Oritsejafor bared
his concerns on what he described as the treatment of Christians as
second class citizens in their own country. He also spoke on Boko Haram,
amnesty for the Islamists, their victims, and gay marriage. Excerpts:
You
are now in your second term as the President of Christian Association
of Nigeria (CAN). What were the challenges you faced during your first
tenure and what is your agenda for the second?
One major challenge
was to try to reposition the Church in Nigeria to make sure that it is
at par with other religions in this country. This is because what I saw
was a situation where Christians were like second class citizens in a
country where probably more than half of its citizens are Christians,
yet Christian were like second class citizens.
Islamic banks
illegal but functioning So it was a big challenge and it is a challenge
that we must continue to tackle. It is also a major goal that I intend
to work on, to ensure that Christians are treated as true citizens of
this country. Because of my efforts to address this challenge, I am
probably one of the most misunderstood persons in Nigeria today. I faced
it for three years and I am hoping that in the next three years,
probably many people will begin to understand me in this respect,
especially when they gradually begin to discover the reality of the
things that are happening in this country.
For example, the most
recent one is when the Chairman of the so called Presidential Committee
on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North
came out to say that they had met and struck a deal with the Boko Haram
Islamic sect and I said ‘which Boko Haram?’ We have had experiences in
the past where Boko Haram will come out to say they will stop the
killings and the next day people were killed! When I heard what the
Chairman of the committee said, I said, ‘Let us wait and see because
Shekau (the leader of Boko Haram) is going to come out to tell us what
the real thing is, whether they had a deal or not’.
It didn’t take
time; Shekau came out and contradicted everything the Chairman of the
committee said. He said they are working in the vineyard of Allah and
that they will continue (with their attacks) until they establish
Islamic state in Nigeria. My believe is that with time, they will begin
to see that I have no hatred for any group of people in Nigeria.
Anything I say is not coming out of hatred, it is coming out of love and
love does not hate truth. Love is a foundation for truth. The Bible
says “tell the truth in love”.
So I believe that within a short
time, a lot of those who really thought I hated some people would begin
to see that I have no hatred for anybody. I will love to work with
Muslims, live together and do things together but that should not negate
truth. There are few things we are doing in CAN. We are building a
Jubilee Centre that will have 50 bedrooms where people can come and pay a
little money to be able to spend the night while in Abuja. At the same
time, it will make some money for CAN because the association needs
money to run its affairs.
The Centre has a conference hall and
different kinds of facilities. We believe God that, this year, we would
be able to dedicate the Centre. We will continue to strengthen Christian
unity among us because, as Christians, that will not stop until Jesus
returns.
You spoke about Christians being treated as second class
citizens in Nigeria. In what ways are Christians treated as second class
citizens?
Actually, in my opinion, Christians are being treated
as second class citizens in virtually every way! Let me give you some
examples because if I begin to tell you everything, you will not even
have space to publish it. In the education sector, Almajiri schools are
being built everywhere in many states of the North. I don’t know how
many of such schools, but everybody knows that in 2012, the Federal
Government spent N5 billion to construct Almajiri schools. The Almajiri
schools are exclusively for Muslim children.
There are millions of
Christian children who cannot go to those schools. How are we giving
those Christian children the same opportunity to be educated? So
automatically they have been made second class citizens. Don’t forget
that the schools which Christians used their money to build were taken
over by government and the same government is using public funds to
build special schools for Almajiri Muslims. That shows that Christians
are just second class citizens. Government is running all those schools
taken from Christians the way they want. Both Christians and Muslim go
to those schools but the Almajiri schools are exclusively for Muslim
children only.
When you go to the judiciary, it is the same story.
I read what a lawyer, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, said in the newspapers
recently. He noted that the constitution is being reviewed and there are
provisions for Sharia for Nigerian Muslims, there is customary court,
what is the provision for Christians? The general courts are shared by
both Christians and Muslims. When Christians have very knotty issues
that are purely Christian in nature, where will they go to? The regular
courts may not have clear solution to such cases. So Agbakoba has come
out to say he may sue the Federal Government and the National Assembly.
This,
to me, is a very interesting move. I just hope that our Muslim brothers
will appreciate what I am trying to explain. In the Sharia courts which
are funded with public funds, only Muslims are employed there. From the
cleaner to the judge, no Christian can be employed in the Sharia court.
In the regular courts, there are both Muslims and Christians as well.
From the lowest level of the court, to the highest level, they are
there. They are the ones that head the Supreme Court and most of the
courts with the Sharia court exclusively for them. What is the judicial
system for Christians? It is not there, so they are second class.
Go
to the government owned media houses and see what is happening there,
especially the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA). I don’t know now
because some of them retired at a point, but, before their retirement,
the seven directors out of eight were Muslims. Turn that around and see
what will happen. What do you call that? Second class citizens. A judge
in Abuja came out to say Islamic banking is illegal, but he added a
caveat by saying that his hands were tight, he could not do anything
about it because it was not the right people that came to court.
I
am still wondering who the right people to come to court are! But the
important thing he said was that Islamic banking is illegal. Islamic
banking It is illegal but it is functioning at its peak, established and
financed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), not Central Bank of
Islam. The Governor of the CBN almost seems to be working for a section
of the country and nobody can say anything about it. Yet it is something
that is supposed to be illegal. What the CBN ought to have done was to
have one unified system for non-interest banking, but, instead of doing
that, what it did is to specifically come out with a set of guidelines
for Islamic banking, saying they had another set of guidelines for
others.
And who are these others? They are the Christians. It is
amazing when you see these things happening. Every area you look at, it
is the same story. Admission into tertiary schools Go to higher
institutions of higher, especially in the North, there are courses that
Christians will never be offered admission to study, that is if you even
get admission at all because you are a Christian and that automatically
makes you a second class person. Ban on teaching of CRK and preaching
on NTA In some northern states, the teaching of Christian Religious
Knowledge (CRK) in public schools is prohibited.
Why do you allow
for the teaching of Islamic studies, but you cannot allow the teaching
of CRK? I am puzzled. Let me even go further, if I go to NTA Sokoto
today and say here is my money, I want to preach on NTA that is funded
with tax payers’ money, they will throw my money away and say you cannot
preach Christianity on NTA Sokoto. We know that in some of the northern
states, there is an unwritten law that you cannot sell land or building
to be used for church or a brothel.
So the church and brothel are
put on the same level! How do you describe that? In the last 20 years,
there is no church in some of these northern states that has Certificate
of Occupancy (C of O). This is one Nigeria, but it is like animal farm.
Some animals are more equals than others. That is what we are seeing in
this wonderful country called Nigeria. Abduction and forceful
conversion of Christian girls They can abduct your daughter and
forcefully marry her. They literally kidnapped people’s daughters who
are Christians and give them out for marriage but they will never allow
their daughters to marry Christians. Imagine a pastor going to abduct an
Imam’s daughter;
do you think we will still have one Nigeria? In
some of the northern states, the government spends millions of naira to
sponsor Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca without extending same gesture to
Christians who are even indigenes of those states. We are aware that in
some of the far northern states, foreigners, who are Muslims from Niger
and Chad republics, are more accommodated and are accepted into the
scheme of things than Nigerians who are Christians from other states of
the federation.
Qualified Christian denied ABU VC Chair You recall
how a Christian was rejected for appointment as the Vice Chancellor of
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria some years back even when he
emerged as the most qualified during the interview for the position.
There are so many of these injustices against Christians, we can go on
and on. That is why, in my own opinion, Boko Haram is just the latest
manifestation of this same process of marginalisation and oppression
that had taken place through the years. It has reached a point where it
appears like we accept it. I believe that the time has come for us to
say NO!, it cannot be that way.
This is not because anybody has
hatred for anybody. You cannot call standing up for what is right
hatred. We all have equal rights as Nigerians; I have a right to ask for
my right. That does not mean that I hate somebody. I am only demanding
that I should be treated equally and fairly like others. So these are
some of the few things that made me see Christians literally as second
class citizens in their own country. There is agitation for amnesty for
Boko Haram in some quarters. But some other people are suggesting that
victims of Boko Haram should be given succor first.
What is your
thinking here? It is very unfortunate because, in any situation, I
almost used the word conflict, but it is not a conflict because what we
have is genocide. I call it religious cleansing. That is what we are
actually experiencing. In any situation where lives are lost, number one
and overwhelming interest should always be about the victims. Look at
the so-called Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee that was set up!
There are 28 people, five are Christians, so who is representing the
people who are the victims or the people you are supposed to be
reconciling? Who are you reconciling with whom? It is difficult to
comprehend. I think the approach is very wrong.
You can’t even
talk of amnesty; it is not something to be discussed at all! What we
should be talking about are these wicked people who have made orphans
out of so many children, widows out of so many women. They should be
able to come out when they realise that what they are doing is wrong and
publicly say ‘we are wrong and we are so sorry, forgive us’. If they
come from that point, then you are ready to talk of reconciliation, you
are talking of forgiveness, then there can be genuine meeting of minds,
we can discuss and say, ‘since you feel this way, we can now start to
talk because Christianity is a religion of peace, love and forgiveness.
That
is what the Bible taught us. In fact, that is why Nigeria is so
peaceful because more than half of the people in this country are a
group of people who believe in love, peace and forgiveness. If they come
from that angle, then we can now start talking and, at that point,
there could be a discussion of any other thing that will take place, but
not where we are now. Where we are today is that we are having a group
who are killing innocent people and coming out to boast about it and
saying ‘ you who want to give me amnesty, I am the one to give you
amnesty’.
So which amnesty are you giving them? I don’t think
there is room for that discussion right now. I think government should
strengthen the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) which is doing its best
to curb this thing and reduce it to the barest minimum. They military
should be encouraged and empowered the more to address the situation.
But they must be encouraged to operate within the rules of engagement.
We can see that since the state of emergency was declared in the three
states, there has been tremendous improvement in so many areas, although
we know that killings are still going on.
So I am more concerned
about the victims of the killings and I think anybody else should be,
not about these criminals, these wicked people who are going out there
and killing innocent people. Look at those school children they killed
in Yobe. Shekau came out excited about it and said they will do more.
What he is saying basically is that, the fact that these children who
are Muslims are sent by their parents to acquire western education, it
automatically made them infidels. People must always remember to connect
this with Christianity because when they say they are against western
education, they are against Christianity. It is Christianity that
brought western education.
They are against it and they are
fighting it because western education has its foundation in
Christianity…. That is why they are against Muslim parents that want
their children to compete in the global village that we are today…..
These are serious crimes that these people have committed against God
and against man. The Senate just voted to endorse child marriage in the
country. What is your take? I think it is one of the greatest shames of
the century for Nigeria not just the National Assembly because the
National Assembly is a reflection of Nigeria.
I feel ashamed to
call myself a Nigerian. I saw something in the newspapers; if it is
true, where a senator said he was prepared to give out his six-year old
daughter in marriage. These are child molesters that should be put
behind bars. They should not be allowed to walk on the streets of this
country; but what do you do? I’m just talking because I don’t know what
is the solution to this now. I think the only solution is for Nigerians
to cry out. But I don’t know whether we have suffered too much that we
have no voice anymore to cry out, because it’s like we are so used to
wrong things that everybody just accepts it when it comes.
Children
don’t know anything; they can’t fight for themselves, so we’ll fight
for them. May God save us. When you say may God save us, that is begging
the issue. Is there no way out? Is there nothing the Church can do? I
think what we can do and I believe we should do is to mobilize ourselves
to protest. I don’t want to go further than that until I have consulted
with my people, but I don’t think this is something we should sit down
and accept. Nigerians, across religious lines, should mobilize against
this. One of the ministers admitted a few days ago that the
international community is putting pressure on the Nigerian government
to endorse gay marriage in the country… I can assure you it will not
happen.
There are many reasons it will not and cannot happen.
President Goodluck Jonathan was not voted into power by Americans, or by
the British people, or by any other person except Nigerians. The only
people that can put that kind of pressure on him are Nigerians. Even as
the British prime minister threatened to stop aid to the nation? They
can keep their aid. Nigeria does not need it. The aid that is going to
be tied to changing the structure of this country: our culture, our
belief system and our religious thinking, it’s not worth it.
They
should keep it, we’ll survive without it. Like I said, I believe the
National Assembly will jointly put it together and send it to the
president for his assent. And when it gets there, we will make sure he
signs it. The political crisis in Rivers State has degenerated to the
extent where members of the House of Assembly resorted to fighting. How
do you feel? Again that is another shame. It’s as if we are heaping up
shame upon shame in Nigeria. Obviously, there are people fueling this
for political gain.
They want to watch this drama play out, but
they seem to forget that sometimes this kind of thing consumes
everybody. It does not end with the actors, it extends to those who are
watching and cheering on. At the end of the day, who’s going to remain
standing? We are not talking about President Jonathan or Governor
Amaechi now; we are talking about Nigeria. My prayer is that the
principal actors will look beyond themselves and think of the overall
picture of Nigeria. We don’t need this type of thing in this nation.
I
plead with politicians to stop for a moment, put their politics aside
and look at Nigeria. What do we want for this country? What is our idea
about the tomorrow of this nation? Or we don’t want Nigeria to exist? If
we don’t want, why not gather those who are Nigerians to discuss it so
that we agree that we don’t want Nigeria or we agree that we want
Nigeria. To me, it’s taking us to that point. These two actors are from
the same region. I plead with them to forget themselves and think of the
region where they come from and then think of Nigeria as a nation.
Nobody is bigger than Nigeria.
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It’s
easy to think that in the year 2013, computers have come far enough
that slow booting, unresponsive machines are a thing of the past. Sadly,
this just isn’t the case.
Mr
Lateef Gbadamosi, his wife and two children perished in the tragic
incident. Family belongings including furniture, electronics, cooking
utensils and other household materials were lost in the fire too.
Video Comment: Why on earthwould a Boy "Do" a Boy? Aint there girls in the society? Isn't this "eeeeeeewish"? This gay boys apparently took video of themselves in an unholy act.. And it got leaked.. I hope nigeria law enforcement enforce the 14years rule or we will start getting lots of this thing online.. Let’s kill this thing before it escalates beyound our power.
