Oritsejafor breaks silence on $9.3m arms
deal
BY NOAH EBIJE, KADUNA ON SEPTEMBER 30,
2014 · COVER, NATIONAL
… Says, ‘I couldn’t have offended
Jesus Christ’ President of the Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor
yesterday broke his silence on the
controversy surrounding the confiscated
$9.3 million by South Africa, involving his
private jet, saying he had no hand in the
alleged money laundering deal.Oritsejafor,
who spoke during the National Executive
Council (NEC) meeting of CAN at
the National Christian Centre, Abuja,
regretted that there had been attempts in
the media to link him with the incident by
mischievous elements, adding that he had
kept quiet all the while because he needed
to explain his position to the church,
which was his primary constituency.
In his address at the meeting, copies of
which were emailed to journalists in
Kaduna, the CAN president, who had come
under attacks over the incident,
said he was not a party to the movement
of $9.3million from Nigeria to South Africa to
purchase arms and ammunition. His words:
“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 had been awash in the
past few days in 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 explain 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. Members of our
congregation and ministry partners worldwide presented the aircraft to me as
a gift at the 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.
” Pastor Oritsejafor declared: “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, still
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 courts in the near future.

” Explaining the circumstances that led to
the involvement of his aircraft, the CAN
president said: “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
lessee 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. The media hype and the
deliberate distortion of information that
followed it confirmed that forces that
desperately desire to cause division and
disunity in the church are at work. Even
the devil knows that a house that is
divided cannot stand. “As Christians,
we need unity in the
church now more than ever. We are
witnessing inhuman attacks by religious
extremists against Christians in the
northern part of the country, while
Christian infrastructure is being destroyed
in hundreds.
“If we permit the enemy to divide us,
our chances of corporate survival shall be
severely threatened.
“Distinguished leaders of the church,
please permit me to state clearly before
God and before all of you here present
today, that I am not a party to the
movement of $9.3 million from Nigeria to
South Africa to purchase arms and ammunition.
I am not part of the deal. I
know nothing about it.
” He appealed to heads of blocs that
constitute CAN and heads of
denominations and Christian leaders at
different levels and spheres of influence,
to use their good offices to caution and
control their subordinates and followers
from making public statements that
would further polarise the church and
strengthen the arms of the enemies of
the church.
” Quoting Matthew Chapter 18 verses 15 to 20,
Oritsejafor said: “If I offend you or it
is you that offended me, instead of
talking to media, let us talk to each other
within the house of God.

sir u've said it all, and we believe u
I am eagerly awaiting wat d NL wing of
catolics av to say about this.

All man for himself...and nobody is waging a war against d churches...dis is an individual ish..deal with it on ur own...I dont kno why d Christians get there selves involve wit politics in d first place...Jesus never did while He was on earth... ...just saying tho..

i'll be back!

alcoholic: sir u've said it all, and we believe u
I am eagerly awaiting wat d NL wing of
catolics av to say about this.

I'm very sure this will not make front page.



Journalism in Nigeria is one sided.

Segadem: I'm very sure this will not make front page.

Lets wait and see if it will not make front page.....

alcoholic:
“Distinguished leaders of the church, please permit me to state clearly before God and before all of you here present today, that I am not a party to the movement of $9.3 million from Nigeria to South Africa to purchase arms and ammunition. I am not part of the deal. I know nothing about it.

This really got to me.

I believe you, but please, sir, do not be too close to politicains, they have a way of messing up messengers of God.

jideomowunmi: All man for himself...and nobody is waging a war against d churches...dis is an individual ish..deal with it on ur own...I dont kno why d Christians get there selves involve wit politics in d first place...Jesus never did while He was on earth... ...just saying tho..

so ur nt aware dere is a war, this is d problem wit nigerian christains especially d catolics, keep allowing urself to be brainwashed by ur cardinals, until d war is at ur door step.

nobody expected him to admit to his involvement whether willingly or unwillingly

nobody xpect u to say u knw abt it. by d way u hav bin usin d jet since 2012 but decided to commercialise it august 2014 and d followin month arms deal saga. coincedence or wat? to me d commercialisation of d jet was diversionary to allow bling pastor to b able to deny involvment incase d deal fails. gullible xcuse, I stil blv dat is d way d insurgents ar bein armed. shameful

barthchuks: nobody expected him to admit to his involvement whether willingly or unwillingly

so wat were u expectin frm him if i may ask?

alcoholic:
so wat were u expectin frm him if i may ask?

to say what he just said, nothing more. have I cleared your doubt now?

The issue on ground has gone beyond what just CAN can discuss, it should be left for our conventional courts.

barthchuks: to say what he just said, nothing more. have I cleared your doubt now?

no sir, u wanted him to tel d public dat he was involved rite?

I hate people that try to whip religious and tribal sentiments to defend themselves, it is a sign of extreme cowardice, my dear pastor, you have tried well enough to present the facts within your disposal to the best of your ability, why the we versus them sentiment? Who is waging a war against the church? Your Jet was involved in an unfortunate illicit weapon smuggling incident, dont you think the people deserve a good explanation? Will it be too much to present hard evidence to clear all doubts? Jesus christ was accused of worse things, did he declare a war?

You can't talk like the devil, walk like the devil,dress like the devil and claim to be a follower of christ.

Punkinmusty: nobody xpect u to say u knw abt it. by d way u hav bin usin d jet since 2012 but decided to commercialise it august 2014 and d followin month arms deal saga. coincedence or wat? to me d commercialisation of d jet was diversionary to allow bling pastor to b able to deny involvment incase d deal fails. gullible xcuse, I stil blv dat is d way d insurgents ar bein armed. shameful

sometimes being educated can make issues look harder than it seems, y are u complicating issues for urself, ur understandin does corolates wit d issue at hand, or are u jux insinuating,?

alcoholic:
no sir, u wanted him to tel d public dat he was involved rite?

if he is involved, don't you think I am right.
Am not saying that he is or isn't involved but by the way things are going-by in this country, I'l never expect anybody including you to admit to an allegation even if such allegation is true to the core

barthchuks: if he is involved, don't you think I am right.
Am not saying that he is or isn't involved but by the way things are going-by in this country, I'l never expect anybody including you to admit to an allegation even if such allegation is true to the core

hw can u tell his involvement witout any evidence to show,
an allegation is only valid and true if u av substantial evidence which in this case has nt being provided,
wat we are seeing is a wel orchestrated propangada to draw d repetation of an individual to d mud, it is an unfounded allegation wit no root.

He has said he knows nothing about the money for arms deal, I chose to believe him until I can be convinced to the contrary.

CrinkumCrankum:

Lets wait and see if it will not make front page.....

were are d mods, if its a tread to bash d CAN president, i would imagine by now it would be on front page,
d mods should do d needful so as to clear d air on this issue.

sir u are so onpoint, every well meaning nigerian knws is all a conspiracy to bring u and CAN down

Resilence: sir u are so onpoint, every well meaning nigerian knws is all a conspiracy to bring u and CAN down

isnt it obvious, wit d way d media took d whole story, u would tink d man of God was in d plane wit d cash wen it was impounded., i fear journalism in nigeria

The war against Christians in Nigeria and the world at large by Muslim extremist didn't start today, they are bitter that their plans has never worked so far as they expected and the major aim of these plan is to islamize Nigeria and Nigerian Christians are the only people blocking the Muslims extremist from achieving their aims.

They have brought this war on different fonts, they have sponsored books and video recordings containing so called spiritual revelations where someone comes out to claim he/she died and resurrected and he saw Jesus telling him/her that Rev uma ukpai and Dr Kumuyi will all go to hell.

They have devised lots and lots of mean to discredit Christianity but we are not shaken because despite the fact that there are fake men that claims they work for God, the word of God has never changed and everything we need is contained in the bible.

They have killed us, bombed our place of worship, desecrated our holy places in Nigeria and all over the world, yet we remain unshaken, what else can they do? Nuke the Christians? which is impossible without nuking themselves too.

alcoholic:
isnt it obvious, wit d way d media took d whole story, u would tink d man of God was in d plane wit d cash wen it was impounded., i fear journalism in nigeria

journalism in nigeria is total crap, d other day they were taking bribe frm TB joshua so as to twist d actual news, its really mind buglling

gboss4sure: The war against Christians in Nigeria and the world at large by Muslim extremist didn't start today, they are bitter that their plans has never worked so far as they expected and the major aim of these plan is to islamize Nigeria and Nigerian Christians are the only people blocking the Muslims extremist from achieving their aims.

They have brought this war on different fonts, they have sponsored books and video recordings containing so called spiritual revelations where someone comes out to claim he/she died and resurrected and he saw Jesus telling him/her that Rev uma ukpai and Dr Kumuyi will all go to hell.

They have devised lots and lots of mean to discredit Christianity but we are not shaken because despite the fact that there are fake men that claims they work for God, the word of God has never changed and everything we need is contained in the bible.

They have killed us, bombed our place of worship, desecrated our holy places in Nigeria and all over the world, yet we remain unshaken, what else can they do? Nuke the Christians? which is impossible without nuking themselves too.

and some catolics will come here and tell u is a peaceful co-existence, it baffles me dat many christains dnt knw we are at war, it is all about survival of d fitest wen it comes to religeous issues in dis country, we can and we wont sit back to allow nigeria be islamatize, we d christain must understnd this, cos d earlier we do d better our chances of survival

alcoholic:


so ur nt aware dere is a war, this is d problem wit nigerian christains especially d catolics, keep allowing urself to be brainwashed by ur cardinals, until d war is at ur door step.

For ur info...I ain't a catholic and nobody is waging any war here and am equally a christian too...wa am saying is..once u r called into d ministry..face God and ignore distractions...Jesus wasn't part of d politicians while He was on earth..he basically preached d Good news and went ahead with miracles and not going ahead to wine and dine wit pontius pilate & Co...there is an issue dat needs to be ironed out...lets face it squarely and not turn it all around in d name of religion...shikena...

Oritsejafor, why always you??

alcoholic:
isnt it obvious, wit d way d media took d whole story, u would tink d man of God was in d plane wit d cash wen it was impounded., i fear journalism in nigeria

jideomowunmi:
For ur info...I ain't a catholic and nobody is waging any war here and am equally a christian too...wa am saying is..once u r called into d ministry..face God and ignore distractions...Jesus wasn't part of d politicians while He was on earth..he basically preached d Good news and went ahead with miracles and not going ahead to wine and dine wit pontius pilate & Co...there is an issue dat needs to be ironed out...lets face it squarely and not turn it all around in d name of religion...shikena...

were in d bible was it said dat christains shuldnt participate in politics, are we nt supose to be guilded by d law of d land, if yes, isnt it imperative that we monitor the sets of individuals who are in the biz of making d laws, or ur sayin we should fold our hands and allow radical individuals to create laws that eventually creates an hostile environment to worship or practice wat u beleive, I wonder were u got that orientation frm, tins doesnt work like dat, even d bible av somtin to say about dat,..'the kingdom of God suffers violence and d violent taketh it by force', enough said.

jideomowunmi:


For ur info...I ain't a catholic and nobody is waging any war here and am equally a christian too...wa am saying is..once u r called into d ministry..face God and ignore distractions...Jesus wasn't part of d politicians while He was on earth..he basically preached d Good news and went ahead with miracles and not going ahead to wine and dine wit pontius pilate & Co...there is an issue dat needs to be ironed out...lets face it squarely and not turn it all around in d name of religion...shikena...

my dear start bileving it, there is a war, frm tym immemorial the church has always waged wars, just that the present war is being fought on a conventional platform, but make no mistake about it, there is a war and earlier we accept our fate as christains in nigeria d better our chances of survival.

I wanna use this medium to wish all Nigerians a very happy independence celebration
and we pray dat by this tym next year, we shall be celebrating the total anihalation of this present bokoharam insurgency in our country
God bless nairaland for given us a platform to make ourselves heard
and God bless Nigeria

Resilence: I wanna use this medium to wish all Nigerians a very happy independence celebration
and we pray dat by this tym next year, we shall be celebrating the total anihalation of this present bokoharam insurgency in our country
God bless nairaland for given us a platform to make ourselves heard
and God bless Nigeria

so onpoint bro, i wish u same.

alcoholic:

so onpoint bro, i wish u same.

arent we celedratin it?