Catholic Church of Nigeria has withdrawn its membership from Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

‘CAN’ll continue without Catholic’

Christian Association of Nigeria has reacted to the threat by the Catholic block to pull out of the organisation, blaming their action on the loss of the Presidency of CAN to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

The Public Relations Officer of the 19 Northern States of CAN and Abuja, Mr. Sunny Oibe, in an interview with journalists on Wednesday in Abuja also accused Catholics of arrogance.

He said, “There is no division in CAN and we are all speaking with one language. There are some certain elements in the leadership of PFN led by Cardinal John Onaiyekan because he lost PFN Presidency to Oritsejafor who has a lot of achievements.

“There is no need for anybody to lose sleep over the threat by Catholics to pull out of CAN because without them CAN will still continue. The constitution of CAN makes provision that membership can be terminated by any group that is misbehaving or any group can also terminate their membership.

“Why is it that when Catholics were in the leadership of CAN, every bloc supported them, but now because power has changed hands, they are threatening to pull out and causing confusion?

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However the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, Wednesday, debunked speculations that the conference has pulled out of the National Christian Body, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), over alleged undisclosed issues.

The Nigerian Catholic Church letter expalining why it has decided to withdraw its membership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in order to promote Christian unity and peaceful coexistence amongst Christians and non-Christians alike. The Diocesan Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Monsignor Christopher Ajala, at a news conference stated that the Catholic church suspended its activities in CAN because it was too close to government.

The Director Communication, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Rev Fr Raulph Madu, while speaking to a reporter of one of the national dailies maintained that the CBCN did not pull out of CAN, and that, the body was only trying to sought out some issues with National Christian body. He mentioned that the body only withdrew temporarily from CAN, which will only last for few weeks, adding that, there was no squabble between the two religious bodies.

According to him, “how can we pull out of CAN, we are just trying to iron out some issues with them, which are not palatable to us and its only going to last for few weeks” “We will always be in support of the National Body; some of our Bishops are head CAN in some states, like, Owerri, among others”.