Statement on President Barack Obama's Visit to Africa, By The Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN

Category: Media & Campaigns

Created on Thursday, 23 May 2013 12:22

CANANUSA.ORG, NY-MAY 23, 2013---This week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced that President Barack Obama will be going to three African countries - Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa - next month. Nigeria is not included in the travel plan even though it is overdue for a US presidential visit.

No official explanation has been given regarding Nigeria's exclusion from what may be the President's last visit to Africa while in office. A previous visit to Africa during President Barack Obama's first term had also left Nigeria out.

Based on media reporting, it is reasonable to assume that the President possibly left Nigeria out because of the Boko Haram crisis and the recent declaration of emergency rule in three states in northern Nigeria.

It is however the opinion of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN, that President Obama's visit would have benefitted the Nigerian people more than hurting the Nigerian government.

The President went to Cairo at a time when dictators were all over the Middle East and his critical speech provoked a wind of change whose democratic fervor is still very much in play in the region. 

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Nigerian rebels could face war crimes

Category: News

Created on Thursday, 23 May 2013 11:06

17 May 2013 – Members of Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria could face war crimes charges for deliberate acts leading to ethnic and religious cleansing, the top United Nations human rights official said today.

In a press briefing in Geneva, the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, reiterated calls on Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria to cease their “cowardly attacks” against civilians and politicians, members of Government institutions, security forces and foreign nationals.

“The High Commissioner has also noted that members of Boko Haram and other groups and entities, if judged to have committed widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population – including on grounds such as religion or ethnicity – could be found guilty of crimes against humanity,” Mr. Colville added.

Read more: Nigerian rebels could face war crimes

Why I Support State Of Emergency – Femi Falana

Category: News

Created on Monday, 20 May 2013 20:07

Lawyer and activist Femi Falana has indicated his support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent declaration of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States. In an interview with SaharaTV on Saturday, Mr. Falana explained his rationale for backing the decision.

Speaking from his home in Lagos, the activist lawyer stated that Mr. Jonathan had complied with the Nigerian constitution on declaration of emergency, adding that anybody who opposed the president’s action was not being serious about restoring normalcy in the areas of the country plagued by terrorist violence.

“The president is empowered to adopt extraordinary measures to restore law and order in the country whenever there is a breakdown in any section across the country. And that is what a state of emergency is all about,” said Mr. Falana.

Read more: Why I Support State Of Emergency – Femi Falana

CANAN Goes To The North Carolina

Category: Events

Created on Monday, 20 May 2013 22:30

Dear pastors, leaders of the faith & all Christians 
 
Having formed the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN in New York last year September, and five other local chapters afterwards, it is now the turn of North Carolina and the inauguration has been fixed as follows:

Date: June 2, 2013
Time: 7pm
Venue: Jubilee Christian Church International, Victory Chapel
4809 Prospectus Drive
Durham, NC 27713
 
Pastor Fadele, CANAN president will be conducting the inauguration and Pastor Bisi Tofade, CANAN trustee will be hosting the event.

Read more: CANAN Goes To The North Carolina

Militants Turn Nigeria into Christian Killing Field

Category: News

Created on Friday, 17 May 2013 22:48

Last year more Christians were killed in Nigeria than any other country. The onslaught of bombings gave Nigeria the sad distinction of being the nation with the highest Christian death toll.

More than 900 Christians reportedly were killed in Nigeria in 2012, all victims of the Boko Haram group and other Islamic militants.

"They are so radical they don't even spare Muslims. If Muslims are sympathetic to any cause at all...if they are sympathetic to the Christians cause, or the minorities cause, they are also termed as infidels," Mark Lipdo, program coordinator for the Stefanos Foundation, said.

In 2013, radicals have killed more than 120 Nigerians, most of them Christians.

Gregory Lar, an international human rights attorney, said, "It is happening at this time because it appears there is a new resurgence, a new Islamic awareness in the need to propagate their religion."

Read more: Militants Turn Nigeria into Christian Killing Field

Northern Elders Forum Protecting Boko Haram, Says Middle Belt Dialogue

Category: News

Created on Monday, 20 May 2013 20:00

Middle Belt Dialogue (MBD), has accused the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) of protecting Boko Haram, stating that the only concern of the Forum is how to grab power in 2015.

In a statement issued at the weekend by its spokesperson, Rima Shawulu Kwewum, MBD criticized the NEF for faulting the State of Emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, adding that the NEF speaks not for them but for Muslims and their political interests.

For its part, MBD declared that Boko Haram deserves to be crushed out of Nigeria to make way for a peaceful and purposeful nation that is not indexed on religion, ethnicity or region.

“Erstwhile controversial Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Dr. Ango Abdullahi, who has transmuted into the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has been in the news of late, castigating President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, declaring war and presumptuously speaking for the "North," the statement said.  “We are in a new world, where presumably the rights of people, including the right to speak, however untruthfully, are respected. However, the freedom to speak precludes speaking for people who have not mandated you to speak for them. We, in the Middle Belt, the primary victims of the ethnic and religious cleansing embarked upon by Boko Haram and associated groups, have not mandated Ango Abdullahi to speak for us.”

Read more: Northern Elders Forum Protecting Boko Haram, Says Middle Belt Dialogue

CAN Secretary in Borno State, Nigeria, Killed Moments After Declaration of Emergency Rule

Category: News

Created on Thursday, 16 May 2013 12:23

CANANUSA.ORG, NY---Our hearts are heavy as we announce the assassination of a leading Nigerian Pastor and Christian leader.

Boko Haram terrorists killed the Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in Borno State, Rev. Faye Pama Musa -shown in photo- on Tuesday evening, Nigerian time.

Just as President Jonathan Goodluck was declaring a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, two gunmen, according to reports, trailed his car to his house around 7:30pm and shot him at close range.

All of us at the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN condole with the family of the departed Pastor and all Nigerian Christians.

We note that Pastor Musa was the one coordinating the funerals of several pastors and Christians killed in Borno State by Boko Haram, and was also involved in taking care of widows of the martyrs and their families.

Read more: CAN Secretary in Borno State, Nigeria, Killed Moments After Declaration of Emergency Rule

Boko Haram Kills CAN’s Borno Secretary Minutes After GEJ Broadcast

Category: News

Created on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 07:02

SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, (THEWILL) – Barely 30 minutes after President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno State alongside two other states because of terrorism, the Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in the state, Reverend Faye Pama Musa has been shot dead inside his Maiduguri residence by members of the radical Islamic group, the Boko Haram
 
THEWILL gathered from security sources that Musa, the head pastor of a Pentecostal church in Maiduguri, the spiritual headquarters of the terrorist group, was trailed to his GRA residence by two gunmen who shot him at close range at about 7.30pm.

Read more: Boko Haram Kills CAN’s Borno Secretary Minutes After GEJ Broadcast

CANAN Reacts to State of Emergency Declared in Nigeria

Category: Press Release

Created on Tuesday, 14 May 2013 23:14

It is clear that the situation in some parts of the country had degenerated long time ago to a state of lawlessness, and disorder occasioning the avoidable loss of human lives. To that extent, we welcome the attempt by the President to get a grasp of the security situation as he ought to.

It is our hope that this effort will restore law and order and guarantee a peaceful exercise of the freedom of worship to many of our brethren and churches in some states of the North, where Christians have suffered untold deaths, traumas and hardships, in the hand of terrorists just because of their confession and practice of their faith.

Read more: CANAN Reacts to State of Emergency Declared in Nigeria

Nigeria Declares State of Emergency in Boko Haram States

Category: News

Created on Tuesday, 14 May 2013 14:54

ADDRESS
BY
PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR
ON THE DECLARATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN BORNO, YOBE AND ADAMAWA STATES IN ORDER TO RESTORE PUBLIC ORDER, PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY IN THE AFFECTED STATES OF THE FEDERATION

Dear compatriots,

1. It has become necessary for me to address you on the recent spate of terrorist activities and protracted security challenges in some parts of the country, particularly in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Kano, Plateau and most recently Bayelsa, Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa states.  These unfortunate events have led to needless loss of lives and property of many innocent Nigerians including members of our security forces.

2.The recent killing of security operatives by a cult group in Nasarawa state is particularly condemnable. I have directed that no effort or expense be spared in identifying and bringing to justice all those who had a hand in the killing of the operatives.

Read more: Nigeria Declares State of Emergency in Boko Haram States