National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, on Monday, celebrated his birthday by giving out cheques of N50,000 each to about 30 disabled individuals from different parts of Delta State. In this interview, he laments that for two years now, Nigeria Inter-religious Council, NIREC, has not seen the need to meet despite the growing menace of insurgency in parts of the country. When asked whether constant attacks on his person will deter him from speaking his mind, his answer was: “God forbid. It cannot!” Excerpts…
What’s your birthday wish for Nigeria?
My birthday wish for Nigeria is that we will have a nation where everyone is equal; not just by national anthem, not just in words, but in deeds. That Nigeria will be a nation where people are not judged by tribe or by religion, but purely on the quality of their character, their person. My wish is to have a nation where anybody can go from Sokoto to Calabar and be accepted as a Nigerian. I don’t have to change my religion to live in a certain part of the country.
To mark your birthday, you gave out cheques to disabled people in Warri. What inspired it?
That is my life. The major thing that gives me joy in life is to give joy to other people. When I have opportunity to do that, I jump at it because it does something to me. I feel fulfilled. Yes, I’m a Christian, I’m spiritual, but I feel like a human being when I touch other people. It reminds me of my own humanity. It reminds me that if not for God, I will not be who I am; I will not be where I am today. You saw a woman giving testimony and then she said she had stopped doing business. Whatever stopped her from business, obviously stopped her from a livelihood. It just occurred to me there, ‘why don’t you just help her?’ She is healed, she is happy, but why not just take it a step further and help her to have a livelihood? And you could see her reaction. That gives me fulfilment. December 26th is an incredible day for me here in Warri. I did not fully understand the word Boxing Day. I thought it was a feast thing, but then I began to understand that it is a day where many things are packaged; it’s a day of boxing things to give to people. So we do that here every December 26th. We give out cars, tricycles. That’s my joy. I’m a pastor. How much do I have? What can I do? Very little. But there are big businessmen, big companies; if we all try to do a little; everybody seems to be pushing it all to government but government can’t do everything. We can all do something. If I do a little something, and somebody else does, and everybody else does, you would be surprised how many people we can take out of poverty, how many people we can actually put on their feet so they can stand for themselves and fend for themselves. It will change this country.
In view of the growing insurgency in parts of the country, why has NIREC not held any meeting to address the challenge?
I am as puzzled as you are because the Sultan and I are co-chairs of that organisation. We’ve not had a meeting now for almost two years and I’m puzzled because at least three times I have been informed of a meeting. We were supposed to meet in Gombe, only for the Secretary/coordinator, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, to call to tell me it won’t hold, something happened, the governor was going somewhere or something. We fixed another date, he came up with something again.
We fixed a third date; they came up with something again why it could not hold. At a point, they even said there was no money. But early this year, I was told that there was some money now, so I said let’s do it. I talked with the two very important people involved. I suggested some dates; they said those dates were not good. So I’m still waiting for a date.
So it has nothing to do with me. I would love that we sit and talk. And we should be able to put these issues on the table and put timeline and agree on how we want to solve some of the problems facing Nigeria today. The traditional rulers, the religious leaders and political leaders; these three groups of people are very crucial to solving the problems facing Nigeria today.
Recently we heard that there was a ceasefire, later we were told that there was no ceasefire whatsoever……
I think I’m the wrong person to ask this because, first of all, I was not part of it. I don’t know anything about any ceasefire. You people should ask the relevant authorities to explain what they meant by ceasefire because I have no idea. What I know from what some very devout Muslims have told me is that when a Jihad starts, they don’t stop. The Jihad has to be completed. They either die or they achieve their goal. And the goal is to Islamize Nigeria. The real war is a war between the ideology of Sharia and the ideology of democracy. This is the war that is going on, and it is a worldwide war.
In Nigeria, we are ostriches; we put our heads in the sand. The western world is doing the same. They think as long as they are hiding in the sand, their problems will vanish. It’s not going anywhere. We have to face reality. The problem is real. Boko Haram will not negotiate with anybody. It’s a waste of time, energy and effort. They may end up talking with some people. But the problem is there are people who are still killing people and raising up their flags every day in different places. This is the reality on ground. Let’s stop the deception. Let’s stop the games. What is happening is real. People are being killed on a daily basis. So what ceasefire? There’s nothing like that anywhere. Shekau himself has been coming out almost every day, saying he doesn’t know anything about any deal. What deal is anybody going to strike with you that is going to stop this trend now that is going on?
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