The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned an anti-government protest by some youth at the Dunamis Gospel International center,Abuja while a Sunday service was ongoing.
The displeasure was conveyed in a statement on Monday by CAN’s Secretary General, Daramola Joseph.
The Christian body who described their actions as unbiblical and unacceptable, wondered what could have led those misguided youths to turn a place of worship to a political arena.
“According to reports which we received from the Church, which corroborated our findings, some youths came to the Church premises on Sunday, July 4, 2021 wearing branded T-shirts with the inscription “BUHARI MUST GO” and participated in the first of the three services conducted.
“The Church denied the protesters were arrested when they came out to answer the altar call and were handed over to the Department of State Service (DSS) operatives.
“According to the Church, “No one questioned the legality or otherwise of the inscription on their T-shirts during the altar call. However, soon after their departure from the altar, they swung into protest blaring trumpets and saxophones right from the exit door of the church.
“At the same time, the event was being covered and live-streamed with the background shots of the church building and those of the thronging crowd, both exiting and entering the sanctuary for the next service. The live streaming had the caption: ‘BUHARI MUST GO Campaign Hits Dunamis Church in Abuja’. This is an embarrassment to the genuine worshipers and the Church leadership”.
CAN, said if the DSS operatives truly arrested some of them as was reported, their sponsors should settle that with the security agency instead of threatening the assaulted Church with fire and brimstone.
“While we are not against any peaceful protest, the venue for such a protest shouldn’t be the church premises, a place of worship. What happened on that day was unprecedented in the history of the Church in the country.
“Whenever we direct churches to embark upon any peaceful protest, within and outside the church premises, we always make it known publicly and we have never asked any group of people to join us.
“We wondered why the sponsors of the protesters who failed to carry the leadership of the church along before embarking on their protest are now accusing the Senior Pastor of Dunamis Church of being responsible for the detention of those who were arrested”.
While calling on concerned security agency to release those in its custody over the unlawful actions, on humanitarian grounds, CAN also warned any group of people against further desecration of any of the churches in the country.
CAN said people of different political persuasions go to Church primarily to worship the living God and not for political reasons.
