The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has accused the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress Bola Tinubu of hiring mechanics and artisans and parading them as clerics.
The association’s remarks followed a stir caused by supposed clerics who attended Tinubu’s unveiling of his running mate, Kashim Shettima, on Wednesday in Abuja.
Tinubu and Shettima are Muslims, a development which Christian bodies have rejected.
Vice president of CAN for 19 northern states and Abuja, Rev. Joseph Hayab, told reporters: “The people we saw at the unveiling of Shettima paraded as bishops are people who did not have enough time to learn how to wear Bishop garments. Take a closer look at their photo and you will see another Nollywood movie.”
He added, “BAT (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) is free to hire mechanics and other artisans and sew clerical garments for them. An effort that will only add to their many ropes when the political exercise is over but will not change the need for fairness and justice that CAN is calling for.
“CAN appreciates that we are in a democracy, no need to do funny and dubious things just to prove a point because it will at the end bounce back. The BAT team should simply do what is right and stop the drama.”
Also, Adebayo Oladeji, spokesman of CAN president Samson Ayokunle, challenged the APC to identify those who posed as clerics at the unveiling.
He said, “Let them name the CAN officials at the programme and their offices. If they could use 2017 photos to claim that some Pastors visited Shettima and lied that Pastor E. A Adeboye has endorsed them, they could do anything.”
