Count Me Out Of Politics As CAN President -Ayokunle

 

 Count Me Out Of Politics As CAN President -Ayokunle

The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev Dr Olasupo Ayokunle has said he has never been a politician and hence remains apolitical while his doors are open to all Christians irrespective of their political affiliations.

Ayokunle said although his service years up till the time he emerged as the CAN President, he had never associated himself with any political party in the country and would not do so now that he had been elected divinely to serve.

The cleric made this clarification to correct some misrepresentations of facts in an interview he granted some newsmen recently on the visit of the American Secretary of State, John Kerry to Nigeria.

He said his position that John Kerry during his visit to Nigeria deliberately side-lined the Christian leadership was quoted out of context.

He expressed dismay that a correspondent of the medium who he spoke with distorted part of his remarks, and out of mischief syndicated the distorted report and misled his colleagues to publish falsehood about him.

Part of the report the CAN President found offensive read, “The CAN President noted that the attitude and disposition of Kerry and the discrimination he adopted during the visit supports accusations that the President Barack Obama’s administration, Kerry and other strategic US politicians in the Obama’s government openly supported the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections, which produced the current leadership of the country".

The CAN President said he was utterly disappointed that a respected news tabloid as SUNDAY PUNCH could still publish unverified reports which revolved around the status of CAN President, even with quotation deliberately twisted to suit the sinister idea of the reporter, in its last edition.

The cleric said, “There was never a time I referred to the 2015 presidential poll and the so-called American support given to the APC by the Obama administration in the interview."

He added, "I was outside the country when the reporter called me to speak on the visit of Mr John Kerry, but from what I read in the media, I was misquoted and misrepresented. I never linked Mr Kerry’s visit to Nigeria with the last presidential election and the possible support of the United States for the APC. And my office immediately set the record straight.

“There was never a time I referred to the 2015 presidential poll and the so-called American support given to the APC by the Obama administration in the interview."

Ayokunle said he had discovered that the reporter who falsified his position on Kerry’s visit to Nigeria had no proof to back up his report, after he spoke with him.

He, however, seized the scope to sound a note of caution to newsmen to always cross check their facts before filing their reports, stressing that strict adherence to the ethics of journalism which he said emphasises the need for facts in news reporting would always be of help to practicing journalists and their media institutions.

The cleric said, "I stand by everything I said in the interview except where I was misquoted and I urge our media practitioners to be more professional in their reportage."

Signed

PASTOR ADEBAYO OLADEJI

 Media Assistant