The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria has disowned the northern bishops who met with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu. According to the association, the visit of the clerics does not have any relationship with the Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria.
It will be recalled that the clerics had met with Tinubu in Abuja on Friday. Their meeting was not unconnected with the forthcoming elections.
Their meeting generated several comments online due to the fact that the APC fielded a Muslim-Muslim ticket in its presidential candidates. This was interpreted as a disregard for the Christian community. Several groups including the Christian Association of Nigeria have criticized the action of the ruling political party.
However, in an interview with TheCable on Sunday, the deputy national secretary of the PFN, David Bakare said, “There is nothing in PFN that is regional based like southern or northern pentecostal bishops. The meeting between Tinubu and the Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria has nothing to do with the PFN.
“I am speaking to you officially and authoritatively that the ranks of the Christian community, and of course, the PFN which I represent is not broken at all.
“The Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria is not known to the PFN. The forum does not have any affiliation or relationship with the PFN that is registered with the government of this nation.
“The position of the PFN on same faith ticket still stands as it was in the beginning and we have not, for any reason, shifted our position on that matter.
“The PFN is not a part of the meeting with the presidential candidate that was highly politicised. We are however aware of the ripples in the public domain about this matter.
“I am speaking officially to clarify that the PFN has nothing to do with that organisation. We didn’t take such a decision, we have not met that political party and whatever we will do would be in the public domain.
“That group is on their own and has nothing to do with the real incorporated PFN. I looked at the photos (from the meeting) and the names. I could recognise about two people who are our members, but they speak for themselves.
“As a matter of fact, the PFN does not have any settings for bishops. What we have is PFN, we do not separate bishops of pentecostal from other clergies of Pentecostal.
“Individuals can form an association but when it comes to the body called PFN, there is no change in our position and we have not authorised anybody to hold a meeting.”
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