CAN condemns Sterling Bank over ‘provocative’ Easter commercial

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has chided Sterling Bank Plc over the advertisement on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

The body noted that the action of the financial institution’s management was tantamount to being hostile to the Christian faith .

A statement, yesterday by CAN’s National Secretary, Joseph Bade Daramola, in Abuja, noted: “We learnt that the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has reportedly intervened in the matter with a view to imposing some sanctions on Sterling Bank. CAN is waiting for the decision of the organisation.” 

The stated: “However, in the interim, we call on all Christians not to take the law into their hands in seeking redress, but to let the relevant authorities handle the matter.

“In case the management of the Sterling Bank is not aware, the resurrection of Jesus witnesses to the immense power of God Himself. To believe in the resurrection is to believe in God. If God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, then He has power to raise the dead.

“If He does not have such power, He is not worthy of our faith and worship. Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse the mystery that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting and gain the victory over the grave (1 Corinthians 15:54–55).

The Christian group held: “In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death.

“The empty tomb shows the supremacy of Jesus. Go to the grave of any other religious founder and his carcasses are still there being worshiped, but where Jesus was buried, it is boldly written, ‘He is no longer here, He has Risen!’

The advertisement was provocative, according to the statement, “but we will refuse to be provoked simply not only because it is not in our character, but it came from an uninformed mind of neither of the two leading religions in the country.”