A SLEEK, private Bombardier Challenger jet along with a tidy $9.3 million (how much is that in Naira?), two Nigerians and an Israeli were last week impounded (Yes, the plane, cargo and humans are all contraband) and being investigated in South Africa.

The plane is reportedly owned by a Nigerian firm, Eagle Air Company, which is said to have leased it to a third party, another Nigerian company, Green Coast Produce Limited.

So what did these Nigerian companies take the luxury private plane and $9.3 million to South Africa for? Who owns Green Coast produce Limited (Produce as in palm nuts?) and Eagle Air Company. Who owns the plane and its cargo of cash? On whose behalf were the plane and crew engaged in an operation involving $9.3 million? Why didn’t the crew declare the large cash in its holds? Critical questions awaiting unencumbered answers.

It has been reported that Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor owns Eagle Air Company. The plane under investigation is the one he received as a “gift” from his church. That plane generated blistering controversy when it was “dashed” to the pastor sometime ago and it is now brewing even more controversy. The question then was: What is a pastor with thousands of dirt-poor flocks doing with a multi-million dollar luxury Challenger plane? The question now is: Why ishis luxury plane engaged in the businessof an Israeli sleuth and money smuggling.He has since denied knowledge of the “toxic” cargo and mission of his plane.

The federal government has corroborated Oritsejafor’s claims as it has declared ownership of the Challenger’s mountain of cash and mission, which it says was to procure arms from the underground arms market to fight Boko Haram. Many have yawned over these explanations that appear more wrapped in double speak than transparency. Perhaps it is the fault of the extreme lack of credibility in the character of the institutions and persons providing answers over the South Africa imbroglio that makes it so hard to believe the explanations. But seriously, what truth can come from the murky and fishy world of corruption, sleuths, underground arms dealing and smuggling.

Yet this is the unsavoury world in which Pastor Oritsejafor and the Nigerian government are now embroiled. The Oritsejaforstatement that seeks to wash his hands offhis plane’s shady business and cargo is tough to swallow. These are not the hallmark of Jesus Christ who he supposedly represents. Jesus was humble, simple and admonished his followers to invest in Heaven where their treasures will not suffer from scandals and rust (Mathew 6:20). Jesus said: “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven,” (Mathew 19:21). And Jesus declared in Luke 12:33-34, “For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.”

I cannot say for certain that Pastor Oritsejafor is truthful when he denies knowledge of the funny business that his company and plane is engaged in. But the owner of a business ought to know when a transaction worth as much $9.3 million is to be executed. If he doesn’t then he is guilty of criminal ignorance. No matter what the truth is, Pastor Oritsejafor as a shepherd of Christ’s flocks and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, must immediately decide where he wishes to lay up his treasures. Is it in Heaven or in our corrupt, scandal laden political and business environment?

There have been insinuations that he may have nobly lent his plane to the clandestine business of arms dealing in other to help defeat the bloodthirsty hoodlums called Boko Haram. For much as he is admired for his strong stand against Boko Haram and their political sponsors, it is beyond his prerogative to engage in arms dealing. Therefore I find any justification of such an insinuation, rather far-fetched to swallow.

The Nigerian government on the other hand, has long been afflicted with the credibility deficit virus. And I do not limit this disease to the present government of President Goodluck Jonathan. Nigerian governments have always been mired in sleights of hand, so compounding to make the late magician, Professor Peller stare mouth agape in shock at the audacity of theextreme rogue manipulations in the Nigerian ship of state. Recall the government of General Muhammadu Buhari that kidnapped, crated and attempted to secretly smuggle the late Umaru Dikko in a diplomatic bag from the UK to Nigeria in 1984? Guess what? That government had an Israeli or two in that offshore abduction that shocked the world and threw Nigeria into a diplomatic row with Britain. What’s this with Israelis?

There is General Ibrahim Babangida who annulled the best presidential election ever for reasons still as opaque as his toothy smile. The dubious decision threw the country into violent convulsions on the brink of war. Then came General Sani Abacha who stole the country’s Central Bank at a pace so frenetic and gluttonous, that it remains a befuddling shock to all men of good will, that the president of a country can actually empty the coffers of his country, in billions of dollars, into his private bank accounts abroad. Fela called it “government magic.”

The government of President Jonathan is wallowing in the mud of bad rulership and coasting in the terrible tradition of unaccountable leadership with relish and gusto. The corruption, which characterised governments before his, is getting worse. The multi-billion dollar fuel subsidy, pension funds and shady oil deals scandals are points in case. Then now, his government has upped the ante and gone on to match Buhari in embarrassing the country with a massive international scandal. A private plane, $9.3 million, one Israeli and the macabre national shame is best represented in drama as in Wole Soyinka’s King Baabu, the satire on General Abacha.

The government reportedly took responsibility for the plane, the cash and its alleged mission and is said to have released data and documents to prove that the transactions and operations involving the Challenger jet are legal. Also that Nigeria and South Africa are working to diplomatically resolve the issue. This is called diplomatese, the obscure language diplomats use to obfuscatethe facts.

In the real world, realpolitik, governments engage in shady underground arms dealing. But how do you go to a foreign country without declaring money as large $9.3 million stacked in your plane. Legally, that is smuggling. Did the crew think they were in Nigeria where “bigmanness” can be used to shut down customs and immigration search at the airport? The case of 53 suitcases allowed into the country under Buhari is a tale of who we are from long ago. There are other unclear issues: Why South Africa? Is South Africa an underground arms dealing country? Was the $9.3 million going to private accounts? Nigeria does not exactly have a great image with the South Africans. Ask Henry Okah.

Maybe we ought also to ask retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the current National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Jonathan what, exactly, is going on

The real tragedy is that few Nigerians, if any, believe the federal government or Pastor Oritsejafor. And why is this so? The duplicity that pervades our persona as church leaders, leaders of business and government and as a country has accumulated thick walls of sedentary muck over the decades. Nobody can stand up to say I believe because the lies are so commonplace. This country requires an urgent make over in moral values and integrity.

If I cannot believe a church leader or my president, who else can I trust? It is sad.

Mr.  Kenneth Tadaferua, a public affairs commentator, wrote from Lagos.