The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has come under fire after condemning Nollywood actress Ini Edo\u2019s new film A Very Dirty Christmas, with critics accusing the body of misplaced priorities and selective outrage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CAN described the movie\u2019s title as \u201coffensive and disrespectful to the Christian faith,\u201d insisting that Christmas is sacred and should not be associated with the word \u201cdirty.\u201d The association demanded explanations from the National Film and Video Censors Board on how such a title was approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the statement has triggered a storm of criticism. Nigerians on social media argue that CAN has remained largely silent on more pressing issues, from allegations of pastors raping minors, to the public dispute involving Pastor Chris Okafor and actress Doris Ogala, to Christians being killed by bandits in northern Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On X (formerly Twitter), one user wrote: \u201cSo CAN can speak loudly about a movie title, but not about pastors abusing children? Hypocrisy at its peak.\u201d<\/em> Another added: \u201cChristians are being slaughtered by bandits, yet CAN finds its voice only when Nollywood drops a film. What exactly is their mission?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Others mocked the association\u2019s stance. \u201cDirty Christmas is just a movie. Dirty silence is what CAN practices when real issues happen,\u201d<\/em> posted a Facebook commenter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Supporters of CAN, however, defended the body\u2019s intervention. \u201cChristmas is holy. If we don\u2019t protect it from ridicule, who will?\u201d<\/em> argued one Instagram user. Another said: \u201cIt\u2019s not about ignoring other issues, it\u2019s about safeguarding the faith from cultural erosion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The controversy has reignited debate over the role of religious institutions in Nigeria. Should CAN be a watchdog against moral decay in entertainment, or should its voice be louder against systemic abuses and violence affecting Christians?<\/p>\n\n\n\n For many Nigerians, the uproar is less about Ini Edo\u2019s film and more about CAN\u2019s credibility. By focusing on a Nollywood title while appearing muted on scandals and killings, critics say the association risks losing moral authority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has come under fire after condemning Nollywood actress Ini Edo\u2019s new film A Very Dirty Christmas, with critics accusing the body of misplaced priorities and selective outrage. CAN described the movie\u2019s title as \u201coffensive and disrespectful to the Christian faith,\u201d insisting that Christmas is sacred and should not be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,18,3],"tags":[2575,2249,2573,2570,2571,2264,2574,2572,2576,2577],"class_list":["post-25274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-lifestyle","category-naija-news","tag-banditkillings","tag-cancontroversy","tag-christianvoices","tag-churchsilence","tag-faithandaccountability","tag-nigeriadebates","tag-pastorscandals","tag-religioushypocrisy","tag-selectiveoutrage","tag-voicesofthepeople"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CAN-logo.webp?fit=824%2C457&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25274"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25283,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25274\/revisions\/25283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}