Abby Ojo
By Abdulwahab Abdulah
LAGOS—PRESIDENTIAL candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, described the call for his arrest and prosecution by Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, as satanic.
Oritsejafor had in Lagos, Sunday, accused General Buhari of inciting his supporters to riot by asking them during his campaign to protect their votes and lynch anybody attempting to rig the elections.
The CAN president called on President Jonathan to prosecute Buhari and other leaders who made similar inciting utterances if Nigeria was to remain one nation.
Reacting to Oritsejafor’s call, Buhari’s spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said it was totally misguided and “a reckless abuse of the office of the President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN,” for him to be engaged in a political consultancy for Aso Rock.
Arguing that the call was capable of escalating the ongoing tension in the North, Odumakin noted that rather than appealing to Nigerians on Easter, like other Christian leaders asking for peace and tranquillity, Oritsejafor’s speech was “a satanic call, capable of only pouring gasoline into a burning flame which casts him in the mould of a PDP supporter rather than a faith leader whose words at the moment should be of healing and reconciliation.”
He argued that rather than point to any fact to substantiate his call for Buhari’s arrest, “Pastor Oritsejafor did not provide any evidence to link Gen. Buhari to the wave of unfortunate spontaneous revolt against vote theft in parts of the country beyond playing the role of a “false accuser of the brethren.”
Odumakin said: “It is on record that the CPC presidential flagbearer has distanced himself and the party from the mayhem severally and strongly condemned the burning of worship places and alleged killings of youth corps members, and till date, nobody has brought out any contrary facts beyond false innuendos and character assassination.
Ridiculous claim
“The ridiculous claim by the cleric that Buhari is culpable because there were disturbances where he won is like calling Oritsejafor a hemp-smoker because someone is seen smoking marijuana around the premises of his church.”
Noting that he was not against anybody defending the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan, Odumakin added: “We frown at the use of the CAN mask to prosecute his Aso Rock brief. Our collective memory is not so short as not to know that unlike other revered men of God who have been on that exalted seat and spoke truth to power in the order of Samuel who put God’s command above the fat of oxen, we don’t have a quote of Pastor Oritsejafor on the unbridled corruption and open banditry that has been the defining rule of governance in the country.”
No comments:
Post a Comment