The Coalition of Christian Youth Groups have chided the leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) for endorsing the Presidency of Bola Ahmed Tinubu before the outcome of the 2023 Presidential Election Tribunal.
The Coalition in a statement cosigned by the Coordinator Nath Bitrus and Secretary Agape Enioluwa said the February 25th presidential election in Nigeria was adjudged by both local and foreign observers, including the European Union, as marred by gross and widespread violence, rigging, malpractices and other irregularities
“We find those smuggled congratulatory messages misplaced, misguided, provocative and treasonable to the body of Christ in particular, and to all lovers of democracy and justice in Nigeria, in general” they said.
The Coalition noted that the purported congratulatory messages by leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) were mere expressions of personal goodwill by a group of individuals who rode on the privilege of their office to subvert the will of the Christian Community in Nigeria.
The statement stated that the congratulatory messages were “akin to endorsing illegality, and granting legitimacy to illegitimacy”.
The duo added that the election was not credible, and could not have produced a credible outcome.
“Have the writers of the purported congratulatory letters silenced their conscience to admit as true, what is untrue, as good what is evil, and as acceptable what is unacceptable? The fact is, they can hate the truth, they can even try to deny it, but they cannot silence the voice of their conscience”.
“There are pending litigations, and the courts are yet to determine the real winner of the February 25th presidential election in Nigeria. Why should they hurriedly congratulate a contentious government whose victory at the poll is still being challenged in the courts of law. Why didn’t they wait for the outcome of the tribunal to congratulate the real winner of the election? Why should they be so reckless as to heedlessly court public opprobrium by appearing complicit in a stark robbery of people’s mandate?
They recalled that during the time of electioneering campaign, “in the heat of the controversy and condemnations that greeted the same-faith ticket, some clerics declared that the election was a Jihad, and that their candidates (the same people now in power) must win, if not it would be a loss to Islam. Is that the kind of government to endorse? Are the Christian leaders who wrote those ridiculous letters endorsing jihad in Nigeria?.
“In the period leading up to the staged inauguration, some groups of witches openly endorsed the presidency of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and some traditionalists matched through the city of Abuja in support of his administration.
“Does it mean that the so-called writers of the ill-conceived letters are in one accord with agents of darkness, sharing a common ground with witches and wizards? Thus they have brazenly brought themselves into fellowship and communion with the powers of darkness by converging on a common ground to endorse evil, iniquity and illegality of unimaginable proportions.
“But what fellowship should righteousness have with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?
One wonders if CAN and PFN are representatives of foreign governments to congratulate newly instituted governments. Even at that, it is not mandatory to send congratulatory messages once there are grounds for reservations.
Worse still, what is the rationale behind congratulating an administration that hit the road running with widespread hardship and suffering for the people in less than 24 hours of its inauguration? What is there to congratulate? Are they congratulating the government for visiting untold hardship, starvation and even death on the people?
“For the records, the Christian Community as well as all well-meaning people of Nigeria are not in doubt about those who hold the interest of the nation at heart, those who have taken an unshakable stance for truth, equity and justice, those who have continued to speak against the evils being unleashed on the church of Christ, and the greater majority of Nigerians. These are the people we hold in high esteem, and both God in heaven, and history on earth shall be kind to them.
But those who have defied all reasons, sensibilities and sensitivities to scribble those contemptible notes using the platform of the Christian Community, only did so in pursuit of their personal interests, and not for or on behalf of Christians in Nigeria. They will have their conscience and the just, impartial and incorruptible God to face. Those frivolously scribbled pieces will go down in the annals of time as some of the worst endorsements of darkness from the citadel of light.
Those insensitive letters can be dismissed as ill-thought, misplaced and misguided in every sense.
We, therefore encourage every Christian, and all true lovers of justice, democracy and freedom in Nigeria, to disregard them as we wait patiently for the outcome of the petitions arising from one of the most fraudulent, manipulated and rigged elections in the history of our nation.
Those who deserve dishonour cannot escape it even after they have been hurriedly aided by fraud to sit on the throne of honour”.
