The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Northern Region has denied endorsing Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State for president in 2023, describing as “a fabrication” an online report on the issue.
CAN stated that no candidate was endorsed by the CAN leadership in the 19 Northern states and Abuja during its extraordinary meeting in Abuja weekend.
In the communiqué at the end of the meeting, signed by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Northern CAN, Jechonia Gilbert, obtained by POLITICS NIGERIA, the apex Christian body said: “We want to clarify the recent report in some online papers that Northern CAN had adopted Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State as its presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections. Northern CAN, from history, has never adopted any individual for any elective position in the history of elections in Nigeria and will not do so this time. Our duty to the Nigerian nation as a religious body, is to pray for the peace of the nation and encourage our members to participate in every constitutional process towards nation building.
“As an organisation with large followership and its members belonging to different political persuasions, it is unthinkable to assume that we have adopted a particular individual who is not even a flag bearer of any political party as our candidate for the 2023 presidential elections.”
This newspaper recalls that Bello said last month that he will declare whether or not to run for the presidency in 2023 after his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) national convention scheduled for this month (February).