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Saturday 4 October 2014
Softly, softly, Oritsejafor, Okoh
Leaders of the Christian fold in the country
should not turn the body to a partisan
platform
Every time analysts and scholars dissect the
Nigerian crisis of development, they are
unanimous in returning the verdict that
leadership is the bane. It appears that that same
challenge has crept into the Christian fold as
leaders of treasured moral platforms now take
advantage of their positions to feed primordial
predilections.
It is unfortunate that a platform as formidable as
the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is being
transformed into an organ of the presidency.
Since Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor took the leadership
of the umbrella Christian association, the Nigerian
people, Christian and non-Christian alike, have
observed that the relationship he cultivated with
President Goodluck Jonathan and so flaunted has
generally eroded the dignity of the office.
Observers are sometimes tempted to see CAN as
a parastatal of the Federal Government.
This is a far cry from the standards set by Christ
for all those who would follow and serve him and
derogates from the vision of the founding fathers
of the body. The recent scandal regarding the use
of an aircraft owned by the CAN President to ferry
$9.3 million to South Africa in circumstances that
are yet shady is a blight on the organisation and
suggests that many such things might have been
on unknown to Nigerians. While it is taken that
the CAN President merely owns the aircraft so
used, there are still questions as to the role he
might have played in getting the contract for the
lessee. Besides, Pastor Orisejafor would not have
been enmeshed in the moral crisis if he had not
strayed from his primary calling – preaching the
gospel. The rate at which pastors chase material
things has become so alarming that Church
leaders should call themselves to order.
As if that was not enough, the Church of Nigeria
(Anglican Communion) chose to give a Primatial
award to the President last week. Everything
about the award was wrong. First, why was it
created? There is no record that anything like a
Primatial award was ever given anyone before.
Besides, the Church, beaming the light of the
gospel ought to have acted above worldly
standards. In Nigeria today, there are all sorts of
awards worth nothing. They promote vanity and
are designed to extract financial support from
those in power. The Anglican Church failed to tell
Nigerians the criteria for the award.
Second, we feel uncomfortable by the timing of
the award. There are so many questions that
Nigerians are asking of their President. Insecurity
has never been this bad, the Chibok girls are still
in captivity, nothing has changed in critical sectors
like education, health and employment. How then
did the Church arrive at the decision? We can only
imagine that the Church, wittingly or otherwise,
has been dragged into the President’s re-election
bid. The coincidence is too striking to go
unnoticed – Primate Nicholas Okoh is
Oritsejafor’s deputy in CAN and he is from Delta
State, too.
This time calls for discernment. Leaders of the
Church should realise that they are meant to be
ambassadors of Christ and shine the light to
dispel darkness. We call on leaders of CAN to
return to standards set by Prophets of old who
spoke truth to power and were not fazed by the
grandeur of the office of the monarchs.
This is a critical time in the life of our country. It
calls for true men of God to rise to the occasion
and ensure that leaders are kept on their toes.
The churches are non-partisan platforms and
should not be dragged in the mud. Christians are
of different political persuasions and should not
be willy-nilly herded into narrow partisan choices.
Primate Okoh and Pastor Oritsejafor should
beware as we move closer to the next general
elections.
The reason this comment is necessary is not
Christianity per se. But a huge chunk of the
Nigerian population professes the faith and it has
become a template of conduct and human
relations in societies where they prosper. Its
mores and values have permeated our society.
Therefore, those who are charged to fend for the
spiritual health of that critical cultural group must
understand that their burden goes beyond the
faith but it is also about faith in the sense of
justice and wellbeing of Nigerians, whether
Christians or non-Christians.
For the leadership of one of the oldest Christian
bodies in the country, even the world, to enmesh
itself in a partisan stake is to demean what
religion applauds in its highest form.
Oritsejafor and Okoh ought to realise that faith
belongs in the realm of the spiritual and not in
the murky waters of the temporal. As the good
book itself says, “to whom much is given, much is required"
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