14th December, 2014
Cyriacus Izuekwe
The Lagos State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is currently enmeshed in crisis over attempts to impose some candidates for the election of new executive.
Sources close to the Christian body said that the national body of CAN was manipulating the electoral system of the body to disenfranchise some candidates to favour others.
The sources further said that all the members of the outgoing executive were disallowed to contest any other offices in violation of the CAN electoral rules and thus precipitating crisis.
The outgoing executive is headed by Monsignor Bernard Okodua who is no longer contesting for any post but other officers eyeing elective positions are have been stopped from contesting any other posts.
This development has however angered members of some of the five blocs that make up CAN.
The election was first slated for October 15, this year but was rescheduled when the list of candidates was presented, and names of members who served in the outgoing executive and who vied for other positions were missing, causing confusion among the entire members.
While some argued that the constitution of CAN does not allow members of the outgoing executive to contest any other posts, aggrieved members brought out the CAN constitution which empowered them to vie for any position of their choices.
The National Secretary of CAN had earlier written a letter to the Lagos State Chapter telling members of the outgoing executive not to contest for any executive positions.
But in a reply, a law firm had described the content of the National Secretary’s letter as unconstitutional, ultra-vies, null, void and of no effect, warning that what the National Secretary did was to disenfranchise aggrieved members from exercising their right to freedom of association, freedom of movement and others.
The election has been shifted to Wednesday December 17, 2014, but it may likely be postponed again, as many of the issues at stake are yet to be resolved.