CAN stands for Christian association of Nigeria. How significant is this statement? Very. It means that the Christian community will assume that the US government is allied with "Northern elements" sympathetic to Boko Haram.

There are two very prominent US friends of the Northern elite - John Campbell and Jean Herskovits and they are seen by the Christian community as (a) influencing US policy in Nigeria and (b) sympathetic to Boko Haram.

I think a wiser course of action for the US is to maintain a low profile (like the Brits) and allow Nigerians to sort themselves out. Telling the Nigerian people "what their problems are" or that "you understand the Nigerian situation better than they do" or "telling them how to solve their problems" openly was always going to backfire.

In the first place the US doesn't know jack about Nigeria and even less about its internal politics. Statements may be true, but politically uncalled for. The US hasn't learned the importance of keeping out of the internal politics of deeply polarised nations.

PRESIDENT, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has said the association reject the views of the American govern-ment as expressed by its Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr Johnnie Carson, on Boko Haram.

CAN, in a press release made available to the Nigerian Tribune, said it rejected the reason being pedlled by the American government and some Boko Haram apologists in the North that poverty and injustice was the spark for the action of the sect members.

Insisting that Boko Haram was a product of extreme religious ideology, CAN said the kind of arms and ammunition in the hands of the sect could only be purchased by those with heavy financial power.

“A fair comparison of any other region with the North shows that the section of the North referred to by Carson has been the greatest bene-ficiary of the project called Nigeria.

“The north has been in leadership for the greater part of Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee and its greatest annoyance seems to be the displacement from this position, because this same section of the region believes that they are born to rule,” the release said.
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news...-on-boko-haram