A group of Christian leaders under the aegis of National Christian Elders Forum NCEF, championed by a former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.), and Solomon Asemota (SAN), has warned that Christianity may cease to be practised in Nigeria in 2043 if the Christian body in Nigeria is not restructured to tackle the silent war being waged against the faith in this present administration.
The group gave the warning in a paper titled “Impact of lack of unity in CAN as threat to Christian faith”, which was presented by its secretary, Bosun Emmanuel during the annual conference of Catholic Men’s Guild, held at the Catholic Church of Assumption, Ikoyi in Lagos yesterday June 22nd.
Emmanuel said the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari “is openly pursuing an anti-Christian agenda that has resulted in countless murders of Christians all over the nation and destruction of vulnerable Christian communities.” He noted that if the Christian Association of Nigeria does not come together to fight this war, the Christian faith is on its way to extinction in Nigeria
“Due to the inability of CAN to forge Christians into one indivisible army of the Lord, the Church has been weakened and unable to stand before its enemies. Realistically speaking, Christianity is on the brink of extinction in Nigeria. The ascendancy of Sharia ideology in Nigeria rings the death toll for the Nigerian Church. It is therefore imperative that CAN must be restructured, as a matter of urgency, if Christianity is to survive. CAN belongs to every Christian in Nigeria and there is nothing wrong with the association. It is the management that should be revisited and restructured.”Emmanuel said
Emmanuel went on to say that disunity has crept into Christendom in Nigeria because of the deviation from the norms for which CAN was founded in 1976.
“The Catholic Church should be prepared to return completely into the fold of CAN and participate fully in providing leadership in these troublous times. God warned in 2013 that we were not careful, in 30 to 40 years, Nigeria would be like Turkey. In 2018, we can say in 25 years from now, we are facing the risk of being the last Christians in Nigeria. Therefore, Christians should be in the frontline of defending democracy in Nigeria. The Church is the bastion of democracy. A divided CAN cannot defend democracy and promote justice, equity, and fairness. Consequently, Sharia will grow stronger. As Sharia grows stronger, democracy will become weaker and the Church will be emasculated out of existence. The current Federal Government in Nigeria is openly pursuing an anti-Christian agenda that has resulted in countless murders of Christians all over the nation and destruction of vulnerable Christian communities. Just recently, Elder Statesman, Gen. T. Y. Danjuma raised the alarm that Christians should take steps to defend themselves.”
Apart from Danjuma and Asemota, other members of the NCEF include Prof. Joseph Otubu, Gen. Joshua Dogonyaro (retd.), Archbishop Magnus Atilade, Dr. Kate Okpareke, Dr. Ayo Abifarin, Gen. Zamani Lekwot (retd.), Elder Moses Ihonde, Elder Nat Okoro and Elder Matthew Owojaiye.
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