by Orkula Shaagee
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor
of the Word of Life Bible Church is noted for being outspoken on
national issues. Oritsejafor, who is also the President of Christian
Association of Nigeria (ACN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria
(PFN), spoke to reporters in Warri on the recent declaration of Boko
Haram to cease fire, the conditions for cease fire and those behind the
sect, among others. Excerpt:
Just recently, the Boko Haram sect announced their readiness for
cease fire giving some conditions such as release of their members in
detention, that the dialogue should hold in Saudi Arabia. It also named
former Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari and Ali Mongumo to be
members of the to mediate on their behalf in the ceasefire. They also
demanded for the arrest and prosecution of former Borno State Governor
Ali Modu Sheriff. What is your reaction to this?
First of all, is this really Boko Haram?
I don’t know. I want to sit back and watch the unfolding events,
because what we are hearing is much more interesting than what we are
seeing.
So, my first question is, is this really
Boko Haram or is it somebody else? We will know in the next few days
whether it is Boko Haram or not. The next question is, are they sincere
if actually they are Boko Haram or it is just blackmail. I am puzzled, I
don’t understand how a criminal terrorist organization would give
conditions to a legitimate sitting government of a country.
There are many things I would want to say, but again like I said earlier I am learning more to understand it more.
But if you have heard me say some things
in the past, as time goes on I will be vindicated in Nigeria. The thing
about truth is that you can’t bury it. Jesus in the Bible is referred
to as the truth, they killed and buried him, but the third day he rose
again. So there is nothing much you can do about truth. I would advise
that we work for and with the truth. Why Saudi Arabi? So many whys; so
many things to look at in the whole thing. Why Buhari, why all those
names?; these are the things going on in my mind. To me what has
happened raises more questions than answers, so this is as far as I can
go for now. A day or two after that, a retired General was killed; so
the questions keep increasing, I am a little puzzled. So, I reserve my
comments for now.
How sincere is the Federal Government in handling the Boko Haram issue?
Oh! The sincerity of the Federal
Government on the problems on ground, first of all I am not a member of
the Jonathan cabinet, so I am not in the inner circle, I am not in the
government and I don’t know anything that goes on in the government, so
it will be hard for me sitting here to tell you how sincere he is but I
will be surprised if President Goodluck Jonathan is not sincere, because
it won’t do him any good. He has nothing to gain from Boko Haram
destroying Nigeria. First of all, it will not be good of him to be said
it was during his time as president that an extremist group broke up the
nation. Second, I believe as a good president he would want to do
something for this country, but in this kind of situation, what can he
do? Challenges come at different levels, ways and forms; so I think in
my opinion he is sincere, whether they are doing enough is another
thing.
There are many things that I think need
to be done. For example, there is need to look again at the security
agencies, they need to be trained and retrained, and constantly
retrained.
If you look at the police, to be
specific, they are under-equipped, under-funded and the problem with
funding again is fraud, because there is no part of Nigerian that you
don’t find fraud. Everywhere you turn to and loom at there is fraud.
Greed in Nigeria is so high.
He must find a way of funding the police
and bring them up to date with what is happening in the world. Their
salary should be increased, because you don’t expect a man earning a
meagre amount to risk his life and die for how much you will give him.
Even after you provide the good weapons, he has a wife and children.
What is going to happen to them, how much has he been able to save, what
kind of pension does he have, what kind of security have you put in
place for his future and his family? These things must be looked at.
There is another very sensitive issue.
Among our security agents, there are some who are more loyal to their
religion than Nigeria, it is a major problem and we all pretend. Most
of our security agents don’t believe in Nigeria the way they believe in
their religion, they are ready to sell Nigeria and protect their
religion and that is dangerous for a country like Nigeria, and I don’t
know how far we can go as a nation. Many times, Boko Haram gets
information about their movement, plans and intentions before they are
carried. From who? From the same people who are planning it. It is a
major thing that President Jonathan would look at, and God should help
him find few trusted capable hands who will help him look for ways to
fish out some of these people, some of whom are in strategic positions;
so that if they know them, remove them and make them redundant and send
them to places where they cannot get information and put then right
people in right places. It may help.
Finally, Muslim leaders must go beyond
condemning it. Boko Haram is first and foremost a fundamentalist
ideology. They are Islamists, who take ideas from the Quran, not from
the Bible. If they took it from the Bible, probably they would have
invited people like us now that they say they want to dialogue, but you
can see the list of names, they can’t invite people like us.
So, whatever way you look at it, there
are certain beliefs they have and it comes from a certain very important
holy book. So, they should look for the Sheiks, Imams and some of these
people that may know these people and get in contact with them and
convince them that Nigeria cannot be Somalia, Afghanistan and Nigeria
cannot become a country of one religion. It is not possible.
The Imams who teach every Friday in the
Mosque must begin to teach every average Muslim that this is their
country; they should not say things that will help separate Nigeria from
their minds. What I am saying is that we can join hands, they can work
and we will support them in any way they want us to help fish out these
people in their midst. They are giving a bad name to a great religion. I
know there is fear, some are afraid they will kill them, but life is
full of racers, you cannot live in this world without race. So, if you
don’t want to take a risk with Boko Haram, you may take a risk with
another thing tomorrow. Why not take this risk and have a better future.
Look at the economy of the north now, it is gone.
What is your advice to others outside sports and security?
I am troubled by what is happening in
Nigeria today, with regards to what our politicians are doing. So my
advice is that those coming after them should know that there are many
things more than acquiring wealth. There is nothing wrong in acquiring
things, but if you cannot afford it, leave it alone. Life is not about
what you have, life is about who you are and what you do with what you
have, that is what it is all about.
What is the experience like,
having spent 40 years doing the work of God, what are the challenges,
the high points and low points?
To be a pastor for 40 years definitely
there are so many challenges. Anyone who is an achiever, there must be
problems somewhere, achievers are not ordinary people, extraordinary
people because success and trouble were born on the same day, so when
you see success, you see trouble, they go together. People who want
success should be ready for trouble. So, when you talk about high points
and low points. The one I have been sharing in recent times is I was
married for 20 years and my wife died, that was my low point in my 40
years of ministering. It was very painful, a woman you slept on the same
bed with for 20 years. In fact, she even died in my hands. It was
painful.
As a pastor, people think you are not
human being, though you have a head, two eyes and two legs like them.
Pastors go through hard time, they go through pains.
But after her death, God was good to me
because about two years later, I met my present wife, an incredible
woman. God used her to wipe my tears, took away the pain and sorrow, and
changed everything. I am so grateful to God.
I don’t feel that pain anymore; all that I feel now is joy and fulfillment, because of what He has done for me.
DailyTrust
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