The National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) has dissociated itself from the purported endorsement of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for the March 28 election by a group which claims to represent by northern Christian leaders.

Secretary of NCEF, Pastor ’Bosun Emmanuel, in a statement issued today in Abuja on behalf of its chairman, Mr. Solomon Asemota (SAN), advised Christians “to resist the temptation of putting personal interests above the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ, because such compromise has terrible eternal consequences.”

Buhari had been endorsed on Thursday at the International Conference Centre Abuja by the Northern Christian Leaders Eagle-Eye Forum led by Pastor Aminchi Habu and was presented with a copy of the Holy Bible.

NCEF said in its statement: “It has come to the notice of the National Christian Elders Forum that an unaccredited group claiming to be Northern Christians Leaders Eagle Eye-Forum, purportedly on Thursday February 12, 2015, in Abuja, adopted the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming elections, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

“The National Christian Elders Forum wishes to state clearly that the only Northern Elders Forum accredited and recognised by the Christian Association of Nigeria is the Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF).

“The Elders Forum hereby declares that neither CAN, NOSCEF nor the NCEF at any time supported or approved of the action of this unaccredited group. The National Christian Elders Forum wishes to admonish Christian leaders in Nigeria to resist the temptation of putting personal interests above the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ, because such compromise has terrible eternal consequences.

“The Elders Forum also advises politicians to put the interest of the nation first in all forms of electioneering campaign and desist from acts that could be interpreted to imply desperate manipulation of the electorate for political power.”

Also reacting to the endorsement, the Public Relations Officer of CAN (19 Northern States and Abuja), Mr. Sunny Oibe, said Buhari may have fallen into wrong hands because Pastor Aminchi Habu’s group is not known.

He said: “There is no group like that which exists in Northern Nigeria because I am a Northerner and a Christian. I want Buhari to note that those people are impostors. The church in the North is led by Archbishop Peter Jatto. We have not and cannot endorse Buhari because he has not told us that he is sorry for his alleged involvement in the post-election violence of 2011.

“When you are desperate, you can fall into the hands of wrong people. Buhari may have fallen into wrong hands. They are not Pastors and they are not known in the North. Ask him (Aminchi Habu) the church he attends in which he claims to be a Pastor.”

•Photo shows Buhari.

Update news