CAN REACT TO THE MURDER OF RCCG EVANGELIST

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN ) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and state governors in the country to make sure that perpetrators of unprovoked attacks against Christians and murder of some Christian leaders are brought to justice.


The Christian body said this is the only way the confidence of Christians can be maintained even as it called on Christian faithful across the country to buckle up and be ready to defend themselves against these incessant unprovoked and mindless attacks.

CAN in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its General Secretary, Rev. Dr . Musa Asake, condemned the gruesome murder of a 42 year old Christian mother of seven children, Mrs. Eunice Olawale, who was last Saturday brutally killed while doing Christian evangelism.

It noted that her murder came just about a month after Mrs . Bridget Agbaheme, a 74 year old Christian, was murdered at Wambai Market, Kano, due to an altercation with a Muslim man who came to the front of her shop to perform ablution. The Christian body added that just last week , a clergyman of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Reverend Zakariya, was killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

CAN said: “They attacked him on his farm, cut off his arms and legs , then chopped off his head with a machete. Another fresh but sad news reaching us is that of a Fulani militia group that is now on rampage, killing 81 people in multiple attacks in Logo and Ukum Local Government Areas of Benue State, ” it lamented.

While commiserating with the families of the affected people , it described as mindless, SinParties of death and destruction of the Christian community in the country.

CAN said the recurring decimal of violence and murder of innocent Nigerian citizens on the basis of religious intolerance demands specific and relevant response from all concerned citizens in the country. It particularly expressed worry that the government in power seems to have adopted a lukewarm attitude to the evils being perpetrated in Nigeria in the name of religion.

“We pray that God in His mercies shall comfort and strengthen the families of all the Nigerians affected in these unwarranted murders unleashed upon the nation by religious extremists.

The discrimination against non -Muslims in Nigeria under the Muhammadu Buhari administration is assuming a dangerous dimension that should not be left to the vagaries of time and circumstance to resolve.

Meanwhile, a group, Christian Brotherhood Association of Nigeria, has condemned the gruesome murder of Mrs. Eunice Olawale, during routine morning evangelism in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja on Saturday, describing it as outrageous, barbaric, abominable and sadism of the worst order.

The group in a statement by its President, Ayodele Sunday, said it was appalling that Mrs. Elisha, who was also a pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God in the area, could be slaughtered while preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.