Kwara CAN denies endorsing gov candidates
Some members of the Kwara State branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria are said to be divided over their support for governorship candidates from two different political parties in the state.
The crisis, which has divided the association's executive members, has pitted two senior priests of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) against each other.
According to the state Publicity Secretary of CAN, Apostle Shina Ibiyemi, a group in the association met with the Peoples Democratic Party's gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Yaman Abdullahi, and endorsed him, while another group met with the state governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, and endorsed him as their candidate in the March 18, 2023 governorship/State Assembly elections.
"The CAN executive did not take a position and we did not talk because we know the two groups are Christians and they belong to different churches; we did not want to cause a division in CAN," Ibiyemi explained.
However, Most Rev Israel Amoo, Archbishop of Kwara Province of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), stated that the Church has disassociated itself from the alleged endorsement of a governorship candidate and political party in the upcoming Saturday gubernatorial/State Assembly election.
"The province comprising eight other respected Bishops that comprised the province wishes to dissociate themselves from the misleading and all ill calculated endorsement of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State by CAN," Amoo said in a statement personally signed by him.
"That the purported endorsement was conceived, concerted and given birth to by a charlatan whose stock in trade is to denigrate CAN and its leadership by dragging it into partisan politics.
According to the statement, "there was no time when CAN as a body either clandestinely or overtly met to endorse the said party as a party of choice for the state's teeming Christian community."
According to Amoo, the endorsement meeting was a ruse disguised as a courtesy visit. He claimed that CAN members who were invited were unaware of the evil intent of endorsement, and that press coverage did not accurately reflect what occurred at the meeting.
Furthermore, up until that point, the governor had not met with or sought the support of the Christian community. As a result, CAN's media endorsement was not only shocking, but also devilish and ungodly.
As a result, he urged all members of the Church of Nigeria in the province of Kwara Anglican Communion, as well as all Spirit-filled Christians, to disregard the misleading publication in its entirety and ensure that it does not exacerbate the state's division of the body of Christ.
"This abnormality will also occur," the statement continued.
Meanwhile, Rev Father Raph Ajewole, the Director of Ecumenical of CAN, has called the purported endorsement's social media posting ungodly, evil, and satanic.
Speaking on a Radio Kwara program heard in Ilorin on Friday, Ajewole stated that the alleged CAN endorsement, which sparked debate in the state, was false, adding that CAN had not been invited or met with the Governor and has no problem or disagreement with anyone, state, or group.
Ajewole stated that the state association has been praying for the governor, politicians, and the state for peace and harmony to reign in the state.
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