We didn’t rename Northern CAN for personal, financial

From Noah Ebije, Kaduna

The chairman, Northern Christians Association (NCA), Rev. Joseph Hayab has explained why the Northern States and FCT chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) was renamed.

In this interview with our correspondent, Rev. Hayab said history of CAN in Northern Nigeria was carefully looked into as far back as 1958 to 1964 before the recent renaming was effected.

When the national body of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) disbanded the Northern States chapter, some stakeholders did not find wisdom in that. However, you revived the 1964 identity of the Northern Christian Association. How did you achieve this so quickly?

I don’t think the National CAN disbanded the Northern chapter of CAN. The National CAN simply gave a disclaimer that in her constitution, she did not recognise Southern CAN or Northern CAN. But you see, right from the onset, the fellowship that brought about CAN or Northern Christian Association was not an issue of debate. It was the understanding of Christians, the challenge of Christians, the desire by Christians in Northern states to be sure that they are not short-changed.

For those who do not even know the history, the first meeting was actually in Bukuru, Jos in 1958. That was when the mission group sat down and thought of how Christians in Northern Nigeria could come together. But they never went further to formalise it as a group until 1964. You can see 58 to 64. When people like Ambassador Joe Litton, who worked with Sardauna and others, saw what was going on, the discrimination, and then they brought Christians together. Even some other denominations were still skeptical of joining, but they continued. And they were working day in, day out, protecting Christian interests from Kwara to Maiduguri to Gongola to Benue and so on. Until 1976, then the CAN came into being.

And we felt that all we needed was a voice for Christians. So we have got a voice and we joined. And we still remain in that voice. But we realised that the voice may not understand certain things about our unique Northern challenge.

And that’s why we still maintain the fellowship of these Northern CAN or Northern Christians. And we’ve been doing it for years. But anytime anybody comes, if you do not have good advisor, they will instigate him. You tell him you don’t recognize them. And we ask ourselves, do we need recognition to fellowship? We don’t need recognition to come and pray as Christians. We don’t need recognition to come and discuss issues that affect us as Christians. But I think for us, it’s really not something like someone wins or someone loses. It’s simply the situation warrants at this time for us to correct whatever wrong that may have been going on. So that the National CAN will continue to enjoy her distinctive right as its national body, and we can continue our Northern fellowship without using a name that someone can use against us. I think, simply that’s what happened.

Some people say you want to use the new name for political gains, especially for 2027 general elections. What is your reaction to this?

Well, the name wasn’t even my idea; it was a collective idea. So if anybody thinks that I’ll use the name for a political idea, I think he should take it back to those who he is accusing. Is he also accusing Engineer Salihu? Is he accusing Professor Yusuf Turaki? Is he also accusing Baba Dzigau? Is he accusing Reverend Dr Jonah Sampson? Is he accusing also Bishop Naga?

Sometimes when we give prominence to this kind of thing, we are wasting our time. People will always talk even when they don’t know what the matter is all about. We are talking about Christian unity. We are talking about protecting Christian rights. I can’t go so low to be talking about what it’s not.

Would you advise and promote emergence of more registered Christian bodies in the North in order to have more voices for the Christian masses in the region?

We have very limited Christian organisations in this country and we have advised the national CAN and every Christian body that there’s nothing wrong for us to have many Christian organisations. The community is so wide. If we want to sensitise people about something and you just want only Northern Christian Association to do it, you lie because you cannot achieve it, or you want only CAN to do it, you can’t achieve it. So we need more organisations that will be doing the work. We are not in competition with other faiths which have multiple organisations speaking for them, but I still believe that the more the merrier, the better even for us. So those who do not understand and sometimes get worried that other groups are speaking out, do not understand. If we are talking about being one we could have just been called ourselves CAN and don’t have PFN, and don’t have CCN, and don’t have CSN, and don’t have OIC and don’t have aquatic but we still have those groups. That’s why new groups are emerging. I encourage more groups to emerge. It is not a division. It is a way of ensuring that service is delivered to people where they should get it. I have always called many NGOs in Nigeria. The challenge we are facing is lack of

Synergy, but I can tell you that the synergy between us and CAN is super, the synergy between us and every Christian organisation in the North is super. So we need more organisations so that at least what I cannot do, some organisations will help us do. What I cannot do in Benin, some organisations can help us do. What I cannot do in Kwara, in Niger, other organisations can help us do.

What is your sincere advice to those who are not with you or not supporting the new name for the Northern Christians?

This exercise is not about me, so I don’t think I have anybody who is not with me. I can tell you that many denominational leaders have called, celebrating this, encouraging us to continue. There are many people who tell us we have done well. So if anybody feels he’s not with us because I don’t understand why he’s not even with us, we are not in anything, he may not understand. But gradually, with time and by our fruits, they will know whether we are genuine, whether we are for God, whether we are for Godliness or whether we are for personal profit-making. But I am not sure there’s a group that I’m into competition with. They are not with us or with me. Is it me that is Christ? So I’m not thinking of anybody. I don’t have an enemy, I don’t have anybody who I think that is against me. Probably he does not understand the way I’m walking fast or he does not understand the weight and the load I’m carrying is too heavy. That’s probably the difference so I can’t start thinking someone is not with me now. If you openly say you are not with me, I still will not even take it as an issue. So please it’s not about Hayab or Joseph or Reverend. It is about Christianity in Northern Nigeria, so let’s not mix up issues that have to do with Christianity. I can stop being this chairman today and another person will take it up.

What is your message to Christians in Northern Nigeria under your chairmanship?

We called on all Christians in Northern Nigeria to come together. We have a strong challenge. This religious persecution we are seeing, we can only defeat it by our unity. This all drama that we are seeing, denials of certain privileges and rights that Christians are facing, we can only address it by our collective voice. So I want to appeal to every Christian in the North to see us as one body, to see us as one voice, to see us as together. And to also know that, look, this going back to new name wasn’t a war, wasn’t a crisis. Yes, there were some little misunderstandings, but the CAN president in his maturity called us and pleaded with us to go on 23rd of October last year, to go and look for a name. And we started looking for a name, and we’ve been working towards it. But I believe that some people around him who do not want to be patient, didn’t even call us to ask us, how far have you gone with the effort? And many writings that at the end, we later realised they were for self-interest, not for CAN.

But I think the CAN leader is a humble man, a Godly man. And I will support him with everything that God has put in my hand.