The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has demanded that the Department of State Services (DSS) tender a written apology to four members, Board Trustees of CAN Trustfund, who were detained on the orders of its Director-General.

The Director of Legal and Public Affairs in CAN, Kwamkur Samuel, in a protest letter to the DG of DSS, asked that they should be “more circumspect in dealing with the Body of Christ in Nigeria, if not for any other reason, but to ensure and promote the confidence of the average Nigerian Christian in the government of the day.”

Four BoT members of CAN Trustfund who are also leaders of National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) were reportedly detained and quizzed for hours at the DSS Headquarters in Abuja, over a video showing them mobilising for funds for CAN to rebuild churches destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents in the North East.

Those interrogated by the DSS were a former Chief of General Staff, during the administration of Military President Ibrahim Babangida, General Joshua Dogonyaro (retd), representing TEKAN/ECWA Bloc of CAN; a retired High Court Judge Justice Kalajine Anigbogu, representing Christian Council of Nigeria Bloc; Mrs. Osaretin Demuren, representing Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) and a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria Mr. Tunde Lemo, representing Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.

Samuel in a statement yesterday in Abuja said it was regrettable that despite assurances from DSS led by the Director of Operations, that the invitation was only to interact with those detained, it turned out that the main reason behind the invitation was the video jingle produced by CAN, under the slogan “I C A N support”, to raise funds for the Church and distressed Christians in Nigeria.

He said, “It was therefore shocking to hear from your establishment that these materials were made to incite violence in response to the attempted annihilation of the Church in Southern Kaduna. With all due respect, such analysis and conclusion were vexatious and very wrong. Having considered the negative effect of your interrogation ‘under caution’ of the distinguished members of the Board of Trustees of the CAN Trust Fund on the Christian Community in Nigeria, the leadership of CAN hereby demands that a written public apology be tendered to these distinguished Nigerians.”

According to Samuel, CAN was, and will always be predisposed to dialogue with the DSS on issues relating to the peaceful coexistence of the ethnic nationalities and religious communities in Nigeria. (Daily Trust on Sunday)

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