Mbang then said that he would want attention to shift from him to his successor, Akinola, arguing that if all Nigerian leaders learned to quit the stage when the ovation is loudest, the country would be a better place for all.
Indeed, attention shifted to Akinola, for good and otherwise. During his four years' eventful stay as president of CAN, his most memorable achievement was his determination to complete the National Ecumenical Centre, now the National Christian Centre (NCC) in Abuja .
However, the politics, which compelled Mbang to describe CAN as a funny organisation seemed to have played out fully last Tuesday, when the 105 member National Executive Council (NEC) of the association gathered at the NCC to elect a new president.
Indeed, these forces came to play in the election, which saw the defeat of Akinola and made him the first CAN president to fail to get a second term.
The drama, started almost three weeks to the election, after the Electoral College, made up of 15 spiritual leaders drawn from the five blocs of CAN, completed their assignment of selecting the top most preferred candidates.
While the report of the Electoral College was supposed to have been kept secret till the NEC meeting, reports indicated that the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja , Most Rev. John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, was in the lead; even though the incumbent, Akinola and his deputy, Bishop Mike Okonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) were seeking re-election.
Furthermore, there was an allegation that the incumbent CAN President had tried to manipulate the electoral process by changing the date of the NEC meeting, in order to favour his candidacy and pave way for his return. The secretary of the association, Samuel Salifu, however refuted the report, describing it as 'baseless and malicious.'
Salifu insisted that the constitution empowered the president of CAN to fix a date for the NEC meeting; and stressed ''that is what Akinola did in line with laid-down procedure.''
Critics of Akinola's style of leadership in CAN, who wanted to vote for 'a change,' had accused him of being 'too loyal' to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. They also blamed him for not acting very promptly to attacks on northern Christians.
One of the candidates that contested the 2003 election was Onaiyekan, who most people hoped would emerge victorious. But it was alleged that the Presidency favoured the candidacy of Akinola and indeed worked to ensure victory for him. In that line, Akinola was perceived as an Obasanjo man. "He should go with Obasanjo", one of the delegates said.
One other critical issue that worked against Akinola, according to his opponents, was the comment made by the former President Obasanjo at the height of the crisis in Plateau State , when he visited the state to meet with the stakeholders. It was during the meeting that Obasanjo rebuked the state CAN chairman and made the infamous remark 'CAN my foot'. Many Christian leaders did not take kindly to the remark and had wanted Akinola to take the matter more decisively with Obasanjo, which they alleged that he failed to do.
However, others lined behind Akinola, particularly over his bold comments at the wake of the 2006 Danish-cartoon riots, which saw the killing of hundreds of Christians in the northern part of the country.
Akinola, writing as CAN President, had warned Muslims that "they do not have the monopoly of violence in this nation. CAN may no longer be able to curtail our restive youths should this ugly trend continue.''
A source in CAN said ''this statement cannot be for a man who some would want to brand as docile and quiet to the plight of Christians in the north."
On Akinola's alleged familiarity with Obasanjo, the source said, "let us not play to the gallery; the Anglican Primate was also a critic of some policies of the past government.'"
His principled stand against the ordination of homosexuals as priests in the Anglican Communion worldwide, also enriched his background but this is limited to the Anglican members of the association's NEC.
On Monday June 18, delegates started arriving Abuja for the NEC meeting. They defied the biting fuel scarcity to make it for the meeting. There were also others, not delegates, who came from out stations to Abuja , to watch and observe events leading to the election of the 5th CAN president, 31 years after it was inaugurated.
That Monday night, lobbying and campaigning intensified at guest houses where delegates lodged.
The NEC meeting eventually kicked off shortly after 10am on Tuesday, at the V.I.P wing of the NCC. In his opening address, Akinola reminded delegates of the need to have a "clear vision, where we believe God is leading us as the Christian community in Nigeria ." He urged them not to "take these things for granted."
He went on to outline some of the achievements of the association under his leadership. These, he said, included a functional CAN secretariat and departments, a new constitution, improvement in inter-faith dialogue, completion of the NCC after 16 years of inactivity, and efforts to file new board of trustees for CAN with the Corporate Affairs Commission, to mention a few.
Done with his speech, which was also accepted, the main business of the day began.
Indeed, when there seemed to be some delay, a delegate from the North Central region had remarked "let us go on with the election or are we afraid? We cannot travel long distances at huge costs under the present circumstance and not hold this election".
A motion by a bishop of a Pentecostal church from the South West, that the current executive be allowed to continue for another term, because of their monumental achievements, caused an uproar.
A former military governor from the North-Central, who was also a delegate, interrupted the bishop and shouted him down. The former governor was cautioned and reminded that "here is not a garrison command, but a gathering of church leaders."
After debates and arguments, the election proceeded. At the end of it all, around 12.45pm, the returning officer and General Overseer of Foursquare Church Nigeria , Rev. Wilson Badejo, announced that Catholic Archbishop of Abuja , John Onayeikan polled 72 votes to Akinola's 33.
Onaiyekan, a highly intelligent and experienced Catholic priest, hails from Kabba, Kogi State. He is the immediate past president of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN).
Going by the constitution of the association, a candidate with the majority of votes of the NEC is deemed nominated as president, while the runner-up becomes Vice-President.
Subsequently, the nominated president and his deputy would be presented to the General Assembly of CAN for ratification on July 5 in Abuja .
