CAN wants Nigeria to withdraw from all religious bodies 

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on the national assembly to compile the list of all organisations Nigeria belongs to, with a view to dropping “all the religious ones”.

The Christian body said this at a meeting which prominent Christian leaders in the country held at the Shepherdhill Baptist Church in Lagos.

Among those in attendance were Samson Ayokunle, president of CAN; David Oyedepo, founder of The Living Faith Church, Worldwide; Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG); Mike Okonkwo, general overseer of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); and Ayo Oritsejafor, former president of CAN.

The leaders accused past and present leaders in the country of concluding steps to Islamise Nigeria.

CAN alleged that there is a communique on ‘Islam in Africa Organisation’ (IAO) of 1989 called ‘Abuja Declaration’ which among other things, seeks “to eradicate in all its forms and ramifications all non-Muslim religions in member nation which are unacceptable to Muslim”.

“Almost all the steps to be taken to Islamise Nigeria have been completed through the subtle actions of our rulers who were and are Muslims. Our government has donated billions of naira into this Islamisation agenda,” Ayokunle said at the meeting.

He said the Abuja Declaration also aims “to ensure only Muslims are elected to all political posts of member nations; to ensure the ultimate replacement of all western forms of legal and judicial systems with the sharia in all member nations before the next ‘Islam in Africa’ conference; to ensure the appointment of only Muslims into strategic national and international posts of member nations.

“The execution of this strategy can be recognised in countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia and Sudan. In Nigeria more and more provinces (are) chosen for the Sharia, leading to heavy protests of Christians, often resulting in violence and bloodshed to both sides.”

Ayokunle said those in government are either ignorant of the truth or are mischievous when they say that there is no plan to Islamize Nigeria.

He, however, added that the meeting was not called to antagonise the government and Muslims in the country rather “to create awareness of the dangers around.”

“For us to continue to do pilgrimage together as a nation, there must be justice, fairplay and mutual respect for all irrespective of religion, ethnic group or political affiliation, otherwise, things may fall apart,” he said.