A former National President of the Pentecostal
Fellowship of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, says
most people who claim to be pastors or men of
God are not, as they were not called by God in the
first place.

Oritsejafor expressed displeasure over how ‘these
men of God’ have now turned the church into a
business centre and living flamboyant lives, stating
that the development was the reason kidnappers
now see the church as a place to make money.
In a recent chat with the Punch, the outgoing
President of the Christian Association of Nigeria,
CAN, said, “The problem we have in the church is
that a lot of these pastors are not men of God as
they were not called.

“They are mercenaries, commercially minded
people. The duty of the church is to preach
morality not materialism and because Nigerians
are very gullible; they are easy victims of deceit.
They fall prey to some of these pastors or
prophets of doom. The way they live gives a wrong
impression of what should be in a church of God.
There should be no room for material
possessions.

“I am not saying a man of God should not live a
life of comfort but it should be a life of good
comfort; that is why kidnapping is now a common
thing even in the church.
“It is unfortunate that we are having this kind of
problem because most places of religious
gathering, particularly of the Christian faith, are
seemingly reducing their faith to commercials. So
many people think they have money and most of
them live a flamboyant lifestyle.
“As such, the kidnappers mistake them for money
men but there is nothing there. The kidnappers
would be kept at bay if they stopped preaching
prosperity and allowing dirty money to go into the
church coffers. I also think the church is losing its
moral values. The values are disappearing
gradually.
“We should preach values and not materialism. I
think the churches themselves should look
inwards and correct the poor impression they are
giving people outside that there is money in the
church, whereas there is none,” he stated.
On his opinion on the Kaduna State bill against
public preaching, Oritsejafor said Governor Nasir
el-Rufai had seemingly taken the wrong step.
Oristejafor said, “He should call a meeting of all
the stakeholders in that state with respect to
religious activities before rushing to the state
Assembly for any bill. Be that as it may, we have to
be very careful if there is any bill intended to wear
religious colouration.

“When Sharia was introduced into this country we
were lucky to have a Christian President, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, who tamed it. Nigeria would
have been engulfed by the conflagration. Sharia
would have been misunderstood.


“There are already enough laws in the statue book
that take care of what Governor El-Rufai has in
mind. I have no objection if he wants to curb noise
pollution in the name of religion. I quite agree if
this is the basis. But in a situation where it is
meant to tackle extremism, libel, sedition,
incitement and more, there are enough laws in
our statute book for this. Doing otherwise is not
good for him.

“I have tremendous respect for him for he was the
person bold enough to say that there should be no
more street begging. Yes, that was a sensible thing
because even in the Islamic countries such is not
allowed,” the pastor stated.