By Nairaland Forum Fact-Check: Is it true that CAN has Never Had a Northern Christian as its President Since 1976?
Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan
Fact-Check: Is it true that CAN has Never Had a Northern Christian as its President Since 1976?Claim: There was a claim that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has never elected a Northern Christian as President since its inception in 1976.
Full text: Lately, a text went viral on social media platforms, especially Facebook and WhatsApp where a whole list of CAN Presidents since its inception to date was provided and that none of them was from the Northern region.
The post captioned; “Trajectory of CAN Elected Presidents from inception to date – Dominic Cardinal” mentioned the Presidents to include:
Ekandem (late) from 1976 till 1986; Anthony Cardinal Okogie from 1988 till 1995 and Prelate Sunday Mbang from 1994 till 2003.
Others were Primate Jasper Akinola from 2003 till 2007; Archbishop John Onaiyekan from 2007 till 2010 and Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor from 2010 till 2016.
The current president is Reverend (Dr) Samson Ayokunle, who was elected in 2016.The post continued to read as follows;
“Does it mean CAN as a body of Christ did not see any Northern Christian qualified to be the Association’s President since 1976 to date?
“Why the predominance of Southern Christians….?“Does this imply that the northern Christians are less Christians or is it because they are in the minority in northern Nigeria?
“Are they also a minority in the Christian family in Nigeria?
This is amazing as Equity, justice and fairness is not playing in CAN….
Read Also: FACT CHECK: Is it true that Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Mrs Erelu Olusola Governed Osun State 2003-2010 on a Christian/Christian Ticket? – PRNigeria News
Observation:
Ever since the announcement of Senator Kashim Shettima as running mate to Ahmed Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s polity has been fraught with all sorts of hate speeches and fake news deliberately for misinformation and disinformation targeted at unsuspecting audiences.
There are several narratives and counter-narratives from different camps of Muslims and Christian faithfuls all in an attempt to discredit or justify the APC’s decision to field Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates of the same faith in the contest for the 2023 general elections.
Verification:
An online check by PRNigeria revealed that, contrary to the claim made in the post, the 5th CAN President, Archbishop John Cardinal Olorunfemi Onaiyekan who served from 2007-2010 was actually an indigene of Kogi, a North-central state Read More
Source:: Nigerian Chatter
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