CAN Cautions El-Rufai over Threat against Pastor Enenche ...Charges Gov to arrest killers in state

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Wednesday asked the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasiru El-rufai, to desist from any unwarranted threat against Christian pastors.

In a statement issued by the Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to CAN President, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, the organisation said any attempt to arrest or harass any pastor again will be considered as an attempt to silence the voice of the Church and reasoning in Nigeria.

CAN was reacting to an alleged threat issued by El-rufai to arrest the Founder and Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Dr. Paul Enenche, for his comment on the killings of Christians.

"Our attention has been drawn to a threat issued by El-rufai in some online news media over his determination to get the Founder and Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Enenche, arraigned in Kaduna over ‘hate speech’ that he allegedly claimed escalated recent killings that rocked Kasuwan Magani on October 18, 2018, that was followed by the assassination of the Agom Adara, Dr Maiwada Raphael Galadima, on October 26, 2018," the religious group said.

In the statement, CAN said while it  abhors hate speech in whatever form, "it is becoming very difficult to determine what constitutes hate speech and who should be responsible for assessing what constitutes a hate speech.”

CAN said after a careful study of the statement made by the pastor as well as the circumstances behind it, the organisation said it was convinced that  Pastor Enenche made no offending speech.

The statement said while CAN condemns hate speech by religious leaders and other Nigerians, “it cannot stand and watch our respected leaders being set up for molestation, humiliation and prosecution for an unfounded hate speech.

"It has become much difficult to know whose speech is to be regarded as hate speech and which speech should not.

We have carefully read the threat by El-rufai and his claim to know who is responsible for the hate speech that promoted the crises in Kaduna State and his vow to get Pastor Enenche arrested and prosecuted in the state.

"We have also examined the video clip of the pastor, and are abreast of all the facts concerning the Kasuwan Magani killings among others. The main subject of Enenche’s clip which El-Rufai is alleging to be a hate speech to us is an outright condemnation of the fate that has befallen the Adara people and Christians in Southern Kaduna through the creation of new emirates namely: Lere, Kagarko and Kujuru. By the creation of these emirates, especially that of Kajuru, the Adara people have been subjugated.”

CAN said rather than threaten pastors and individuals who lament the killings in Kaduna, the governor should make efforts to arrest those responsible for the heinous crime.

The association said: "The questions in the minds of the church are: why is it very easy for the state government to identify those lamenting the unabated killings of Christians in Kaduna and other states in the middle belt for persecution? Why is it easy for the government to seek to apprehend and prosecute the crying victims but it’s almost an impossible task to bring the killers to justice?

"Why is it easier for the El-Rufai government to know and get “the agents of careless statement... but expensive and almost impossible for him to identify the Kaduna killing agents despite years of such continuous killings?  Have the killers of Agom Adara, Dr. Maiwada Raphael Galadima, been apprehended? How long will it take the El-Rufai to apprehend them?"