CAN To Acting President Osinbajo: Is Your Tongue Tied?

Acting Vice President of Nigeria: Yemi Osinbajo

According to the Punch Newspapers the  The position of CAN was contained in a statement issued on behalf of its President, Dr. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, by his Special Assistant (Media and Communication), Adebayo Oladeji, in Abuja. Here is what they had to say.

“We call on the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to intervene in all the clampdown on the Church in Nigeria. After all, he is in the office primarily to represent the interest of the Christians and his studied silence is no longer golden.

“Why we have yet to recover from the genocide in Southern Kaduna by the murderous Fulani herdsmen and its attendant consequences, the Jigawa State Government began the pulling down of our churches with impunity.

“As if that was not enough, some operatives from the DSS reportedly invaded a hotel in Ekiti on Tuesday where Apostle Johnson Suleiman and his team who were in the state capital for a crusade were lodging.

“According to what we heard, they insisted on remaining in the hotel until Apostle Johnson Suleiman surrendered himself for arrest. But for the timely intervention of the management of the hotel and other well-meaning Nigerians around, the invasion could have resulted into bloodshed as the minister of God was there with some MOPOL men and officers. Apostle Suleiman has become a refugee in Ekiti State as security operatives are said to be searching every nook and cranny of the state with a view to arresting him.”

According to the organisation, if there is an urgent need to interrogate Apostle Suleiman on any issue, it would only have been proper to extend a formal or informal invitation to him by the DSS, rather than the Gestapo approach used in the attempt to arrest him.

According to CAN, under Nigerian Laws, Suleiman is presumed innocent until a court of law proves otherwise.

CAN wondered if the DSS had extended the proposed “obnoxious” law which forbids religious preaching without the permission of the state government being  spearheaded by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State.

The body said, “Treating ministers of God and our members as common criminals is unacceptable to CAN. Enough is enough! Despite all the promises made by Governor Nasir el-Rufai, none of those who were responsible for the killings of our members in the Southern Kaduna has been brought to book. Instead, the police have been releasing those who were arrested for the killing of our members in Kano and Kubwa (Abuja) while our leaders are being subjected to untold hardship for just no cause.

“The last time we checked, Sections 38-41 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) state clearly that every Nigerian is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.