Again, CAN Asks Buhari to Reorganise Security Agencies

• Condemns underage voters registration

Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned in strong terms the menace of insecurity challenges occasioned by the incessant killings in the country, and reiterated its earlier call on President Muhammadu Buhari to reorganise the security agencies.

The Christian umbrella body, at its last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, commiserated with the victims and the bereaved of all the killings going on in the country especially in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa and Zamfara States by the “terrorists herdsmen and the bandits.”

In a statement issued wednesday by the Special Assistant on Media and Communications to CAN President, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, the organisation listed the resolutions made at the NEC meeting to include: “That CAN identifies with the victims of the on-going killings by the herdsmen terrorists in the North Central; the Boko Haram terrorists in some states in the Northeast and bandits in Zamfara State.”

The resolutions also stated that CAN frowned at the failure of the security agencies to prevent those criminals before they strike as expected of them, and “that CAN reiterates its opposition to the composition of the National Security Council which skewed in favour of one religion and a part of the country; and that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi- religious state. We therefore call on President Muhammadu Buhari to respect the Federal Character Commission Act in all his appointments and policies.”

The Christian body also called “on President Buhari to reorganise the entire security agencies with a view to injecting new officers with new visions and ideas that can restore sanity to all the trouble spots in the country/
“That every Christian that is of voting age should register for the forthcoming general elections, and that the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) should stop the under-age registration that characterises the ongoing registration of voters in some parts of the country.

“That CAN frowns at the deliberate attempts being made to discourage people from participating in the registration exercise by the INEC officials in some states; CAN appeals to its members not to be intimidated or discouraged by the frustration associated with the registration exercise but to ensure that they all secure their Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC).

“We urge our members to participate in the political process in the country as the need arises with a view to having the right people at the right places of governance. The NEC calls on all the blocs to put aside their differences and support the leadership of Rev. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle to move the Church forward.”
Oladeji listed those in attendance to include CAN President, Ayokunle; the Vice President, Prof Joseph Otubu; the General Secretary, Rev Dr Musa Asake; Assistant General Secretary, Joseph Daramola; Treasurer, Bishop Anthony Anyiador; the Legal Director, Samuel Kwankur; the Youth Director, Elder Biodun Sayanolu, and the Director, National Issues, Bishop S.T.V. Adegbite.

Others were the bloc leaders-Rev Fubara Fubara-Manuel (Christian Council of Nigeria, CCN); Pastor A. O. Akinosun (Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria/Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN/CPFN); Elder Napo Emuchay (the Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), Rev Caleb Ahima Tarayar Ekklesiyoyin Kristi a Nigeria or The Fellowship of the Churches of Christ in Nigeria (TEKAN)/ Evangelical Church of Winning All (ECWA), and Rev Fr. Prof Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua (Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, (CSN).

Also in attendance were the six zonal chairmen, the states chairmen and their secretaries; the President of Women Wing (WOWICAN), Dr Mabel Oyin Sowolu; the Chaplin, National Christian Centre, Bishop Peter Ogunmuyiwa, and the representatives of the five blocs that make up CAN.