Pastor Ayodele Oritsejafor, newly elected president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), reveals to KEHINDE OYETIMI on the readiness of the Christian body to insist on credible elections in 2011 as well as tackling the crises in the north.

HOW do you feel to have eventually emerged as the first Pentecostal president of CAN following the many intrigues that characterised the election?
I am so grateful to God. It is a humbling experience because I feel that there are people who are better than me. I think only God knows why he picks a man. When he does such things he has a reason he has made the provision. What has happened is a victory for God, victory for the church, and victory for Nigeria. No man can take the glory. This just couldn’t have been for me because it is definitely bigger than me. My confidence is in God and in God’s people.

God is cooking something and I have this feeling that he has just added salt to it. Believe me. What God is cooking is just about ready to be eaten. When you look at the atmosphere in Nigeria today, you can tell that something is in the air. I believe we have come for a time such as this. Nigeria will not remain like this because the church will not remain the way it is.

I promise you that as president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, there are three things that I would focus on. I have said this everywhere I have gone in the last two weeks and I will continue to say it. There are many things that we would do but these three things stand out. The first thing is the unity of the church. I would do everything and anything to make it happen. We just cannot compromise this. The Bible says how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together. If you go to the next verse it says for there the Lord commanded his blessing. There is a commanded blessing that Nigeria needs now. This cannot happen if the church is not together.

The second thing is that I am very concerned about the religious crises that seem to continue especially in the northern part of this nation. Let me make this clear. I had no interest in running for the office of the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria. It all started with the northern Christians. They came to me in Warri three times. The first time I argued with them. One of them said to me “If you refuse to do it, when they continue to kill our people God will hold you responsible.” So I had to begin to pray. I consulted with colleagues and Christian leaders who prayed and said “Do it. God’s hand is upon you.” That is how I got involved. We will not leave Nigeria like this.

We must dialogue and we must continue to dialogue. But we must expand and deepen the dialogue. There are different types of dialogues. There is a kind of dialogue that you set goals that are achievable. When those goals are set then you sit down and dialogue towards those things. If you don’t do that all you would be doing is just to talk. Talking alone doesn’t change anything.

I am very open to the Sultan of Sokoto. We are friends. Immediately after the election, as I stepped out of the building, I got a text from him to congratulate me. Immediately I got to my hotel, he called me. We’ve been talking because of the problems going on today. He said to me: “We can work together; we can bring change; we can stop this.” One thing I would never compromise is truth. There is nothing you can do against truth. The best thing is to walk with truth. God would help us.

The third thing is that we would hold our elected officials accountable. Any society that throws aside accountability is a failed society because from Genesis to Revelation, in all human endeavours, accountability is a major thing that works. I read that 10billion dollars is being taken from Nigeria every month from the federal government allocation. Somebody has to be accountable. I tell Christians not to run from governance. Accountability is vital. You tie it up with electoral reform. No matter how we try to change the system, if a man is not accountable, there would be problem. I believe God would use the church to bring about accountability in Nigeria.

The northern part of Nigeria seems always to be boiling with crises. Before now we were told that the issue is political and not religious especially the death of Christians. How do you intend to tackle this?
We can’t encourage people to carry arms. But we also don’t agree that people should be killed. We still have to look at the issue of dialogue. We must set goals for the dialogue. What do we want to achieve if we set the goals? We agree on those things, we give ourselves time. We discuss towards that. I believe that these things would end. It would end very soon.

When you fear God, you honour and respect your neighbour. You would fear to take another man’s life. Nigeria would get to that point. We want to be in touch with our Muslim brothers. God put us together in this nation. We have a place, they have a place. Together Nigeria has a place.

The 2011 elections are here. Christians have been encouraged severally to go into politics. How does the Christian body intend to help ensure that the votes of the people count?
We will be in every polling booth by the grace of God. We would monitor what is happening. We would try to educate our people that they ought to defend their votes across this nation. When elections are credible, you have credible people. When elections are not credible, then you have distorted discredited people in position. Not only should we groom and encourage the right people, but we should vote for the right people. We should ensure that our votes count. I am sure that this will happen because we would try our best to monitor the elections.

What is the role of religious leaders especially within the context of the Nigerian situation?
Religious leaders have always had incredible roles to play because whoever runs for office either goes to the mosques or the church. If you remove God from life, then life has nothing else. It is finished. We must make people understand that the fear of God is not only the beginning of wisdom but the beginning of life itself. The Bible says let us come to the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. The next verse says that even the secret things shall be judged by God. It is important that we put this fear of God in the hearts of people. A man that doesn’t fear God does not fear to deprive people of their rights. Your love for your neighbour is a reflection of your love for yourself. The church would rise up.