Frightful photo: Bird allegedy turns into woman at Oshodi

According to Twitter user, @davidTheGear, a few minutes ago at Oshodi, a bird fell from a high tension wire and landed on the ground and turned into a woman. The woman that the bird supposedly turned into had most of her skin peeled. Photo above. 

$9.3m scandal: Okotie calls for Oritsejafor's resignation as CAN president

House Hold of God Head pastor Chris Okotie, has called for the resignation of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as President of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN over the $9.3m arms deal scandal in which his private jet was implicated in.

In a piece titled "$9.3m Scandal: Oritsejafor Should Do The Right Thing' which was posted on his Facebook page today, Okotie said the continued relationship between Oritsejafor and the Presidency has caused a lot of embarrassment to the Christian body and that it was time the elder clergyman resigned to salvage the respect of CAN. Read his piece after the cut...

The recent seizure by the South African authorities of $9.3m found in a private jet owned by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has aggravated the image problem of this country at a time when the narrative of this government is brimming with negatives under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The South African government took the action on the alleged charge that the undeclared $9.3m found in the plane might have been laundered. This revelation came when the dust generated by the seemingly dubious donation of the jet to Pastor Ayo is yet to settle. His friendship with the President has been at the centre of the controversies that mark his explosive tenure as the leader of the eponymous religious organization in Nigeria.

Not that it is a sin to be the President’s Pal, but when such relationship becomes provocatively patronizing, or self-serving, it is unacceptable. The Pastor does not show restraint in the way he goes about, publicly hobnobbing with the President as if he is the Chaplain of Aso Rock. This certainly has compromised the integrity of his office as CAN President and this latest incident is just the climax of embarrassing incidents we can’t tolerate any longer.

Considering the collateral damage Pastor Ayo’s close relationship with the President has done to the Christian community, it is fit and proper for the Pastor to resign immediately as CAN President to salvage what remains of the battered image of the association.

This is without prejudice to the on-going investigation on the matter. Denials of his culpability by the Federal Government, CAN officials and his own recent defense, does nothing to reduce the moral burden this whole saga places on his shoulders. As the titular leader of Christians in Nigeria, there’s now a serious crisis of confidence on his leadership and he ought to respond to it by resigning from his exalted position.

That is what the ecclesiastic responsibility of his calling as a gospel minister dictates, once he finds himself in a situation where his continued occupation of public office suffers a moral deficit, on account of any error of commission or omission. If one may ask: why should Pastor Ayo’s jet be the one that was chartered for this ill-fated transaction when there are numerous competitors in that business in which he is obviously a new player?

It is very difficult to sustain the argument that a civilian aircraft is ideal to ferry weapons of war. A sitting President of CAN should never be involved in any way in the procurement of arms to fight insurgents like Boko Haram which claims Islamic principles in its war against the state. To do so is to expose Christians to more deadly attacks.

To whom much is given, much is expected. The Pastor has the distinction of being the first and only person to occupy the posts of CAN President, and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, until recently when Rev. Felix Omobude succeeded him as PFN President.

Pastor Ayo’s friendship with President Jonathan is perfectly legitimate and nobody should attempt to query such relationship. However, the Pastor opens himself to criticism of this otherwise normal social interaction because of his indiscretion in identifying too closely to the President, in a way that suggests a veiled endorsement of Dr. Jonathan’s policies and actions by the entire Christian community. He ought to have identified privately with the President knowing full well that he carries the mandate of the Christian community at these trying times.

In a nation of contending faiths, Pastor Ayo literally ignores our divergent religious sensibilities as he sometimes gets himself involved in public quarrels with the President’s critics, from the muslim faith as well as in the opposition. Not all Christians are comfortable with this posture by their leader, especially at a time of intense politicking and the sectarian tensions generated by the Boko Haram insurgents and communal violence involving ethnic minorities with entrenched religious identities.

The cumulative effect of Pastor Ayo’s abrasive leadership style has also polarized the Christian community as evidenced by the current unprecedented division in CAN. Before now, leaders of this organization deliberately stayed out of politics in keeping with the traditional stance of neutrality of the body vis-a-vis the policy postures of incumbent governments. In fact, former PFN leaders like the late Archbishop Benson Idohosa and ex-CAN President, Olubunmi Cardinal Okogie kept governments on their toes during their time.

In more mature democracies, it is not unusual for public officers to resign from office when their actions appear to degrade their positions. And they would not have to wait to be found guilty in circumstances surrounding their actions before they throw in the towel. In other words, they could even be victims of circumstances; or in rare cases, subjects of blackmail. It didn’t matter. Once you are pelted in any way, you quit to protect the integrity of your office.

That was the case of Dominic Strauss-Khan who resigned his position as the President of IMF because he was accused of molesting a maid in a hotel in the United States. He was eventually acquitted after a celebrated trial. The Prime Minister of South Korea, Jong Hong-won resigned because his compatriots were drowned recently in a chartered cruise ship which carried some students on a picnic. Just last month, the First Minister of Scotland, Mr. Alex Salmond resigned because he led his country’s failed bid to gain independence from the United Kingdom. Nobody asked him to resign; he did so of his own accord because he felt it was wrong to continue to run a country he launched on a part of an unsuccessful “secession”.

If purely secular leaders could do this to affirm their integrity, Pastor Ayo should take the honourable path by leaving office, not necessarily because he is guilty as charged, but to restore honour to an exalted office he has unwittingly degraded because of his unabashed flirtation with the head of a government that is perceived as one of the most corrupt in the world. The Bible commands us to “flee from all appearance of evil”.

Nobody says Pastor Ayo cannot do business; he could have been in order, if he does so as the Pastor of his Word of Life Bible Church, WOLBC. But since his private jet was involved in a transaction gone awry in a foreign land, while he is still the sitting President of CAN, it is difficult for him to continue to command the respect of Nigerian Christians of diverse denominations who constitute the CAN group, regardless of the defense his sympathizers and the Federal Government tried to put up on his behalf.

If this incident had happened in Pastor Ayo’s capacity as the head/founder of the Word of Life Bible Church, no one could justifiably call for his head because the Bible teaches that the “call of God is without repentance”. In other words, regardless of the conduct of a servant of God, He does not remove them from office or withdraw their anointing. This is one of the mysteries of the gospel. The Almighty has a way of chastising his errant servants.

But here, we are dealing with Pastor Ayo as the leader of CAN; the largest umbrella of Nigerian Christians. He is condemned to be judged by secular standards, which, in this case, demands that, having found himself in a quagmire which calls to question, the sanctity of his office, he must step down to redeem his image.

The Pastor should quit the CAN post and return to his church where he could then recalibrate himself, away from this season of anomie.

Rev. Okotie, a Presidential Aspirant, wrote from Lagos

$9.3m scandal: Okotie calls for Oritsejafor's resignation as CAN president

House Hold of God Head pastor Chris Okotie, has called for the resignation of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as President of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN over the $9.3m arms deal scandal in which his private jet was implicated in.

In a piece titled "$9.3m Scandal: Oritsejafor Should Do The Right Thing' which was posted on his Facebook page today, Okotie said the continued relationship between Oritsejafor and the Presidency has caused a lot of embarrassment to the Christian body and that it was time the elder clergyman resigned to salvage the respect of CAN. Read his piece after the cut...

The recent seizure by the South African authorities of $9.3m found in a private jet owned by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has aggravated the image problem of this country at a time when the narrative of this government is brimming with negatives under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The South African government took the action on the alleged charge that the undeclared $9.3m found in the plane might have been laundered. This revelation came when the dust generated by the seemingly dubious donation of the jet to Pastor Ayo is yet to settle. His friendship with the President has been at the centre of the controversies that mark his explosive tenure as the leader of the eponymous religious organization in Nigeria.

Not that it is a sin to be the President’s Pal, but when such relationship becomes provocatively patronizing, or self-serving, it is unacceptable. The Pastor does not show restraint in the way he goes about, publicly hobnobbing with the President as if he is the Chaplain of Aso Rock. This certainly has compromised the integrity of his office as CAN President and this latest incident is just the climax of embarrassing incidents we can’t tolerate any longer.

Considering the collateral damage Pastor Ayo’s close relationship with the President has done to the Christian community, it is fit and proper for the Pastor to resign immediately as CAN President to salvage what remains of the battered image of the association.

This is without prejudice to the on-going investigation on the matter. Denials of his culpability by the Federal Government, CAN officials and his own recent defense, does nothing to reduce the moral burden this whole saga places on his shoulders. As the titular leader of Christians in Nigeria, there’s now a serious crisis of confidence on his leadership and he ought to respond to it by resigning from his exalted position.

That is what the ecclesiastic responsibility of his calling as a gospel minister dictates, once he finds himself in a situation where his continued occupation of public office suffers a moral deficit, on account of any error of commission or omission. If one may ask: why should Pastor Ayo’s jet be the one that was chartered for this ill-fated transaction when there are numerous competitors in that business in which he is obviously a new player?

It is very difficult to sustain the argument that a civilian aircraft is ideal to ferry weapons of war. A sitting President of CAN should never be involved in any way in the procurement of arms to fight insurgents like Boko Haram which claims Islamic principles in its war against the state. To do so is to expose Christians to more deadly attacks.

To whom much is given, much is expected. The Pastor has the distinction of being the first and only person to occupy the posts of CAN President, and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, until recently when Rev. Felix Omobude succeeded him as PFN President.

Pastor Ayo’s friendship with President Jonathan is perfectly legitimate and nobody should attempt to query such relationship. However, the Pastor opens himself to criticism of this otherwise normal social interaction because of his indiscretion in identifying too closely to the President, in a way that suggests a veiled endorsement of Dr. Jonathan’s policies and actions by the entire Christian community. He ought to have identified privately with the President knowing full well that he carries the mandate of the Christian community at these trying times.

In a nation of contending faiths, Pastor Ayo literally ignores our divergent religious sensibilities as he sometimes gets himself involved in public quarrels with the President’s critics, from the muslim faith as well as in the opposition. Not all Christians are comfortable with this posture by their leader, especially at a time of intense politicking and the sectarian tensions generated by the Boko Haram insurgents and communal violence involving ethnic minorities with entrenched religious identities.

The cumulative effect of Pastor Ayo’s abrasive leadership style has also polarized the Christian community as evidenced by the current unprecedented division in CAN. Before now, leaders of this organization deliberately stayed out of politics in keeping with the traditional stance of neutrality of the body vis-a-vis the policy postures of incumbent governments. In fact, former PFN leaders like the late Archbishop Benson Idohosa and ex-CAN President, Olubunmi Cardinal Okogie kept governments on their toes during their time.

In more mature democracies, it is not unusual for public officers to resign from office when their actions appear to degrade their positions. And they would not have to wait to be found guilty in circumstances surrounding their actions before they throw in the towel. In other words, they could even be victims of circumstances; or in rare cases, subjects of blackmail. It didn’t matter. Once you are pelted in any way, you quit to protect the integrity of your office.

That was the case of Dominic Strauss-Khan who resigned his position as the President of IMF because he was accused of molesting a maid in a hotel in the United States. He was eventually acquitted after a celebrated trial. The Prime Minister of South Korea, Jong Hong-won resigned because his compatriots were drowned recently in a chartered cruise ship which carried some students on a picnic. Just last month, the First Minister of Scotland, Mr. Alex Salmond resigned because he led his country’s failed bid to gain independence from the United Kingdom. Nobody asked him to resign; he did so of his own accord because he felt it was wrong to continue to run a country he launched on a part of an unsuccessful “secession”.

If purely secular leaders could do this to affirm their integrity, Pastor Ayo should take the honourable path by leaving office, not necessarily because he is guilty as charged, but to restore honour to an exalted office he has unwittingly degraded because of his unabashed flirtation with the head of a government that is perceived as one of the most corrupt in the world. The Bible commands us to “flee from all appearance of evil”.

Nobody says Pastor Ayo cannot do business; he could have been in order, if he does so as the Pastor of his Word of Life Bible Church, WOLBC. But since his private jet was involved in a transaction gone awry in a foreign land, while he is still the sitting President of CAN, it is difficult for him to continue to command the respect of Nigerian Christians of diverse denominations who constitute the CAN group, regardless of the defense his sympathizers and the Federal Government tried to put up on his behalf.

If this incident had happened in Pastor Ayo’s capacity as the head/founder of the Word of Life Bible Church, no one could justifiably call for his head because the Bible teaches that the “call of God is without repentance”. In other words, regardless of the conduct of a servant of God, He does not remove them from office or withdraw their anointing. This is one of the mysteries of the gospel. The Almighty has a way of chastising his errant servants.

But here, we are dealing with Pastor Ayo as the leader of CAN; the largest umbrella of Nigerian Christians. He is condemned to be judged by secular standards, which, in this case, demands that, having found himself in a quagmire which calls to question, the sanctity of his office, he must step down to redeem his image.

The Pastor should quit the CAN post and return to his church where he could then recalibrate himself, away from this season of anomie.

Rev. Okotie, a Presidential Aspirant, wrote from Lagos

$9.3m scandal: Okotie calls for Oritsejafor's resignation as CAN president

House Hold of God Head pastor Chris Okotie, has called for the resignation of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as President of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN over the $9.3m arms deal scandal in which his private jet was implicated in.

In a piece titled "$9.3m Scandal: Oritsejafor Should Do The Right Thing' which was posted on his Facebook page today, Okotie said the continued relationship between Oritsejafor and the Presidency has caused a lot of embarrassment to the Christian body and that it was time the elder clergyman resigned to salvage the respect of CAN. Read his piece after the cut...

The recent seizure by the South African authorities of $9.3m found in a private jet owned by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has aggravated the image problem of this country at a time when the narrative of this government is brimming with negatives under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The South African government took the action on the alleged charge that the undeclared $9.3m found in the plane might have been laundered. This revelation came when the dust generated by the seemingly dubious donation of the jet to Pastor Ayo is yet to settle. His friendship with the President has been at the centre of the controversies that mark his explosive tenure as the leader of the eponymous religious organization in Nigeria.

Not that it is a sin to be the President’s Pal, but when such relationship becomes provocatively patronizing, or self-serving, it is unacceptable. The Pastor does not show restraint in the way he goes about, publicly hobnobbing with the President as if he is the Chaplain of Aso Rock. This certainly has compromised the integrity of his office as CAN President and this latest incident is just the climax of embarrassing incidents we can’t tolerate any longer.

Considering the collateral damage Pastor Ayo’s close relationship with the President has done to the Christian community, it is fit and proper for the Pastor to resign immediately as CAN President to salvage what remains of the battered image of the association.

This is without prejudice to the on-going investigation on the matter. Denials of his culpability by the Federal Government, CAN officials and his own recent defense, does nothing to reduce the moral burden this whole saga places on his shoulders. As the titular leader of Christians in Nigeria, there’s now a serious crisis of confidence on his leadership and he ought to respond to it by resigning from his exalted position.

That is what the ecclesiastic responsibility of his calling as a gospel minister dictates, once he finds himself in a situation where his continued occupation of public office suffers a moral deficit, on account of any error of commission or omission. If one may ask: why should Pastor Ayo’s jet be the one that was chartered for this ill-fated transaction when there are numerous competitors in that business in which he is obviously a new player?

It is very difficult to sustain the argument that a civilian aircraft is ideal to ferry weapons of war. A sitting President of CAN should never be involved in any way in the procurement of arms to fight insurgents like Boko Haram which claims Islamic principles in its war against the state. To do so is to expose Christians to more deadly attacks.

To whom much is given, much is expected. The Pastor has the distinction of being the first and only person to occupy the posts of CAN President, and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, until recently when Rev. Felix Omobude succeeded him as PFN President.

Pastor Ayo’s friendship with President Jonathan is perfectly legitimate and nobody should attempt to query such relationship. However, the Pastor opens himself to criticism of this otherwise normal social interaction because of his indiscretion in identifying too closely to the President, in a way that suggests a veiled endorsement of Dr. Jonathan’s policies and actions by the entire Christian community. He ought to have identified privately with the President knowing full well that he carries the mandate of the Christian community at these trying times.

In a nation of contending faiths, Pastor Ayo literally ignores our divergent religious sensibilities as he sometimes gets himself involved in public quarrels with the President’s critics, from the muslim faith as well as in the opposition. Not all Christians are comfortable with this posture by their leader, especially at a time of intense politicking and the sectarian tensions generated by the Boko Haram insurgents and communal violence involving ethnic minorities with entrenched religious identities.

The cumulative effect of Pastor Ayo’s abrasive leadership style has also polarized the Christian community as evidenced by the current unprecedented division in CAN. Before now, leaders of this organization deliberately stayed out of politics in keeping with the traditional stance of neutrality of the body vis-a-vis the policy postures of incumbent governments. In fact, former PFN leaders like the late Archbishop Benson Idohosa and ex-CAN President, Olubunmi Cardinal Okogie kept governments on their toes during their time.

In more mature democracies, it is not unusual for public officers to resign from office when their actions appear to degrade their positions. And they would not have to wait to be found guilty in circumstances surrounding their actions before they throw in the towel. In other words, they could even be victims of circumstances; or in rare cases, subjects of blackmail. It didn’t matter. Once you are pelted in any way, you quit to protect the integrity of your office.

That was the case of Dominic Strauss-Khan who resigned his position as the President of IMF because he was accused of molesting a maid in a hotel in the United States. He was eventually acquitted after a celebrated trial. The Prime Minister of South Korea, Jong Hong-won resigned because his compatriots were drowned recently in a chartered cruise ship which carried some students on a picnic. Just last month, the First Minister of Scotland, Mr. Alex Salmond resigned because he led his country’s failed bid to gain independence from the United Kingdom. Nobody asked him to resign; he did so of his own accord because he felt it was wrong to continue to run a country he launched on a part of an unsuccessful “secession”.

If purely secular leaders could do this to affirm their integrity, Pastor Ayo should take the honourable path by leaving office, not necessarily because he is guilty as charged, but to restore honour to an exalted office he has unwittingly degraded because of his unabashed flirtation with the head of a government that is perceived as one of the most corrupt in the world. The Bible commands us to “flee from all appearance of evil”.

Nobody says Pastor Ayo cannot do business; he could have been in order, if he does so as the Pastor of his Word of Life Bible Church, WOLBC. But since his private jet was involved in a transaction gone awry in a foreign land, while he is still the sitting President of CAN, it is difficult for him to continue to command the respect of Nigerian Christians of diverse denominations who constitute the CAN group, regardless of the defense his sympathizers and the Federal Government tried to put up on his behalf.

If this incident had happened in Pastor Ayo’s capacity as the head/founder of the Word of Life Bible Church, no one could justifiably call for his head because the Bible teaches that the “call of God is without repentance”. In other words, regardless of the conduct of a servant of God, He does not remove them from office or withdraw their anointing. This is one of the mysteries of the gospel. The Almighty has a way of chastising his errant servants.

But here, we are dealing with Pastor Ayo as the leader of CAN; the largest umbrella of Nigerian Christians. He is condemned to be judged by secular standards, which, in this case, demands that, having found himself in a quagmire which calls to question, the sanctity of his office, he must step down to redeem his image.

The Pastor should quit the CAN post and return to his church where he could then recalibrate himself, away from this season of anomie.

Rev. Okotie, a Presidential Aspirant, wrote from Lagos

$9.3m scandal: Okotie calls for Oritsejafor's resignation as CAN president

House Hold of God Head pastor Chris Okotie, has called for the resignation of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as President of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN over the $9.3m arms deal scandal in which his private jet was implicated in.

In a piece titled "$9.3m Scandal: Oritsejafor Should Do The Right Thing' which was posted on his Facebook page today, Okotie said the continued relationship between Oritsejafor and the Presidency has caused a lot of embarrassment to the Christian body and that it was time the elder clergyman resigned to salvage the respect of CAN. Read his piece after the cut...

The recent seizure by the South African authorities of $9.3m found in a private jet owned by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has aggravated the image problem of this country at a time when the narrative of this government is brimming with negatives under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The South African government took the action on the alleged charge that the undeclared $9.3m found in the plane might have been laundered. This revelation came when the dust generated by the seemingly dubious donation of the jet to Pastor Ayo is yet to settle. His friendship with the President has been at the centre of the controversies that mark his explosive tenure as the leader of the eponymous religious organization in Nigeria.

Not that it is a sin to be the President’s Pal, but when such relationship becomes provocatively patronizing, or self-serving, it is unacceptable. The Pastor does not show restraint in the way he goes about, publicly hobnobbing with the President as if he is the Chaplain of Aso Rock. This certainly has compromised the integrity of his office as CAN President and this latest incident is just the climax of embarrassing incidents we can’t tolerate any longer.

Considering the collateral damage Pastor Ayo’s close relationship with the President has done to the Christian community, it is fit and proper for the Pastor to resign immediately as CAN President to salvage what remains of the battered image of the association.

This is without prejudice to the on-going investigation on the matter. Denials of his culpability by the Federal Government, CAN officials and his own recent defense, does nothing to reduce the moral burden this whole saga places on his shoulders. As the titular leader of Christians in Nigeria, there’s now a serious crisis of confidence on his leadership and he ought to respond to it by resigning from his exalted position.

That is what the ecclesiastic responsibility of his calling as a gospel minister dictates, once he finds himself in a situation where his continued occupation of public office suffers a moral deficit, on account of any error of commission or omission. If one may ask: why should Pastor Ayo’s jet be the one that was chartered for this ill-fated transaction when there are numerous competitors in that business in which he is obviously a new player?

It is very difficult to sustain the argument that a civilian aircraft is ideal to ferry weapons of war. A sitting President of CAN should never be involved in any way in the procurement of arms to fight insurgents like Boko Haram which claims Islamic principles in its war against the state. To do so is to expose Christians to more deadly attacks.

To whom much is given, much is expected. The Pastor has the distinction of being the first and only person to occupy the posts of CAN President, and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, until recently when Rev. Felix Omobude succeeded him as PFN President.

Pastor Ayo’s friendship with President Jonathan is perfectly legitimate and nobody should attempt to query such relationship. However, the Pastor opens himself to criticism of this otherwise normal social interaction because of his indiscretion in identifying too closely to the President, in a way that suggests a veiled endorsement of Dr. Jonathan’s policies and actions by the entire Christian community. He ought to have identified privately with the President knowing full well that he carries the mandate of the Christian community at these trying times.

In a nation of contending faiths, Pastor Ayo literally ignores our divergent religious sensibilities as he sometimes gets himself involved in public quarrels with the President’s critics, from the muslim faith as well as in the opposition. Not all Christians are comfortable with this posture by their leader, especially at a time of intense politicking and the sectarian tensions generated by the Boko Haram insurgents and communal violence involving ethnic minorities with entrenched religious identities.

The cumulative effect of Pastor Ayo’s abrasive leadership style has also polarized the Christian community as evidenced by the current unprecedented division in CAN. Before now, leaders of this organization deliberately stayed out of politics in keeping with the traditional stance of neutrality of the body vis-a-vis the policy postures of incumbent governments. In fact, former PFN leaders like the late Archbishop Benson Idohosa and ex-CAN President, Olubunmi Cardinal Okogie kept governments on their toes during their time.

In more mature democracies, it is not unusual for public officers to resign from office when their actions appear to degrade their positions. And they would not have to wait to be found guilty in circumstances surrounding their actions before they throw in the towel. In other words, they could even be victims of circumstances; or in rare cases, subjects of blackmail. It didn’t matter. Once you are pelted in any way, you quit to protect the integrity of your office.

That was the case of Dominic Strauss-Khan who resigned his position as the President of IMF because he was accused of molesting a maid in a hotel in the United States. He was eventually acquitted after a celebrated trial. The Prime Minister of South Korea, Jong Hong-won resigned because his compatriots were drowned recently in a chartered cruise ship which carried some students on a picnic. Just last month, the First Minister of Scotland, Mr. Alex Salmond resigned because he led his country’s failed bid to gain independence from the United Kingdom. Nobody asked him to resign; he did so of his own accord because he felt it was wrong to continue to run a country he launched on a part of an unsuccessful “secession”.

If purely secular leaders could do this to affirm their integrity, Pastor Ayo should take the honourable path by leaving office, not necessarily because he is guilty as charged, but to restore honour to an exalted office he has unwittingly degraded because of his unabashed flirtation with the head of a government that is perceived as one of the most corrupt in the world. The Bible commands us to “flee from all appearance of evil”.

Nobody says Pastor Ayo cannot do business; he could have been in order, if he does so as the Pastor of his Word of Life Bible Church, WOLBC. But since his private jet was involved in a transaction gone awry in a foreign land, while he is still the sitting President of CAN, it is difficult for him to continue to command the respect of Nigerian Christians of diverse denominations who constitute the CAN group, regardless of the defense his sympathizers and the Federal Government tried to put up on his behalf.

If this incident had happened in Pastor Ayo’s capacity as the head/founder of the Word of Life Bible Church, no one could justifiably call for his head because the Bible teaches that the “call of God is without repentance”. In other words, regardless of the conduct of a servant of God, He does not remove them from office or withdraw their anointing. This is one of the mysteries of the gospel. The Almighty has a way of chastising his errant servants.

But here, we are dealing with Pastor Ayo as the leader of CAN; the largest umbrella of Nigerian Christians. He is condemned to be judged by secular standards, which, in this case, demands that, having found himself in a quagmire which calls to question, the sanctity of his office, he must step down to redeem his image.

The Pastor should quit the CAN post and return to his church where he could then recalibrate himself, away from this season of anomie.

Rev. Okotie, a Presidential Aspirant, wrote from Lagos

$9.3m scandal: Okotie calls for Oritsejafor's resignation as CAN president

House Hold of God Head pastor Chris Okotie, has called for the resignation of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as President of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN over the $9.3m arms deal scandal in which his private jet was implicated in.

In a piece titled "$9.3m Scandal: Oritsejafor Should Do The Right Thing' which was posted on his Facebook page today, Okotie said the continued relationship between Oritsejafor and the Presidency has caused a lot of embarrassment to the Christian body and that it was time the elder clergyman resigned to salvage the respect of CAN. Read his piece after the cut...

The recent seizure by the South African authorities of $9.3m found in a private jet owned by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has aggravated the image problem of this country at a time when the narrative of this government is brimming with negatives under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The South African government took the action on the alleged charge that the undeclared $9.3m found in the plane might have been laundered. This revelation came when the dust generated by the seemingly dubious donation of the jet to Pastor Ayo is yet to settle. His friendship with the President has been at the centre of the controversies that mark his explosive tenure as the leader of the eponymous religious organization in Nigeria.

Not that it is a sin to be the President’s Pal, but when such relationship becomes provocatively patronizing, or self-serving, it is unacceptable. The Pastor does not show restraint in the way he goes about, publicly hobnobbing with the President as if he is the Chaplain of Aso Rock. This certainly has compromised the integrity of his office as CAN President and this latest incident is just the climax of embarrassing incidents we can’t tolerate any longer.

Considering the collateral damage Pastor Ayo’s close relationship with the President has done to the Christian community, it is fit and proper for the Pastor to resign immediately as CAN President to salvage what remains of the battered image of the association.

This is without prejudice to the on-going investigation on the matter. Denials of his culpability by the Federal Government, CAN officials and his own recent defense, does nothing to reduce the moral burden this whole saga places on his shoulders. As the titular leader of Christians in Nigeria, there’s now a serious crisis of confidence on his leadership and he ought to respond to it by resigning from his exalted position.

That is what the ecclesiastic responsibility of his calling as a gospel minister dictates, once he finds himself in a situation where his continued occupation of public office suffers a moral deficit, on account of any error of commission or omission. If one may ask: why should Pastor Ayo’s jet be the one that was chartered for this ill-fated transaction when there are numerous competitors in that business in which he is obviously a new player?

It is very difficult to sustain the argument that a civilian aircraft is ideal to ferry weapons of war. A sitting President of CAN should never be involved in any way in the procurement of arms to fight insurgents like Boko Haram which claims Islamic principles in its war against the state. To do so is to expose Christians to more deadly attacks.

To whom much is given, much is expected. The Pastor has the distinction of being the first and only person to occupy the posts of CAN President, and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, until recently when Rev. Felix Omobude succeeded him as PFN President.

Pastor Ayo’s friendship with President Jonathan is perfectly legitimate and nobody should attempt to query such relationship. However, the Pastor opens himself to criticism of this otherwise normal social interaction because of his indiscretion in identifying too closely to the President, in a way that suggests a veiled endorsement of Dr. Jonathan’s policies and actions by the entire Christian community. He ought to have identified privately with the President knowing full well that he carries the mandate of the Christian community at these trying times.

In a nation of contending faiths, Pastor Ayo literally ignores our divergent religious sensibilities as he sometimes gets himself involved in public quarrels with the President’s critics, from the muslim faith as well as in the opposition. Not all Christians are comfortable with this posture by their leader, especially at a time of intense politicking and the sectarian tensions generated by the Boko Haram insurgents and communal violence involving ethnic minorities with entrenched religious identities.

The cumulative effect of Pastor Ayo’s abrasive leadership style has also polarized the Christian community as evidenced by the current unprecedented division in CAN. Before now, leaders of this organization deliberately stayed out of politics in keeping with the traditional stance of neutrality of the body vis-a-vis the policy postures of incumbent governments. In fact, former PFN leaders like the late Archbishop Benson Idohosa and ex-CAN President, Olubunmi Cardinal Okogie kept governments on their toes during their time.

In more mature democracies, it is not unusual for public officers to resign from office when their actions appear to degrade their positions. And they would not have to wait to be found guilty in circumstances surrounding their actions before they throw in the towel. In other words, they could even be victims of circumstances; or in rare cases, subjects of blackmail. It didn’t matter. Once you are pelted in any way, you quit to protect the integrity of your office.

That was the case of Dominic Strauss-Khan who resigned his position as the President of IMF because he was accused of molesting a maid in a hotel in the United States. He was eventually acquitted after a celebrated trial. The Prime Minister of South Korea, Jong Hong-won resigned because his compatriots were drowned recently in a chartered cruise ship which carried some students on a picnic. Just last month, the First Minister of Scotland, Mr. Alex Salmond resigned because he led his country’s failed bid to gain independence from the United Kingdom. Nobody asked him to resign; he did so of his own accord because he felt it was wrong to continue to run a country he launched on a part of an unsuccessful “secession”.

If purely secular leaders could do this to affirm their integrity, Pastor Ayo should take the honourable path by leaving office, not necessarily because he is guilty as charged, but to restore honour to an exalted office he has unwittingly degraded because of his unabashed flirtation with the head of a government that is perceived as one of the most corrupt in the world. The Bible commands us to “flee from all appearance of evil”.

Nobody says Pastor Ayo cannot do business; he could have been in order, if he does so as the Pastor of his Word of Life Bible Church, WOLBC. But since his private jet was involved in a transaction gone awry in a foreign land, while he is still the sitting President of CAN, it is difficult for him to continue to command the respect of Nigerian Christians of diverse denominations who constitute the CAN group, regardless of the defense his sympathizers and the Federal Government tried to put up on his behalf.

If this incident had happened in Pastor Ayo’s capacity as the head/founder of the Word of Life Bible Church, no one could justifiably call for his head because the Bible teaches that the “call of God is without repentance”. In other words, regardless of the conduct of a servant of God, He does not remove them from office or withdraw their anointing. This is one of the mysteries of the gospel. The Almighty has a way of chastising his errant servants.

But here, we are dealing with Pastor Ayo as the leader of CAN; the largest umbrella of Nigerian Christians. He is condemned to be judged by secular standards, which, in this case, demands that, having found himself in a quagmire which calls to question, the sanctity of his office, he must step down to redeem his image.

The Pastor should quit the CAN post and return to his church where he could then recalibrate himself, away from this season of anomie.

Rev. Okotie, a Presidential Aspirant, wrote from Lagos

[MUSIC]: Make Dem Talk - Young Da Naval ft Bijahty, P.I [@YoungDaNaval]

Just after the successful premier of Muder_Dem and Hustle via #Street2FameTV,

Young Da Naval is back again with another hit single tilted "Make Dem Talk", featuring soul singer P.I  and  Jamaican base ragga superstar  Bijahty.  This is one of the best collabo of the season. 

Download, Listen , Enjoy and Share  #Make_Dem_Talk by #YoungDaNaval 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

[BOKO HARAM]: A Must Read! Abubakar Shekau: Nine Lives Or Nine Liars

Article below written by Dr. Peregrino Brimah of ENDS.ng. Read below...

So long as the Francophone media is bent on dragging Nigeria to its begging knees, Shekau will never die. The controversy on the death of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau is one that is entirely manufactured by Globalist media. It is nothing less than media terrorism by the desperate colonialists. But these globalist media cannot be solely blamed.

It is us who have Boko Haram sponsors in the Presidency and as our army Chiefs after all. Protected, supported and paid with billions by our President. We have no credibility and as long as this nation keeps such clueless and adamantly wicked men at its helm, the globalist media will continue to disgrace and terrorize us and will keep Shekau immortal.

The globalist media has stubbornly insisted on denying the fact that we have killed two of the very Shekaus they have themselves shown in videos as the actual person. They pretend not to notice the very different people who all impersonate Shekau in the many videos they release as a singular person, but when we kill these very people they just publicized then they say it wasn’t him and push out the next available video of another of his impersonators, gleefully, as soon as Boko Haram sells it to them.

The latest bump-head Shekau we killed has been promoted by them on many occasions as the one and only Shekau. Now they are releasing video of droopy left lip, almond eye Shekau. The minute we kill this one again, they will bring out the next and the next, in frank terrorism and with an ultimate plan to frustrate Nigeria into submission for foreign complete invasion and destruction as was done to Libya; thanks to our participant, wealth blinded, terrible leadership.

It is ironic that in 2011 when America “killed” Osama who we all know was already dead since 2001, and never showed us even a single picture of his dead body, none of these very media questioned the blatant lies. But now they invest heavily in giving our Shekau nine lives.

It’s not their fault; it is our fault for electing leaders with no shoes because we were colonially battered into a dumb foreign tribalist culture. With our President who scores world worsts every time, recently of note, doing abominable things like using the #BringBackGoodluck” slogan, how will they ever fear and respect us? After all, when late President Umaru Yar’Adua killed Mohammed Yusuf, the actual Boko Haram leader believed and touted to be immortal, dem no born any globalist media well (translated: No media had the guts) to broadcast video’s of his aspiring impersonators.

A little time, 2015 or 2019, this will all be over. #VictoryForNigeria. We stand by our Civilian-JTF and active soldiers, those engaged in the battle front, not the morbidly obese, cash bloated, Abuja barrack land usurping Boko Haram sponsor Army ogas at the top.

Dr. Peregrino Brimah; http://ENDS.ng [Every Nigerian Do Something] Email: drbrimah@ends.ng Twitter: @EveryNigerian

ISIS beheads second Briton, threatens to kill US war veteran next

ISIS has beheaded British aid worker Alan Henning (left and inset). The militants posted a video of the horrific beheading online last night. In the video, the executioner who is described as Jihadi John because of his English accent said Alan's blood is on the hands of the British parliament.

Before he was beheaded, Alan also blamed his death on his government. He told the camera

"I am Alan Henning. Because of our Parliament's decision to attack the Islamic state I as a member of the British public will now pay the price for that decision.'

He was beheaded shortly after that. ISIS then brought out Iraq war veteran and U.S. citizen Peter Edward Kassig (right) and threatened to kill him next.

Photos: Beyonce shares bikini & loved up pics with Jay Z & Blue Ivy

In new pics shared on Beyonce.com, the singer showed off her amazing bikini body and also shared adorable pics with Jay Z and her daughter, Blue Ivy. See the pics after the cut...

Photos: Beyonce shares bikini & loved up pics with Jay Z & Blue Ivy

In new pics shared on Beyonce.com, the singer showed off her amazing bikini body and also shared adorable pics with Jay Z and her daughter, Blue Ivy. See the pics after the cut...

Photos: Beyonce shares bikini & loved up pics with Jay Z & Blue Ivy

In new pics shared on Beyonce.com, the singer showed off her amazing bikini body and also shared adorable pics with Jay Z and her daughter, Blue Ivy. See the pics after the cut...