CAN secretary under fire for Jonathan resignation call

President Goodluck Jonathan

There were indications on Monday that crisis might have engulfed the Northern Christian Association of Nigerian over the call on President Goodluck Jonathan to resign.

The assocation had on Sunday called on the President to resign for   saying he could not crush the Islamic sect, Boko Haram. The president reportedly said, “They are our siblings and you cannot set the army to wipe out your family”.
The Northern CAN had expressed shock and disbelief at the President’s statement despite that the sect had killed several innocent Nigerians, particularly Christians, wondering why his administration could not descend on the sect.
The spokesman for the body, Mr. Sunday Oibe, had said, “Jonathan has failed us Christians, he has failed Nigerians and he should resign as president because by this statement, it is very clear that he is not capable of handling the danger posed by the Boko Haram insurgency.”
Our correspondent learnt that the Northern CAN spokesman had come under fire over the statement credited to him.
A source within the leadership of the organisation, who would not want his names in print, told our correspondent on the telephone that “when I called the young man, he said he didn’t  mean that our president should resign. We in the Northern CAN would not want to do anything that will cause crisis for President Goodluck Jonathan.”
However,  Special Adviser to Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State on Religious Matters, Reverend Joseph Hayab, on Monday warned religious leaders across the country against overheating the nation’s polity with inflammatory statement that could cause disaffection in the country.
Hayab, in  a statement in Kaduna on Monday, said the statement urging the President to resign was capable of inciting  “Northerners and especially Christians against the Jonathan Administration,” warning that religious leaders must not overheat the Nigerian polity.
The governor’s aide, a former Secretary-General of the Kaduna  CAN, said, as a former Secretary  of CAN  Kaduna State and  also a former PRO of CAN 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, added, “Northern CAN has no quarrel with the statement from President Jonathan that it would not be the preference of the Federal Government to send in soldiers to wipe out Boko Haram for the simple reason that Boko Haram are faceless and when soldiers are sent in to wipe out a faceless group it is the innocent that suffers.”

Jonathan should resign – Northern CAN

President Goodluck Jonathan

Christians in the North have asked President Goodluck Jonathan to resign over his comment on Boko Haram.
Jonathan was quoted to have said he could not crush the Islamic sect because “they are our siblings and you cannot set the army to wipe out your family”.
In a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Sunday Oibe, the Northern Christian Association of Nigeria said the comments credited to Jonathan was an indication that the country  was in a helpless situation as the President “does not seem to understand the aim of the sect to destabilise his administration.”
According to the CAN, it is shocking   for  the President to say he will not deploy the military to deal  with terrorist who have  been killing other Nigerians and threatening the corporate existence of the country.
The body argued that it was clear that the President has been shielding the group at the expense of the lives of innocent people, urging Nigerians to have a rethink on the type of president that is governing the country at the moment.
The statement read in part, “What he is telling us now is that there is nothing he can do about it, but we know that the Federal Government has the capacity to stop the madness being unleashed on Nigerians. However, it is now obvious that the President will rather shield criminals.
“Every Nigerian can recall how former President Olusegun Obasanjo reacted when the Niger Delta militants attacked soldiers in Udi.  Even though the militants were asking for their legitimate right, Obasanjo dealt with them squarely for resorting to criminality in agitating for their right. No country in the world will allow its soldiers, trained to defend the territorial integrity of the nation to be killed by a gang of criminals and get away with it.
“Nigerians can also recall that in Zaki – Biam, Benue state, the same  Obasanjo as President sent troops to deal ruthlessly with the people there for allegedly killing soldiers.
“Now on a daily basis soldiers, police and other security personnel are being killed by Boko Haram members and the President has the effrontery to tell us that these murderers are members of the family and he cannot mobilise the army to deal with them.
“Jonathan has failed us Christians, he has failed Nigerians and he should resign because by this statement, it is very clear that he is not capable of handling the danger pose by the Boko Haram insurgency.”
Also, the Anglican Communion, Kaduna Diocese  said illiteracy, unemployment and poverty  in the North  were not responsible for various crises in the region.
In a  10-point – communiqué issued  at the end of the 1st session of the 19th Synod of the Diocese and signed by the Diocesan Bishop, Rt. Rev Josiah Idowu –Fearon, insisted that illiteracy, poverty and unemployment were never the cause of the sundry crises in the region as many were wont to believe.