Religion
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The scandal which erupted over the seizure of a private aircraft belonging to Ayo Oritsejafor, a pastor and president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, for illegally carrying $9.3 million to South Africa is not about to end soon with incessant condemnation and threats of lawsuit
| By Fidelia Salami | Oct. 13, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
AYO Oritsejafor, a pastor of the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, Delta State, and president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, is still in the eye of the storm over the seizure of $9.3 million cash found on his aircraft in South Africa recently. The money which was packed in several suitcases and was seized by South African government officials at the Lanseria Airport following the luggage search because it was not declared to South African Customs as required by the law. The South African authorities were told that the money was to procure arms and a fighter helicopter for the Nigerian military and other security agencies, ostensibly to fight Boko Haram. As at last check, Realnews magazine learnt that the private jet had been released to Oritsejafor after intervention of some high-ranked Nigerian government officials, but not the money, which the federal government of Nigeria claimed was for the purchase of weapons.
But Oritsejafor has been vilified for getting involved in the whole scandal and for dragging the name of the church and CAN into mud. His chief critic, Olubunmi Okogie, former Catholic Archbishop and former president of the CAN, said with the scandal Oritsejafor smeared the image of the association and lost grip of the leadership of the CAN by his closeness to President Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
According to the Catholic cardinal, Oritsejafor’s link with the $9.3 million smuggled abroad was a clear case of money laundering and that President Goodluck Jonathan and Oritsejafor should be prosecuted for their involvement in the deal. Okogie said in an interview: “CAN leadership today is zero. CAN has no leader. I was there as their leader for eight years. Then, the whole country knew that CAN had a leader, not by my own might, but by God because what we were doing then, we had only one voice. But the problem we have now is that people are struggling for power in unrighteous way. And because he is struggling for power, he can do little or nothing.
“And we didn’t buy the position. But this time around, because they are rushing to be in power, nobody obeys them. And look at how they are making mockery of themselves and making mockery of “religion”. Is that religion? Today, they are with the federal government. We saw the writing on the wall when we left. The very first person that took over started romancing with Obasanjo. Then one or two CAN presidents tried their best before it got to this present CAN president, Oritsejafor. This is not right. Look at how Oritsejafor has fallen, from grace to grass.”
Similarly, Femi Falana, SAN and human rights activist, expressed disappointment at Oritsejafor. He said the pastor’s private jet was registered for evangelism and not for money laundering. “In recent time, some of our pastors have been indicted in the United Kingdom for investing church funds in business in violation of the Charity Act. A jet registered for the facilitation of evangelism cannot be leased to another company for commercial purposes as churches are registered under part C of the Company and Allied Matters Act, CAMA, as non-profit making organisations.
“If Pastor Oritsejafor is lucky that he is not prosecuted for breaching the CAMA, he owes Nigerians a public apology. The CAN leadership cannot afford to engage in attacking its political opponents in a matter pertaining to the breach of the law. Having not learnt any lesson from the disgraceful case of Chief James Ibori, the federal government is currently embroiled in an unnecessary controversy with South Africa over the arrest of two Nigerians and an Israeli for smuggling the sum of $9.3 million into that country. “The three suspects are alleged to have contravened the provisions of Section 30 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act NO 38 of 2001 of South Africa which stipulates that a person intending to convey an amount of cash in excess of the prescribed sum of $10,000.00 to or from South Africa must report the prescribed particulars concerning that conveyance to a person authorised by the minister for this purpose. In spite of the diversionary statement of the CAN, the influential pastor cannot dismiss the scandal with a wave of the hand. With respect, the explanation by the CAN that the jet was leased to another company is an admission of the breach of the law.”
Hence, Falana said he had concluded plans to drag Oritsejafor and the Federal government to court, over the $9.3 million cash. “We need more pressure than ever; this is tax payers’ money, we must speak up anytime an injustice is done especially when it’s about infiltration of arms because that is what brought us here. There is need for a louder cry about this because quietly people are forgetting about the $9.3 million, it will continue if we don’t do anything. By next week you will have something different, we are working with our lawyers to sue Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and the federal government,” Falana said on behalf of #BringBackOurGirls group in Abuja.
In apparent response to all the criticisms Oritsejafor said during the national executive council meeting of the CAN at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, said that he believed that the church was the primary institution he owed an explanation to. He admitted that he owned the private jet mentioned in the scandal, but denied knowledge of the alleged arms deal or the trip to South Africa.
He said: “I wish to assure you that I will not do anything to tarnish the image of Jesus Christ or compromise the divine standard of the church. As you are all aware, the media has been awash in the past few days about an unfortunate incident involving the movement of funds from Nigeria to South Africa. In the unfortunate news reports, attempts have been made to link me directly with the transaction. So far, I have refrained from making any direct public response pending the time that I would have briefed the leaders of the church and explained my position on the issues to them. I believe that the primary institution that I owe any explanation to is the church. At the risk of being seen to be defending myself, I wish to confirm to the distinguished leaders of the church that the Bombardier Challenger 601 aircraft in question is mine. The aircraft was presented to me as a gift by members of our congregation and ministry partners worldwide at my 40th anniversary of my call into the ministry.
“May I be permitted to stress that the aircraft was not given to me by the president of Nigeria, neither was it a settlement for any political favour or patronage. With the benefit of hindsight, the president of the country was a guest in our church during the anniversary celebration when the jet was presented to me. This was misconstrued that it was a gift from the president of the country. The president of Nigeria has nothing to do with the gift of the aircraft. By the way, I still wonder why all those saying this cannot come out to show proof so that the matter can be put to rest once and for all. Let me say that this might be an issue of the court in the near future,” he said.
According to him, “In order to ameliorate the cost of maintenance of the aircraft, I sought and got permit to allow the aircraft fly in and out of Nigeria. Based on this, I leased the aircraft on August 2, 2014, to a company to run it. It was the lease that entered into an agreement with the people who carried out the transfer of funds. Having leased the aircraft to the Green Coast Produce Company Limited, any transaction undertaken with the aircraft can no longer be attached to me.
“Inasmuch as I am shocked and distressed by the incident, I wish to appeal to Christians in Nigeria to remember that a war has been waged against the Nigerian church. This war is being fought on many fronts and this unfortunate incident is another dimension in the assault against the church. It is clear that those who manipulated this conspiracy desire to create a schism in the church,” Oritsejafor said.
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Tags: Ayo Oritsejafor CAN Christian Association of Nigeria Femi Falana Olubunmi Okogie
