The Guardian newspaper of Nigeria reports how the Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican) lost his re-election bid to head the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in an election last Tuesday.
A number of reasons were cited including disapproval of Akinola’s leadership style, how voting members from differing traditions worked together, and more. There was even accusation that Akinola tried to manipulate the outcome by tinkering with the vote calender.
However, the politics, which compelled Mbang to describe CAN as a funny organization seemed to have played out fully last Tuesday, when the 105 member National Executive Council (NEC) of the association gathered at the NCC to elect a new president,
Indeed, these forces came to play in the election, which saw the defeat of Akinola and made him the first CAN president to fail to get a second term.
The drama, started almost three weeks to the election, after the electoral college, made up of 15 spiritual leaders drawn from the five blocs of CAN, completed their assignment of selecting the top most preferred candidates.
While the report of the electoral college was supposed to have been kept secret till the NEC meeting, reports indicated that the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev. John Olorunfemi Onayeikan, was in the lead; even though the incumbent, Akinola and his deputy, Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) were seeking re-election.
Furthermore, there was an allegation that the incumbent CAN President had tried to manipulate the electoral process by changing the date of the NEC meeting, in order to favour his candidacy and pave way for his return.
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