N90bn saga: We did not exonerate Osinbajo of alleged corruption ― CAN

Luminous Jannamike – Abuja Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has said it did not exonerate Vice President Yemi Osinbajo of the corruption allegation trailing the disbursement of a certain N90bn election fund.

The umbrella Christian body said, on Sunday, that it was the duty of the court of competent jurisdiction to declare such an accused either innocent or guilty.

CAN President, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, in a statement by his media aide, Pastor Bayo Oladeji, also dismissed reports which quoted him as saying the Vice President was innocent of the corruption allegation.

The statement reads in part, “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.

“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.”

He explained that CAN simply visited Osinbajo last Friday to hear his side of the story rather than blindly condemning or throwing its weight behind him out of sentiments since he is also a cleric and church leader.

Ayokunle, however, maintained that the move was not made in violation of the law, and also did not amount to an endorsement of the Vice President as widely reported.

He said, “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 war against corruption but urged him to make it comprehensive, sparing no one irrespective of political affiliation.”