A former governor of Benue
State and Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, has accused Pastor Ayo
Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, of turning
the religious body to a criminal cult.
Akume berated the Christian
body for backing Oritsejafor whose jet was involved in a recent $9.3m smuggling
scandal in South Africa
The ex-governor in a
statement on Monday also accused Oritsejafor of championing what he tagged, a “clearly
criminal, immoral and unethical act” and attempting to
mask it with “religious grandstanding”.
He also decried CAN’s
reaction to the situation, saying the body had become a political entity since
the installation of its current leadership.
The statement reads in full.
“I wish to express my utmost dismay and anger over how
hard Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor the president of CAN is working to destroy the
little credibility that is left of this once glorious organization. Still
trending a clearly criminal, immoral and unethical act is being white washed
with religious grandstanding.
“It is necessary that those of us who profess the
Christian faith and have since the return to democratic rule in 1999, offered
ourselves to serve this country sometimes at grave personal risks must speak
out against the brazen attempts to hijack our religion and use it for purposes
that are clearly against the tenets of the teachings of Jesus the Christ.
“On 5th September 2014, a jet owned by Pastor Ayo
Oritsejafor was caught in South Africa stashed with United States Dollars to
the tune of 9.3 million undeclared cash purportedly meant for the purchase of
arms through black market. The circumstances surrounding the incident suggest
that those ferrying the money did it in open breach of Nigerian and
international laws. South Africa has already established a prima facie case of
criminality involved in the questionable misadventure.
“Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has openly confessed that he
owns the jet involved in this crime. He however, claimed that the jet was
leased out to Eagle Air, which again leased it out to Green Coast Produce
Limited. He has desperately tried to absolve himself of the crime committed by
those who were transferring money illegally.
“His arguments are unsustainable because he has
vicarious liability at several levels. One, the vessel used for criminal
activity belongs to him. Secondly, he commercially leased the vessel to Eagle
Air, which is a company he holds an interest in and which in turn further
leased same to the company that converted it to commercial use with his full
knowledge and approval. The chain of ethical liability is unbroken. How will
the pastor explain his involvement with people engaged in the murky waters of
international arms trafficking?
“The President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor claimed
that his congregation donated this same jet to him on the 40th anniversary of
his ministry sometime in 2012 for the purpose of attending to his flock and
doing God’s work. The plane, a Bombardier Challenger 600 was
registered as a privately owned jet supposedly for pastoral use. However, the
three passengers arrested in South Africa with the aircraft were definitely not
on pastoral visit to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Unfortunately, the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN) has jumped into this fray, hurling insults on respectable members of the
society and making statements that are more political than spiritual. I wish to
remind officials of CAN that when on 27th August, 1976, Christian leaders first
met at the Catholic secretariat, Lagos, they agreed to establish an
organization that would promote cooperation among Christians, interfaith
harmony and safeguard the welfare of all Nigerians. When CAN was eventually
registered in 1986, it’s constitution clearly articulated among other
objectives to act as ‘watchperson of the spiritual and moral welfare of the
Nation’.
“Another core objective is to promote understanding,
peace and unity among the various people of Nigeria.
“From the pioneer president of CAN His Eminence Dominic
Cardinal Ekandem (of blessed memory) through his several revered successors
like His Eminence Anthony Cardinal Okogie, Dr. Sunday Mbang, Most Rev. Peter Akinola
and the immediate past President of CAN and Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, His
Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, CAN witnessed it’s
glorious years. The organization promoted religious harmony through inter-faith
dialogue. Cardinal Onaiyekan and the Sultan of Sokoto were even considered for
the Nobel Peace prize award. CAN in those years regularly advised government on
diverse issues affecting ordinary citizens and remained a strident voice for
the voiceless. Those were those days. Today, the story is different.
“Since the present CAN leadership came on board, CAN
has become a sorry appendage of the villa. It has become politically partisan,
obscenely materialistic and the voice of the oppressor rather than the
oppressed. The situation degenerated to a state that the single largest block
of CAN, which is, the Catholic Church suspended itself from the national
leadership of CAN until ‘sanity’ returns to the
leadership”.
“Those of us who are Christians and are saddled with
leadership positions are terribly disappointed that this once glorious
organization has become the defender of criminal acts that have exposed Nigeria
to international ridicule. The Jet in question is not the property of CAN. It
belongs to Pastor Oritsejafor, supposedly donated to him by his congregation.
This was a private jet for spiritual work but as the owner himself has
confessed, it was leased out for financial gain. The Jet was on a mission to
buy arms or so we are told. The arms merchants who hired the jet behaved as
outlaws by brazenly breaching the laws of Nigeria, South Africa and the United
Nations. This is against all the teachings of Christ who urged all his
followers to be law abiding and give unto Caesar what is his.
“The present leadership of CAN has never raised a
comment on the legion of scandals President Jonathan has buffeted Nigerians
with. CAN was not heard on the fuel subsidy scam, pension scam, kerosene scam,
Deizani’s myriad of sleazes, etc. etc. Rather, CAN is
badmouthing any Nigerian who dares to admonish or even interrogate the series
of controversies Pastor Oritsejafor is visiting on Christendom.
“May it not be recorded in our national history that in
Nigeria, Saints are demonized and demons are canonized?
“My appeal to our brothers in the north is that, what
they see in CAN today has nothing to do with Christianity but everything to do
with crass materialism and self-seeking opportunism. Thank God, not all hope is
lost for Christendom. When Nigerian Christians expect a voice of reason from it’s
leaders, such voice always comes assuredly from the Catholic Bishops Conference
of Nigeria (CBCN).
“Finally, my appeal to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor is that
as a Christian leader, his beacon should be Jesus the Christ. The Christ who
was born in a manger, had no place to sleep; borrowed a donkey to ride into
Jerusalem; borrowed the upper room to have his last supper with his Apostles
and after his death, was buried in a borrowed tomb. If Christ lived over two
thousand years ago and his lifestyle cannot resonate Pastor Ayo’s
present reality, he may yet emulate the Catholic Pontiff Pope Francis who does
not have a private jet even though his flock numbers over a billion and spread
allover the world.
“I advise him to sell this controversial jet and use
the funds to reconstruct or rehabilitate churches destroyed by Boko Haram in
the northeast of Nigeria. This advice is especially apt now that the Pastor no
longer needs the plane for pastoral duties”, the statement
concluded.
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