*Bridging gap between Christians, Muslims
*Empowering the poor regardless

By Sam Eyoboka

AJAMIMOGHA Road in Warri is not a particu-larly long street, but its a dual carriageway which plays host to two most important institut-ions dear to the hearts of residents: The Palace of the Olu of Warri and the International Gospel Centre, the head-quarters of Word of Life Bible Church founded by the National Presid-ent of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

As early as 6.00 a.m. last Friday, the Ajami-mogha Road, was a bee-hive of activities as thousands of people from all parts of Delta State and other parts of the country had gathered for the official dedication of the ultra-modern head office branch of the Eagle Flight Microfinance Bank Limited/the 9th Word of Life Bible Church/Eagle Flight Microfinance Bank Lim-ited Poverty Alleviation Programme.

There was a delegation of eminent Islamic schol-ars and Christians from different parts of the nation including the North East Region who had come to witness the pastor’s philanthropic gesture which is often under-reported but is steadily gaining popu-larity nationwide.

Managing Director of Federal Housing Autho-rity, FHA, Prof. Moham-med Al-Amin led the Chief Imam of Maidu-guri, Alhaji Mohammed Saidu and Dr. Abdul Ishaq among several others including a Maid-uguri pastor, Solomon David.

The young and the old, strong and weak includ-ing the physically cha-llenged had defiled the early harmattan haze, hoping and praying for divine intervention. On parade for the 9th pover-ty alleviation progra-mme were already regi-stered seven brand new Hyundai Grand cars, 20 Bajaj tricycles, 100 grinding machines. Earlier on Sunday, church members were empowered with wash-ing machines, generat-ing sets alongside barb-ing clippers and phones for those wishing to go into business centres.

*The seven men who suddenly became car owners at the just concluded 9th Word of Life Bible Church/Eagle Flight Microfinance Bank Limited Empowerment Programme in a group photograph with the visioner and CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor (m) flanked by Managing Director of Federal Housing Authority, FHA, Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin and Chief Imam of Maiduguri, Alhaji Mohammed Saidu and others after the poverty reduction programme at the church headquarters on Ajamimogha Road, Warri on Friday. PHOTO: AKPOKONA OMAFUAIRE.

Before the main event, the CAN president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor cut the tape to declare the new branch office open for operations while some customers were rewarded for their patronage in the fading year. A 3.5 KVA Generator, 32 Samsung LCD TV, a Giant Refrigerator, one Split Unit Air Conditioner, one Home Theatre and an LG Washing Machine were given to outstanding customers.

In her address, Eagle Flight Microfinance Bank, chairman, Pastor (Mrs.) Helen Oritse-jafor said the bank which started operations eight years ago with a vision of becoming the biggest and the best has indeed taken its place in the scheme of things. It has empowered and registered about 3.5 million micro credit groups with a cash value of about N2.5 billion, adding “Loans have been granted to small medium scale enter-prises. The bank has em-ployed over 300 persons;thereby, reducing unemploy-ment in our nation, Nigeria.”

Poverty reduction

She maintained that the bank which started as a Unit Micro Bank was upgraded by CBN in 2012 to a state microfinance bank, noting that there are only 44 state microfinance banks in Nigeria and of this number five are in Delta State and EFMFB is one of them. The bank will continue to demonstrate its commitment to poverty reduction, “as one of the fastest growing banks of the millennium, it has spread its tentacle to the nooks and cranny of the state with four branches, seven cash centres, and its headquarters.”

The speeches over, the actual balloting process to pick winners began and at the end, Mr. Oghi Peter, 26, Ejaeta Osuwe Robert, Emeka Joseph Ezirim, Augustine Chinazo Henry, Portharcourt Glory, Oghwuvwu Ojiyovwi, 27, and Boyi Dajide celebrated a very spectacular Christmas with a gift of a car each. All the cars are to be used as taxis to generate wealth for the recepients.

Remarkable incidence

Twenty other lucky individ-uals also went home with tricycles while 100 grinding machines were given to an equal number of persons. One remarkable incidence happen-ed during the balloting pro-cess when the CAN president announced to the crowd that a pastor from a neighbouring Ughelli donated his Mercedes Benz car to him (Oritsejafor) in obedience to divine in-struction. Immediately, he gave out the Mercedes Benz car to Pastor David Solomon who had travelled from Maiduguri to witness the empowerment programme. In addition, he announced a donation of a car to the Imam, Alhaji Mohammed Saidu.

For Oghi Peter, an unemploy-ed graduate from Okwagbe, fortune may well have been his middle name. He told reporters that he just finished a degree programme at the Delta State University on a scholarship from the CAN pre-sident.

Oghi, Pastor Solomon David from Maiduguri, Mr. Port-harcourt Glory, Mr. Dazide Boyi and Augustine Chinazo Henry have never driven a car. They unanimously expressed gratitude to Pastor Oritsejafor and his wife, Pastor Helen Oritsejafor for their unalloyed commitment to uplift the living standard of people in the state and the nation at large.

“I feel extremely happy today. I can’t believe that I am a car owner right now. I can’t drive; my brother will help me drive it around to make some money for the family,” August-ine Chinazo Henry spoke the mind of all the beneficiaries praying, “God bless Papa Oritsejafor and keep him alive in good health.”
The FHA Managing Direct-or, Prof. Al-Amin, a strong advocate of religious harmony and chairman of the Islamic Resource Centre, described Pastor Oritsejafor’s annual empowerment programme as an unparalleled act of philan-thropy that can destroy the yoke of militancy in the country.

National scale

Intrigued by the commit-ment and deep desire to alleviate poverty in the land, Al-Amin advocated the up-grading of the programme to a national scale with a view to bridging the gap between the rich and the poor as well as breaking the circle of militan-cy across the nation.

The instant donation of a car each to the Maiduguri duo of Pastor Solomon and Chief Imam Saidu, both of whom, meeting for the first time in Warri, immediately pledged to work towards the peace of Borno State in particular and the North East geo-political region.

Pastor Solomon and Imam Saidu commended the philan-thropic spirit of the CAN president, as well as his deter-mination to ensure peaceful co-existence among every Nigerian in every part of the country, while many eminent Nigerians remain silent.

*Dr. Kate Okpareke on behalf of the Word of Life Bible Church/Eagle Flight Microfinance Bank Limited presents the key of a brand new car to Oghi Peter.

Al-Amin, who presented some of the items to their winners, said what the CAN president told him during an interfaith gathering on March 27, 2014 in Abuja was far less than what they have witness-ed, adding: “This is a man that will gather the down-trodden in the society and empower them with things that will totally change them for better and forever.

“Honestly, I am very happy to be part of this memorable occasion. I was telling him, this event should not be re-stricted to Warri. Let him find a way of sharing this great work of Almighty God to Nigerians even if it is not physically; it could be through the electronic system,” Al-Amin appealed.

Anti-social evils

The FHA managing director believes that “if this gesture can be extended to more Nigerians, the message of love, of giving, compassion there will a drastic change in anti-social evils that we see around. This is the practical manifestation of religion. Papa has been preaching, so many men of God have been preaching but this is actually working the preaching. This is the essence of religion.”

To Imam Saidu, “we came, we saw and we were conquered. It is beyond our expectation. The crowd and the level of the gifts that were given out and everything. That is why I said at the arena that in Islam we have what is called zakat, a way of empowering the poor in the society.

“I have seen the practical empower-ment of the poor here because the mass of people that came here were not arranged, it is just by the wish of God. You can see it by the looks on their faces that even the people that didn’t win anything were all happy,” Imam Saidu emphasized.

Join hands for peace

According to him, “the pastor and I came from Maiduguri and we have never known ourselves before. I believe it was God who arranged that we meet ourselves over 1,000 kilo-meters away from home and I can assure you that when we go back to Maiduguri, we shall join hands to-gether to work for the peace of our people.”

The imam who expressed disgust about the situation in North East, “so saddened, pathetic; we know the things that are happening there are not religious; whether it is political or some other consideration, the only thing is that we need a lot of prayers for God to enthrone peace in that region”.
He expressed happiness for the gift of a car from the CAN president, promising to continue to pray for him for his kindness.

Asked how he felt about the events of the day, Pastor Oritsejafor expressed gratitude of God for the enablement to give out a total of seven new cars, 20 tricycles, 100 grinding machines as well as 500 small bags of rice to the poor in the society.

“I feel very fulfilled because actually, for me, this is true religion. The scriptures say if you hate your brother and you say you love God who you don’t see, you are a liar. So, I feel fulfilled because anytime I have the opportunity to make someone happy, not only does it make me happy, it is a sign that I am fulfilling Scripture because by the time you do what God says, it brings blessing to you,” he said excitedly.