catholic Church decided to withdraw from the activities of CAN at national level; we are still part of the state. We made our stand clear in November, last year, and by December, the man bought a jet. I don’t know how he got it but the president was there on that day the jet was delivered to him.
“So, what we are saying is that our religious leaders should be honest, upright and they should also be the conscience of this nation.
“If you are bought, the masses of this country are finished. If you can use money to buy our religious leaders, then there is no hope for the common man. That is the Catholic Church’s stand. We are supposed to speak for the people to correct the wrongs in the society and assist every government to know the will of God for them and we still stand by that” he declared.