The Christian Association of Nigeria in the 19 Northern states and Abuja has vowed to oppose the ambition of former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007. CAN also said machinery was already being put in place to mobilize Christians in the North against the realization of Babangida's presidential ambition.
CAN Northern states Secretary General, Elder Saidu Dogo disclosed this while speaking with newsmen. He said the association would embark on an enlightenment tour of the North with the objective of educating the people on the risk posed by Babangida's 2007 ambition. Dogo stated that the former military ruler's record was so bad that he could not qualify for the leadership of the country in a democracy.
He said Babangida's military administration's policies plunged Nigeria into the current economic hardship that she had been entangled in.
Dogo said: "after he took over from Buhari's government, he devalued the Naira by 300 per cent and left the currency in a terrible state till today. What can he do for Nigeria now? Since the devaluation, Nigeria has not recovered. What will he come and do in 2007 to salvage the country or what? We cannot hide anything, we don't hate him, the facts are there. And under his regime, he secretly took Nigeria to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC)."
He enjoined Babangida to discard the idea of returning to power in 2007, noting that Nigeria could no longer make do with recycled leaders like him.
The CAN scribe also faulted the human rights records of Babangida's regime, noting that it had nothing to be proud of in that regard.
"We had even opposed him and his government while in power and this made him to send many of us to prison. Personally, as I am talking to you, I have been sent to prison three times. What are we talking about? It was Babangida who first arrested us because he was doing many evil things and we told him to his face that he could not continue to trample on people. So Babangida believed that we were responsible for raising people like Orkar because we were challenging him," he said.
He urged Nigerians to continue to give President Olusegun Obasanjo the necessary cooperation in the execution of his various reform programmes.
Dogo however further noted that CAN would not give up efforts to educate Christians against Babangida's candidacy for the 2007 presidency, saying that "it is left for anyone to heed the advice or not."
