Deborah Samuel: CAN issues new directive to Christians as Muslims plan counter-protest on Sunday

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has made an adjustment to Sunday’s protest over the murder of Deborah Samuel.

The President, Rev. Samson Ayokunle issued a circular to churches on Saturday.

The religious leader informed them of the plans by Muslims to counter the demonstration.

Ayokunle noted that their intention “is to cause chaos and attribute it to us”.

“In view of the foregoing, I urge you all to do the protest of placard-carrying within the premises of your churches or local CAN Secretariat”, he said.

The cleric advised Christians nationwide to pray for justice for Deborah “who was wickedly and extra-judicially slain”.

Ayokunle urged them to seek God’s intervention “for a change of heart” for people who find it “convenient to kill their fellow humans under religious guise”.

The President prayed that “the Lord be with us all, His Church in Nigeria and our nation who is in birth pains”.

Deborah, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, was stoned and burned last Thursday for blasphemy.

The incident has attracted local and international condemnation with demands for the prosecution of the killers.