The jet, the cash and a clumsy whitewash
A lying ex-minister actually. In an article published on page 24, Sunday Trust, 21st September, 2014, Femi Fani-Kayode attempted to exonerate Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of any blame in the villainous use of his (Pastor’s) jet to launder $9.3m in South Africa under the guise of buying arms for God knows who in Nigeria. Labouring hard […]
A lying ex-minister actually. In an article published on page 24, Sunday Trust, 21st September, 2014, Femi Fani-Kayode attempted to exonerate Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of any blame in the villainous use of his (Pastor’s) jet to launder $9.3m in South Africa under the guise of buying arms for God knows who in Nigeria. Labouring hard to justify the matter in the context of his so-called experience as an ex-minister of aviation, Fani-Kayode ended up sounding more like an ex-secret service man, which he wasn’t!
I wish to assure the general public that “the flying of large sums of cash by security and intelligence agencies for the purchase of arms” has never happened “under successive Nigerian governments” whether military or civilian, it is a fairy tale invented by Femi Fani-Kayode and those whose script he is acting to cover up their unintelligent and slapdash misadventure at Lanseria airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. It is absolute bunkum for anyone to say that Nigerian governments had before now continually ferried cash in airplanes all over the world to procure arms; and if any government, apart from the current one, has done so, Femi Fani-Kayode should tell us which. South Africans are too civilised to stuff cash in airplanes and go and procure arms in some part of the world. Nobody, no country worth its salt, would have tolerated money laundering on that grand scale on its soil. The South Africans wouldn’t do this or tolerate it from some misguided country. This kind of tittle-tattle can only be perpetrated by a permissive one-scandal-a-day government.
It is also mendacious to say that Fani-Kayode’s brief stint as Nigeria’s aviation minister was enough to afford him an insight into how “the British, the French, the American, the Chinese, the Israeli, the Saudi Arabian and Russian intelligence and security agencies….have indulged in such covert ‘cash for arms’ transactions on numerous occasions in different parts of the world”. Were these countries buying arms from Nigeria? Were they putting Fani-Kayode on notice of their covert “cash-for-arms” transactions simply because he was Nigeria’s aviation minister? Or did he spend his tenure monitoring them? Hogwash!
It is precisely because of this kind of shameful conduct that some well-bred Nigerians continue to keep distance between themselves and their country. We continue to incur the wrath of the South Africans – and the world – because of the shoddy and unprofessional way we handle matters involving them and our country. Only the insensible, the irrational and someone desperate to see this serious matter buried, would tolerate this sinister transaction.
It is too early to know the intended beneficiaries of the weapons. There is no proof yet that the weapons were destined for the forces fighting Boko Haram. Given Pastor Oritsejafor’s well known anti-Northern and anti-Muslim rhetoric and his warning that Christians would be armed to defend themselves against perceived Muslim-induced violence, the pastor and his jet appear to be on a familiar mission.
If Ayo Oritsejafor is maligned or vilified, it is precisely because he has sided with a deaf administration. It is because rather than speak truth to power, he is enamoured by it. It is certainly because, whereas he claimed that his flock bought a jet for him to proselytise, he had leased it out (unknown to him, he claimed) for nefarious activities.
It is despicable for a professed man of God to lend his private carrier to money launderers; and if Nigerian Christians see his being challenged as an affront, then it is time they called Oritsejafor to order. The pastor can continue to deny knowledge of what his jet was being used for by those it was allegedly leased to; but the case under review has revealed that it is for evil purpose. What makes it compelling to use Oritsejafor’s jet to ferry cash-for-arms in South Africa?
South Africa has no reason to stop our country from buying weapons off the counter in the country. Why were we smuggling hard cash there and intending to buy those weapons under the table? What are we hiding? Why are we ridiculing ourselves? Why do we think South Africa, a sophisticated and law abiding country would condone our kabu-kabu purchase and supply theories that had the potential of lowering their own self-esteem?
It is hypocritical to blame the media or the opposition for this scandal. The author of this dishonour is Pastor Oritsejafor himself who has proven his insatiable appetite for lucre over and above God. The leader of the “umbrella organisation of the over 80 million-strong Christian faithful” has disgraced himself, his followers and our country. Discerning Christians have discovered that Oritsejafor is out to help himself, not them.
Pastor Oritsejafor is a contro-versial, self-confessed former bandit who did drugs in the past. On his birthday about two years ago, he claimed to have received as gift a brand new jet, allegedly from his followers. Sometimes this year, he and Jonathan toured Jerusalem where God reportedly answered the president’s prayer for a second term of office. This outlandish pastor has over s very short span acquired a reputation of being the most rabid anti-Islam and anti-Muslim Christian leader ever in this country and under his watch religious harmony among our people is at rock bottom.
The mediocre, tasteless and silly attempt by Femi Fani-Kayode to justify this budding Oritsejaforgate has failed. If this administration is bribing everyone to prevent debate on this matter, we sincerely expect the South Africans to help us get to the root of this criminal cash-for-arms transaction and punish its perpetrators, however highly placed. Are the National Security Adviser and Minister of Defence around?