Why Nigerian Christians must call Oritsejiafor to order
The biggest mistake Nigerian Christians made was to have allowed Pastor Oritsejiafor, Oritsejiafor came out recklessly to state that General Buhari should be arrested because of the post-election violence. He forgot that he was not a member of President Jonathan’s cabinet, neither was he the mouthpiece of the government. The fact that the President is […]
The biggest mistake Nigerian Christians made was to have allowed Pastor Oritsejiafor, Oritsejiafor came out recklessly to state that General Buhari should be arrested because of the post-election violence. He forgot that he was not a member of President Jonathan’s cabinet, neither was he the mouthpiece of the government. The fact that the President is a Christian does not mean that he is a President for the Christians alone, because every part of Nigeria contributed in one way or another in electing him as President. But the most important observation is that Muslims were as well victims of the violence as the Christians. Why did Oritsejiafor think that the violence was a religious affair between Christians and Muslims, or specifically against Christians?
The most recent reckless and unwarranted statement, which also showed his ignorance of the financial system, was the attack Oritsejiafor led on the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, over the Islamic Bank Project, otherwise known as the Non-Interest Banking. This was a project that was started by the Governor’s predecessor, Professor Charles Soludo, only for Lamido to fine-tune and present it to the public. Moreover, Islamic Banking system is popular even in the West (US, and the entire Europe) where the vast majority of the population is Christian. It must be stated also that it is a private affair and only for those who are interested, in the same way that the Federal Ministry of Education registered and approved Christian private universities. By the way, why should Muslims not be free to operate a banking system that is in line with their belief? Next time if a Muslim decides to operate a restaurant of halal food, for example, Oritsejiafor will kick against it?
The banking system we have been operating is western and capitalist, but did anyone seek the opinion of Nigerian Muslims before establishing it? But because it has something to do with Nigeria’s history, no one ever objected. Hear Oritsejiafor again saying that Lamido should resign because of the Arabic inscriptions in the Nigerian currency. Oritsejiafor should know that there is Christian Bible written in Arabic, and that there Arabs in the Middle East who are Christians. As a matter of fact ,the Qur’an refers to Christians as “People of the Book”, and enjoins all Muslims to accord high respect to Christians, marry from among them, eat from what they prepare (with certain exclusion, such as pork), and believe in Prophet Isa (Jesus) (Peace be upon him), son of Mary (Maryam) as one of the greatest Prophets God sent to humanity. By the way, did anyone seek our opinion to use English words in our currency, or to even have English as our official language, but we know that it was the Christian missionaries that brought it to our land?
I implore our Christian brothers and sisters to consider it most appropriate to please impeach Oritsejiofor, the controversial CAN President, before he does further damage to the already troubled inter-faith relationship. I know of better, well-respected, well-knowledgeable, main-stream Christians to propose, and even though I am a Muslim, if permitted I intend to partake in the vote as a person who also believes in the unity of Nigeria, because we need persons who understand and appreciate peaceful co-existence for peaceful Nigeria, not fanatics or religious bigots.
Usman Obayemi, First Media Consult Ltd, Plot 1856, Ahmadu Bello Way, Abuja