UPDATE: THE ELECTIONS INTO THE VARIOUS OFFICES OF THE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (CAN) COMES UP MONDAY 17-TUESDAY 18 JUNE 2019. ALL NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS HAVE A DUTY TO PRAY ALONG, THAT THE PERFECT WILL OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD SHALL BE DONE. THAT GOD'S OWN CANDIDATES WILL BE ELECTED INTO EACH AND EVERY POST.
AMEN.
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Preface
AMEN.
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Preface
In over 20
years of publishing Church Arise!, we have never had any cause to attack any
man of God personally – except on doctrinal issues. And that came up only with respect to the
extremely dangerous doctrine of Once-Saved-Always-Saved (OSAS), that recently
sought to ravage the Body of Christ, especially in Southwest Nigeria.
Even when
gross moral issues are involved, we hesitate personalizing things, preferring
rather to trust the LORD for recovery and restoration of his people. A Pastor’s job is about the most hazardous on
the planet, and we believe nobody is given the authority to judge God’s
servants. Even though for the sake of common
good we might judge their deeds, doctrines, or prophecies (see Gal. 2:11-13, 1 Cor. 14:29, 2 Jhn. 1:10, 3 Jhn. 1:4, etc)
when it comes to judging their service, it is “to his own Master he standeth or
falleth” (Rom. 14:4). The very few
instances we had to personalize moral issues in Pastors happened when attempts
were made to develop new doctrines to gloss over such manifestly sinful acts (e.g.
see here). Of course, this is what the OSAS-inspired
hyper-grace doctrine eventually boils down to.
The above
explanation is necessary so no one takes this position paper as an indictment
of the incumbent president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for
whatever reason. As we have done
repeatedly during state elections (see here
and here),
we believe it is our duty as responsible Watchmen to advise the Church on
candidates we believe would best serve the Body of Christ even in church
elections also. It is in this context,
and based on the understanding of the times the LORD has given us, that we humbly
submit that Dr Samson Ayokunle after successfully completing a 3-year term in
office as CAN President under tumultuous conditions (not necessarily his making),
should gracefully refrain from contesting for a second term. Consequently we hereby express our
endorsement of the candidature of the other contestant, Dr Caleb Ahima, as the
next national president of the Christian Association of Nigeria come June 2019. Please read on as we explain this position.
The Church: Salt of the Earth, Light of the
World
Any
discerning Christian would readily understand that the hydra-headed challenges
confronting our nation today can be effectively addressed ONLY by the
Church. This is an enormous
responsibility not to be trifled with.
As salt of the earth and light of the world, it is only the Church that
can effectively address such issues as drug addiction, pornography, cultism and
ritual killings, breakdown of family structure, suicides, kidnapping, ethnic
rivalries cum cleansing, and so on.
Further
complicating the task for the Church in Nigeria is the unending end-time
intrigues of foreign interests which via manipulation, blackmail, or flattery,
continually push a vulnerable government to embrace antichrist-inspired policies
that could only keep our nation in perpetual darkness. The leadership required of the umbrella body
of all Christians can therefore not be any less endowed than the proverbial children
of Issachar. Not only must it have a
sound understanding of the times, it must also be clear about how to key-in and
achieve God’s eternal purpose in our days. (I Chr. 12:32, Eph. 3:10).
Church
Arise! has repeatedly submitted
that as desirable as it is that Christians should be the ones on the driver’s
seat in the nation’s government, this is really not a critical issue. As long as we have democracy in place,
government – no matter who is at the helms – will always respond to enlightened
and articulate organized mass movements.
Furthermore, as long as the heavens and the earth remain, physical decisions
will remain driven by spiritual actions.
The Church in Nigeria clearly has these two drivers of government
policies – numbers and superior spirituality, in her favour. The problem has always been a dearth of visionary
inspiring leadership required to translate these assets into real benefits for
the Church and ultimately, the nation.
Examples
abound to substantiate this principle. We learn from places like Egypt and
Malaysia that even a government entirely dominated by moslems will still be
compelled to take Christian sensibilities and interests into serious considerations
if the Church is articulate and well-organized. Whereas even a government
headed by Christian people will be helpless in a situation where Christians
themselves have not identified their strategic interests and clear routes to actualizing
them. For instance, during the Goodluck
Jonathan’s tenure here in Nigeria, critical decisions were taken against the
Christian interests, simply because there were no central Christian voices
advocating. We can readily cite the
shenanigans with the school curriculum on CRK/IRK merger; or the summary
removal of the National Population Commission (Census) boss who had vowed to
clarify the strange demographics of desert areas being more heavily populated
than the sea coast, only in Nigeria! This is of course fundamental to virtually
every other major issue in today’s Nigeria, and while the Islamists insisted
on the sack of Chief Festus Odimegwu, literally as a matter of life and death,
there was hardly a whimper of interest expressed from the organized Christian
body on the issue. Government caved in to superior pressure.
So despite our superior number and education,
and the superior efficacy of Christian warfare, Christians have virtually been
relegated to second class status in Nigeria today. There is no need rehearsing the points here
again, some of which are adequately expressed in our position
paper released during the last presidential election. Even as we
write this piece, the Islamists are openly discussing – with no known Christian
counter measure - how every top position in the coming 9th
Legislative Assembly will be occupied by Moslems; thus completing the total
unconstitutional take-over of all arms and institutions of government in the
country!
Back to the point of this
article, the new post-2019 CAN needs a leadership that is sufficiently
motivated to confront all these gross abnormalities headlong; and inspire the
generality of the Body of Christ to arise and cause Nigeria to fulfil the
glorious prophecies long-hanging on her head even in these end-times.
The CAN and its unique challenges
The challenges facing the
leadership of an amorphous group like the CAN are necessarily numerous and
humongous. Ranging from the internal
issues of reining-in rogues and charlatans who can claim bona fide membership of the group, to building consensus among
internal units that often treat each other as competitors, and finally to the
‘political’ issue of interfacing with other religions and spiritual expressions
- while responsibly seeking to build the nation and exemplify the teachings of
Jesus Christ. But in 2019 Nigeria, there is even another major challenge: the
ongoing brazen push by Islamists to conscript Christianity to the dustbin of
history. Checkmating this push, and
ending the ongoing carnage among Christians must be the priority task for the
incoming CAN leadership.
Dr Samson Ayokunle indeed managed
to find time, at the commencement of his campaign for re-election a few weeks
ago, to visit the brethren in the eye of the storm – the internally displaced
people (IDP); refugees in their own country courtesy of Islamic militants such
as Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen. However
few people could fail to discern that issues of the IDPs are really not high on
Dr Ayokunle’s priority. Indeed, a
coalition of Christians in the northern Nigeria were sufficiently piqued to issue
a very strongly
worded statement, expressing gross disillusionment and disappointment with
the Ayokunle-led CAN Exco on this critical point.
Dr Caleb Solomon Ahima is the
other candidate who together with Dr Ayokunle has been cleared by the CAN
Electoral College to contest the CAN presidency next month. Unlike Dr Ayokunle however, Dr Ahima is a man
in the eye of the storm and has a well-established history of passionately routing
for Christians under persecutions. This
is certainly not unexpected. Coming from Taraba state, Dr Caleb Ahima is the
head of the TEKAN (Tarayar Ekklisiyoyin Kristi A Nigeria - Fellowship of the
Churches of Christ in Nigeria) – a denomination that has over the years borne
the brunt of persecution in the hand of Islamists in the country. For instance, in a statement directed at
President Buhari last year, Dr Ahima pointed
out that the “TEKAN mourns daily, as
it has been burying its members who were violently killed by Fulani herdsmen…”.
In other climes, there would be no need for a debate before a qualified
candidate from the TEKAN/ECWA bloc is unanimously presented to lead the general
body at a time like this. Moreso that that bloc has never had the opportunity
to lead the CAN in her 43 years of existence.
The glory of the Church would be
that Dr Samson Ayokunle step down his candidacy. Together, he and Dr Ahima as the new
President, can then go ahead to build a viable irresistible CAN. The challenges of CAN will not disappear
overnight even with a new man at the helms of affairs. Though this is the primary change that would
signal the re-birth of the organization, it must be followed with an urgent
review of CAN’s structures so that the enormous Christian resources currently
under-utilized can be more effectively harnessed.
Groups like the Intercessors for
Nigeria, Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International, Gideons International,
down to the Nigeria Christian Corpers Fellowship (each boasting of millions of
Nigerian Christians), must have clear access and defined mechanisms to
contribute ideas and supports to the CAN.
In the same vein, the CAN must be empowered with a considerable war chest
to effectively prosecute its businesses and thus reduce to zero any possibility
of her key officials being financially induced by the enemies of the Church. For instance, who can contemplate financially
inducing the Sultan of Sokoto to work against Islamic interests in Nigeria?
If the Church plays her part
well, the ongoing political imbroglio in the country will eventually end up on
the Church’s lap for closure and resolution.
A Dr Ahima-led CAN Exco, first-hand partakers in the pogrom against the
Church in Nigeria would be better placed to handle this discussion than one led
by the incumbent, who has actually, in controversial circumstances, gone ahead
to congratulate one side in the still-ravaging conflict.
To the
delegates at the coming National Assembly of the CAN, we declare that the ball
is in your court. This is not just another election. The year 2019 is not just
another year, we are in the endtime. The time is short, and from several signs
and witnesses all around us, we expect that the Trump will soon sound. Nigeria needs to take her place in these
last-minute soul-harvest and conflict for righteousness. This could be the year
of our Visitation as a nation, an opportunity not to be trifled with (Luke
19:42-44). Nigeria’s rising to fulfil
her destiny is strongly contingent on the body of Christ being adequately
positioned and organized to operate effectively. The current Exco should take a
deserved rest, and allow fresh hands and ideas to reposition the CAN, leveraging on the enormous
sacrifices the Church has had to pay in recent years; and ready to maximize the opportunities we believe the LORD
will be presenting the Church in Nigeria soon, as the Jihadists fight
themselves to a standstill.
It would be a lovely new day for
Christianity in Nigeria if Dr Samson Ayokunle can be persuaded to step down his
candidacy and Dr Caleb Ahima is returned unopposed as the head of CAN during
the coming NEC election in June. The
other offices should likewise be filled with spirit-filled fresh faces, ready
to enforce the Lord’s will on earth, in Nigeria, as in heaven.
Shalom.
Joshua Ojo
Ile-Ife, 19th May, 2019
