Why We Pulled Out Of CAN- Catholic Bishops

The Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN, an umbrella body for the country’s teeming Christians, descended into full-blown crisis Wednesday with the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria making public its decision to pull out of the fold over the way the Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor-led executive is running the association.

The Catholic bishop’s action is perhaps the first time in the association’s 37-year history that any of its five blocs would pull out over alleged poor leadership and politicization of the association. CAN was formed in 1976 by five Christian blocs in the country: the Christian Council of Nigeria; the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria; Organisation of African Instituted Churches, and the Evangelical Fellowship of West Africa.