Church politics

‘’If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgement instead of before the Lord’s people? ‘’ (1 Corinthians 6:1)

The above verse from the Scripture, which power brokers in the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) claim to believe in, apparently, does not mean anything to them. These are not the best of times for Christians who look up to CAN to be the ‘’light of the world’’. The forthcoming election to determine Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s successor is causing some ‘bad blood’ among Christians in Nigeria – the kind seen in the PDP’s or APC’s primaries.

The presidency of CAN is rotated among its five power blocs. And the allegation that Pastor Oritsejafor (pictured), who is from the Pentecostal power bloc, CPFN, is trying to truncate the candidacy of Dr Jerimiah Gado, a candidate from the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), a power bloc which has its root in Northern Nigeria, has torn CAN apart.

Members of CAN who are opposed to Gado’s candidacy believe that the Presidency is sponsoring a Northern candidate to do its bidding. They argue that former President Jonathan had it easy because he had Pastor Oritsejafor on his side, thus the APC might, as well, want someone who would not be opposed to them.

Dr Jeremiah Gado, who has been unanimously presented by TEKAN/ECWA, a bloc made of Northern Christians, is determined not to give away his mandate – he doesn’t want to be disenfranchised. He is also believed to be a government candidate.

Dr Jeremiah Gado, as reported, approached an Abuja High Court to seek an interim injunction in order to stop the forthcoming elections, because of what he believes to be an unlawfully disenfranchisement from the elections by CAN’s leadership, even after he has been endorsed by his own power bloc. However, the court in its wisdom asked the warring parties to appear before it on Tuesday.

Interestingly, the elections are scheduled to take place on Tuesday. With the court’s ruling, it is very unlikely that that the NEC of CAN would heed the judge’s summon. And if the election goes on, with a key Northern candidate disenfranchised, the association might never be the same again.

Meanwhile, the Catholics, which are a strong power bloc in CAN, have accused the leadership of CAN of trying to disenfranchise some candidates.

In fact, in my opinion, they accused the leadership of CAN of trying to rig the electoral processes and threatened to pull out from the whole process. The Catholics have not been happy with Pastor Oritsejafor’s leadership style, even the election that brought him in was criticized.

The word on the street is that the intrigues surrounding the forthcoming CAN’s election even consumed the boss of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, John Okpara.

Meanwhile, the electoral college of CAN has screened only two candidates – Rev Samson Ayokunle of the Baptist Convention and Prof Joseph Otubu of the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC). The two candidates represent two power blocs.

It is obvious that the Pentecostals are not eligible because Pastor Oritsejafor, the outgoing president is one of them. Also, the Catholics have not shown any interest in the seat. Thus, the ECWA bloc is obviously being disenfranchised – this bloc has never occupied CAN’s presidency.

Some accuse the leadership of CAN of using a divide and rule tactics. Some elements in the ECWA bloc claim that Jeremiah Gado was not their consensus candidate. This allegation, alone, could be enough to disqualify any candidate if the authorities want to.  And this is what some accuse the present leadership of CAN of doing.

Interestingly, the leadership of ECWA has reiterated their support for Jeremiah Gado, but it doesn’t seem anyone is listening to them anymore.

The right thing to do would be to shift the elections, until all the power blocs reach a decision, as advised by the Catholics.

These days, it seems a lot of power centres, outside CAN, seem to be interested in the leadership of CAN. Well, it didn’t start today. The kind of news and name calling coming from CAN are, obviously, not good for the body of Christ.

If CAN cannot get it right, then they won’t have the moral right to speak truth to power. We need people who would constantly tell the PDP and the APC the truth. Some of us do not want what is presently happening to the NLC to happen to CAN.