Battle Cry: Conference of Islamic Organisations subtly insights Muslims against Christians, promotes Islamic propaganda against Jonathan and CAN

Battle Cry: Conference of Islamic Organisations subtly insights Muslims against Christians, promotes Islamic propaganda against Jonathan

• Catholic Bishops alledge plot to destabilise Christian Association on Nigeria (CAN)

In what appears to be a deliberate but subtle attempt by Islamic extremists in Nigeria to incite further violence between Christians and Muslims, the Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO), is regurgitating an unfounded propaganda filled with lies and half truths, concerning the recent confiscation of $10 million dollars belonging to the Nigerian government by South African authorities.

The group conveniently left out in their web of vitriol, the Vice President (a Muslim), the Chief of Defence Staff also a Muslim, the Defence Minister (a Muslim), the National Security Adviser (a Muslim), the Inspector General of Police (a Muslim) etc who are high up in the chain of command in national security and would have been privy to any move to smuggle arms as they claim. 

Their press release reads:

The Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO), a coalition of several Muslim organizations, central mosques, Muslim professional bodies and faith-based organizations among others note with a heavy heart the ungodly and sinister relationship between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) president, Pastor Ayo Joseph Oritsejafor with their latest attempted scandalous money-laundering and illegal arms procurement in South Africa. It is no longer news that two Nigerians and an Israeli man Mr. Eyal Mesika attempted to smuggle $9.3million USD (equivalent to N1,514,502,583.61) into South Africa with the intent to procure ammunitions purportedly for intelligence services to combat insurgency in parts of north eastern Nigeria. Certain facts have been established as per the actors involved in the “illegal” arms deal and money-laundering crime, albeit, the President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Joseph Oritsejafor, owner of the Bombardier Challenger 600 Jet, President Goodluck Jonathan Government and Mr. Eyal Mesika, a representative of the Israeli Government. 

The Conference of Islamic Organizations (CIO) unequivocally reject the position canvassed by the General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Dr. Musa Asake to exonerate the president of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor from the smuggled cash and illegal arms deals in their paid advertorial on page 12 of The Nation newspaper on Sunday, 21st September, 2014. It is unfortunate that CAN is not addressing the issue at stake, i.e. money laundering, violation of cashless policy and illegal arms procurement with the Jet of its president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor but rather dissipating its energy and resources on personalizing the matter by joining issues with a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. In the same vein, we find the position and reaction of the Federal Government to the cash-arms-deal terribly appalling. It is a very bad attempt at sweeping a gravely criminal act under the carpet. It is not a mere “procedural error”. It is a well-coordinated attempt at covertly undermining national security. Such an argument on the part of government and its cohort is not only lame, laughable and ludicrous but provocative, vexatious and an insult on the collective intelligence of Nigerians. 

If indeed the money was meant for a legitimate procurement of arms for the Nigerian security agencies, the following pertinent questions needs convincing and logical answers: 

1. Are there no official Jets in government fleets that could be used to transact such an important deal? 

2. Why has the government of President Goodluck Jonathan chosen to conduct its arms procurement outside the normal official channels but through the private jet of the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)? 

3. Is the covert arms buying with the private jet of a Christian leader and president of CAN in particular not suspicious and would further heat up the polity? 

4. Otherwise, why would such a huge cash of money be moved by the Federal Government in a private jet by private persons and no single official from the office of the National Security Adviser or Department of State Services or the military involve? 

5. Why did the Federal Government fail to officially notify the South African Government of the cash-for-arms deal until it was apprehended by the latter government agency? 

6. Is the movement of such huge amount of cash not a negation of the cashless policy of the Federal Government? 

7. If in truth and honesty the cash-arms-deal is legitimate, why did the Federal Government fail to follow the protocol of notifying officials of Nigerian Embassy in South Africa so that all necessary arrangements would have been made to declare and clear the cash on arrival in South Africa? 

8. If truly the transaction is legitimate, why was the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) in South Africa, a body vested with the power to approve the import and export of any weapons as well as issue permits for such transactions not aware of any applications from the Federal Government of Nigeria? 

9. If the Federal Government is not been economical with the truth, why transacting such a deal with Tier One and ESD, both unregistered firms with the NCACC in South Africa? Or Is the Federal Government claiming ignorance that both firms are not authorized to enter into any agreements regarding rental or/and sale of military equipment? 

10. Was it a mere coincidence that it was the private jet of the president of CAN, a kinsman of President Goodluck Jonathan who has consistently advocated that the Federal Government has not been doing much to tackle the insurgency in the northern parts of the country, particularly in the Muslim dominated regions of Nigeria that was used by the contractor(s) of arms procurement? 

11. Or has the Federal Airports Authority of Nigerian (FAAN) laws guiding the usage of non-scheduled commercial operators been amended to allow private jets owners such as the one belonging to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of CAN use their planes for commercial purposes illegally?

Against this background, CIO take exemption to the way the Federal Government tries to cover up this illegal transaction. Our fears are being confirmed that Muslims are no longer safe in Nigeria with the ongoing Federal Government and President Goodluck Jonathan-Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor CAN-leadership. We are not surprised that Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has hijacked CAN for his selfish interest and succeeded two years ago in frustrating the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria to suspend its participation at CAN meetings at the national level “over some recent attitudes, utterances and actions of the national leadership of CAN…” CIO therefore believes that the illegal arms procurement is not unconnected with the political ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan and ably assisted by his kinsman and close friend, the president of CAN whom the Catholic bishops lamented has politicized CAN and using it to divide Nigerians on ethno-religious lines as “CAN is being dragged into partisan politics thereby compromising the ability to play its true role as conscience of the nation and the voice of the voiceless.” We are also wondering if the scandalous arms procurement deal associated with the private Jet of the president of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and large sum of cash was not part of the preparation to fully arm and fortify the Niger-Delta militants, political thugs and “snipers” which former president Olusegun Obasanjo alleged in his 18-page letter Before It is Too Late written to President Goodluck Jonathan of “…training snipers and other armed personnel secretly and clandestinely acquiring weapons to match for political purposes…” more so that the likes of Elder Edward Clark and his boys have sworn that if President Goodluck Jonathan did not win the 2015 presidential election, there would be nothing like Nigeria again. In order to allay the fears of Nigerians and assure Muslims that there is no conspiracy whatsoever, the national assembly must get to the root of this scandal which has ridiculed the image of Nigeria in the world. We deserve to know why a calculated and deliberate attempt was made to smuggle such a large amount of cash out of the country into South Africa, it must also identify the identities of the two Nigerians involved and their ethno-religious background; and verify and confirm where was the money sourced from? Is it from the Central Bank of Nigeria or where? Was it appropriated by the national assembly or otherwise? Who authorized the transaction? And which arms of the security agency are the equipment meant for? Until the outcome of the investigation by the national assembly is made known to the public, CIO rejects the flimsy arguments given by the Federal Government as well as the lame cover up by CAN in its paid advertorial carried on page 12 of The Nation newspaper on Sunday, 21 September, 2014. We urge all Muslims to remain calm, peaceful and law-abiding until we get to the root of the scandalous transaction in earnest. God bless all. Sheikh AbdurRahman Ahmad Imam Abdullahi Shuaib Convener Coordinator.

CIO‘s Press Conference on the $9.3m Cash For Arms Deal Tuesday, 22 September, 2014 at Ansar Ud Deen Society of Nigeria Hall, Ajao Road, Surulere, Lagos 

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in Nigeria has alleged the existence of a plot to destabilise the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) by inciting a crisis between it and the association. The allegation was contained in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by Rev. Fr. Chris Anyanwu, Director (Social Communications Directorate) at the Catholic Secretariat.

The statement decried reports in Daily Post, Daily Trust, New Telegraph and The Guardian on Thursday, suggesting that Most Rev. Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), accused CAN President, Pastor Ayo Ortistejafor, of denting the image of CAN over the case of the jet that was found with $9.3 million allegedly owned by Ortistejafor.

“The said report is not only false and malicious but a calculated attempt to further sow the seed of disharmony between Catholics and the leadership of CAN,” Rev. Fr. Anyanwu said.

“While we disassociate ourselves from the newspaper reports, it is important to put the records in the right perspective,” he added.

According to the statement, “Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama granted an interview with the Hausa BBC Service in Kaduna in which he condemned money laundering. He said that the relevant authorities in Nigeria ought to investigate the issue of the $9.3 million arms deals saga dispassionately and ensure that those found guilty of money laundering be punished according to the provision of the existing law of our land against money laundering. He never, in the said interview, cast any aspersion on the person of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

“Reporters who monitored the said interview in Hausa BBC Service totally misrepresented the Archbishop by misquoting him. Knowing the person of Archbishop Kaigama as a man who is committed to ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, there is no way he can make such an inflammatory statement against the leadership of CAN which is capable of causing dissections among the CAN family.

“It was amazing to read such sensational headlines as ‘Ayo Oritsejafor is disgracing CAN’ – Catholic Bishops of Nigeria’, ‘Oritsejafor has dragged Christianity to the mud – Bishop Kaigama’, ‘Bishop blasts Oritsejafor for playing politics with CAN’. Archbishop Kaigama was also quoted as saying Catholic Bishops had been watching with “sadness how Oritsejafor had been hobnobbing with the Presidency for long. It is not proper, the guilty must be punished. It is not acceptable for a Christian leader to be seen always with the President. We in the Catholic have always picked holes in Oritsejafor’s style of leadership in CAN and we wanted to stop attending CAN meetings at the national level”. This is unfortunate, inciteful, unpatriotic and uncharitable. It looks like some people have problems with the person of Pastor Oritsejafor and wanted as the saying goes ‘to borrow the mouth of Archbishop Kaigama to chop their onions’. It appears that some people are hell-bent on setting the Catholic Church against the rest of CAN. Some want to use unfortunate situations to promote their fortunes. Yes the Catholic Bishops did in the past make their observations about how CAN could be run better not with the intention to discredit the body but so that things could be corrected fraternally, but there were screaming headlines which tended to put the Catholic Church in negative light. This is happening again.

“All that Archbishop Kaigama said about the $9.3m saga was that the matter should be investigated in depth to avoid insinuations, psychological projections and unhealthy rumours and gossips. A transcription of his interview will reveal that the words attributed to him were a figment of somebody’s imagination. He said nothing about Pastor Ayo hobnobbing with Mr President or dragging CAN to the mud; neither did he mention the pastor’s name or Mr. President. Pastor Oritsejafor has in the mean time very clearly and convincingly explained his own side of the story in a phone conversation with Archbishop Kaigama and Pastor Oritsejafor is to be presumed innocent unless found otherwise.

“We are indeed embarrassed at the monumental scale of misrepresentations in the said newspaper reports. What we expect from journalists is genuine reports based on truth and facts, which ought to promote public trust and confidence. A hall mark of responsible journalism is that reporters ought to cross-check their facts before publishing them whereas reports based on falsehood, rumours and preconceived ideas such as this, are not only malicious but a calculated attempt to strain the good relationship between the Catholic Church and the leadership of CAN.

There is a poison of deliberate misinformation in the air, more deadly than the Ebola virus disease. This may be a symptom of how forthcoming political events may be handled in the media. Some persons want to at all cost see the North and the South, Christians and Muslims fight.

“In God’s name it shall not come to be. Our prayer is that our nation shall remain one and indivisible. No matter how hard our detractors may try, they will not succeed. As leaders of the Catholic Church we shall continue to be objective in our assessment of the situation in the country and endeavour to edify by our comments and actions and not to destroy. This is because we believe that we are one people and one nation. God bless our beloved country Nigeria.”