N90bn FIRS fund: We don’t endorse corruption ― CAN

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6 years ago

THE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said that the association does not support anyone found culpable of corrupt practices or neither does it support corruption.

This statement came after knocks befell the Christian apex body after it was reported that it (CAN) backed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo over the allegation that he (Osinbajo) took N90 billion from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to fund the 2019 election.

CAN in a statement signed by Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the CAN President, said anyone accused of corruption has to prove his or herself innocent.

The statement reads: “The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) can never endorse corruption and has never exonerated anyone accused of corruption because we are not a court of law.

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“Anyone accused of corruption has to prove his or her innocence with documentary evidence before the court of competent jurisdiction as we all know before his or her innocence can be upheld.

“CAN leadership visited the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last Friday to hear his side of the story instead of rushing to the press either to condemn him or throw our weight behind him. This we believe, there is no law that is against our action.

“After we had interacted with him and he said that the allegation was baseless and should be treated as rubbish, and not only that, that he said that he was going to pursue the matter legally to prove his innocence, we then assured him that if he is proved innocent, then we throw our weight behind him. We thereafter prayed for him and our nation Nigeria. We urged him to continue to serve the nation with clean hands.

“The leadership of CAN has never endorsed corruption. In our earlier visits to President Muhammadu Buhari, we had praised him for fighting the war against corruption but urged him to make it comprehensive, sparing no one irrespective of political affiliation”.