XMAS DAY BOMBINGS: It’s inhuman, barbaric and satanic – Oritsejafor

BY SAM EYOBOKA

FOLLOWING Christmas Day’s Boko Haram violent bomb attacks on innocent Christian worshippers in parts of the North that have left several persons dead and property torched, the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, played host to a group of journalists, who were in Warri, Delta State for his annual poverty alleviation programme. During the interview session, the CAN president reiterated his belief that there is an underground plan to Islamize Nigeria, and spoke on other national issues including the proposed fuel subsidy removal.  Excerpts:

What was your initial reaction when you heard of the attack on some churches on Christmas day?

Anger! I was extremely angry. This is unacceptable in a civilised world. Even animals have respect for each other. It is inhuman, inhumane, barbaric and satanic. And to think that there are people who sponsor this sort of evil is really heartbreaking. After doing such evil these people go home, bath, eat and probably sit with their children.

Let us not deceive ourselves; as good as religion is, it can be a terrible thing; because it is only religion that can give a man the conviction to do this kind of thing. It is really terrible. Christmas is a day that probably 80 million people in this country and billions across the world are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Couldn’t they just have respect for that day? Somebody who will not respect that, does he have respect for human life? I don’t think so. He doesn’t even have respect for his own life. It is totally unacceptable and barbaric.

Do you see any ethnic coloration behind the unending attacks?

Well you may want to throw more light on that question because, for me, I think this whole thing is religious.

There are suggestions that this is happening because we have a president from the South South region and that is why northern elders have kept quiet all along…

(Cuts in) Like I always say, I am never politically correct; but I will tell you what I think. When you talk of northern elders, who are they? Are you talking about Muslim northern elders; because that is another thing to be considered? When you say northern elders are not happy with President Jonathan, being a president from the South South, what about northern elders who are not Muslims? Are they also sad? Are they sad that Jonathan is president? I don’t think so.

There is a section in the North that is not happy and that is where we are not bold enough to face the truth. The truth of the matter is that it is not the North that is not happy; it is a section of the North. It is not all the northern elders that are not happy, it is a section of the northern elders that are not happy. Someone will say I am inciting people; but these things are true.

All we do is dig out truth that most people already know and we all pretend about it. We pat each other and tell each other lies. So that is why I take you back to religion because religion plays a major role in what we are talking about. If there are people who are not happy that Jonathan is president because he is from the South South region that is not important in this matter. Such people are patriotic to their religion not Nigeria.

What we are talking about is a very serious matter. We have religious leaders who in their worship places incite the people, it happens constantly and security agents know it. They come to the public and lie and deceive us, they know the truth. Have you ever heard a Christian pastor preach a sermon that makes his members carry guns to shoot anybody?

It doesn’t happen. I leave the rest to you to discern. These are the problems we have. If we can face them and honestly decide that we want to solve them, they will be solved.

Some people are of the opinion that unemployment is the major cause of these violent acts?

(Laughs) Please tell such people to go and sit down! There is unemployment everywhere in the world. Is there no unemployment in your own part of the country? How many people have you killed? How many mosques have you burnt down because you are unemployed?

On a Sallah day, how many youths in your community went on rampage to burn down mosques and kill people? Yet they are still unemployed. When there was a problem here in the Niger Delta region every one knew it was a matter of resource control, pollution, suffering, and marginalisation.

The problems were obvious and everyone could see it, how many mosques were burnt down? So unemployment will make you go and burn down a church and kill innocent people? I don’t know who will employ you now. Is it God that did not give you a job? I see those things as political excuses and baseless social theories.

We are talking of practical reality here. Osama bin Laden was a terrorist not because he was unemployed. He came from a very wealthy family, yet he became a terrorist because of religious ideologies that were developed from a religious book that somebody gave to him, indoctrinated him and he believed them. He also turned around and indoctrinated others.

I don’t want to say certain things here, but I will say them now. Go through the Arab countries and see what is happening.

CAN President, Oritsejafor

If you are following the elections you will see the people emerging are Islamic brotherhoods, Islamic this and that.

Watch out and see what will happen. Look at Egypt now, Christians are packing out of the country. Christianity came to Egypt before Islam for Gods sake, churches were built all over Egypt before a single mosque was built. Why do we pretend not to know the truth?

We know the truth. It is easy to talk about Palestine and Israel, but this is Egypt we are talking about. Was Christianity not already thriving there for almost 1,000 years before Islam got there? But right now Christians are only 10 per cent there and they are being persecuted big time.

As bad as President Mubarak was, he was better than what they have now. Christians are now regretting their participation in the Arab Spring; some of them are packing and running away because they are being slaughtered like animals.

It breaks my heart! It is happening all over the world. How do you treat human beings this way? Are Christians not human beings? So, I cannot be free to be a Christian? This is not right. This is just not about unemployment, it is a religious ideology.

Are you therefore of the opinion that there is a grand design to Islamise Nigeria?

I am of a very strong opinion that there is a grand design to Islamise Nigeria. If there was any time that design was true, it is now. Look at it, open your eyes and see for yourself. It is happening right in front of us.

What is CAN doing about that?

We are going to have some meetings soon and decide the way forward. We will decide what next for Christianity in Nigeria because if we don’t talk to ourselves and decide on what to do; they will wipe us out. It is a gradual process. When it happens today we console ourselves, it will happen tomorrow again. It is not going to stop. Who is benefiting from these things? Go to Maiduguri in Borno State and Yobe State, Christians are being slaughtered like animals and they are running away. Who is benefiting? Who is taking over everything? Answer it for yourself.

What question does this pose to our unity?

There is no unity in Nigeria. We are pretenders. We are hypocrites, there is no unity here.

In that wise, do you support the campaign for a sovereign national conference?

I support it totally. Call it any name you want, I support it because I think it is important for all the nationalities in this country to sit down and discuss the project Nigeria. Let’s talk honestly and decide if we want to be together. Let’s agree or disagree. Let’s agree to stay together or disagree and go our separate ways peacefully. We don’t have to kill ourselves. Must we be together? I love for us to be together. Honestly, I love Nigeria because part of the greatness of a nation is its diversity. I believe we can negotiate ourselves into a very good union but we are not there yet. We must do that because we see this thing coming.

A group of people cannot gradually take over the whole place. Go to North Africa again; Tunisia at some point was a Christian nation. Turkey, that we are talking about today was at one point a completely Christian nation too. Most of their cities are in the New Testament.

Even Libya that you are looking at today was completely a Christian nation. This was how it started. Gradually they swept Christianity out. The ones they couldn’t conquer by force they conquered by economics. I think it is time for us to start speaking out because what happened on Christmas Day is totally unacceptable.

I hope the proposed CAN meeting will not end like the other ones that have not yielded much result?

Pastor Oritsejafor

I hope more than you. I want to believe that it will not be the same. I don’t want to make comments more than that because it will not be right for me. If not I would have told you some things here.

Do you think religious leaders are doing enough to help the economic and social situation of the country?

Let me be honest with you, it is never enough and can never be enough. I don’t want to speak against any religious organisation because it is not proper.

There might be people doing theirs silently. I can’t even speak against Islam when it comes to good things because there is no religion that doesn’t really teach good neighbourliness. If you are reading your scriptures well, there is no religion that doesn’t teach you to touch your neighbour. If you have a heart for God, you will understand that greatness is not about what you have, it is about what you do with what you have. That is what makes you great.

Even Jesus said it that it is not what a man has that makes him great but what he can do with what he has. It is about how many people you have made great? How many lives have you touched and how many people you have changed. I can only speak for myself. My prayer everyday is that God should help me to do more.

Fuel subsidy removal

What is CAN’s position on the proposed fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government?

Let me begin by informing you that CAN has no official position. The reason is because those in the leadership of the association are not politicians. There are so many things involved in this fuel subsidy thing that have brought about so many questions.

And a lot of those questions have not been properly answered because we don’t understand them clearly. We need more information to understand the government’s argument. When you look at the government’s explanation on subsidy, it sounds good but you need to look very well. This is because there are so many booby traps.

The way I see it. In my opinion, for instance, the government has explained what they intend to do with the money they will save and that again brings the issue of trust. Jonathan has a lot of work to do to gain the trust of the people. Nigerians don’t trust government and you cannot blame them because governments have a track record of not keeping promises. So you have a big issue of trust right there. I have an issue in the area of transportation for example. If you remove fuel subsidy, in my opinion, you kill the average Nigerian.

I am talking of the common man, how is he going to survive? How does he move from one point to the other, especially when he has to go by public transport? What plans does government have to rescue the common man? It is hard to take a position on this matter because when you listen to government the arguments sound so good, but when you come to realities, it becomes another issue entirely.

Is it a battle for you because President Jonathan is your kinsman?

No, it is not because of that. I am a very objective person and I take time to study things and try to see how it can make sense. Like I said when you listen to the argument of government it makes sense; but when you come home and you see the people you are living with, you wonder how they are going to survive. As at today, my mind has softened a bit, but I cannot categorically say remove fuel subsidy because it is too dangerous now.

Some people say government should give Nigerians time to understand the issues do you support that?

I agree with you entirely. But then they keep telling us that if we don’t remove it now the whole economy will crash in another one year or so and I don’t want it to crash. I think what must be done is what Jonathan is beginning to do and that is going out there and meeting people and explaining to them. I think that if people are well informed, they can make adjustments. I think with dialogue Nigeria is going to be better.

Constitutional review

What is your view on constitutional review?

I look at that issue from two angles. I think without looking at the cost it would have been fantastic to have a totally brand new constitution. There are lots of things to be considered before taking such steps. How was this constitution developed? Was it a people-oriented constitution?

The answer is no because it was a military constitution. If we really want to be honest with ourselves and we want a people’s constitution, then we have to do it. But my fear again is the cost because Nigeria is a fantastic country where a good thing can become a bad thing.

To put up a new constitution, you will be shocked they will be talking about trillions of Naira. That is my fear about the brand new constitution. Having said that, the reviews they are doing at the National Assembly should involve Nigerians. Why can’t they ask Nigerians what they want and what they don’t want in the constitution? Is that too much to ask? Why do you decide what you think should be changed and what shouldn’t be changed in it? They should throw it open to Nigerians and let people speak their minds.

How does it feel being a Christian leader at this point in time?

It is not easy at all. Let me be honest with you, it is not easy being a Christian now in Nigeria. Then it is harder to be a leader. You have to bear the pain of watching things go wrong before your own eyes and there is nothing you can do. You see things that should not be happening to your own people and you cannot protect them. It is not good. I warn again that this was how it began in North Africa and Sudan.

What is your greatest fear as a Christian leader?

It is the thought that Christianity could actually be wiped out of this nation. It frightens me because when you see the way it is going, the determination is baffling. I asked you a question about who is benefitting from wiping Christians out of Nigeria.

It is a question we must answer because our loss as Christians is the gain of other people. As we are losing, someone is gaining.