The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has again called for a week of national prayers ahead of the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.
This call is coming after the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) declared a 3-day fasting and prayers ahead of the elections that was eventually postponed.
In a message on Tuesday, CAN said events ahead of the elections were threatening the peace of Nigeria. It prayed that the elections would not end in violence.
In the statement signed by Adebayo Oladeji, the media assistant to the CAN President, Samson Ayokunle, CAN also called for national prayers for Leah Sharibu, the 14-year-old schoolgirl who was kidnapped from her school compound in Yobe State a year ago.
“The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), His Eminence, Dr Samson Olasupo A. Ayokunle has appealed to all Christians in the country and those in Diaspora to begin a Prayer Programme from today, 19 February, 2019 and end it on Sunday for the success of the rescheduled elections.
“Recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the Presidential and the National Assembly elections to next Saturday for logistics reasons, the excuse that does not go down well with all stakeholders.
“The unfolding scenario on the political scene is not ordinary and there is a need for the Church to intercede for Nigeria. I want you to pray very well this week against some evil forces that are plotting against the election. If it’s about the things we see in the spirit, I am not sure that elections will hold at all. We should rise up and ask for transparent, free, fair and credible election that will even be better than those of the 2015.”
The association urged Christians to regard the week as a week of prayer and call on God for Nigeria.
CAN also condemned the postponement of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), describing the act as unacceptable and ungodly.
“Pray that bad people will not be involved in Nigeria’s affairs. About the elections, we will pray that they will not result in war, bring hardship and suffering unto the populace. People who think they are powerful and want to cause problems for us, God Himself will give them problems and bind them. God will take power from them.
“It is our prayers that this will be the last time INEC will toy with any postponement again. It is reprehensible, unacceptable, condemnable, ungodly and a national embarrassment and never again will Nigeria be subjected to this kind of rude shock of international proportion.
“You would recall that on the night of February 19, 2018, 14-year-old Leah Sharibu was kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists from her school, Government Girls Science and Technical Secondary School in Dapchi and for being a Christian, she is still languishing in the den of the terrorists. We urge you all to also pray for her deliverance.”
The prayer request included seven prayer petitions that intended to end with a thanksgiving service for a successful election.
