The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has described the protest staged against the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye as unfair, embarrassing and ill-motivated to tarnished his image.
National Director, Legal and Public Affairs of CAN, Kwamkur Samuel Vondip, in a statement yesterday, urged the protesters to take their protest to President Muhammadu Buhari and government officials.
“The attention of the Christian Association of Nigeria has been drawn to the news of a protest led by some secular musicians against one of our highly respected leaders of the Church, not only in Nigeria, but Worldwide, namely, the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, over his purported silence on some unpleasant national issues and the call for his suspension from the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, (PFN).
“While we appreciate the concern of the protesters over the issues they raised and the call for a better nation, we strongly believe, as the umbrella body for Christians and churches in Nigeria, to which the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Pastor E. A. Adeboye belong, that to single out one of our leaders and members, to say the least, is unfair.
“The entire exercise, in our view, was ill- motivated. The people who staged this insulting protest against a highly revered servant of God in the person of Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye are totally ignorant of the operations of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
“It needs to be known to all that for more than once, Pastor E. A. Adebayo has addressed the press and said that as a ‘man under authority’, he cannot speak over issues that CAN or PFN have spoken about, unless by the express permission of these two bodies.
“Pastor Adeboye is an unusually humble man and a man of the spirit, who has learnt to operate under authority in line with Scriptural injunctions as a servant of God. He has said more than once that he cannot say anything again after CAN and PFN have spoken about issues.”
They said that any protest against Pastor Adeboye would be seen by it as a systematic insult against the leaders of the church in Nigeria and wondered why any group of people think that it is their right to protest and demand that Pastor Adeboye should speak over the issues they listed when CAN and PFN have spoken on them.
Vondip said CAN had visited and written several times to President Muhammadu Buhari on the need to work hard towards releasing those in captivity and address the insecurity that has claimed several lives in the country.
“For emphasis, if we go the memory lane, for not less than three occasions, CAN has taken many of the issues which the protesters were mentioning to President Muhammadu Buhari, requesting the government to do more to get the people in captivity released such as the remaining Chibok girls, Leah Sharibu, the captive of faith and El-Zakzaky the Islamic preacher that is still kept in detention against the ruling of the court.
Meanwhile, the PFN, has also said those who are calling for the suspension of Pastor Adeboye by the group for not taking a stand on Ruga and Leah Sharibu’s abduction were ill-advised.
President, PFN, Dr. Felix Omobude, disclosed this, yesterday, while addressing newsmen in Benin City.
“I think the suggestion for Pastor Enoch Adeboye to be suspended by the PFN is ill-advised.
While PFN respects the rights of the people to protest, but we think that protests should be done justly and those who embarked on protests should conduct their investigation properly before embarking on it”, Omobude said.
______
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2019 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant source.
