As a teenager I admired controversial preacher, Ayo Oritsejafor anytime he came on TV with his punk hairstyle, preaching like he was quarreling. It wasn’t like I was always looking forward to watching his ‘Hour of deliverance’ show on TV. Nay, I was just fascinated by his passion and ‘holy anger’. He appeared like a bottle of Tandi Guarana that had lost its cork after it was shaken thoroughly. Ayo Oritsejafor was that ‘cool bad guy’ who knew his bible till he got elected as the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria – the apex body of all ‘purple Christians’ who don’t mind flirting with politics. In recent times the pastor who is more popular than his church, has made statements that are akin to religious fanaticism and the worst thing most of us can do about it is type ‘SMH’ on social media. This is a source of worry. Someone who holds such a sensitive position shouldn’t be fanning the embers of religious sentiments with his comments. Ironically, the name of his church is ‘World of Life Bible Church’. But has he been speaking life though? It appears like Boko Haram has somewhat made itself the perfect excuse for Papa Ayo to exhibit some of his really radical views about the Islamic religion. His dislike for Muslims always finds its way out of his mouth. And it is pretty sad when his opinions are misconstrued as a collective opinion of Christians in Nigeria. Whatever happened to loving our neighbors as ourselves? Why can’t we look out for one another regardless of what religion or tribe we belong to? I remember in April, Oritsejafor while speaking at a forum organised by the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in Abuja, allowed his passion consume him and spoke like a true Warri man. He said, “We must understand that these insurgents are cowards of the highest order; they are just people who pretend to be religious people but going by their antecedents, they are not. My pronouncement on them is that when they die their bodies should be given to pigs because they do not deserve more than that.” Chei! I must admit I laughed and acknowledged the idea of fattening pigs with the dead bodies of suicide bombers until weeks later I realized this was more than Boko Haram to the man of God. It was more like we-gotta-get-rid-of-these-muslims-bruh! Earlier this month, while pointing fingers at some Northerners and Governor Shettima of Borno state, Oritsejafor said, “The principal of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, where the girls were kidnapped, is a Muslim, the Vice-Principal is a Muslim, so, they should explain where these abducted girls have being kept.” Muslim. Muslim. Muslim. We are all FBI agents now, we know who did what. Our grade C Christianity in Nigeria is pretty useless especially as most of us are like Papa Ayo secretly blaming and judging our Muslim neighbors in our hearts. I don’t know many things about being a true Christian but I do know C in Christianity should stand for character especially as it has now become ‘cool’ to be yourself rather than be like Christ. From what I understand about holiness, peace and forgiveness, I doubt Papa Ayo will be singing ‘Kumbaya’ in Heaven on the last day. He just might be with the Suicide Bombers and a truck load of the rest of us in Hell’s fire, roasting corn. See, 200 girls were kidnapped from Chibok but it is the Christians amongst them that matters most to CAN. When a bomb goes off, it is the amount of Christians that died that matters most to CAN. We really need to be careful. We need to not push a religion of peace over the edge with sentiments. Life and death are two powers our tongues possess. Somehow the entire populace has a hand in this. Our characteristic approach to seemingly benign issues will not be the end of us. Before Boko Haram decided to touch us where it hurts, most of us adopted the siddon-look approach. Now we are so fascinated by the term ‘Islamist sect’ that we do not see our collective stupidity when we allow hasty generalization to consume us. There is indeed a blessing in disguise with this insurgency but the blessings won’t manifest if we abuse opportunities by dwelling on religious sentiments. A revolution will never come if we evangelize disunity because of religion. We are Nigerians. Absit injuria verbis. I honestly do not doubt Papa Ayo’s anointing. God forbid his Eagle Heights franchise trips into the Abyss. But then again it will take more than Benson Idahosa converting you before you can make heaven. It’s okay if you do not agree with me. After all, accusare nemo se debet nisi coram Deo.
Source: http://www.today.ng
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