In a statement signed by the General Secretary, CAN, Daramola Bade Joseph. Esq., he characterized the actions of the said youths as ungodly and unacceptable.

“Their actions were ungodly, unbiblical, unacceptable, unprecedented, reprehensible, and provocative. We wondered what could have led those misguided youths to turn a place of worship into a political arena. “According to reports which we received from the Church, which substantiated our findings, some youths came to the Church premises on Sunday, July 4, 2021, wearing branded T-shirts with the inscription “BUHARI MUST GO” and participated in the first of the three services conducted,” he said.

He outrightly condemned the choice of venue for such a protest and admonished the sponsors of the protest to settle with the security authorities as the event had brought unwholesome consequences on the church.

  Throwing more light on the incident, he said, “According to the Church, No one questioned the legality or otherwise of the inscription on their T-shirts during the altar call. However, soon after they departed from the altar, they swung into protest blaring trumpets and saxophones right from the exit door of the church. “At the same time, the event was being covered and live-streamed with the background shots of the church building and those of the thronging crowd, both exiting and entering the sanctuary for the next service. The live streaming had the caption: ‘BUHARI MUST GO Campaign Hits Dunamis Church in Abuja’. This is an embarrassment to the genuine worshipers and the Church leadership.

“If the DSS operatives truly arrested some of them as was reported, their sponsors should settle that with the security agency instead of threatening the assaulted Church with fire and brimstone. While we are not against any peaceful protest but the venue for such a protest shouldn’t be the church premises, a place of worship. He further went ahead to repeat that the body had nothing to do with the supposed protest and stated that such protest was held without the consent of the organization, hence it was a debasement on the face of the church. “What happened on that day was unprecedented in the history of the Church in the country. Whenever we direct churches to embark upon any peaceful protest, within and outside the church premises, we always make it known publicly and we have never asked any group of people to join us.

“We wondered why the sponsors of the protesters who failed to carry the leadership of the church along before embarking on their protest are now accusing the Senior Pastor of Dunamis Church of being responsible for the detention of those who were arrested.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Body of Christ in the country is neither a pro-government or anti-government association. That is not part of our divine responsibilities,” he stated.

CAN, however, called on the concerned security agency to release the arrested protesters while sounding a note of warning to other groups to desist from defacing the House of God as it is a place of worship, not a political entity.

“While we are calling on the concerned security agency to release those who are in its custody over the unlawful actions, on humanitarian grounds, we are also warning any group of people against the further desecration of any of our churches in the country. People of different political persuasions go to Church primarily to worship the living God and not for political reasons.

“There are empirical piece pieces of evidence that show that the Church in Nigeria has never been cowed or failed to speak the truth to power as the need arises but that should not be perceived as anti-government stance,” he added.