Christians in Northern Nigeria Begin to Pick New Leader Amidst Persecution

ICC Note:
Christians living in Northern Nigeria are beginning the process of finding a new leader for the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), northern chapter. This search comes during a critical time for Christians living in Northern Nigeria. Chief among the concerns Christians have is Boko Haram, the Islamic extremist group that has set its sights on making Northern Nigeria a purely Islamic state. To do this, Boko Haram has attacked Christians in an effort to drive them out of Northern Nigeria. Will the new leader of CAN stand up to Boko Haram?        
1/14/2013 Nigeria (Punchng) – The Christian Association of Nigeria, northern chapter, says if the presidency is to return to the North in 2015, the position should go to a Christian in the region.
The association however, insists the immediate concern of the region should be solutions to insecurity and poverty ravaging the area and not the Presidency.
Public Relations Officer of the CAN in the 19 northern states and Abuja, Mr. Sunny Oibe, said this in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, on Sunday.
Oibe said, “In all the years of Northern Nigeria dominating the leadership of this country, it is only one Christian we have produced and that was during the military. If the Presidency must come to the North in 2015, it must be of a Christian extraction.
“The Muslims in the North should allow Northern Christians be. They should forget about the Presidency because their time is up. What have they done today that they are thinking of 2015? Let us solve the problem of today and not 2015, which should not be the preoccupation of any reasonable Nigerian.
“Our position as Christians in the North is that those northerners who don’t understand anything more than lust for power should solve their regional problem themselves, because Boko Haram is a regional problem and not a Nigerian problem.
“Why is it that Boko Haram is reigning only in the North? Let the so-called northern politicians eyeing the Presidency in 2015 think of how to solve the problem first.
“If there is no North and no Nigeria, which Presidency would they preside over? So they should talk to their people because Boko Haram members are not spirits, but northerners. This is our appeal to them.
“If they think they will have to count on anybody (for the 2015 Presidency), they should forget it because Christians cannot become guinea pigs.
“The North has been dominating the leadership of this country for years. So what have they got to show for it, apart from crises, insecurity and division among us? So the North should forget about any dream of the Presidency in 2015.”
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