Ambition is the grand enemy of piety. It corrupts the clergy and perverts the spirit. Little wonder Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor fell by its whim. In a radical twist of fate, the controversy-prone pastor who leveraged on his cordial relationship with former President Goodluck Jonathan, has gradually faded off the country’s political and social scene, like wild azalea wilting on concrete floor.
Back when he functioned like an aide and spiritual associate of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Oritsejafor used his position as president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to solicit for support for President Jonathan from the Christian community. Oritsejafor could not conceal his support for the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and thus seized every opportunity to be seen in Jonathan’s company.
He took advantage of his leadership of CAN and PFN to ingratiate himself with Jonathan, organizing endless presidential pilgrimages to Jerusalem and visitations to different churches to seek spiritual support for the former president’s re-election bid. In the process, he secured presidential endorsement for his university and private jet. Under Oritsejafor, CAN, which had a long history of speaking truth to power and putting the country’s leadership on its toes, lost its voice and ditched its crusade for righteousness, fairness and justice, thus forcing the Catholic Bishops Conference (CBC) to suspend its membership of CAN.
Things deteriorated in the build up to the recently concluded presidential elections as Oritsejafor threw caution to the wind and disregarded CAN’s established reputation and culture of impartiality to openly campaign for Jonathan’s re-election among his fellow pastors and members of CAN. But to his dismay, his preferred candidate lost the election to All Progressives Congress’ President Muhammadu Buhari. Since Jonathan’s loss and acceptance of defeat, Oritsejafor has become a shadow of his immense weight during Jonathan’s tenure as president.
There is the likelihood however, that the CAN president may fade off totally from the public scene soon as he is at the end of his tenure as head of the religious body. His six-year tenure ends in May. As you read, tension is high within CAN and PFN as the tussle to take over from Oritsejafor intensifies among the country’s top pastors. The tussle has created a crack among the top echelon of the apex Christian body as powerful forces are believed to be keenly interested in choosing who succeeds Oritsejafor.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engineer David Babachir, is allegedly working with some presidential aides to influence the outcome of the secret ballot election to choose Oritsejafor’s successor in March. Babachir who is a pastor in the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), is reportedly backing the candidate from the ECWA/TEKAN bloc of CAN. Informed sources hinted that CAN executives have decided that Oritsejafor’s successor will emerge from the ECWA/TEKAN or Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) blocs. But while the ECWA/TEKAN bloc is said to be uninterested in the post, there is serious rift among churches in the OAIC bloc over who should take the slot. A faction is reportedly supporting the ambition of CAN chairman, South West region, Archbishop Magnus Atilade.
Atilade, who is President of Gospel Baptist Conference in Nigeria and Overseas (GBCNC), has been reaching out to leaders from the CCN and Catholic Secretariat blocs to achieve his ambition.
