The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN has come out to blast the terrible killing of a pastor and his wife by militiamen in Taraba State.

The National Vice President of CAN, Rev. Caleb Ahima recently had his say at the national headquarters of the church in Takum, Taraba state.

According to him, the act is despicable and the government must look for ways to end the crisis in the Southern part of the state.

He added that famine would be inevitable if the bloodletting continues to happen when farmers should be working on their farms now that it is raining.

His words, “The crisis is degenerating into a very serious bloodletting and destruction of personal effects and government must use all the apparatus within it powers to stop these killings.

“The church is unhappy with the dimension the crisis is taking because several clergies have been victims of the killings, and the recent one was gruesome killing of pastor Emmanuel Saba Bileya and his wife who was five months pregnant.”

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The Christian Association of Nigeria was founded in 1976, and originally only contained the Catholic Church and mainline Protestant groups. However, it later expanded to include Pentecostal churches as well.

In 2000, the CAN protested the adoption of Sharia law in northern states. In February 2006, while President of the organisation, Akinola issued a statement in response to Muslim violence against Christians, telling Muslims that they did not have a “monopoly on violence”. The following day, Christians rioted in retaliation against Muslims, leading to more than 70 deaths. Akinola later claimed his statements had been misinterpreted in the western media. He even threatened to resign in case the riots should continue.

On 2 May 2004, more than 630 Muslims were killed in Yelwa, Nigeria. The dead were pinned white name tags identifying them as members of the CAN. The massacre is known as the Yelwa massacre.

The organisation is made up of five blocs; they are the Christian Council of Nigeria, the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, the aforementioned Organisation of African Instituted Churches, and the Evangelical Fellowship of West Africa.