The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has designated June 14, 2026 as a nationwide “Black Sunday” to mourn victims of terrorist attacks across the country.
The Association also declared a three-day National Prayer programme starting from Friday, June 12, and ending June 14, 2026, aimed at seeking for divine intervention over the worsening security situation in Nigeria.
The declaration formed part of the resolutions reached at the end of the 2026 National Church Denominational Leadership Summit held at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
In a communique issued at the end of the summit themed “The State of the Nation and the Way Forward,” church leaders expressed deep concern over worsening insecurity, economic hardship, and declining public confidence in State institutions.
Reading the communique, CAN President Archbishop David Okoh stated that the nation’s stability is under severe threat, condemning the targeting of vulnerable populations, noting that criminal groups are routinely abducting travellers on highways, displacing farmers from their lands and invading schools.
The communique further condemned “in the strongest terms the barbaric acts of murder, beheading, torture, rape, abduction, and forced displacement being perpetrated against innocent citizens.”
As a way to address the insecurity in the country, CAN demanded for comprehensive overhaul of the country’s security architecture, and urged the government to improve on intelligence gathering and better collaboration among security agencies.
The Christian body also called for the immediate establishment of state police and other decentralised local security structures to enable rapid response to threats.
It demanded the immediate, unconditional release of all abducted school children and citizens, and asked the federal government to establish a comprehensive compensation and rehabilitation programme for survivors and communities whose likelihoods, churches, and schools have been destroyed.