Pentecostal stakeholders have called on the Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lagos Chapter, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, to leave Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Lagos Chapter, alone and mind his business.
The stakeholders stated this, yesterday, in Lagos, while addressing newsmen on ‘State of Our State (Lagos); Our Stand!’, powered by Apostolic Roundtable.
Speaking through its leader, Bishop Edoro Ighalo, the group said CAN was known for playing to the gallery over time; hence, should not meddle in PFN affairs.
Ighalo said: “What has CAN got to do with PFN, other than PFN being the most financial contributor to CAN, and why is CAN interloping? What effort has CAN, spearheaded by one Bishop Stephen Adegbite, made to liaise with the upper echelon of PFN before he made the statement accruable to him.”
Advising Adegbite, Ighalo said: “We are not here for CAN, which is known to have played to the gallery over time. The fact that some of us have kept quiet over time is not to say we are weaklings. Some of us run ministries with our own money and without collecting offerings and tithes. I don’t take offerings and tithes. I run a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and I do everything by myself. So, nobody can tell me anything.”
The cleric lamented that some people were trying to destabilise God’s kingdom, which should not be allowed to happen. He said: “We cannot allow destabilisation and ethnicity to play out in the Kingdom business. You cannot use the word, ‘Lagos is for us’. Kingdom is for us all; we are not doing Lagos. Even Nigeria is running a Muslim-Muslim ticket and nobody is complaining. We are looking for the best. They told us that this is the best, we agreed that it is the best.” He condemned inciting statements and urged those bent on creating problems to desist from it.
“As Christians, we voted during the last election, and so any statement that is inciting is not acceptable to the body of Christ. I am advising our father in the Lord, Adegbite, to know how to attend to issues. If CAN is an overriding body, then it should override not on the pages of newspapers; he should be able to consult and discuss. Bishop Wale Oke and other people are there. It is out of place for him to begin to create problems.
“I also read another group claiming that they are a youth group of PFN and that they would write to the embassy that the leaders should not travel out of the country. Are we okay? Who are those flying this kite trying to destabilise? My call to them is enough is enough. We have even suffered too much in the hands of the leaders of CAN and PFN. We are not going to sit down and watch them destroy what our founding fathers like Archbishop Benson Idahosa, Bishop Felix Omobude, Bishop Mike Okonkwo and others have built,” he added.
Dr David Odey, who described Lagos as one of the most organised states in Nigeria, said: “We must respect that. Those who are behind this are trying to create a crisis that does not exist, but to make Rev Toyin Kehinde, who is coming in, to feel that they are the ones who fought to bring him in.
“There is no fight in PFN. I do not even know other people who might be interested in the PFN position. Enyinnaya is on his way out. He is not dragging any position with anybody and I do not know any person being fielded by anybody to contest that position.” Odey said the people behind the PFN crisis were those driven by hunger for money and political recognition.
