Luckily, the Nobel peace prize nominations are not based on which constituency in Nigeria one comes from, so those with sentimental cob-webs on their eyes and minds are free to take their frustrations to their farms and fertilize their bruised ego, if that would help them.
Have we forgotten that it is those who find it worthy to even nominate the two that are the same guys who found it credible to nominate your distant uncle Wole soyinka years ago (by similar yardsticks)?. It is the same people that we are hoping at some point, to also find your nearer uncle, Chinua Achebe worthy in a few years to come. So, if this award is "a joke" or "piss and shit award" as someone liked to call it, just remember that Wole Soyinka's award (and Chinua Achebe's ambition to clinch one, rightly so) are also implied by the same degraded simplifications. And while you are at it condemning nominations of who-so-ever by such foreign International agencies, just remember that these guys also are the ones who rate your level of intelligence (which is low at the moment), who categorize your economic worthiness (very bad) and who, by the same characteristics, would decide if you are fit for investors to come into your country or not (they have remained out, abi?). Or have you forgotten so soon how our President boosted his bravado recently by citing that one of such agencies had shown that Nigeria's corruption index had dropped (laying tribute to his war on corruption as having worked), only to be silenced into subdued embarrassment when the agency confirmed it was a lie, that it never said so? Yea, they are our yardstick for measuring who is credible for nomination or not, because clearly, we lack the intelligence (again by their own measurements) to choose right from wrong. So, whether the 2 clerics nominated win the award or not is immaterial, what matters is for one's efforts to be recognized and appraised by an impartial umpire, completely devoid of regional, religious bias and free from Nigerian political influence. Need I mention, also free from the clout of sentimental cob-webs that is critically threatening to blind the psyche of our younger generation?
To me, Onaiyekan making the nominee's list as opposed to Oritsejafor (despite the later's recent laughable, yet hypocritic visit to the US congress) is a clear message to the Nigerian Christians: Change your CAN leadership from the current one to a more qualified, objective and purposeful one, Onaiyekan! If the Christians in Nigeria do not interpret that the international organizations see more attainment of Peace with Onaiyekan and Sultan at the head of the 2 different religions and working together, then the JOKE is on them. Period!
Someone said "where is the Peace?" How else can you see Peace in Nigeria when you have a CAN president who "throws bombs" every time he opens his mouth to speak, blaming everything and everyone except himself? If Oritsejafor knows where Boko Haram is and has refused to confide this information to GEJ so that they could be brought under control, then he is not helping his religion (and that is a failure of his fundamental objective as a CAN President). This is because every time BH strikes, Christians as much as Muslims are killed. All Oritsejafor's pronouncements since inception of the BH saga point to the fact that he knows where BH are and probably knows who they are and he is not mentioning names? Is he happy for Christians to die? How is that for helping Christianity!
Take this to any ATM machine and cash it! Tell me how much it is worth.