In the raging media war between
former Minister of the Federal Public and the President of the
increasingly political CAN President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has taken a
new turn with the release of this press statement by the former
Minister. It is published be
Oritsejafor not synonymous with CAN
Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai
Many
in Nigeria today may not remember the name of Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi
Okogie, but if there was any opposition to the military regimes of the
eighties and nineties, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) under
him definitely represented a voice of resistance to those governments’
excesses. At a time when many people kept silent in the face of human
rights abuses, Okogie faced down the military government and told them
some home truths. It didn’t matter if the victims were Muslims or
Christians; it didn’t matter whether they were from the north or south;
CAN fought for all Nigerians. Okogie had the moral authority to act, and
did so with dignity, to the admiration of all of us.
Okogie’s
bravery was not unusual for CAN leaders; if anything, in the turbulent
history of this country, there is a proud tradition of leaders of CAN
who spoke for and stood by the people of this country. They used their
moral authority to defend the rights of all Nigerians even during the
most brutal military dictatorships or corrupt and inept civilian
administrations. The courage of the likes of Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi
Okogie, Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola, the Reverend SundayMbang and
Cardinal John Onaiyekan, for instance, are shining examples of faith in
action, with compassion for the oppressed and chastisement for the
tyrants.
It
is a mark of the sad and uncertain times our country faces that we have
to be reminded that previous leaders of CAN have used that platform for
nobler purposes than we currently see. In spite of the corruption that
blights much discourse these days, it is evident that a clear
distinction exists between CAN as a body and the individual that leads
it. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor cannot be allowed to conflate himself with
CAN. He bears personal accountability for the conduct and utterances
that portray him as a messenger of the powerful, or as an active soldier
of the ruling party. Except for the informed, the casual observer may
mistake Oritsejafor for a minor protocol official of government, so
pathetically has he cheapened the erstwhile integrity of the CAN
presidency.
Pastor
Oritsejafor’s utterances and behaviour amount to repudiation of the
moral authority, fair-mindedness and high standing his predecessors
invested in that office. While they spoke truth to power in the exalted
prophetic tradition, he cossets and pampers the government of the day.
He even champions their politics of ethnic and religious division by
making unfounded allegations against opposition leaders. How else can
any neutral observer rationalize his two calls for General Buhari’s
arrest? In contrast, Oritsejafor was dead silent when persons that are
Jonathan’s sidekicks threatened the nation with violence if he is not
voted president in 2015! The dissonance between the glorious past and
now is rather loud.
While
Pastor Oritsejafor chose to be a subaltern to power, other men of faith
rose to stem division and help the country achieve peace, efforts for
which Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan and the Sultan of Sokoto were
nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Such an esteemed global honour is a
measurement of leadership quality and character; as distinct from
Oritsejafor who prefers earthly gains and ostentatious lifestyle of
private jets! Everyone can recall that November morning in 2012 when
Oritsejafor accepted the gift of a private jet in the presence of a
smiling President Jonathan.
Observers
of Oritsejafor’s record should pause and ponder why the Catholic
leaders took the recent unprecedented decision to temporarily opt out of
CAN! It is not because Christians in Nigeria today are markedly
different from those that lived in the days when Okogie, Akinola and
Mbang led CAN honourably, it is because the Oritsejafor style has driven
the organisation into the ignominious politics of hatred and division.
Due
to how sensitive any discourse about religion has become in Nigeria,
many have refrained from pointing out the errant ways of Oritsejafor,
but if we are to build the Nigeria of our dreams, we must have the
courage to point out transgressions against all Nigerians by people
masking themselves in religious toga to create strife in the country.
The truth is that Oritsejafor is neither a personalization of CAN, nor
an example of the compassion, grace and modesty Christianity teaches.
A
case of the descent into toxic politics is evident from the statement
purportedly issued in CAN’s name in defence of Oritsejafor. The language
of the statement is very similar to the gutter language usually spewed
out of the Presidential Villa whenever any citizen expresses the right
to question the corruption, impunity and incompetence of the Jonathan
administration. The sudden attempt to assume the role of political
adviser to General Muhammadu Buhari, a person that Oritsejafor has done
everything to malign and smear, amounts to everything a religious
organisation should not be. When purportedly religious leaders or
organisations become brazenly partisan, they should not complain
directly and through surrogates when they are responded to in like
manner.
God’s
work cannot be reduced to petty electoral calculations. Neither should
those who claim to be on the Almighty’s mission indulge in base
blackmail and falsehood, or encroach on God’s prerogative to bestow
grace, provide final justice and avenge wrong.
Let
the leaders of faith show good example when they step into the public
arena. The merchants of religiosity, those who specialise in distorting
the sobriety of faith into wares to be traded for political and
commercial favours, should not be allowed to divide our country or to
derail the diversity of our creeds and tongues into a reason for strife.
Above all else, we are all human, sharing the same biology and
deserving to be free and secure, whatever our beliefs and ethnic
origins. In the final analysis, the needs and wants of a less privileged
Christian destitute in Abia is not that much different from that of a
Muslim Almajiri in Zamfara!
Omojuwa.com
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