The presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to arrest him if he can.
Buhari spoke against the backdrop of the call by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, that the CPC candidate be arrested over the recent post-election violence in some Northern states.
Oritsejafor, while addressing newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of General Buhari and all identified cohorts before they plunge the nation into another civil war. Speaking through his spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, Buhari said Oritsejafor’s comment, calling for his arrest, was reckless and bound to heat up the polity.
Odumakin said: “General Buhari is in Daura. So, let Jonathan go and arrest him. One of his contractors has asked him to arrest Buhari. He is in Daura now. So, let him go and arrest him.”(Odumakin)
He said men like Oritsejafor were supposed to make statements that would calm frayed nerves, “but unfortunately, it can’t be hidden that the CAN leadership under Oritsejafor had become an extension of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it is unfortunate that he is partisan to this extreme.
He said men like Oritsejafor were supposed to make statements that would calm frayed nerves, “but unfortunately, it can’t be hidden that the CAN leadership under Oritsejafor had become an extension of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it is unfortunate that he is partisan to this extreme.
“It is unfortunate and it is a shame and it is a betrayal of his calling to be dragging the entire body of Christ into partisan politics,” Buhari said.
Buhari noted that it was not a hidden fact that Oritsejafor has always been a friend of Aso Rock and if you have watched his activities since he became CAN president, his activities have been more at Aso Rock and the government houses across the country rather than within the body of Christ. While urging Nigerians to ignore Oritsejafor, Buhari said his statement is not different from that of the PDP’s Acting National Chairman, Haliru Bello, adding that Oritsejafor should be ignored like any other PDP chieftain.
He also said his comment on Oritsejafor had nothing to do with the body of Christ, saying we are separating Oritsejafor, his person from the body of Christ.
“We have no issue with the body of Christ in Nigeria, but the PDP contractors like him who have taken over the leadership of that respected organization, are using the body of Christ to further their personal interest and not the interests of the body of Christ in Nigeria.
“And it will be good for him to read what his Bible says about the false accuser of the brethren. That is the role he is playing now; false accuser of the brethren because what he is doing is making false accusation and seeking the persecution of Buhari based on political contract and not on any fact.” He added: “Men like Oritsejafor are profiting from the rot in Nigeria today and since he became the president of CAN, there is no one word he has spoken against corruption in Nigeria.
“He has never issued a word against the rot in Nigeria and it is now that the lickers of Nigeria have regained their control with open electoral robbery, that he is now coming out to ask for the persecution of the victory of electoral robbery. “This clearly shows that people like him are part of the rot in Nigeria and they want to sustain this unjust system which they are benefitting from at the expense of the people they claim to serve.
“And more importantly, there is no evidence to give, leaking General Buhari with any political violence. He has condemned it, he has berated the rioters and on two occasions (2003,2007) when he was rigged out of elections, he went to court for 54 months. That is not the attitude of a man, who believes in violence and Ayo Oritsejafor has never condemned the rape of democracy in Nigeria. He has never condemned the stealing of votes. So, his selective sense of justice baffles all because this selective integrity is bundling.”
While saying that the CAN president should be asked if that was his Easter message to the nation, Buhari said he hoped Oritsejafor would provide the chain on his neck to hang him when he is arrested. Commenting on Oritsejafor’s demand in a telephone interview with Daily Sun, immediate past President of the CAN, Archbishop John Onaiyekan, said Oritsejafor did not consult him on the statement.
“The only thing I can say is that he did not consult me on that. He did not consult me on that statement. I don’t really know why he said it. So, you should ask him.
“What I do believe, though, is that if the President said he has set up a judicial commission of enquiry, then, I imagine anyone who has any information that will be useful for the commission to present them, hoping that this time, they are serious. “As you know, we have had so many of such commissions, which have come out with nothing. Nigerians have no confidence in those commissions anymore.
“Well, as for the statement of CAN president, I am afraid. You should ask the CAN president. I am sure he is in a position to defend whatever he has said. All I am saying is that I was not consulted on the statement. I have nothing to say,” the Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Abuja said.
-Sun
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